P2P

Desperate

I laughed when I took a good look at this plant in our kitchen the other day. Emma got it from her teacher at the end of school and I just hadn’t paid attention to the fact that it was growing. It doesn’t happen much at our house. So when I saw it pressed up against the window I thought, “Geez, I know plants grow towards the light but that looks a little desperate.”

But then I realized I’ve looked a lot like this plant lately. Head leaned on the window, searching for the Light, the Source. Desperate to grow.

Posted via email from Amy’s posterous

Desperate

I laughed when I took a good look at this plant in our kitchen the other day. Emma got it from her teacher at the end of school and I just hadn’t paid attention to the fact that it was growing. It doesn’t happen much at our house. So when I saw it pressed up against the window I thought, “Geez, I know plants grow towards the light but that looks a little desperate.”

But then I realized I’ve looked a lot like this plant lately. Head leaned on the window, searching for the Light, the Source. Desperate to grow.

Posted via email from Amy’s posterous

We’ve Moved

Permission to Peruse finally grew up and is over at permissiontoperuse.com.

Cooking with The Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

This week we had some major winners!

Ranch Chicken

This was by far the best chicken dish I’ve ever had at home and might rival any chicken dish I’ve had at any restaurant.  It was DELISH.  It was juicy and flavorful and oh so right.  These are permanently in rotation at our house.

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Cauliflower Soup

In Emma’s words, “this soup is just good”.  So yeah, it’s definitely a keeper.  I had never had cauliflower soup that I can recall and the best I can describe it is a mix between broccoli and cheese and potato soup.  My only issue with this is it took much longer than it says.  From the time I put the butter in the pan to serving it, it was an hour and a half.

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Baked Fudge

I’m not sure I can give the proper review for this as I didn’t have ramekins and used some small measuring cup/bowls from Pampered Chef.  I decided to make these Thursday night while watching Grey’s.  They were ready to put in the oven within 10-15 minutes and seemed very simple but as PW says, the timing in the oven is the tough part.  I took mine out too early and a lot of mine was more like fudge for a sundae rather than baked fudge.  But, the taste was still good and Scott and I “suffered” through it.  I want to make these again as I bought ramekins this weekend at the mall.  I also have to mention the whipped cream I made as well.  Yum!

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Marlboro Man’s Second Favorite Sandwich

We choose to eat these a la carte (read: no bun).  I’ve now deleted three attempts at writing how I feel about these.  Basically, it’s not as good as the ranch chicken, better than the cube steak in Marlboro Man’s favorite sandwich but less juicy but way better than any chicken recipe I had before.  So, take that for what it’s worth.  I’ll make it again, how about that?

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Red Velvet Cake (no link)

I believe this was my first cake that didn’t come with a box.  I think it came out great albeit a little more like pink velvet cake instead of red velvet cake.  The icing was definitely my favorite part.  The edges seemed a bit dry at first to me but after the cake was in the fridge for a while it didn’t bother me a bit.  Maybe because the piece only lasted about 30 seconds on my plate.

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This week also included the frozen chicken spaghetti from the other week.  It thawed and heated up perfectly!

Weekend Recap

We had quite the eventful Valentine’s Day weekend.

Friday it snowed 4-5”.  It was the girls weekend with Scott’s parents so Scott and I got out just as it was starting to accumulate.  By the time we left their house, we ran into several cars that were in a ditch or trying to head towards one.  Scott had his truck so we (which I use loosely because really all I did was take pictures and tweet the stops) stopped and helped who we could.  We spent a little bit of time with Jake and Jill (and the baby!) before heading home.

Saturday we went shopping up at Concord Mills since I had to go drop my ring off for repairs.  We got back in time for the girls to go to Parents’ Night Out at gymnastics while we went out for a Valentine’s Day dinner with Dani, David, Wayne and Joni. 

Here’s a few pictures of us from that:

And we tried

and tried

and tried

and really tried

and really, really tried

to get a good picture.  But Scott for some reason was ultra-sensitive to the flash.  I promise he hadn’t been drinking!

While we were busy eating, Lexi sustained her first injury at gymnastics

Apparently she did a face-plant into the trampoline and had some burns.  She said she didn’t cry though!

Sunday we went to church. ate at Mom and Dad’s, spent some time at Scott’s parents and then spent the rest of the day at home.  It was a nice quiet evening to finish our busy weekend.

Sunday Highlights: Love, Sex, God: Attraction

Oh, of course I dedicated to doing these recaps of North Rock Hill services right before we started a series on sex!  But I have to say this morning’s start was dare I say fun?  I know, I know.  Sex in church…gasp!  Sex talks in church that were fun…gasp!  It just doesn’t sound right!!  What are you people doing over there??  Aren’t you learning about JESUS?!

But today’s intro was so awkward, filled with lots of nervous laughing but just some downright funny, relatable stuff.  And he only covered attraction today!  So here we go.

In this series, he’s covering Song of Songs.  Many like to say it’s allegorical for our relationship with Christ but it’s clear in latter chapters that not ALL of it is allegorical.  As Chris said, there is some stuff in there I just don’t wanna be doing with Jesus!  But yes, it has some allegorical elements.

Cast of characters:

1. King Solomon – writer and participant
2. Unnamed Shulammite – she is the beloved
3. Young Jerusalem women – these are the Beloved’s friends.  As Chris pointed out, a man doesn’t just court a woman, he courts her AND all her friends.

Solomon and this girl are not together at this point.  They’ve met and there is attraction.

v4 – This is not his bedroom, this is a place where the King hangs out.  She’s basically asking him to take her to his favorite place (although Heather pointed out that probably IS his bedroom)

v6 She is a peasant/servant.  She’s not fair skinned and plump like a princess would be.   Yet, she has captured the King’s attention somehow.

v7 Basically she is saying, I’m not playing games like the rest of these girls that follow you around to try to catch your attention.  Tell me where you are.

The rest of the first chapter they exchange love notes basically.

One thing: Love is not about finding the right one; it’s about BEING the right one.

Women generally use 2 approaches to catching a man’s attention

1 – Catching mode.  These are the ones similar to the girls that veiled themselves and followed the shepherds around.  They put on an outfit, do their hair and rely on looks.  Think Bret Michaels Rock of Love for a worse-case scenario.  It’s like throwing bait out to see what you can catch.  The problem with this is you’ll have to keep him with that bait and Father Time is not on your side.  You will eventually lose them when you lose your bait.  And when you catch him, you’ll generally find out he is a loser.

2 – Hunting mode. The women pursue.  Do all the work.  Call, set up dates, tell the guy exactly what’s going to happen and basically call all the shots.  The result is you have a passive wimp.

v7 shows a picture of the alternative.  She made a decision to be a princess.  You are either going to be the one they sleep with or the one they marry.

v3 Name is significant.  He had a good reputation and honor.

v7 Before courtship, create a standard.  If you don’t, it will change based on emotions.  Guys are great manipulators and will say anything to get what they want.

A woman doing it right will hold her standard up, wait to see if he leads.  She wants a leader not a pacifist.  If he doesn’t lead now, he won’t lead later.  Don’t compromise for attention.  Princesses have expectations.

Males, be a leader and respect boundaries.  Don’t be selfish.

If you’re married, instead of pursuing this in another marriage, work on your own. You can’t fix someone else but you can control yourself.  Be the best husband or wife you know how.  1 Peter 3.  Life is more about marriage.  Your life should be a pursuit of Jesus regardless of your spouse.  Men, step up.  Women, encourage your husband when he does step up.  Men are also responsible for being attractive after married.

Typing this out, I guess it felt a little like Dating 101 but it was so interesting seeing it related to Song of Songs.  Also, I think every single teenager needed to hear this.  It makes me want to save it another 5 or 6 years for a few little girls I might know.  I highly recommend listening to the Podcast (when it’s posted).

Next week is about Courtship!

Book Queue

Cooking with the Pioneer Woman: Weekly Update

So things went a little slow last week.  I had a horribly busy week at work, Scott went back on nights and it just didn’t happen.  BUT I do have a few things to share

Chicken Spaghetti

This was very creamy, flavorful and comforting dish.  My mom made a tuna casserole growing up and it reminded me a bit of that.  I think adding peas to this dish would be a great addition.  Oh my, is that me being a cook??  The best thing is I divided it between two dishes and froze one of them!

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The Best Lasagna Ever

I was a little hesitant with cottage cheese in my lasagna but I’ve learned to simply trust P-Dub.  It’s ok I’ve only had ricotta cheese in mine.  Really.  And it was really MORE than ok.  Scott took a plate over to my parents (long story but just go with it) and my mom emphatically said it was the BEST lasagna she’d had in her 50 years.  So that’s saying something.

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Potato Skins (no link)

This recipe called for real bacon.  And I’ve never fried real bacon.  It’s a shame, I know.  But we always buy that already done stuff and stick it in the microwave for 32 seconds.  But lawd, why haven’t I done real bacon before?  Wow, what a difference!  The sad part is we used most of the bacon for the jalapeno poppers so I only got to fry up 4 pieces of bacon but I will not do potato skins without them again!  But even so, these were FANTASTIC.  I have to say they aren’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done with all the cooking and scooping and more cooking and oiling and more cooking.  Yeah, it was probably an hour and a half process altogether.  But it was worth it.  And they were just as good leftover!

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That’s it for new stuff this week.  We also made several repeats: tomato soup twice this week, another round of mocha brownies, jalapeno poppers and onion strings. Can you tell we had an impromptu Super Bowl party?  It was so nice to say hey, I have an onion.  Why don’t I make onion strings?

One last note, DO NOT make the tomato soup with anything but fresh parsley and basil.  Just sayin’.

PS3, Let’s Fight

Me and that thing?  Are about to fight.

It just irritates the fire out of me that you have to BEG Scott to turn the volume up on the TV normally.  I mean, literally, beg.  PLEASE, I CAN NOT UNDERSTAND THE WORDS COMING OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS.  I have to put the closed captioning on whenever possible just so I catch everything.  His ears are sensitive and he can’t handle it.  But last night after he hooked that thing up?  He had it up so loud that the bass was almost knocking my glass shelves off the wall in the bathroom.  I am not even joking.  What gives?

Also, it may irritate me a bit that he has barely left his recliner since getting it.

If I knew how to turn it in to this.  I would.

Except I wouldn’t be grilling whatever that is on the grill.  Gross.

P.S. I realize I’m being hypocritical and all since I rarely leave my computer.  Which this post pretty much confirms because I’m taking the time to post a picture of a PS3-turned-grill.  But just let me complain.  Please?  I have PMS and I’d rather not yell at him because he really is a great husband and deserves some fun time.  OK, whew, I feel better.  Therapy session OVER.

P.P.S. After he got off the game this morning he cleaned the whole kitchen and put in a load of clothes to “stay out of trouble”.  We might keep this thing after all.  Bwa ha ha ha.

P.P.S.  He’s playing again.

Sunday Highlights – Anxiety

I love what Jenni does for Crosspoint on her blog where she recaps the outline from the sermon for her blog readers.  It may feel a little like simple regurgitation but as a non-attendant at the church I love getting any snippet of wisdom from Pete’s sermons.  I always, always enjoy Chris’ sermons at North Rock Hill so why not share?  Not everyone has time to check out the podcast, so yeah, I’m gonna start doing this weekly I think.  Rambly enough? Here we go.

This series has been about Vital Signs.  This week our blood pressure is about anxiety…surprise!

Chris listed several symptoms of anxiety from an article in Time.  And yes, I wrote them all down.

• mood swings
• depression
• tired
• angry outbursts
• eye-twitching
• fragmentation of the mind (mind is always 100 different places)
• checking out (sort of like daydreaming)
• paranoid/suspicions (always assume worst case scenario.  a card from your husband means he’s cheating and trying make up for it)
• weight gain/loss
• panic
• fatigue
• self-medicating (drugs-prescription or not, alcohol and may I add food?)
• irritable
• reckless
• headaches
• spending money
• stomach issues (ulcers, etc)
• high blood pressure

As Christians, instead of leading the world to peace and contentment we follow the world to find peace and contentment.

The Time article recommended the following things to help with anxiety: therapy, drugs, tranquilizers, exercise, lifestyle changes.  While Chris pointed out that medication has its place as well as exercise (obv) those are often not dealing with the real issue.

Philippians 4

We need to live so others can mimic us and live like Jesus as Paul did.

The one thing: I can have peace and contentment through intimacy with Jesus regardless of my circumstances.

If you have to manage your anxiety, it’s in control of you.

From Philippians 4, here are some Biblical points on how to deal with the root cause of our anxiety

1 – You have the Holy Spirit.  You must ask yourself: When is Jesus enough?

2 – Constantly approach Him specifically and thankfully with requests.  This should be all day, any time you find yourself becoming anxious.

3 – Dwell on good things.  Anxiety is a very me-centered issue.  Move from Me to Him.  You can’t live with the peace of God until you live for the God of peace.

4 – He redefined the often misinterpreted “I can do all things through Christ”.   This is not a message of blessings but whether you are in a state of riches or poverty, you find contentment and can do it all with Christ.  In riches, be humble and be generous.  In poverty, you still have Jesus and He’s more than enough.

John Ortberg says we need to abandon pursuit of peace and contentment altogether and pursue Christ.

Recommended book: The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg.  I bought this from the church two weeks back and it has so much great stuff in it.  Highly recommend as well!

Good stuff, right?  A great reminder for all of us!  He’s enough!

IE, Y and Other Acronyms

In the past two days, I’ve worked 18 hours, 3 of which occurred between 3:30 and 6am last night.  We finally implemented some systems that we’ve been working on since my visit to Indianapolis last Spring.  The last three days have been an orchestration of probably 20 or more people and at least 50 different tasks, several of which I was assigned to or had to coordinate.  And it’s been nothing but geeky computer stuff filled with acronyms…DTS, FTP, NDM, G2, PROC, and the list goes on.

I got done with work about 4 this afternoon and then this evening was happy to get out with Heather and spend the evening at a VIP event at a local restaurant we were invited to.  Free food!  Imagine the place a little like a mix between Applebee’s and possibly Hooter’s (in that they had short shorts, not little tops).  There was music playing and a full house because of the event and TVs going.  In short, it was a little hard to hear.

We’re nearing the end of dinner and Heather asks for our waitress’s name and after she (Katie) leaves she looks at me and says something but I didn’t catch the whole thing.  I heard something like “Y or I E” but asked her to repeat it.  She says the same thing and I still have this really confused look on my face.  I lean way over the table, right in her face.  Heather rolls her eyes and I ask her to say it one more time.  So Heather slowly and loudly says it again but I only catch the end.  So I say still confused, “It sounds like you’re saying Y or I. E.” She yells, “I AM!  I WONDER IF HER NAME IS SPELLED WITH A Y or IE!!”   I bust out laughing, barely able to swallow my food and once composed enough explain that I THOUGHT she was trying to say something about the “YMCA or Internet Explorer” using the “Y or IE” acronyms and couldn’t possibly grasp why they would be used in the same sentence.

#imadork

also

#ineedsleep

The Official Santa’s-Not-Real Convo

So it finally happened.  Santa died.  Here’s how it went down.

The big topic of conversation around the house today has been buying the girls a power wheels Barbie jeep.  We even went to look at them at WalMart this afternoon just for them to see which they might be interested in getting.  Upon finding out they are $300 I explained that we would not be buying one there and we might find one that someone has for sale.  Lexi had a suggestion I would love to see work out: “I know!  We need to find somebody that’s rich that doesn’t want their money!”  If only!

So this evening, devoid of rich people throwing their money away, we searched craigslist and were able to find a few in the area available.  So the bedtime conversation consisted of WHEN they were going to get these.  I said it was still a little cold to be outside riding them so maybe Easter would be a great time to get a present like that.  And this is where we drop in.

Emma: Do you remember last Easter when you surprised me with my bike?

Me: Yep.

Emma: The Easter bunny isn’t real is he?

Me: No. (thankful to have that one off the list)

Emma: Santa’s not real either?

Me: No. *pause*  How did you know that? Was that a guess?

Emma: Yes.

(whoops!)

Me: Oh, well, I’m sorry but he’s not real.

Lexi: The tooth fairy either right?

Me: No, not the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny or Santa.

Lexi: So who does the presents?

Me: Me and Daddy.  We bought your Nintendo DS’s at Walmart.  And we ate the cookies and milk.

Lexi: And who puts the money under the pillow?

Me: Me and Daddy.

Emma: So how do you get under there without waking us up?

I demonstrate sneaking under the pillow which they find amusing.

Lexi, with her little mommy voice on, serious but joking all at the same time: You should be ashamed of yourself!

Me: Why? We were just pretending for a while.

Lexi: Because you were lying for too long!

Me: I’m sorry, I thought you would be mad if you knew Santa wasn’t real.

Lexi: It’s not nice. You lied!

More apologies and an explanation of course that God and Jesus WERE real which was met with basically a “Duh, Mom” reaction.

Emma seemed pretty unphased by all of it.  It surprises me Lexi was more mad that we lied versus that any mascots, as Emma calls them, are not real.  Kids surprise you sometimes.

So it’s done.  They’re all dead.  The lying’s done and I’m relieved.

Random

1 – My ring

I lost another diamond in my ring today.  Third one since I’ve had it.  I enjoy the cluster of diamond versus one diamond but it sure has been a pain in the neck for the 18 months I’ve had this one.  Thankfully it’s all covered under guarantee. 

I can’t help but laugh when I see it though because it makes me thing of this:

2 – My butt muscles are sore from my run yesterday.  Anyone know any good stretches?

3 – The tooth fairy is officially dead at my house.  In the car yesterday:

Lexi: I believe in Santa, God and Jesus

Emma: Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy?

Lexi: Yes

Emma: Well she’s not real.

Lexi: Well, how does the money get there?

Emma: Mommy and Daddy put it there

Lexi: Oh.

So that’s done.  That’s what big sisters are for I guess.  Still so tempted to say the same goes for Santa but something stopped me.  Not sure why.

Couch to 5K – Just Hand Me a Cap and Gown

I think I graduated anyway.  Today I went to finish up week 8 of 9 with 28 minutes of running.  I’m still kind of slow with all the running, usually running about a 12 minute pace so I knew when I got to the final week 9 it was unlikely I’d actually make the 3 miles (5K) in the 30 minutes it had set. 

I got to 10 minutes today and really thought I might have to walk for a bit.  I hadn’t eaten much today, didn’t take any Advil, didn’t have an Energy gel and haven’t been stretching well so things were stacked against me. But if I’ve learned anything over the last 8 weeks, it’s if I push through, I can do it.  Shocking revelation, I know.  I guess Nike was right all along, Just do it!  So I did. I slowed the treadmill down from a 5.7 (10-11 min pace) slowly down to a 4.8 (12 min) and ran through it.  By 25 minutes I realized I was feeling great and decided I would run longer than the scheduled 28 minutes.  Week 9 you run 30 minutes I guess in hopes you are at a 10 min mile by that point but I wasn’t quite there.  I was already over my time though and really nothing hurt.  I was tired but my breathing was regulated so I just kept going. And for the first time, I had legit ran 3 miles.  Over 3 miles in fact.

It all started with an inspiring and INSISTENT friend

Continued with the help of an awesome iPhone app

About all ended with a tough week 4

And actually ended unexpectedly early.  I’m calling myself a graduate.  I have gone from my Couch to a 5K.

I don’t HATE running now.  I don’t love it like I do spinning still but it’s amazing how my body has adjusted.  Everything on me used to hurt when I ran but today, nothing but a little pain in my left hip.  My ankles which always felt like they might dislocate my feet from my body are now stronger.  My shins which would ache don’t give me any trouble.  The burning in my calves is gone.  My breathing is easier to control.  I guess it figured out that I was serious about this running thing.

Now I haven’t won any races or even signed up for any races but I really want to do a few thank-you’s for getting this far.  Just imagine me on-stage with the music playing and Kanye sitting in the crowd ready to interrupt.

<cheese>

I want to thank Melissa and my dad for being the runners they are and inspiring and encouraging me.  C25K app creators for making all the cues easier and TrySports Charlotte for setting me up with some fabulous equipment and doling out spot-on advice.  I’d like to thank my family for letting me have time away to take care of myself.  And yes, God, thanks for the well-being, means, and strength for getting me through.

</cheese>

So what’s next?  I think a spinning class is in order to be honest!  Melissa promised me a piece of chocolate cake at graduation back in week 4.  And yes, I think I’ll keep running.  Maybe even run a few races this Spring.  But even if I don’t know, at least I know for a fact I CAN!  And more importantly, if I can, you can too!  Go get started!

Beginning of the End: Favorite LOST Stuff

Tonight’s the big night…the beginning of the end of LOST.  Man, I’m going to miss this show.  So here we go, some of my favorite things.  T-shirts:

Sawyer!

The numbers! I hope we find out what they mean!

Java Station! HA!

All of Sawyer’s nicknames

And now some favorite scenes. I don’t really pretend to understand everything that is going on. Numbers, smoke monsters, hieroglyphics…they keep me watching but funny and sweet? I understand these well.

I love Hurley!  Funny Hurley Moments:

Great Sawyer Quotes:

And all the kissy face time. Their #4 is actually my #1.  Team Jate!