Yes, I did take my little sewn heart outside as a photo prop. Don't heckle me. It snowed! We have had quite a lack of snow this year. Previous to last night we only had one substantial snowfall this winter (substantial meaning we actually had to shovel). Can't say I'm super excited about getting snow, but it is kinda nice not to have to stare at brown grass, either. Hopefully this is the last of it, though. I'm so ready for spring! On another note, Kaiwi and I have been endeavoring to eat healthier lately. We kinda fell off the bandwagon back there around Christmas when we were still planning for him to be leaving. Our meal planning discussions went a little something like this: "What would you like for supper tonight?" "Oh, I don't care... let's go out to eat." Then, in my preparations to visit Ruth I stocked our freezer with easy-to-prepare junk food for Kaiwi. It's still there, tempting me every night around supper time when I ask myself, "What should I make?" You may ask, "Well, Kaiwi didn't eat all the junk food?" No, no he did not. He ate hot dogs. Anyway, the point of my ramblings is that we have been trying to exercise a little more self-control lately. We have been eating mostly veggies and lean meats for the past week and a half. Kaiwi has already dropped several pounds, and me... nothing. That's the way it goes though. Guys just lose weight easier. My cheating every now and then probably doesn't help. But honestly, my goal is not to lose weight, it is just to eat healthier. We have basically no dairy or breads in the house right now, though. This is something I sorely missed the first week. This week though I don't mind so much. Meal planning has also gotten much easier. Our meals all basically look like this: It's all been very good, actually. I think we have been lacking in the area of veggies so that is one change I want to keep around.
But... I'm waiting for the day when I can revive my bread machine. I have a few recipes with it I want to try. Aaaaand, I've been craving some gooey chocolate cake for two weeks now. I don't care how many veggies you feed me. I still want cake.
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Every day closer to spring is more and more exciting to me. I am sorely missing the sun! We have had two straight weeks of grey skies and fog. I was a little excited watching the weather this morning when I saw the little picture of the sun on this week's forecast. I threw open all my blinds so if the sun did decide to peek out I wouldn't miss it. Well... still no sun. So, being in the mood to brighten things up in our house I got out our Valentine decorations. Our house has seemed so bare since we took down our Christmas decorations. I seriously feel like there is an echo in here sometimes. I don't have all our Valentine stuff out yet, there is still one storage bin on the highest of high shelves in the garage. I haven't mustered the courage to face certain death to get it down yet, so I just made-do with what I had on hand right now... which isn't much really, but it still brightens things up. I'm definitely not much of a seamstress, but I had some leftover fabric from a previous project that I turned into hearts. Yes, I know the seams are terribly crooked. Oh well. I also spruced up my wreath for the holiday. I just have one wreath and change it for every season. Well, ok, I lied. I have two wreaths, but one is solely for Christmas. And that's as far as I got with the decorating. Maybe I'll get the rest of the decorations from the garage soon.
Back to regular, everyday life.
It was so much fun visiting my friend Ruth and her family this past week. I love how we can pick up where we left off like we never spent any time apart. I just wish we could do it more often. Our week never had a dull moment it seemed. I enjoyed every minute of it- going to church, painting the house they are renovating, having another chick to watch Downton Abbey with (my husband's not a fan), four wheeling, and just hanging out with everyone. I also loved the SUN! It almost didn't seem like January compared to our foggy Northwest weather here. Of course, I brought my camera and took a ton of pictures. I hope you enjoy a few of them! Wife packs for trip:
Clean house. Do laundry. Go grocery shopping. Cook food in advance for husband. Make lists of important information and phone numbers. Try to pack everything into a carry-on suitcase. Needs multiple hair and makeup products and a new outfit for every day. If you have kids, add at least one hundred more things to do. Husband packs for trip: Toothbrush and *MAYBE* a change of underwear. Ok, so maybe a little extreme, but you get the picture. I'm so excited to be going to see my friend Ruth and her family tomorrow! My plane takes off early... like get up in the middle of the night to get to the airport on time early. I always tell myself that I can sleep on the plane but I usually don't. Obviously I wish Kaiwi was coming along but at least we're only apart for a week vs. several months. I'm sure my trip will go waaay too fast, because they always do. When you don't live by the ones you love its never enough time together. So, I'll be back in a week! Hopefully I'll have some fun things to share when I get back. :D Life is always exciting, and 2014 has already proven to be just that.
For the last few months Kaiwi and I have been planning and preparing to be gone from our house for several months. I figured if Kaiwi has to be gone, Im going home to be with family until he gets back. So, we have been using up all the food in our fridge, put our house services and utilities on hold, forwarded our mail, and, yes... turned off the water. I also JUST booked my ticket outta here. And then... K gets the call. Guess who isn't leaving after all? *sigh* Sometimes life is funny, and you just have to laugh with it. Don't get me wrong, I am super excited that I don't have to go the next several months without my hubby. So tomorrow instead of spending our last day together before he leaves, he is heading back to work, and I am heading to the grocery store. Oh, yeah, there is also that little task of calling all of our utilities so our services don't get cut off. So, I'd like to take a moment here to apologize to my family. I know you were all waiting in anticipation for me to get home, so we can do super awesome stuff together. Guess we will have to just wait a little longer for that. I still have my plane ticket to use, though. I need to use it this next week or I lose it, so I am still planning on going to see my bestie Ruth and her family. I think the last time I was at her home was when Kaiwi and I were in Texas, about 3 years ago. Waaay too long. So, Im excited to visit there. If I can go a few months on my own without Kaiwi he should be fine for a week or two, right? I don't usually make Valentine cards. Not that I hate the holiday, its just that my Valentine lives with me, so I don't really have the need to mail him a card. Haha. Anyway, my craft area has been a mess lately with a lot of our stuff we have been going through and trying to organize, so today I just shoved it all to the side so I could get at my card stuff. Sometimes you just need to make a card, ya know?
I started out trying to use some rub-on words. They were super cute and I got them in a clearance bin a while back. Only a quater for the pack! Now I know why. Didn't matter how much pressure I put on the transfers they would NOT stick to my paper. Boooo! I switched to stamps instead. My second card I tried rub-ons again, only a better quality brand. Worked like a charm. So now the real question is: "Did I save a quarter on the cheap ones, or did I waste a quarter?". The rub-ons I used for my second card were totally free-to-me, though, since I stole them from my mom. Thanks, Mom! :D Can you believe it's the very last day of 2013? Wow! This year was so packed with huge changes for us that it just seemed to fly by! Well, I'm not much of a night-owl, but if I am going to try to stay up to bring in the New Year, then I might as well have munchies. Since I have a bread machine now, I might as well use it! I'm just using the basic dough recipes from my booklet that came with the machine. Maybe at some point I'll get brave and try to adapt them, but I figure I might as well stick with the basics right now. I've been dying to try the pretzel dough recipe, which is basically the same as the pizza dough recipe only it adds beer. Well, the hubs and I don't drink or buy alcohol, so this is really just pizza dough. I rolled out the dough into strips and cut it into cute little bite-sized pieces. You know, like the pretzel bites you pay an arm and a leg for at the movie theater. Then I brushed them with an egg, sprinkled them with salt, and baked 'em. They turned out a lot like I hoped they would! I just need to make some cheese sauce for dipping. I could see a honey mustard sauce tasting good as well. I don't have the ingredients to make either of those in my house right now, so it will just be a trip to the store to grab a jar of nacho cheese sauce for us. Happy New Year! Pretzel Bites in the Bread Machine1 1/4 cups Water
1 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil 3 3/4 cups Bread Flour 1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar 1 1/2 tsp Salt 1 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast Layer ingredients in your loaf pan. Liquids first, then make an even layer on top with your flour. I always put the sugar and salt in the corners, and then make a little crater in the middle of the flour for my yeast. Run it through your dough cycle. When dough is ready, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into equal portions. I divided mine into about 6 portions, and then rolled each portion out into a long roll. Cut roll into bite sized pieces, arrange on baking sheet. I used my silicone mats so I did not grease my sheet, but if you are not using a mat I'd highly recommend cooking spray. Beat an egg and brush onto dough pieces, then sprinkle salt on top. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 10-20 minutes. I cooked mine for 15, but if you want yours darker you can cook it longer. Dip in your favorite sauces and enjoy! *Adapted from the Zojirushi Breadmaker recipe booklet I've had a lot of questions about my camera lately, and honestly, it's something I really don't mind telling you about!
Last year Kaiwi asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I said I have always wanted a nice camera so I can take family pictures of us and our kids someday. I was thinking this would be a purchase we would plan for sometime down the road... and then Kaiwi took me out after Christmas to hit up the sales in the camera section. I kinda had a mini mental freak-out for two reasons- I had no idea what any of the products were AND the sticker shock was getting to me... even being on sale. My creative side was telling me, "You really want this... you NEED this!". My frugal side was telling me, "Stick with your iPhone camera, even though it's terrible! Those Instagram filters makes it look good, anyway". Hahaha... silly me. Kaiwi reassured me that this purchase was fine by telling me that by learning to use a quality camera would be something that would pay off. It would be a tool that we could use to capture moments and memories to look back on years from now. How awesome will it be someday to get out our photos and see the places we have lived and moved to. The trips and vacations we have taken. The friends and families that we have built relationships with. Look at me getting all sentimental. He was right though, and I don't regret splurging on it one bit. Fortunately my husband is Mr. Smarty Pants and he always does his research before a big purchase. He had already looked at the products out there and narrowed down the options to one camera... the Canon Rebel T3i. As a DSLR camera it is more expensive than a point and shoot, but not nearly as much as some of the higher quality models. It's very user friendly even to a camera idiot such as myself. I had absolutely no idea about things like aperture, ISO, bokeh... but the good thing is there are so many books and websites available with helpful information. Not to mention that the learning part of using my camera is most of the fun. Sure, I've got a ton of terrible photos. I'll probably take a ton more... but I also have a ton of photos from this past year that I can look at and remember exactly what we were going through that day. The hard days and the good days. I have pictures of my sister's wedding. My brother's wedding. Our anniversary trip. Our first child. Are they technically correct? Nope. Are they priceless? You betcha. I'm sure my husband regrets buying my camera for me sometimes. He's now husband to that crazy lady laying on the ground squinting through the viewfinder to get a picture of that bug... or being told by military security to delete those photos... yeah... don't ask. Anyway, I think my point was yes, it is worth it to buy a quality camera. I love my Canon, but that doesn't automatically make me a Nikon hater. Ultimately, your camera is a tool, not just a brand name. Get one that works for you. Also put some thought into the lenses you buy, these are expensive as well. My T3i came with the "kit lens", the 18-55mm lens. It takes good photos, but I am so glad we bought another lens when we got the camera. I didn't know what to get, and the salesman recommended the 55-250mm lens. This is the lens I ended up using for almost everything. It just seems to produce better pictures. It's heavier though, so I learned to raise my shutter speed in order to get pictures that weren't blurry because I couldn't hold my camera still enough. Just a few months ago we bought a 50mm lens. After almost a year of using two zoom lenses switching to a prime (no zoom) was weird, but I love it. It's been on my camera almost constantly since I got it. It really take practice and learning though, both of which I am still doing. I'd also highly encourage you to get out of the automatic mode. Sure it takes nice pictures, but you have so much more control over the look of your photos when you go manual. I guarantee you will get a lot of bad pictures. However, as you play with your settings and see what happens to your pictures when you do, you will gain so much more understanding about how your camera works. Most importantly, just have fun with it! I've been dying to write something about my new bread machine. It was a Christmas gift from my parents, and my husband and I were rebels and opened it early. {I know, I know... terrible. We have a good excuse though} Anyway, since all my siblings got the same thing I promised I wouldn't spoil the surprise. I absolutely LOVE this machine. The bread it makes is so delicious, but I love the dough option about it even better. It will mix up a batch of dough for you and then the options are endless. Breadsticks, croissants, pizza, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, pretzels, oh my! Not to mention you can bake cakes and meatloaf in it. AND jelly. Whew. Take a gander at a few of these pics from when I made cinnamon rolls for Christmas. The recipe mentioned throwing raisins into your rolls, but seriously... who would do a thing like that? I'll eat raisins occasionally, but they are not my favorite. Definitely not appreciated in my baked goods. They are just chocolate chip posers. Anyhow, I'll shut my trap and let you drool over the non-raisin cinnamon roll goodness below. Enjoy! "An angel of the Lord appeared…and…said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.'" Luke 2:8-11 O Holy Night
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining; It is the night of the dear Savior's birth! Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Refrain Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born! O night, O holy night, O night divine! Led by the light of faith serenely beaming, With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand. So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming, Here came the wise men from Orient land. The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger, In all our trials born to be our friend! Refrain Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His Gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother And in His Name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, Let all within us praise His holy Name! Refrain One of my favorite Christmas hymns! How humbling it is to know that Christ gave up His heavenly glory to live among us and to die for our sins. Celebrating Christmas and Jesus's birth is ultimately celebrating the salvation He offers to all of us! The sacrificial love that Christ showed to us when He died for us should be the same love the we all need to share with each other. Take the time this Christmas to be with friends and family and even strangers and show them that love. What better gift could there be than that? Merry Christmas! |
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About Us...Welcome! My name is Marie, and I have been married for 5 years now. We have one beautiful son, Isaac, waiting for us in Heaven and another son, Hayden, here with us! I hope to share with you more about our journey- where we have been and where we are going. Archives
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