Wordless Wednesday [02.29]

Tales of (More) Tapering

Last month I wrote about the good news of tapering the steroids. I was stoked to report that my nephrologist was happy with the results she was seeing and that things were looking good. I began the tapering process by decreasing my dosage 5mg every four days. It was a slow but sure process and I finally got down to 20mg a day. My doctor told me to stop at that point and to wait until we met again before I continued decreasing the dosage.

This takes us to last week. Any one of y'all who may have been on Twitter last Wednesday got my rant about a dreadful visit to the doctor's office. My kind husband even mentioned to me that I get a little "tweet happy" when I get angry. Ya think??? It began with the doctor's office claiming I didn't have an appointment two Thursdays ago for labs. Let me just say that this type-A organizer rarely makes a mistake on appointments and meetings, so I knew that I had an appointment. Then, this past Wednesday I arrived for my 2:40 appointment at 2:30. I knew they probably wouldn't be able to see me until my appointment time, but it was worth a try. FORTY-FIVE minutes later they finally call me back. You read that right, folks, forty-five minutes in the waiting room. I watched nurses take smoke breaks, the doctor chat it up in the corral, other patients come and go. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. Now, I understand doctor's offices can be busy places, but really?? It was a little uncalled for.

They finally take me back and their tablet computer system isn't working. Every time the nurse tried to enter something in, it would mess up and delete my file. If I had to rattle off my list of meds one more time I thought I was going to snap. She finally decided it might be a good idea to write it all down and try entering it in later. Yes, let's try that.

After another 20 minute wait (folks, that puts us at over an hour of total waiting time for those of you keeping track) the doctor finally comes in only to spend five minutes explaining the tapering process to me. Yep, that's over an hour wait time for 5 minutes. Argh is an understatement.


The bright side is that the labs still look good so the tapering continues-hooray! It's a bizarre process, but the doc wants to make sure I don't go into remission. She may take ages to get to me, but she does have a medical degree so I'm gonna trust her. The next stage of the tapering looks something like this.

Monday-20mg

Tuesday-17.5mg

Wednesday-20mg

Thursday-17.5mg

Friday-20mg

Saturday-17.5mg

Sunday-20mg

Monday-15mg

Tuesday-20mg

Wednesday-15mg

Thursday-20mg

Friday-15mg

Saturday-20mg

Sunday-15mg

Monday-20mg

Tuesday-12.5mg

And so on, and so forth until I get down to alternating 20mg with nothing. Then, I'll head back to the doctor for the last stages of the process. It seems odd but I figured she knows what she's doing. I'd rather be more cautious than not in this situation!

Breakout Blahs

What girl doesn't get the occasional pimple? That annoying little bugger always seems to pop up at the least opportune time. Prom night, wedding day, that big interview, etc. We all have those stories. I've always had really bad acne. I tried every home remedy and every store-bought face wash before the doctor prescribed the heavy duty acne medicine, Acutane. For those of you that don't know about Acutane, let me give you some insight. . .you can't be on it without regular blood and pregnancy tests. The warning on it is pages long and it has even made some people suicidal. Yea, big stuff. It had some nasty side effects (super dry skin, crazy mood swings, and more totally un-fun stuff) but it did it's job and my acne went away.

Fast forward to this past October when my kidneys revolted. One of the first moves of my doctors was to take me off my birth control for fear that it was contributing to the issues. You may have even seen the commercials warning patients to talk to their doctors about it. One of the good things about the birth control was that it helped with the acne issue, so when I went off of it the zits made their way back. Add to that the addition of the steroids (known for giving people acne!) and you have the perfect storm for acne.

Which brings me to today. I can't count the number of zits I currently have on both hands. To be honest it's pretty embarrassing to have as many zits as my middle school students! It has gotten that bad. My usual regiment of Cetaphil face wash each night and Aveeno moisturizer in the morning just isn't cuttin' it any more.  How do y'all keep the zits away? What "must-have" items should I try? What am I missing here?? I'm open to anything and everything!

On Target Weekend

This weekend we were fortunate enough to be visited by my sweet sister and her awesome boyfriend. David and I remember being in college and just needing a "home" weekend; a weekend full of home-cooked food, comfy beds, and spoiling. So, we opened the doors and they came to visit us for a weekend away from Boonetown.

Friday evening we headed to a local sport's bar for some yummy grub before we wandered around the local Target. You may be wondering why anyone would spend part of their Friday evening wandering around a store, but they don't have a Target in Boone and poor Mandy was going through withdrawals. Plus, Tyler had only ever been to Target one other time and it wasn't a very good experience (if that's even possible at Target!), so we needed to remedy that!

 truth

Saturday we all slept in before partaking in a delicious breakfast. The casa de Mobley is a good place to be on Saturday mornings, if I do say so myself. It is a rare Saturday that we don't have bacon, eggs, and copious amounts of coffee before lounging around. Yesterday was no different. After we filled up we headed to IKEA to wander around. Yea, we do that a lot. That's OK with this girl, though! We got some project ideas, but decided the 30 minute wait in line wasn't worth it. Note to self, don't ever go to IKEA on Saturday afternoon again. No unless you want to trip over 51, 345, 573 people and their carts.

Saturday afternoon we headed to Bad Dog American Pub for some grub. We had a certificate from restaurant.com and wanted to show Mandy and Tyler a local favorite. We then headed back home for a relaxing night in catching up on our weekly shows.

Cuties

A bit of a glare

Awesome picture on the wall!

This morning began with another great Sunday at Hope Church. What made today a little different was that my amazing husband was preaching! This was his third time speaking at Hope, and he really knocked it out of the park! Find the sermon here. All in all it was a superb weekend and it's not quite over yet. I'm off to frost 125 cupcakes for my students (yay for reaching their assessment goals!) and slip into a sugar coma. Enjoy the rest of your weekend:-)

Wacky Cake

One of my all-time favorite desserts is a treat we call "Wacky Cake". There is nothing ridiculously crazy about how you make it or anything like that. TO be honest, I'm not quite sure why it's called "Wacky Cake". Maybe it's all the sugar in the frosting that makes you go a little wacky? Who cares?! It's totally worth it! I made this treat David's birthday celebration last weekend. It's a lot easier than it sounds. Let me know what y'all think!

Ingredients

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocoa

2 cups cold water

2 Tbsp vinegar

2/3 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

Frosting

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/4 cup & 2 Tbsp milk

3 cups powered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa in large mixing bowl. 

Mix cold water, vinegar, oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl.

Combine dry and wet ingredients.

Pour into greased bundt pan and bake 35-40 minutes.

Allow time to cool.

Melt butter with brown sugar on stove top.

Add milk and bring to a boil.

Cool and add powered sugar and vanilla.

Drizzle over cake until it hardens.

Slip into sugar coma and enjoy!

Friday's Letters

Today I am linking up with Adventures of Newlyweds for the super neat series, Friday's Letters. Every Friday she writes letters to anyone and anything that's on her mind, and I thought I'd link up and talk to those on my mind this week.

Dear Mother Nature, You rock! Can we holla at some more of this gorgeous weather?? In fact, how about we skip the rest of winter and hit up Spring early? Please and thank you!

Dear Davido, Your kind and generous heart never ceases to amaze me. I am so blessed that you love and respect my family and friends as if they are your own. How did I get so lucky?

Dear Kelley, I'm so glad we had time to visit this week! It's amazing how we can pick right back up where we left off no matter how long we've been apart. Looking forward to celebrating our platinum anniversary with Kellie and Jenna!

Dear Daisy, Thanks for not continuing to pee all over the house, but can you work on the barfing part now? What about keeping it outsider, or even on the kitchen floor, and off the carpet? The vet says there is nothing wrong with you, and I hope he's right. Until then enjoy playing with your friend, Jeter!

Dear Pinterest, Many thanks for your continued recipes. My tummy thanks you, but my hips and thighs would appreciate it if you would lay off the deliciousness a bit.

Dear Glee, Your rapid decline into crazy is kind of disappointing. What happened to actual story lines and good music??

Thankful Thursday-No Hurry

There's nothing wrong with an old cane fishing pole
And the smell of early spring
Sit down in a fold-up easy chair
On a quiet shady river bank
Let the world go on without me
Wouldn't have it any other way
Cause I ain't in no hurry today

-Zac Brown Band

friends

I am so excited to get to visit with one of my oldest and dearest friends today! I just wish the other parts of our group could join us. I've known these fabulous girls for twenty years. That's right, twenty years!! 

family visits

We had lots of family in town for David's birthday shindig and the fun continues this weekend when my other sister and her boyfriend come to visit! I love that everyone is close enough that we can get together like this.

date nights

Our schedule has been kind of nutso this month so we decided to do a mid-week date night last night, and it was wonderful. Even something so simple as heading to Olive Garden with my love changed my attitude for the rest of the week. I just love that man!

Community Group

We are so fortunate to have these people in our lives to support us in our struggles and challenge us to grow in our relationship with Christ.

beautiful weather

 Can you ask for anything better than mid-70's after that yucky cold snap?? I think not!

What are you thankful for this week??

Quiet Take Two

One year ago today I wrote about wanting to rid my life of many of the distractions that exist in it. Instead of giving something up for Lent like chocolate or fried foods, I chose to give up distractions. I turned off my radio in the car and shut down many of the distractions that keep me from communicating with God. The purpose of the Lenten season is not to deprive yourself of everything you love and go mad because of it. The purpose is to remember the sacrifice He made for us on the cross and draw closer to Him through that.

In our community group we've been talking in recent weeks about listening to God. I often find myself doing much of the talking and not doing much listening. Think about any solid relationships you have with other people. Are the successful ones the ones that you do all the talking, the ones that you do all the listening, or the ones where there is a balance? I'm going to go out on a whim here and say they're probably the ones with the balance. I need to find that balance in my communication with God.

I am going to be shutting down all distractions again. I will be turning off the radio, my cellphone, and anything else that may cause a distraction. I think these next forty days are going to aid in the growth of my relationship with God in a beautiful way.

What are you doing to draw closer to God in this time?

Top 5 Tuesday-Pump Up Music!

Today I am linking up with just peachy on my favorite songs that pump me up for a good workout! I posted a while back on how I was a "wannabe runner". What does that mean? I'd love to be someone who runs daily to stay in shape and even complete a 5K or two, but unfortunately something always happens before I can accomplish that. Right now I'm trying to conquer stress fractures thanks to the steroids from my minimal change disease thinning my bones. The fun never ends around here:-) When I can run, here are a few songs that get me pumped up:

Ready To Run

Dixie Chicks

Not your traditional running song, but it gets me started!

It Will Rain
Bruno Mars

Another unusual one, but I get into a rhythm with this one.

OMG
Usher (featuring will.i.am)

This was also the song stuck in my head on my wedding day. Odd? Perhaps, but it got me pumped up!

Don't Stop Believing 
Glee version

If you don't understand how this one made the list, I'm not sure we can be friends!

Firework
Katy Perry

Another good one to pick up my pace.

I also found this stellar website that helps you find play lists to match your pace and speed. Awesome! What gets you pumped during a workout??

The Snow Day That Wasn't

Yesterday was a beautifully yucky day. Huh? It was miserably gross outside in our neck of the woods. This gave David and I the perfect excuse to loll about on the couch for a few hours. This doesn't happen often. Most days that I have a few hours to spare, he's swamped with stuff to do, and vise versa. Yesterday found us both feeling lazy with short to-do lists so we did what any couple would do, put on our jim jams and vegged. We popped in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (I've had a hankering to see it since I mentioned it last week), turned on the fire, and snuggled up.

As the movie was finishing, Daisy went over to the door to go out. Nothing unusual with that. The unusual part comes about two minutes later when it started sleeting. It's as if she knew it was about to start coming down and she needed to go out before it got too yucky! Or I'm giving her too much credit and should just come to terms with the fact that my dog is not a genius. Yea right.

It started coming down pretty hard for about 20 minutes. As David and Daisy started the snow dance I started getting grumpy-I did not want a snow day! Today was already a scheduled teacher workday (thank heavens!) and I wasn't really in the mood to have to make anything up. The yuck stopped falling from the sky around the time we went to bed, and I said my prayers that it stayed that way.

Around 6am the next morning I awoke to an automated phone call that we had a delay on the workday. I scurried over to the window and laughed out loud to see that not only was there no snow or ice, but the ground wasn't even wet anymore! A two-hour delay on a teacher workday? I'll take it! I ended up getting up and going anyway, but just the knowledge that I didn't have to be there as early put me in a grand mood.

I'm hoping that this was Mother Nature's way of getting the snow out of her system and that we don't see anymore this year. Snow days just aren't the same as an adult as they were when we were kids. Y'all have heard me fuss about how much I dislike winter so the sooner it's gone, the better! I'm definitely grateful for the day in with my loves, but I'm ready to be outside with them:-)

Belated Birthday Bash

As I mentioned yesterday, we were fortunate enough to have some of our local family over to celebrate David entering his 24th year of life. Both sides of our family are absolutely incredible in countless ways, and the fact that everyone gets along so wonderfully is just the icing on the cake. Our future children are going to be so blessed by these amazing people and all the love they offer our family!

While I spent the day preparing for everyone's arrival inside of the house, David and my dad were preparing outside with a brand-new work bench! 

The early stages

Contemplating the next step

The final product!

Everyone starting arriving around four to visit before supper. Have I mentioned how awesome our families are?? Everyone brought something yummy to share which made waiting for supper very difficult! On the menu? Baked Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli & rice cheese casserole, salad, roll, and canberry! We finished the evening with birthday presents and a delicious Wacky Cake, if I do say so myself:-) Recipe to come on the Wacky Cake! 

Visiting in the kitchen.

The spread

More folks visiting (it was a full house!)

His new Nerf gun, the hit gift of the party!

The delectable cake that about put me in a sugar coma. Nom nom nom.

Love my birthday boy!

Family Visits

Good morning all! Unfortunately I don't have much time to blog today. My to-do list is pages long full of fun things like dusting, cleaning the hardwoods, mopping the kitchen floor, etc. David's list includes building a work bench in the garage! The end result for both of us will be more than worth it though because we are celebrating David's birthday with family at our home this evening-hooray! So after all the cleaning and tidying I will be tying my apron on and channeling Martha Stewart to prepare supper for close to 20 people. What was I thinking?!? I was thinking how blessed we are to have so many family members close by to celebrate with us:-)

Happy Saturday!

Old Fashioned Applesauce Spice Cake

As y'all have probably figured out, I positively adore baking. I really enjoy cooking too, but baking is my number one outlet when I'm stressed. Here is a recipe I found the other day when I was in need of some stress-relief. This is a yummy, winter weather treat!

1 box spice cake mix

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups applesauce

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 container cream cheese frosting

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease and flour 13x9-inch pan. 

Combine cake mix, eggs, applesauce and oil in large bowl. 

Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. 

Stir in nuts. 

Pour into bake pan. 

 Bake at 350 ºF for 40 minutes.

Cool in pan 15 minutes. 

Turn right-side up. 

Cool completely. 

For frosting, combine frosting and cinnamon. 

Stir until blended. 

Spread over cooled cake.

Enjoy!

Thankful Thursday-Dancing Away

For me you'll always be eighteen and beautiful  

And dancing away with my heart

-Lady Antebellum

lazy nights in

I am so grateful for lazy nights in with my love! Very rejuvenating.

sharing

I'm very thankful for my co-worker's great ideas and their willingness to share. It makes my life much easier:-)

Community Group

David and I have been blessed with a community group that challenges and supports us. Very grateful for this fact!

coupons

It's SUPER Doubles at the Teeter this week, which means lots of savings for the Mobleys!

my sweet husband

Very thankful for this man and all the joy he brings me daily.

What are you thankful for this week??

Wordless Wednesday [02.15]

Hummingbird Cake

I am excited to announce that I have completed my first "30 Before 30" task-baking a cake from scratch! A few weeks ago I was flipping through the latest copy of Southern Living (love it!) and I stumbled upon a recipe for something called, "Hummingbird Cake". Thanks to my sweet tooth, I always linger on the dessert recipes a while longer. After scanning through the ingredients I knew I could tackle this and did the old-school version of Pinterest- I just ripped it out of the magazine:-) Our community group takes turns making dessert for each other, and they often become my guinea pigs when I find a new treat. When the email was sent asking for some one to make dessert last week, I jumped at the chance. Let me know what y'all think!

Ingredients 

Cake Batter 

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans 

3 cups all-purpose flour 

2 cups sugar 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3 large eggs, lightly beaten 

1 3/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large) 

1 (8-oz.) can crushed pineapple (do not drain) 

3/4 cup canola oil 

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting 

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened 

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened  

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Cake

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Bake pecans in a shallow pan 8-10 minutes or until toasted, stirring halfway through. 

Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl.

Stir in eggs and next 4 ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. 

Sprinkle 1 cup toasted pecans into a greased and floured Bundt pan. 

Spoon batter over pecans.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely.

Frosting

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. 

Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until light and fluffy. 

Stir in vanilla.  

Frost cake.

Enjoy!

Everything waiting to be prepared!

All the dry ingredients

Going into the oven.

The final slice before it was all demolished!

 

The Attack of Benjamin Button

I'm sure you're highly intrigued about what I have to share based on the title. At least pretend like you are. For those of you that are not familiar with the story of Benjamin Button, it was a film with Brad Pitt (swoon) and Cate Blanchett in which a baby is born as an old man and instead of growing up and aging, he instead goes backwards and gets younger. If you haven't seen the movie, put it on your to-do list.

Anywho, it all started last Saturday when I saw Daisy, aka the princess, coming out of one of the back bedrooms. This bedroom is currently empty, so I was immediately curious as to why she was in there. I walked back and as soon as I entered the room I found the reason-two dried yellow spots. Yep, our almost two-year-old dog had peed on the floor. Heavens only knows when she did it too because they were already dry! So I got out my heavy duty carpet cleaner and went to work on the spots. Too bad they had soaked for a few days and were not cooperating with my chemicals. The dog was punished and we moved on with our lives.

Fast forward to this past Saturday morning. I was downstairs preparing breakfast when I hear, "hey, Lauren, come up here and see this". Those are never words you want to hear on a Saturday morning, or at any time really. So I trot upstairs to find three spots in the bonus room. This time they were not urine, but dried dog barf. Awesome. I immediately go down the hallway to check out the bedroom and the smell hit me before I walked in. You guessed it, more pee! FIVE more spots to be exact. I happened looked across the hallway into the other empty bedroom/craft room and saw a pile of poop. I about lost it. I couldn't understand, and still can't, why in heaven's name our fully house-trained dog is destroying our semi-brand-new house!! I got to work cleaning the spots, but yet again they had already dried and were not easily removed.

We're not exactly sure when she's having these out of body experiences when she thinks it's OK to urinate every where, because she spends the day in her crate. Our only thought is that she's doing it at night. Which doesn't make sense because there is really only a six hour time period between when David lets her out for the last time and I let her out in the morning. We've thought about closing the doors, but since no one goes in those rooms we're afraid they'll warp and we won't be able to get them open again.

As you can see, she's reverting to her child-like behaviors just like dear Benjamin Button. Except she can't smile like Brad Pitt so my patience is running low. We're currently taking puppy training and spot removing suggestions from any one who has them!

 She looks so innocent. . .

Symphony Spectacular

Before I begin this post I should probably give you some background information on David. Like many boys, he grew up watching action adventures and running around the house making pretend fighting noises. One of my favorite David stories is that he used to wear a cape around his neck whenever he was home, and when it was time for school he would dutifully tie it to the banister where it would wait for him until he got home, which is when he would put it right back on. His Christmas gift from his brother, John, was the first two seasons of Darkwing Duck on DVD. I had no clue what this was until he made me sit down and watch it, but apparently I was watching his childhood adventures unfold.

His love of adventures didn't stop at Darkwing Duck. He also spent hours watching the Indian Jones series as well as the classic Star Wars films. So you can only imagine his excitement when his wonderful parents got tickets for all of us to go see the John Williams Spectacular at the Charlotte Symphony. Did I mention he was also in band? It was like a culmination of all his favorite childhood things tucked into one night!

We got all gussied up and headed downtown for supper. Unfortunately we forgot to take a picture, but take my word for it-the five of us looked good! We ate supper at aria, a fantastic restaurant in Founders Hall. This was actually the location of our rehearsal dinner so it was really neat to go back almost two years later and remember the event. What makes it even better is that John grew up with the owner's son, so when he heard we were there he sent out a delicious dessert sampling for all of us! If you're looking for a delectable, upscale restaurant downtown I highly suggest you try out aria!

We then trotted just upstairs to get settled before the show. It had been years since I was at the Belk Theater for any reason, but it was neat to remember coming for different things as a kid. We were blown away from the minute the show began. I'll be the first one to admit I don't know much about music, but even I can tell you these people knew what they were doing. The conductor had us in fits with his playful sense of humor and the musicians were absolutely fantastic. This was one show we didn't want to see end!

We even received a little surprise when we learned that world famous violinist, Caroline Campbell, was performing with the Symphony. She has been a part of many films and tours with famous artists on a regular basis. She was even asked to perform with Paul McCartney at the Grammy's this evening, but turned them down since she was playing with the Symphony!

All in all it was a fabulous night and a wonderful way to celebrate David's birthday:-)

Belated Birthday Wishes!

For those of you that stopped by here yesterday you may have noticed the absence of a post. Well, that was because I was too busy celebrating the start of my husband's 24th year of life! This past week was, to put it mildly, C-R-A-Z-Y. That's why it was especially important to me to shut down everything else and focus on him, because even though it was supposed to be his birthday week he still made a point to make my life easier. Yep, he's a keeper;-)

Like I said the other day we're not hugely into Valentine's Day so we celebrate Valentine's Day and David's birthday together. In past years we've gone out to nice restaurants and stuffed ourselves on delicious food. This year we decided to celebrate in a similar way. Instead of stuffing ourselves with someone else's food, we'd cook our own delicious supper at home to devour! In honor of his birthday, David chose our menu of steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and cooked carrots. Nom nom nom. The meal was positively fantastic!

We then snuggled on the couch and watched Planet of the Apes followed by an episode of Planet Earth. I promise we aren't crazy zoo people, it's just a cowinky dink! While we were snuggled up we enjoyed a delectable dessert I found on none other than Pinterest. Unfortunately I don't have a picture for that one because we devoured almost all it in one sitting with some vanilla fro-yo. Mm mm mm!

The celebration will continue this evening with David's wonderful parents and brother, and again next weekend with more family. We are very fortunate to live close to both sides of our amazing families!

Until then we plan on being ridiculously lazy on this lovely Saturday. That's what the birthday boy wants and if the birthday boy wants it, his wish is my command!

Thankful Thursday-Hands

My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
We are never broken
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's mind
We are God's eyes
God's hands

-Jewel

my sweet husband

This has been one crazy week for me and I am so grateful for all the ways he has stepped up to help make my life easier!

healthcare

I am so thankful for the fact that whenever I am sick or just need a check-up I can go to the doctor. I don't have to worry about if I can afford it or if my doctor has my best interests in mind like so many others have to worry about.

co-workers

Without these wonderful people and their great senses of humor, I would lose my mind!

caffeine

I saw a quote the other day. . ."caffeine isn't a drug, it's a vitamin", and I couldn't agree more!!

community group

I am very grateful for these people and the way they walk beside in our pursuance of Him.

the weekend

I know this one appears on the list fairly often, but I am so grateful for this time with my love! 

What are you thankful for this week??

Our Love Story Link Up

In honor of Valentine's Day I am linking up with From Mrs. to Mama to share our love story!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Our second wedding anniversary is in June, but we've been together almost five years. Wow, time sure does fly!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

Boy met girl freshman year of college.
Things just didn’t line up so boy and girl became friends.
Boy and girl went home for summer and hung out a few times.
Boy and girl went back to school and went on their very first date to Crapplebee’s.
Boy and girl started dating.
Girl’s sister has liver transplant and their relationship went through heavy stuff pretty quickly.
Boy and girl learn more about each other and their faith
Boy and girl fell in love.
Boy and girl have to do the long distance thing temporarily and hated it.
Boy and girl got engaged.
Boy and girl graduated from college.
Boy and girl got married!
A year and a half later boy and girl are still ridiculously in love:-)

 

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

Almost two years

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? 

Our wedding was medium-ish. Around 175 of our family and friends celebrated our special day with us.

 

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

I don't know if I can remember them all! Bubba, Bubbsy, Lovey, Babycakes, and I'm sure there are a few more that I'm missing. 

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

-His strong faith and unmatched love of Christ.

-The way he supports me in anything and everything I want to do.

-His sense of humor and how he keeps me laughing at every turn. 

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

 The silly boy tricked me into meeting him at the lake near his apartment where he told me how much he loved me. Then he got down on one knee and asked me that magical question. I said yes and the rest is history!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Neither and that is completely OK with me! I'm not a big fan of mushy gushy stuff either.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Can I say both? It definitely depends on my mood.

 

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

Go on a mission trip together.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day. 

Since his birthday is so close to Valentine's Day we always celebrate both together. This year we are celebrating at home by cooking a special supper together. I couldn't be more excited!

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Like I said above, I'm not really into the mushy gushy stuff so I'm going to go with no. I'm just excited for a night relaxing together!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love. 

Communicate! Talk about everything:-)

 

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Old Habits Die Hard

Last night as I was preparing chicken parmesean for supper I snuck a few bites of spaghetti sauce with mozzarella cheese. Mm mm mm! All I was eating was plain sauce and mozzarella cheese. Nothing fancy, but man it was yummy. I then stopped, and started to laugh at myself. What was I doing? Why, I reverting back to a littler version of myself there for a second.

I don't even know if my own mother knows this, but this little treat was one of my favorite snacks growing up. In fact, I would have no problem opening up a jar of spaghetti sauce and eating it plain if my husband didn't give me the strangest looks in the world. I absolutely love the tomatey taste with the cheese for some odd reason. I didn't even think it was weird until I got married and David about fell out of his seat when he saw me sneaking a few bites.

This got me thinking; how many of us have those weird snacks from our childhood? How many of us have strange habits that you didn't know were strange until you grew up and moved out? Or my personal favorite, how many of us call things bizarre names that seemed totally normal growing up? For example, growing up we referred to ketchup as "kebbits". No clue where this started, but that's what we've always called it. Imagine the strange looks we got at restaurants when we asked for a bottle of "kebbits".

I'd love to hear how your childhood habits are still a part of you today! Until then I have some leftover pasta sauce and mozzarella calling my name. . .

Drawing Lines

Yesterday our church was fortunate enough to have Dr. Paul Alexander come speak to us (sermon found here). He challenged our church to do more than just go through the motions. He asked us to look at the world around us, feel for the people we see, and then do something. God really spoke to my heart with this sermon.

It seems that I am great at going through the motions. I go to church every Sunday. I volunteer with our kids' ministry, I participate in a community group each. But after Dr. Alexander's sermon I asked myself, "am I just going through the motions?". With each story he told, I began to question how I act and respond in my every day life. I realized after more reflection that I seem to be drawing lines in my life.

What I mean by "drawing lines" is a bit complicated. It doesn't have to be, thought, I just seem to be making it complicated.  Instead of opening all aspects of my heart and life to God and His works, I am living my life like I can handle it all. Yea, I go through the motions of praying and reading daily, but I don't actually open my life to God to work in. Is this confusing? It's confusing to me too.

For example, each morning I pray for God to work in my classroom. I pray that He moves within me to reach my students and coworkers. Well then I walk into school and I don't think twice about that prayer. I don't later reflect on my day, or how I handle things. I don't revisit that prayer in the evening to thank Him for what He has done even though He is clearly working. I draw lines. I do the same thing in our marriage. I pray daily for Him to work within our marriage, yet I don't actually search for ways to invite Him in. Instead, I draw lines.

Now that I have realized this I am going to open my heart and mind to Him. Instead of just saying a prayer and then living life as if I am in control, I'm going to work to put Him in total control. I'm going to start looking for Him in my life, feeling for the people around me, and doing something about it!

Giggles

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

-Charlie Chaplin

Who doesn't love laughing?? Show me someone who claims that don't enjoy laughing and I'll show you a liar. Everyone enjoys a good giggle now and then. One of my favorite qualities about my husband is his child-like outlook on things that always brings on a good laugh. That ability to find the humor in all situations in especially important when things get stressful, like life right now.

It's that time of year again for teachers. The "long haul". There are almost no days off until Spring Break which makes for very tired, overwhelmed teachers and students. We're also rapidly approaching our End of Grade tests. So, for those of you not in education just take my word for it when I say things are a bit cray-cray. Which is why it is essential to find the laughter in all situations. A few things that have me laughing right now. . .

David playing Monopoly on the iPad

Daisy snuggling up in bed with us like she is a real person

The Target ad for the release of "Breaking Dawn" on DVD. I mean I love the Twilight series as much as the next girl, but a formal invitation to purchase the DVD?? Give me a break.

An overheard comment that Valentine's Day had barfed all over Target.

The way David purposely says things wrong. It may be silly but it cracks me up every time!

Some people's intense superstitions for their teams about the Super Bowl this evening.

"Pinterest, You Are Drunk"  

A sampling. . .

Found with the caption-"never lose focus again". Definitely need this in my life to fight those bouts with ADD. Not!

You mean you don't make a face out of your cracker dip??

 Why choose one sandwich when you can have them all!

What has you giggling today??

Super Saturdays

I think it's safe to say that we all look forward to relaxing on the weekends. Most of us wake up on Monday morning and the count down to Saturday begins all over again. Week after week this is the routine we repeat. If you're anything like David and I you look forward to those lazy weekends more than anything, but then they fill up pretty quickly with the requirements of life. Well, we seem to have beat the trend this weekend-we have no plans on this glorious Saturday!

We both woke up this morning with no serious plans and the yucky weather here in North Cackalacki is only adding to our laziness. Are we still in our pajamas? You better believe it. Did we eat a massive breakfast after sleeping in? Heck yea we did! Do we plan on doing much else with out day? Not a chance.

I have gotten some school work done and David did get a handle on our taxes, but there was no pressure to get it all done. I may venture into the kitchen to bake a sweet treat for us to nosh on, I may not. He may play a few games of Monopoly on the iPad (his addiction!) he may not. The beauty of these lazy days is that there are no plans set in stone. Right now our only task is to root the Wolfpack onto a win against Wake Forest. I sure hope that doesn't wear us out too much;-)

 My sweet husband and his latest addiction. . .

I wish y'all a super Saturday as well!

M&M Cookies

One of David's favorite treats in the world is a bag of plain M&M's. This boy doesn't need anything fancy to satisfy his sweet tooth, just a few of those candy covered chocolates and he is on cloud nine. Since both sides of our families know this we got quite a few bags this past Christmas. What a bad problem to have, huh? ;-) Instead of devouring them all in one swoop I scoured the internet for a good recipe and found this treat. Let me know what y'all think!

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 12-oz package of M&M's

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

In large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla. 

In medium bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; blend into butter/sugar mixture. 

Stir in M&M’s.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. 

Bake 10-13 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and centers are still soft. 

Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; cool completely on wire racks. 

Enjoy!

Sugars, flour, and measuring devices ready to go!

All mixed up!

A few of these may have popped into my mouth on their way to the bowl. . .

10 minutes seemed so long to wait!

Absolute deliciousness!