This is a self portrait I took while testing out the new lens LK bought me.
To check out other iheartfaces bare feet entries, click here
And to learn more about Soles 4 Souls, click here
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Bare Feet Week
This week for iheartfaces, they theme is bare feet in an effort to raise awareness of Soles 4 Souls. After watching the One Drop film, ISH has become increasingly concerned that kids in Rwanda don't have shoes (or at least the ones in the video didn't). So I'm going to be looking more into this organization to see if it might be something for us to get involved in.
This is a self portrait I took while testing out the new lens LK bought me.
This is a self portrait I took while testing out the new lens LK bought me.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Baby of Mine
Mandy's theme this week is babies. Here is a pic of ISH studying his hands and the grass in our front lawn back in our Midwest City days.
Check out more entries here
Check out more entries here
Friday, May 28, 2010
Foodies Friday: Yummy Sweets
Happy Foodies Friday!
I've had fun cooking with Tanya this week and enjoying one of the major components Rachel Ray was missing in her 365 - yummy sweets! Here's what I've been cooking this week:
Roasted Vegetables, pg 47
Yummmmm! I served this with the home made corn dogs (see below). I used the veggies she calls for- sweet potatoes, purple onion, and yellow squash. I forgot the asparagus, which is sad because I love asparagus, and used red potatoes because I couldn't find the new potatoes. This was wonderful- ISH even ate it! And that says a lot because he doesn't like anything that's even remotely healthy and (previously) without exception will not knowingly eat an onion.
One Dish Cinnamon Swirl, pg 56
I'm going to change this to One Dish and a bowl Cinnamon Swirl. She says in her notes that she truly only uses one dish but you need a bowl to mix the yummy cinnamon goodness (and apparently one bigger than the one I used because I made a good size mess. Oops). I do like how you butter the dish and then put the flour and dry ingredients in to mix up so the dish is buttered and floured already! What a great trick. I had run out of canola oil so I had to use the veggie oil and haven't purchased the "unbleached" flour she calls for so I'm still using the bleached and thus less healthy flour I've always used. But I'm sure the unbleached part wouldn't make this too much healthier- I mean it does have 6 TBSP of melted butter in it. ISH loved this so much his comment was "I wish everything was made out of this cinnamon swirl, except Jesus ... but then He wouldn't be in heaven and then we could do bad things because it wouldn't make Him sad because he'd be made of cinnamon swirl." I think that means he liked it. I served this with scrambled eggs, bacon, and some fresh spinach (you know, to make me feel like it was at least somewhat of a healthy dinner).
Scrambled Eggs, pg 80
LK made this for me because I was trying to wrap up some work and thus it was made without the 1/2 tsp of hot sauce (wimp). He used butter instead of canola oil (she gives you the option). These were very fluffy- more like omelets, and I say that as positive because I don't normally like scrambled eggs but these were good. LK said the hard part is I don't think she expects you to cook enough for 4 at one time. But he did and I think it turned out well, so quadruple the recipe as needed.
Homemade Corn Dogs, pg 112
Tanya has tried her hardest to make corn dogs healthy. Unfortunately, ISH caught wind of what I was making for dinner and with all the cuteness he could muster begged for "cheesy wennie corn dogs." Saying no really wasn't an option. So I used the completely unhealthy cheese hot dogs- but ISH's petition was a good one. Those cheesy wennies were excellent as corn dogs. I don't think I did the whole "tall jar" thing right because once I'd covered the first few hot dogs I couldn't get the batter all over the remaining dogs (I think I need her to come and give me a tutorial on this method especially since I actually got one hot dog stuck in the tall container I was using. Yes, I am that talented). So I emptied the remaining batter into a shallow bowl and rolled the remaining dogs around in that. Her note about wiping off the water from the dogs before putting them in the batter is spot on. I didn't do it with some and while cooking the batter didn't really stick. We had these with the roasted veggies. It felt like great "Welcome" to summer meal- just add baseball!
Chicken and Rice, pg 114
I need to ask about this one. It calls for 9 TBSP of olive oil to cook the veggies in as well as topping with 1 stick butter. But when I was done cooking it there was a lot of olive oil at the bottom of the casserole dish. Now- it could be as a result of any of the following variations to the actual recipe that I made. She calls for 2 mushrooms but I had about 5 I need to use up and she calls for 1/4 c celery but I used probably about 3/4 to 1 cup because, like the mushies, I needed to use them. But I would think that would use up more of the oil than leave too much. Here is one that could have done it- I didn't use raw chicken. I had just about a whole chicken left over from the bacon roasted chicken I made last week for my girlfriends, so I cut that cut and used it (and the bacon) instead of the whole chicken cut up that she calls for. Since the chicken was already cooked I didn't cook the casserole for the full 3- 3 1/2 hours. I cooked it closer to 2. My guess is that had I had raw chicken and cooked it for 3 hours more of the oil would have been gone. I also didn't have 2 cups of milk (I need to go to the grocery store) so having long ago learned the valuable lesson that ranch dressing cannot work as a milk substitute when cooking a casserole, I used 1 cup of milk, 1/2 a cup of evaporated milk and 1/2 cup of water. I really tasted pretty good though. I served it with sauteed spinach (one of my favorite veggies)
Simply Basic Vanilla Pudding, pg 134
An elder at a church where LK and I use to attend once said he though the reasons more marriages end in divorce today compared to his generation was the invention of instant pudding. I don't know if he's right or not but I can see how serving your hubby this yummy treat could keep him happy. My first round with this I apparently misinterrupted the boil calls for. She warns not to let it boil too much or the cornstarch will breakdown and I think I errored on the side of too cautious (there's a first time for everything) because the pudding never set- like 5 hours later never set. But when I dumped the not-setting pudding back into the pan and really let the boil happen it set up almost immediately. I topped it with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles (both of which I had on hand). I can see this one becoming a staple around these parts.
Check back next week my foodie friends as I try my hand at using Tanya's recipes to make Geo's 7th!!! birthday cake (he wants a rainbow starwars cake. Really. Rainbow colored.)
I've had fun cooking with Tanya this week and enjoying one of the major components Rachel Ray was missing in her 365 - yummy sweets! Here's what I've been cooking this week:
Yummmmm! I served this with the home made corn dogs (see below). I used the veggies she calls for- sweet potatoes, purple onion, and yellow squash. I forgot the asparagus, which is sad because I love asparagus, and used red potatoes because I couldn't find the new potatoes. This was wonderful- ISH even ate it! And that says a lot because he doesn't like anything that's even remotely healthy and (previously) without exception will not knowingly eat an onion.
I'm going to change this to One Dish and a bowl Cinnamon Swirl. She says in her notes that she truly only uses one dish but you need a bowl to mix the yummy cinnamon goodness (and apparently one bigger than the one I used because I made a good size mess. Oops). I do like how you butter the dish and then put the flour and dry ingredients in to mix up so the dish is buttered and floured already! What a great trick. I had run out of canola oil so I had to use the veggie oil and haven't purchased the "unbleached" flour she calls for so I'm still using the bleached and thus less healthy flour I've always used. But I'm sure the unbleached part wouldn't make this too much healthier- I mean it does have 6 TBSP of melted butter in it. ISH loved this so much his comment was "I wish everything was made out of this cinnamon swirl, except Jesus ... but then He wouldn't be in heaven and then we could do bad things because it wouldn't make Him sad because he'd be made of cinnamon swirl." I think that means he liked it. I served this with scrambled eggs, bacon, and some fresh spinach (you know, to make me feel like it was at least somewhat of a healthy dinner).
LK made this for me because I was trying to wrap up some work and thus it was made without the 1/2 tsp of hot sauce (wimp). He used butter instead of canola oil (she gives you the option). These were very fluffy- more like omelets, and I say that as positive because I don't normally like scrambled eggs but these were good. LK said the hard part is I don't think she expects you to cook enough for 4 at one time. But he did and I think it turned out well, so quadruple the recipe as needed.
Tanya has tried her hardest to make corn dogs healthy. Unfortunately, ISH caught wind of what I was making for dinner and with all the cuteness he could muster begged for "cheesy wennie corn dogs." Saying no really wasn't an option. So I used the completely unhealthy cheese hot dogs- but ISH's petition was a good one. Those cheesy wennies were excellent as corn dogs. I don't think I did the whole "tall jar" thing right because once I'd covered the first few hot dogs I couldn't get the batter all over the remaining dogs (I think I need her to come and give me a tutorial on this method especially since I actually got one hot dog stuck in the tall container I was using. Yes, I am that talented). So I emptied the remaining batter into a shallow bowl and rolled the remaining dogs around in that. Her note about wiping off the water from the dogs before putting them in the batter is spot on. I didn't do it with some and while cooking the batter didn't really stick. We had these with the roasted veggies. It felt like great "Welcome" to summer meal- just add baseball!
I need to ask about this one. It calls for 9 TBSP of olive oil to cook the veggies in as well as topping with 1 stick butter. But when I was done cooking it there was a lot of olive oil at the bottom of the casserole dish. Now- it could be as a result of any of the following variations to the actual recipe that I made. She calls for 2 mushrooms but I had about 5 I need to use up and she calls for 1/4 c celery but I used probably about 3/4 to 1 cup because, like the mushies, I needed to use them. But I would think that would use up more of the oil than leave too much. Here is one that could have done it- I didn't use raw chicken. I had just about a whole chicken left over from the bacon roasted chicken I made last week for my girlfriends, so I cut that cut and used it (and the bacon) instead of the whole chicken cut up that she calls for. Since the chicken was already cooked I didn't cook the casserole for the full 3- 3 1/2 hours. I cooked it closer to 2. My guess is that had I had raw chicken and cooked it for 3 hours more of the oil would have been gone. I also didn't have 2 cups of milk (I need to go to the grocery store) so having long ago learned the valuable lesson that ranch dressing cannot work as a milk substitute when cooking a casserole, I used 1 cup of milk, 1/2 a cup of evaporated milk and 1/2 cup of water. I really tasted pretty good though. I served it with sauteed spinach (one of my favorite veggies)
An elder at a church where LK and I use to attend once said he though the reasons more marriages end in divorce today compared to his generation was the invention of instant pudding. I don't know if he's right or not but I can see how serving your hubby this yummy treat could keep him happy. My first round with this I apparently misinterrupted the boil calls for. She warns not to let it boil too much or the cornstarch will breakdown and I think I errored on the side of too cautious (there's a first time for everything) because the pudding never set- like 5 hours later never set. But when I dumped the not-setting pudding back into the pan and really let the boil happen it set up almost immediately. I topped it with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles (both of which I had on hand). I can see this one becoming a staple around these parts.
Check back next week my foodie friends as I try my hand at using Tanya's recipes to make Geo's 7th!!! birthday cake (he wants a rainbow starwars cake. Really. Rainbow colored.)
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The beauty of Thy peace
I'm going to start this post with a disclaimer: Warning- it's very possible what follows could be seen as a rant. I don't intend it to be that way, but a warning none-the-less. There, if you get to the bottom of this post and think "Wow! She really ranted there didn't she!" I can point to this disclaimer and say, I told you it was coming.
The other day I came across a blog written by a stay at home mom. I'm going to straight up admit I have not read her blog so I can pass no judgement on it's content. What I do want to discuss though is her blog description:
She even has a little badge that you can put on your blog if you'd like to identify with her Type A stress junkie approach to life. And in trying to figure out why the whole thing hit me wrong, I put my finger on the idea so many (even myself at a time) buy into - that stress coupled with overachievement is a good thing- something "badge worthy."
I remember when I was younger and I had my daytimer full of meetings and events and I rushed from one place to the other telling others how little sleep I got the night before as some sort of indication of my value. It was as though I believed that the busier I was, the more important I was. As though to say if you're not stressed, you must not be doing it right. And I hung my hat on my achievements.
Fast forward to the 30-something me -- but please keep in mind that I do not sit here on some lotus pillow in an enlightened state of Zen adulthood. I still get stressed. Just ask LK and he'll tell you about the other night when I was rattling off in a 90 mile an hour fashion all the things I needed to have accomplished before we left town. There are times when stress just happens. And my daytimer is still full, especially now that kid's activities are added into the mix of my own.
So what's the difference between the type-A stressed out mommy and the approach I'm suggesting?
The difference is balance. It's peace. The difference is now I recognize the stress and work to remove it rather than glorify it. The difference is now, while my daytimer is full, it is also balanced.
To me now, the words of "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" perfectly sums it up:
I still don't like the word all that much but I can understand it better. The way I see it now is that "still" does not mean I can't move- because even when I'm sitting still some part of my body if still fidgeting. But instead, I try view it as an acronym.
Show
So today I'm adding a badge to the side of my blog. A badge to remind me that it is the beauty of a God ordered life, a life that comes from living with a STILL state of mind. The life that I want to strive for, not the life of a stressed-junkie, overachieving mommy. So if you identify as being someone that has this state of mind, or identify as someone who wants to have it, please feel free to take the badge and put it on your blog as a reminder to yourself that stress and overachievement is not the mark of a successful woman, but having a STILL life is.
The other day I came across a blog written by a stay at home mom. I'm going to straight up admit I have not read her blog so I can pass no judgement on it's content. What I do want to discuss though is her blog description:
Confessions on motherhood, from an overachieving, stress junkie stay-at-home mommy with a sweet tooth (and a Martha complex)
She even has a little badge that you can put on your blog if you'd like to identify with her Type A stress junkie approach to life. And in trying to figure out why the whole thing hit me wrong, I put my finger on the idea so many (even myself at a time) buy into - that stress coupled with overachievement is a good thing- something "badge worthy."
I remember when I was younger and I had my daytimer full of meetings and events and I rushed from one place to the other telling others how little sleep I got the night before as some sort of indication of my value. It was as though I believed that the busier I was, the more important I was. As though to say if you're not stressed, you must not be doing it right. And I hung my hat on my achievements.
Fast forward to the 30-something me -- but please keep in mind that I do not sit here on some lotus pillow in an enlightened state of Zen adulthood. I still get stressed. Just ask LK and he'll tell you about the other night when I was rattling off in a 90 mile an hour fashion all the things I needed to have accomplished before we left town. There are times when stress just happens. And my daytimer is still full, especially now that kid's activities are added into the mix of my own.
So what's the difference between the type-A stressed out mommy and the approach I'm suggesting?
The difference is balance. It's peace. The difference is now I recognize the stress and work to remove it rather than glorify it. The difference is now, while my daytimer is full, it is also balanced.
To me now, the words of "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" perfectly sums it up:
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,Back in the jam-packed-daytimer-crazy-stress days I hated the word "still." The song "Be still and know that I am God" made me shutter. To me I had the whole lack-of-motion-mediation thought going on when I heard the word "still" and I hated it because, let's face it- I'm an active person. Someone once asked how I fit everything into my day- my response was that I don't sit still very easily. So the thought that still could be anything but annoying didn't register.
till all [my] strivings cease;
take from [my] soul the strain and stress,
and let [my] ordered [life] confess
the beauty of Thy peace.
I still don't like the word all that much but I can understand it better. The way I see it now is that "still" does not mean I can't move- because even when I'm sitting still some part of my body if still fidgeting. But instead, I try view it as an acronym.
Show
That
I
Love the
Lord
Because, if I love Him, I'm going to trust him. I'm going to let him order my life and my priorities. I'm going to see that hanging my hat on my achievements, that living life to the point of becoming a "stress junkie" doesn't show the world where my values lie. But if I live a STILL life, then my actions will show what matters most.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
God knows
This morning as I was getting ISH in the car to take him to SonShine school I remember putting my coffee mug on the roof of my car. And I remember thinking to myself in passing as I buckled in my child:
(no wonder that mom was looking at me so strangely when I was pulling in)
"ISH!" I said. "You have to come see what's on the top of mommy's car!"
"Oh!" ISH said. "It's your coffee."
"I know," I replied. "I have no idea how it stayed up there from the house to church. That's so crazy!"
ISH thought for a minute and then replied "I think God held it up there."
"Oh?" I responded
"Yes." ISH said confidently. "He knows how much you need your coffee."
*yes, I do talk like this to myself frequently. I'm okay with it, you should be too.
I wonder if I left this mug up here if it would slide off and smash my windshieldbut then correcting myself by thinking
why would I do that?! This is my favorite KaliKosmos Travel mug that my sweet LK had made for me. And that's my only windshield. And further more, that mug contains the caffeine goodness that is going to get me through the day. Best to not leave it on the roof of my car.*But this was the view I saw when I got out of the car to unbuckle ISH once I arrived as SonShine school
(no wonder that mom was looking at me so strangely when I was pulling in)
"ISH!" I said. "You have to come see what's on the top of mommy's car!"
"Oh!" ISH said. "It's your coffee."
"I know," I replied. "I have no idea how it stayed up there from the house to church. That's so crazy!"
ISH thought for a minute and then replied "I think God held it up there."
"Oh?" I responded
"Yes." ISH said confidently. "He knows how much you need your coffee."
*yes, I do talk like this to myself frequently. I'm okay with it, you should be too.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Yellow
i heart faces challenge this week is yellow. I've mentioned before my thoughts on yellow, more than once actually. But I do, it ends up, have a yellow picture that has a face in it. I took this one at my mom's birthday party. Dr_EAM and my SIL had given my mom a hard hat for her birthday (it makes perfect sense if you know her) and ISH, 18 months old at the time, was having fun with the new shiny (and yellow) toy.
Check out more yellow entries at iheartface's website.
Check out more yellow entries at iheartface's website.
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