Recipe Thing

Just wanted to pass along a really neat website I happened to find. It's called RecipeThing (similar concept to LibraryThing). You can add, catagorize, print, and email your recipes as well as search other's recipes. I've only added two of mine (mostly because I feel guilty that I'm not adding Andrew's books to LibraryThing, which was supposed to be his Christmas present last year. . . ).

The reason I'm posting this is to ask any of you who might be interested in adding your recipes to let me know your username so that I can add you to my "friend's list," and we can swap recipes. And, yes, I did just watch the movie Julie and Julia which has inspired me in the realm of cooking that much more. My username is AnchorJules40.

Chewy Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour (about 4 1/2 oz.)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
2/3 cup dried tart cherries
3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking Spray
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with mixer at high speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture. Beat just until combined. Fold in cherries and chocolate chips.
3. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or just until set. Remove from oven; cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks. Yield: 30 cookies.

The Little Chef

The Finished Product=One Happy Little Boy!

New Smyrna Beach June 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Favorite Flowers

Okay, so I'm a really, really, really amateur gardener (can't overemphasize that point too much), but I love flowers and planting them reminds me of my Grandaddy who had an amazingly green thumb. Plants of all shapes and sizes loved him. He tried to pass that gift along to me, but I'm not too sure it transferred. It's been 10 years last month since he passed away from cancer and I've been missing him alot lately. It just seems that "playing in the dirt" brings back so many great memories with him that I was inspired this year to subdue our backyard and add some colorful flowers.
So far, I have lantana, begonias, petunias, marigolds, straw flowers, and tomato plants in the ground and wave petunias (my favorite), spoon flowers, impatiens, gerber daisies and a couple of other things in pots. It's been a fun project, and eventhough I know that the results are not amazing or anything, I hope Grandad would be proud! Also, (since I'm just learning) if anyone has suggestions as far as flowers they love (that preferably do not require massive amounts of attention), please pass them along. Here are a couple of pics of my attempts:

Ethan Language

Now that Ethan is starting to "talk" more, we've had fun hearing his own little version of different words. Here are some that make us laugh right now (I'll try to write them phonetically):
-"wa-du" is water or any type of liquid.
-"fla-du" is a flower, which Ethan loves to blow on (we can't figure out why he blows on flowers rather than smells them?!).
-"spi-du" is a spider or anything that resembles a bug (including a piece of black lint on the floor in our bedroom!).
-"Me-mo" is Nemo, of Finding Nemo. If he can't think of anything else to say, he pulls this one out.
-"Lu-ey" is my parents' dog, Lucy. It's funny, because now even Mom calls her Louie.
-"Go" is a car.
-"Pa-pu" is my Dad, who was originally "Papper" (like Pastor), but Ethan changed his name to Papu, and I don't think Dad is too keen on it!
-"Fa-fel" is a waffle, part of his favorite meal--breakfast!
-"Man-na" is a banana, the other part of his favorite meal.
-"Dar-der" is his cousin Carter-his favorite play buddy.
-"Beat" is his pacifier, which we call a binky. When he wakes up at night and drops his binky out of his crib, we hear him wailing, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh beat!" It's pretty funny (and way too dramatic). Speaking of, if anyone has any ideas of getting rid of a pacifier, pleast let me know. I tried the whole cutting off part of it until it was gone, but then it started ripping and I had to throw it away so he wouldn't swallow part of it. Any other ideas would be much appreciated!

Ethan's Birthday - A Visit to the Georgia Aquarium

Make a Smilebox postcard

Snow Day 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Hail Storm

This past Wednesday evening, I was about to start supper when I kept thinking that I heard thunder. However, I just dismissed it as a car starting or something, because after all it is February, for crying out loud! Then, Andrew walked in and said, "Did you know we are under a tornado warning?" So, we turned on the T.V. and sure enough, they showed a very bad storm about 5 minutes away heading straight for us. A few minutes after that, it started raining and then almost immediately started hailing. So, we got some pillows and blankets and headed for the laundry room (it's in the middle of the house and doesn't have windows). We got settled in and prayed and then it started really getting loud. (Ethan thought it was fun! He was relaxing on the pillows.) After it got very loud, the deluge slowed down a bit and then we started hearing really loud "thuds" on the roof--at that point, I was preparing to wake up with Munchkins standing over me--I really thought there were small trees or big branches smashing into the roof. However, it stopped just as quickly as it began and all was quiet. So, we went to look outside. I've never seen that much hail piled up before. When we walked out on the front porch, Ethan put his little hand over his eyes and said "Ohhh no." My poor little pansies were beaten up (As Andrew said, "What do you expect? They're pansies!") We are also going to have to replace a few pieces of siding on our house and one of our cars sustained some dents. But we're thankful that it wasn't worse.
Our front bed. I guess this is the only frozen precipitation we'll see this winter!
Some of the pieces were about the size of golfballs! (Which explains the loud thuds, I guess.)
Our front porch:

Our Mini Valentine

Make a Smilebox scrap pages

The Power of the Cross

My cousin, Kelli, gave me Keith and Kristyn Getty's CD "In Christ Alone" for Christmas, and I've really been enjoying listening to it. This song has really ministered to me. Let us never forget what it cost Jesus or the freedom we now have through the Cross!

"The Power of the Cross"
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2005 Thankyou Music

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

CHORUS:This, the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought,
Ev'ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
"Finished!" the vict'ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Tasty Low Fat Recipe

Lately, I've been looking for healthier things too cook for supper that also taste good and are relatively inexpensive. I found this recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, and we tried it for dinner a few nights ago with Brown Minute Rice and one of those Steam Fresh vegetable medleys. It was surprisingly really tasty considering it takes so few ingredients. So, I thought I'd share it:

Baked Fish with Mushrooms (Makes 4 servings)
Ingredients:
-1 lb. fresh or frozen fish (we used frozen Talapia)
-2 tablespoons butter or margarine
-1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (1 8 oz. pkg)
-1/4 cup sliced green onions (2)
-1 tsp. snipped fresh tarragon or thyme, or 1/4 tsp. dried tarragon or thyme, crushed (we used dried thyme)
Directions:
1. Thaw fish, if frozen. Rinse fish; pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 4 sering-size pieces, if necessary. Arrange fish in a 2-quart rectangular baking dish, turning under thin edges. Sprinkle with salt.
2. In a small saucepan melt butter; add mushrooms, green onions, and dried tarragon, if using. Cook over medium heat until mushrooms and green onions are tender. Spoon mushroom mixture over fish; sprinkle with fresh tarragon, if using. Bake, covered in a 450 degree oven for 12 to 18 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.
Nutritional Info per serving: 159 cal., 8 g. total fat (4 g. sat. fat), 71 mg chol., 104 mg sodium, 1 g. carb., 0 g. fiber, 22 g. protein

Ethan at Christmas

I know that's it been a month since Christmas, but I'm just getting stuff from my video camera on the computer. So, I thought I'd pass this video along. (Sorry if it's too long, I have yet to learn how to use our video editing program.) Hope you enjoy :).

Not a Busy Nothing. . .

This certainly is convicting, and it's a great reminder of our awesome duty and privilege as God's children. Be encouraged. (Thanks for showing me this, Dad.)

Pilates

Two days I ago I had just finished doing my pilates workout (part of my goal to excercise as often as I can this year). Afterward, I went to go give Ethan a bath and left my mat out. So, while I was cleaning up after E's bath, he decided to get a little work out in himself. I walked in to find him positioned on my mat trying to do either a "roll up" or "scissors." Just another reminder that little eyes are always watching!

Favorite New Websites

Just thought I would take a minute to pass along some helpful websites that I have recently "found." The first is http://www.exercisetv.tv/. Right now they have about 100 exercise videos available to watch for free (usually they just have six or so), so I have been taking advantage of it!

The second is http://www.pandora.com/. Again, I am probably way behind the times on this one, but my Daddy recently told me about it and Andrew and I have been having fun trying to make new stations. For any of you who do not know, this is a website where you can basically "customize" different radio stations for yourself based on a genre, artist, or song. My favorite, of course, is Josh Groban radio!

The last neat website that I recently found is http://www.librarything.com/. For all of you bibliophiles, this is a great website where you can catalog up to 200 books for free (beyond that is a small yearly or lifetime membership fee). It's really neat, though, as far as all of the features that it includes. To add a book, you just type in the ISBN, and it pulls up everything about the book, including a picture (if they have one), the dewey decimal number, publishing info etc. You can see who has the same books as you and even write your own review.

As a side note, Happy Birthday Baby Carter! My big brother's little boy is a year old today. I've enjoyed being an aunt this year. Can't wait to watch you grow up, little buddy!

Another "by the way," I love quotes. So if any of you have any good ones, please feel free to pass them along. Here's one of my all-time favorites: "If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the Cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love." -Amy Carmichael

Welcome

Well, I am not too sure who I am welcoming to my blog at this point. To tell the truth, I am going to try blogging before I actually tell anyone I have a blog so I can test my own consistency. I do not need one more thing to make me feel neglectful. Time is an indispensible commodity, after all!

I did want to explain my title and give credit where credit is due. I got this phrase from a Jane Austen quote, and I just happened to Goggle it just now and discover that many other "bloggers" have preceeded me in the use of that title. Oh well, I never claimed to be original, which is another reason why I have pondered creating a blog for so long.

If anyone ever reads this, I want to say that I apologize in advance for its simplicity and pray that somehow you will learn something or be blessed in some way. There will probably be no original thoughts or even clever observations; however, I hope you see another example of an imperfect wife and mother who desires to learn through all of her trials, joys, and "busy nothings" to die to her flesh and live on Christ.

God Bless!