Reading in 2013

As an English major and a person who loves to read, I am quite shocked that after becoming a teacher I find it very hard to pick up a book and read it. Maybe it's reading all of the essays and homework every day and coming home completely exhausted or, maybe it's that once I start a book I don't want to stop and I don't know when I could come back to it with my schedule. Nevertheless, I really want to get back into my love for reading. I would like to read books that not only enlighten my mind, but also draw me closer to Christ. I'm not saying I don't enjoy some junk reading (I do have the entire Twilight series that I have read several times), but I want to dig deeper in my faith and see what I find.

My first book of the year is A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy by Edward Sri. It's a long title, but it's self-explanatory. I bought this book when I attended the Steubenville South Youth Conference in June 2011. I don't know why I didn't pick this off my book shelf earlier. This is such an easy read and has helped me understand the Mass better. Being a cradle Catholic, I would just follow the motions of Mass and never bothered to understand why we do what we do in Mass. Only a few years ago did I start to pay attention and wonder why. With the help of the Missal in church I understood what we are saying, but this really helps with why we are saying in the Mass.  

I like biographies and especially autobiographies. When I attended Our Lady of the Lake University, one of my religion classes taught by one of my favorite professors introduced me to Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk. I have been fascinated by his work and story. I want to read his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. Although he was a Trappist monk, he did not always live such a pious life. His autobiography is compared to St. Augustine's early life. I would really like to dive in and read this great man's journey with God.

With my love of autobiographies are also my love for conversion stories. I enjoy reading about how people found their faith and love of the Catholic Church. Converts find a way to point out the simplest, yet most beautiful parts of our Faith that cradle Catholics have taken for granted. With this comes Thomas Howard. He converted at the age of 50 coming from an Evangelical background. He intricately weaves his Evangelical background with his new found Catholic faith in Lead, Kindly Light: My Journey to Rome. I am really excited to read his story.

These are just a few books that I want to read. I will add more as the year progresses as I scratch a few of these off my list.

What's on your list? 

What do you want to read in 2013?

Smorgasbord

I said in a previous post that I was getting ready for my cousin's benefit. I made Red Velvet Whoopie Pies with cream cheese filling. I usually mix the ingredients using a hand mixer and it gets very tiring. I remembered that we received a standing mixer as a wedding gift and thought I would try it out. There were pros and cons to this. One pro is that it was not as tiring to mix. One con is that it didn't get to the bottom of the bowl and I had to use a spatula to get all of the ingredients mixed in.

The finished product! I bought this cake stand the day after Christmas and it was 50% off marked down to $4.50! That's a deal. I made a small card to go with it that said, "Two Dozen Homemade Red Velvet Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling For You and Your Sweetheart". The pies were put on the silent auction and went for $35. I was quite surprised and flattered that someone was willing to pay that much for them and very pleased that the money went to help a wonderful cause.

My sister has become a crafty person. She likes to refinish and distress furniture. She donated these shutters

She did a fantastic job and the shutters went for $65!!

I was having a healthy moment.lol I decided to make Sassy Water after seeing it on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/pin/211950726184940979/) The biggest mistake I made with this was not buying mint LEAVES!! I bought mint flakes and dumb-dumb me did not think it would be a problem. The texture and taste of the mint leaves in my mouth made me want to gag. I could hardly drink it. I don't have a tea strainer and couldn't find anything in the house to pour the water without the leaves coming out. The actual taste of the water wasn't bad. I could drink it again if I changed something next time. (Note to self: buy mint leaves, NOT flakes)

I tried a new Pinterest recipe....Lasagna Soup (http://pinterest.com/pin/211950726184891267/). 

It was okay. My husband prefers more stews than soups, so I didn't add water when I added the pasta. It made it thicker and he gobbled it up. I wasn't completely pleased with it and I think I will try another lasagna soup. For all of the seasoning and preparation it called for, I didn't think it had a very strong or appealing flavor to make it again.

I also tried a Lawry's dry mix of Asian Broccoli and Beef. It had so much seasoning in it that it overpowered everything else in the recipe. My dad came over for dinner that night and hardly touched it. The first thing my husband said when he ate it was, "It has too much ginger!"(Imagine that British accent there). Needless to say, I am not making that one again. Think I will look through the Slow Cooker cookbook that my best friend gave me and find something new.

I hope you all had a great week. It's been a long and busy one here. And next week looks busier. Hope I can keep my sanity :)

Good Deals

Who doesn't love a good deal? Christmas season is my FAVORITE time of the year, hence my wedding theme. Even though I love it all, sometimes I am secretly hoping for the day after Christmas for some really amazing deals on decor. I love buying holiday decor after the holiday and putting it away. When you get it out the next year, it's so much fun because you've forgotten all about it and it's exciting to find a place for it in your home.

My first deals were at Hobby Lobby...
I was in the market for a new Nativity Scene. My mom collects them and gave me one of her "old" ones a few years ago. I've been putting it out in our home, but I really wanted something different. I found this regularly priced at $99. It was marked down to $34!!

My mom saw this. It's a picture of the Nativity with the Wise Men coming to see baby Jesus on the left side of the picture.

It is beautiful! I was a bit jealous that she eyed it first, but then I couldn't think of where this would go in our home. It was originally $149 and marked down to $50. I told my mom that I would give it to her for her birthday and Christmas present for next year. That was a double deal!!

I got a few other Christmas presents at Hobby Lobby, but don't want to spoil what they are. 

My best deals were at Kirkland's. They didn't have a big variety, but what they had was really good. They had already marked their Christmas decor down to 75% off. I saw these 

They were gorgeous and my mind easily found a spot for them in the house. They were marked down to $10 each. This also caught my eye

This was originally $49 and it was marked down to $10!! The coolest part is that it has LED lights in the picture. 
I got this wreath for $3. 

At Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas items were marked down 70%. This sign has such a cute poem about the meaning of Christmas and will go great on top of the piano. It was originally $24 and marked down to $7.

 My final deal comes from H-E-B. I was browsing the cake mix aisle looking for a muffin mix to take for our trip to Arkansas when I saw this great deal.

This mix was marked down to 99 cents. As I picked up the box, I noticed a yellow coupon next to it. H-E-B has their own coupons placed next to various items throughout the store. The yellow coupon said, "75 cents off"!!! This mix was on sale for 25 cents!! I only grabbed two because I wanted to see how they tasted. These were full of cinnamon and tasted so good on our trip. I went back the next week to see if there were anymore and they were completely out. Apparently, someone else saw the good deal and jumped on it too!

Did you find any good after-Christmas deals? Feel free to share and Happy Shopping!

Happy Weekend!!

This week has seemed like the longest week!! Maybe because of Tuesday with the sleet and "thunder snow"?!? I'm glad that it's Saturday morning and I am cuddled up in my pajamas cuddling with my doggies. I can't stay in here too long because there is much to do today. So, I'll make this quick.

I live about 40 minutes away from my work. I carpool with two other teachers to help with the drive. Tuesday was my day to drive and I soon wished that it wasn't my day. The meteorologists reported the night before that this wintry weather wasn't going to be that bad and we shouldn't worry. WRONG! It wasn't bad in our hometown, so we didn't leave any earlier. About 5 miles out of our hometown the ice/snow started to come down heavily. I slowed down to 25 mph like everyone else. It wasn't long before I could hardly see the road and people slowly sliding. In tow, one of the carpoolers also brings her little boy with us for Pre-K. I had white knuckles on my steering wheel. I really did not want to drive in this. As we inched a bit further we heard on the radio that the ramps that we take to work were closing. What a mess! I told my carpoolers that I really didn't want to drive in this as it took us 45 minutes to go 15 miles. We called our vice-principal and she agreed that it was bad and for us to turn around and go back home. This was a relief until I realized that I now had to go the other way in this muck. We soon made it home and decided that it would be more work for us to try to go back up there. Our authorities agreed and told us to stay home for the day.

It just so happened that Chris was off on Tuesday, too. We spent the day putting the rest of the Christmas boxes back in the attic, cleaning up the house,and other odds and ends that never got done over the weekend. It was a nice little break in the week.

Today, I am working on red velvet whoopie pies to donate to my cousin, Alyvia Zmolik, for her benefit. On her website,alyviasangels.com, you can read her story and see how this is a very worthy cause to give. I helped set up for the silent auction last night. I have a huge extended family and it was so wonderful to see so many helping just because we love each other. The benefit is tonight and it will be so nice to see the family coming together to raise money for this sweet little girl and her family.

Have a great three-day weekend!!

A few recipes that warmed us up

It has been cold these past couple of weeks and nothing warms you up more than a hot meal. I've made Taco soup and chicken noodle soup. We were getting a bit burned out on soup so I found my good ol' trusty Pinterest recipes to help me out. I made this last week

Source: food.com via Savannah on Pinterest

It's very similar to my mother's Ham and Potato Casserole. I used sausage and made my own cheese sauce. I know this meal probably added 5 pounds to my rear, but it was so scrumptious! The mixture of the melt-in-your-mouth potatoes, the gooey cheese sauce, and the sausage was delicious. It was quite easy to make too. It took a bit of patience with the sauce and at one moment it seemed that three things needed to happen at once with the recipe, but it all worked out and I will be adding this one to my list.

For a football watching party, I made Bourbon Whiskey meatballs. These were simple to make and were eaten up by the end of the night. The whiskey brought a really good flavor to the meatball. I will make these for another get together...maybe Super Bowl??

Source: tastykitchen.com via Savannah on Pinterest

My best friend, Lauren, gave me a slow cooker cookbook for Christmas. I was really excited to get this as a gift because I LOVE my slow cooker!! I think it is the best thing since sliced bread. I love that you can toss a few ingredients in a pot, leave it all day, and come home to a hot meal. Anyways, I used my first recipe out of the book called Tuscan Stew. I should have taken pictures of it because it was so delicious. We were planning on making enough for two meals, but there was not enough for that. My husband devoured it and could not stop praising it. I added ziti pasta to the stew and that added a nice texture to it. A perfect stew for a cold winter night. This is another that will be used in the near future.

Anyone tried any new recipes? Feel free to share!!

 

An afternoon babysitting

Last week, my brother asked me to watch my niece and nephew while he went to the dentist and my SIL worked a shift at a local grocery store in town. I had a lot of fun playing with my sweet, 3 month old, niece and my playful, two year old, nephew. I got her to look at the camera and take a picture with me. She is such a happy and cuddly baby. 

 She's watching Rio and getting ready for a nap. Just realized that it looks like she's giving me the bird in this picture. I don't think she really means it.

When I asked my nephew to take a picture with me he made an angry face and turned around. I had to sneak my camera and take a picture of him while he didn't notice.

He is so much like my brother, but a bit cuter. When my brother came back, my nephew ran to him and hugged him. It was so sweet. I talked to my brother for a bit about new changes in our lives and how we're dealing with them. It's very weird to think that we've grown up and how our lives have changed over the years. My brother is a great father and provider for his family. He is making some big changes in his life to better his family and continue to provide for them. I admire my brother's courage to start a new path by going back to school. I pray that he will succeed in training and that God will take care of them during this time.

Our Spoiled Babies

Doris and Mr. Bates are treated like our children, so I take full credit for them being spoiled. When we were on our trip we asked each other several times, "I wonder how the doggies are doing?" or, "Doris and Bates would love this!" We really don't like leaving them overnight, so we always ask my cousin to house-sit for us while we are gone. He takes really good care of them and lets them sleep with him. When we came home, they were elated to see us by jumping and licking all over us.

A few days before we left I drove Chris' car and the seat wouldn't stick so it kept rolling back and forth. A funny part of that story is that I drove the car down to my mom's so that I could use hers. The seat was so far back and when I barely tapped the brakes I was slammed forward and my breasts honked the horn. I was so mad at that car, but was also laughing because it was so funny.

Fast forward. Chris had to fix the car so he could drive it the next day for work. The dogs kept barking in the house because they wanted to see what we were doing. Chris closed the garage door and let them come out.

They thought we were leaving again, so they jumped in the car in hopes that we would take them with us.

A few days ago, I had a lazy day with my sister. We chatted and hung out at my house. This is where my dogs decided to hang out

They were so comfy snuggled up with us on the couch. They snoozed most of the afternoon.

And they snoozed all evening with Chris and I

They are our babies and I wonder what will happen when we start having biological children in the near future? I honestly think that they will be great older siblings and will look after them.

My Sister is Pregnant!!

Since my sister finally made it public, I can now say that she is pregnant!! I am so excited to be an aunt again. My sister and her husband have been married for 2 1/2 years and I knew it wouldn't be much longer before they started a family. They are overjoyed to start this new chapter in their lives.

Growing up, my sister was the one we always had to pull over for because she was car sick. She usually had a plastic bag and had to have preferential seating in the car. Now she is a flight attendant and it took awhile for her to figure out how NOT to get sick on an airplane. Fast forward to morning sickness and she couldn't fly for a bit because it was so hard to keep things down. I really felt sorry for her because I know that she must have felt awful not only physical, but to be away from the job she loves so much. The funny part of this is that since she was "sick" no one really thought she was pregnant. We are used to her being nauseated and feeling sick frequently. There was a bad stomach bug going around, too. She is finally getting past the sick stage and is moving on into her second trimester.

A few days ago she went to one of her appointments to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. My BIL is s a police officer and had to work that day. She asked me if I would join her. Of course, I said I would. People watching, as I like to do, I saw several different levels of pregnancy. Some were barely showing while others looked like they were about to explode. This was a whole new ball game for us. Sitting in the waiting room, it really hit me that my sister is pregnant and that Chris and I may not be too far away from being in her shoes.

In the doctor's office, the nurse did the usual check-ups and then asked her to lie down to hear the heartbeat. At first, we didn't hear anything and it reminded me of the movie Signs when they are listening to the baby monitor. After a few seconds, we heard a fast thumping. We both looked at each other and smiled. The nurse told her that that was her baby's heartbeat. I could see the tears in my sister's eyes and realized what a special moment that was for her. There is a baby growing inside of her and she is so happy knowing that it is there. My sister is going to be a mother.  I had never heard a baby's heartbeat before and it was truly beautiful to hear. I am so thankful that I was able to experience that with my sister. It is going down as an unforgettable moment with her.

God has given them this precious gift and I praise him for doing that. My sister is so special to me and I love to see her this happy. My BIL is going to be a wonderful father as I have seen him change over the last month. I continue to pray for the entire family that they stay healthy and that God gives them the tools to be incredible parents.

I'm really bad at taking pictures with me in them, Here is a picture of my sister and I at her wedding and at mine

Anniversary in Hot Springs

Chris and I were debating on where to spend our anniversary. My sister, being a flight attendant, said that we could use some of her free tickets to fly somewhere. We wanted to stay close by, but out of the state. It was between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Hot Springs, Arkansas. Hot Springs won and after looking at the distance and getting a rental car we decided to drive our own car. We arranged to stay in a hotel for the first two nights and a secluded log cabin the following two nights. A coworker suggested to stay in the Arlington Hotel in downtown Hot Springs. The Arlington is a historical hotel that dates back to the infamous gangster Al Capone staying there.

Source: Uploaded by user via Savannah on Pinterest

At the Arlington Hotel

It was a very large hotel, but needed a bit of remodeling. Our room was somewhat nice, but the walls were so thin that I could hear a man in the next room sneeze. The shower irked me the most.

The bath mat was originally hanging on the shower door and it was just a big hole(no drain) in the shower. Needless to say, we took quick showers.
The second day of our stay I arranged for me to have a spa treatment. I went to Quapaw Bath and Spa. I indulged and received the Merry Berry Treatment. This treatment included a 20 minute private bath, 40 minute massage, facial, and foot scrub. I had not received a massage in over 2 years(I know, shame on me). This experience was perfect. The private bath was a huge tub made for two that was filled with mineral water from the hot springs. Alex was my massage therapist and I would recommend him to anyone. He was highly experienced and intuitive when it came to knots in my muscles. He also did my stone crop facial and foot scrub, which were heavenly.

Source: budgettravel.com via Pardha on Pinterest

While I was enjoying my spa treatment, Chris used the time to take up some of his sketching around Bathhouse Row and the surrounding area. Here is one of his sketches

He is really good at drawing or "draw-ring" as he says it. And every time he says it, I think of Mike Myers in the SNL sketch of the little boy Simon back in the 90s. If you remember that, you just got a little chuckle.

The next morning we went to Mass at St. Mary of the Springs Catholic Church. This was a beautifully decorated church and the priest's homily really spoke to our personal life. One of my favorite parts of traveling is seeing new churches. I think it's wonderful that our Catholic Church is universal in that we say the same prayers and read the same readings, but each church has its own appeal according to the culture of the area and the people.

After Mass, we headed to Bismarck where our cabin was located. Before we got to Bismarck, Chris wanted to make a pit stop at Lowe's. I remembered that this was his anniversary too and I needed to let him take his time. Although I thought it would be painful to sit through the long aisles at Lowe's, it was actually really nice to talk to Chris and discuss our plans for the next phase of remodeling our house. We both agreed on what needed to be the current focus and where to move on to after that. It was great to have such an in-depth conversation like that. We are usually so busy that we don't get to talk like that very often.

Once we got to our cabin, I knew that this was going to be the best part of the trip. We stayed at Remember When Cabins. These are newly-built cabins with nice furnishings and a hot tub on the decks. Arkansas was recently hit with a lot of snow and it was still covering the grounds by the cabins when we got there. The owners live on the site and were very helpful in getting us situated. Here is what our cabin looked like

We stopped to pick up a roast chicken for dinner. If you know anything about Chris it is that he LOVES roast chicken. He was in heaven getting it ready for dinner.

The owners decorated the cabins for Christmas, too. There was a small Christmas tree and garland hanging around the rooms. We got festive with our drinks, too.

During our stay, we kicked back by watching a Star Wars marathon and playing Words with Friends and a fun game called Bubble Shooter on our phones. It wasn't until we were about to leave that we saw the board games and cards in a cabinet in the kitchen :(

On New Year's Eve we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. We joked that this New Year's was the complete opposite of last New Year's. But it was quite nice to be an old married couple who did not mind going to Cracker Barrel and having a quiet New Year's Eve.

When we got back to the cabin we popped open a bottle of champagne and ate our wedding cake.

We couldn't eat much more than this

We headed home on New Year's Day and took in the last moments of our trip. It was really nice to get away from it all and get back to us. I wonder what next New Year's will be like?