Last night, I found my two summer loves (beyond Andy and Oliver, of course)
(I added two sliced strawberries and 1 T chocolate chips to my 1/2 c. serving---perfection)
and the second:
I was sobbing hysterically and laughing all in the first episode—it drew me in. I watched four episodes by myself last night…and told Andy I would have kept going if I didn’t have to get up and drive three hours to my parents house today. I’m just glad there are three seasons on Netflix on Demand.
With the onset of summer, and the slow return of my brain, I have gotten back in the kitchen and started experimenting again….something I haven’t done in a very long time. These are the recipes Andy asked me to write down so I don’t forget them….because he’s tired of only eating things once and then never again.
Chicken, Chickpea, and Tomato Pasta
1 box pasta (any shape—we used macaroni)
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can tomatoes, drained
1 lb. chicken, diced
1 lb. asparagus, cut into one inch pieces
Garlic, chopped
2 Laughing Cow light swiss cheese wedges
Olive oil
Fresh Basil, salt and pepper
Saute the chicken in the olive oil and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas and cook through. Melt the cheese wedges through the hot pasta. Mix the pasta and the chicken mixture. Add a little of the pasta water to make the cheese melt better. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Chop the basil and add. Then eat and enjoy.
Curry Ketchup Meatloaf
1 lb. extra lean ground beef (we always use Laura’s Lean)
1 c. Rice Chex, crushed
1/3 ish cup curry ketchup (it’s German….I ordered it online recently…but I think you could just mix some curry into ketchup)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
Mix in a bowl, form into loaf. I prefer to form into six mini balls and cook them in a muffin tin—it’s faster.
Spicy Pork Chops
1 lb pork chops
Srirachi Chili Sauce (a good squirt)
Dijon Mustard (a good squirt)
Rice Wine Vinegar (a few jiggles)
Soy Sauce (several jiggles---like 1/4 c.)
Marinade the pork in the other ingredients for a few hours. Then grill—4 or 5 minutes on each side. To make sure they are extra juicy, only turn the pork once, and let it sit under some tin foil after it’s finished. If it sits for a few minutes, the juices will flow back in and be extra juicy and yummy.
A few weeks ago, Andy was hanging out after work with a friend of his. These two are extremely like-minded, and a good working team. Which is good, since they work together. Andy’s friend was lamenting the fact that he was bored with what he was currently doing and wanted to use his skills in a different way. He challenged Andy (mostly jokingly, I think) to come up with a new idea, something that hadn’t been done, that they could do together.
If you know anything about my husband at all, you know that ideas and challenges are right up his alley.
Moments later, an idea came to him. A social networking site where people could post about the good and interesting and cool things that happened during their day. You see, my sweet husband has seen the vast number of social networking sites that are negative—making fun of people, complaining, and all sorts of negativity. But he didn’t see anyone showing thankfulness and happiness or talking about the good and exciting things that each of us are blessed with.
Thus, the website Something Cool Happened was born.
Almost immediately, these two started to work on this project in their spare time. It’s become a sort of side-hobby project for them, something that they are both extremely excited about. They have been working hard. Trust me. I’ve seen it. They have invited two other people on to the project with them, because building a website with the functionality that they are after is a big job.
I’m writing about this now because they have update their website with the ability to pre-register for an account. The first 1000 people to pre-register for an account will get to be a part of the beta site opening at the end of July. Their hope is to have the website itself fully functional and open to the public by early this fall. If you are interested at all, you can go here: http://register.somethingcoolhappened.com/
Even if you aren’t interested, it might be worth a look just to see the video Andy designed. It’s pretty awesome. Also, to laugh a bit when you realize that the voice-over is totally Andy’s voice….just way edited.
Today was my last day of school. Technically, I have a half day tomorrow. But I took a personal day. Because I was finished getting my room in order by 9:15.
If you are my mom, you may want to stop reading now. Because you will seriously hate me.
After I finished getting my room in order, I made a trip to the high school library. Two trips, actually. One where I learned some awesome news about an awesome opportunity for this summer. And one to pick up a stack of Rosie books. The Eliot Rosewater Book Awards are a book award from the state of Indiana, and the name is based on a Vonnegut character. Every year the group selects a variety of books that they consider the best for young adults, and readers across the state can read them and vote for a winner. Our high school librarian is on the selection committee and does an awesome job of promoting reading to our students. For the past two years, I have thought about reading along, but never did. Today changed that. I left the library with a bag BURSTING with Rosie books. And they are mine for the summer—I just have to return them on the first day of school. Suh-weet!
Since I was finished so early, I decided to read one of the books—the one that the librarian and my awesome coworker who was choosing books with me both recommended. It was “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. I can honestly say that it is the best book I have read since February, when I read “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. It was about a dystopian society, and it was very dark and sad. But it was gripping and oh-so-good. So good, in fact, that I read it today. As in, I finished it a few hours ago. I downloaded the second book to my Kindle, and I have a feeling I’m going to be really anxious for the third book to come out in August. I have long loved young adult dystopian books—Lois Lowry was my BFF, and I rank this book right up there with “The Giver.” I’ll probably end up purchasing hard copies of the books for my bookshelves at school (one of my goals for the summer is to build a classroom library).
So….if you’re in need of a good, quick read— “The Hunger Games” will not steer you wrong.
I have one teacher day left. And then I’m on vacation. And I am so excited. I really only have enough work to keep me busy for an hour or two tomorrow, so I have no idea what I’m going to do all day. But that doesn’t matter. Because at 3 pm, I’m out. For the summer.
Plans are already shaping up for the first few weeks of vacation. On Tuesday, Oliver gets his rabies shot. Wednesday my friend Rebekah and I are trekking out of town to Hobby Lobby and Michaels to get the materials we need for a baby shower we’re throwing in July (R. is leaving for a month and won’t be back until a few days before the shower). On Friday we’re heading home for the weekend, and I get to see Shannon, Brian and Theodore. I’m sure from the pictures I’ve seen recently that I won’t even recognize the little bitty…but I guess at this point, it has been 96 days since I’ve seen him :) Then it’s VBS at church and the next week I am going to camp with the youth group as the non-pregnant female chaperone who can stay with the girls.
My big plans for the summer include doing not much. And finally getting some rooms of the house in an order that I enjoy. We found an entertainment center at Target last night that I love….and I figured out a design for end tables that I love—but I don’t know if we’ll be able to find them somewhere….so I might try to convince Andy to see if we can build them. This summer, I’d like to do some work in our bedroom, finish the living room, and work out Andy’s office into a functional office space/guest room for the future. I also want to get rid of a lot of clutter. I started working to get rid of things in the bathroom yesterday. I parsed through all of my makeup until I was able to get down to 1 bag of makeup supplies total. I cleared out our shower too, and we recently switched over to Mrs. Meyer’s all-purpose cleaner—so instead of having 6-7 different bottles of cleaners, we only have 1. I love it.
In our bedroom, I want to replace the original lighting fixture (that I think looks like a b-0-o-b) with this capiz chandelier from World Market. I have this bedding from Target on order. And I want to add the extra closet space to our bedroom as shown here from younghouselove.com using none other than IKEA wardrobes. Young House Love is my new obsession. It’s a young couple from Richmond, VA who show all the ways that they are updating their old ranch style house. It’s pure genius.
And in the living room, I am hoping to pare down all of the excess crap that stores Andy’s stereo components with items like these…..I want this room to be light and neutral. We have bamboo blinds to go up, and the walls/carpet are already a light neutral tan. I have the perfect end tables in my head, but I think we may have to try our hands at building them because I very seriously doubt we can find them somewhere. All of these images are from Target—except for the lamp, which is World Market. I want some more storage in that room…for all of our extra little pieces. Some for paperwork, shoes, etc. All the random things that lie on tables and clutter up the house. And we definitely need something to put shoes IN because Oliver keeps running off with shoes.
My end table idea is close to the West Elm Parsons cube—but I want it to be another layer high. I want something tall and thin with some extra storage space. And then we can put a nice, substantial porcelain lamp on top.
Yesterday was a bad day. Really bad, actually. In a variety of different ways.
Yesterday, I spent the day worried for my uncle, praying for his health, and waiting for the next email from my mom. I was scared. I was anxious for my uncle, and for his whole family. I was anxious for my dad, at the hospital with his brother. I was anxious for my mom, at school after a night of no sleep. In the midst of that, my gradebook disappeared. Every grade I had posted for the past six weeks had just vanished.
Then, there were some issues at school that were totally out of my control, but I was shoved into the middle of that were difficult and hard. And my students came back from the long weekend with stories of heartbreak and ready to share than I ever wanted to know. Stories of boyfriends cheating with dozens of girls, stories of pregnancy and of abortion, and so much more. Stories that affect high school students more than anyone cares to admit.
It was all too much. For me, in that moment, I felt as though everything was crashing down.
At one point, I laid my head on desk and cried out to the Lord. I needed a Savior. My soul was heavy. My heart was breaking. I didn’t know what to ask, what words to speak. I just needed a Savior.
Life is hard. Yesterday, it was really hard. Andy came home and asked me a question and I sat down on the floor and cried. It was all I could do in that moment. And my dear husband got that. He crawled onto the floor with me, held me, and cried out to God on my behalf. He knew. He knew I needed a Savior. He knew my soul was heavy and that there was no earthly way to fix it. So he cried out for me.
And today. Today things look better. Sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Today may not have brought joy. But today did bring new perspective and a brighter outlook. It was a true reminder that we may be pressed, but we will never be crushed. Because our God is good. And when things look grim, there is always a tomorrow.
I promise to post about something that’s not Oliver soon. What can I say—I’m smitten with the cutie :)
And I think a good laugh was needed today. I know I needed one.
