The Most Important Things in Life Aren’t Things

I’ve never really been afraid of tornadoes.  I lived in “tornado alley” for most of my childhood and can remember more than once watching a tornado out the bathroom window when I was a little girl.  I guess weather has never really been frightening to me – I’m not sure why.  Maybe it is the rush of really feeling the power of God?  If you have ever experienced a Texas thunderstorm you know what I mean.

But this morning I realized that maybe part of the reason inclement weather never frightened me is because I am not yet a parent.  I cannot imagine how those people must feel today.  I know I was glad I was able to wake up next to my husband and feed my dog this morning.

I saw a picture someone posted on Facebook today that depicted a decorative sign showing through a pile of rubble.  It said, “The most important things in life aren’t things.”  How true!  I am so thankful for the non-things God has blessed me with, and I’m sure you are too. 

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.  Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Romans 8:38-39

Monday Makeover

Happy Monday!  As you can see, the blog has a new look!  I hope you like it; let me know what you think.  I liked the colors and header font of the old theme, but the body text of posts was too big and the turquoise didn’t really have high enough contrast with the background to be super-readable.  Also I’ve added a few more widgets and husband’s and my mugs to the home page.  I like having a face to go with the blog-voice as I am reading and I figured a few of you might too.

When I added a category cloud I noticed that I have a lot of posts tagged “vegetarian.”  I laughed at that because if any of you know me you know that I am certainly not a vegetarian.  My sister in law is, but I know I could never be one because I could never give up cheeseburgers.  I could probably live without steak and chicken, but I get occasional-yet-severe cravings for a good cheeseburger.  Now that we have a backyard to grill in, I anticipate a delicious homemade burger in my near future.  I created a great recipe a couple of years ago for gouda-stuffed turkey burgers with garlic mayo and avocado, so I will try to get that posted sometime this summer.

In new-house news, we spent the entire weekend working like dogs to try and get everything painted and ready for move-in.  I will take some in-progress photos this week, I promise!

Hope you are having a lovely Monday.  I know some of my readers are vegetarians.  If you’re not, what is the one meat-food you could never give up?

Yes, There Are Americans Under 40 Who Aren’t Democrats, Part 1

I know some people aren’t going to like this post.  But before we get going I should say right away that what really makes the United States great is that we can all have our own opinions and are free to express them as we wish.  If you don’t appreciate how meaningful that is, I ask you to take a moment to think about all the people in history and the present who did not and do not have such a luxury.  Many have given their lives for it.  So with that being said, if you don’t want to stick around to hear my opinion or discuss politics, I understand.  Next week you can come back and we will talk about paint colors (although those can sometimes be just as polarizing as politics, can’t they?).

Strawberry Lime Bars

I had some grand plans to make these pictures better with a little photoshop action before writing this post, but the urge to get it posted sooner won out.  Let me tell y’all – these were muy delicioso.  And pretty simple.  The hardest part is waiting for the dang things to chill so you can stuff your face.

Thoughts on Being a Coffee Snob

Image borrowed from http://www.dirtybutton.com/pictures/324-need-coffee/

Husband and I recently realized that we are coffee snobs.  It was actually kind of funny, because we realized it separately but on the same day.  In an attempt to trim our grocery budget to the last available penny while in what we called “crazy house saving mode” I purchased a can of store-brand coffee instead of the usual Folgers dark roast.  (Oh and p.s., I know that real coffee snobs would never drink Folgers) 

The Before: More Pictures of Our New Place

Many people have expressed interest in seeing more pictures of our new house, so I’ll oblige.  We are closing the deal on Wednesday if all goes well!  I’m so excited to get going on all the projects we want to do.  As you’ll see from the pictures, there is a good bit of work that needs to be done.  If anyone finds themselves bored on a Saturday and feels handy, come on over and I will hand you a paintbrush.

Movin’ On Up

 

Hello friends,  it’s terrible that I haven’t posted in over a month!  Work has been quite busy, and as it turns out purchasing a house is quite a process that also demands lots of time and energy.  There were some updates I wanted to let you all know about, but I was kinda afraid I would jinx it or something if I put it on the blog.  Do you ever feel that way?  Like when you have great news but it isn’t for sure yet and you have to keep it under wraps?  It is really difficult for me.  I think that’s why I haven’t been able to even think about posting anything else here.  But I think I can safely spill the beans now….

Taco Pizza and Weight-Loss Contest Update. And Yes, Those are Oxymorons.

Hi everyone!  I am in a vicious circle with the blog, I think.  On one hand, I want to have great photos, because I have the knowledge and equipment to make great photos happen.  On  the other hand, I want to post frequently.  Unfortunately both of those things can’t happen right now.  Sigh.  So I have decided it is better to post more often at this point.  Maybe someday I will also have nice photos, but for now, please enjoy the mediocre to terrible iPhone photography.

It’s funny that I had planned on posting this recipe for Taco Pizza when I made it last week, because another blog that I really love recently posted her version of Taco Pizza this week!  (Click here to visit her awesome cooking blog )Divine inspiration?  Perhaps.  ;)  While we are on the subject of the Divine, I’m basically certain that in heaven we will all be eating pizza and tacos.  And taco pizza.

Yum.  If this picture wasn’t ridiculously blurry, your mouth would be watering.  Anyway, this is a recipe that is really straightforward and of course super simple to change up to suit your tastes.

Here’s how Husband and I made it:

Simple Roasted Chicken

Hola, amigos.  I hope life has been treating everyone well.  Things have been nuts at our house the last couple of weeks!  Mostly because husband and I have been really busy with work and we have spent lots of time on the weekends house hunting.  House hunting has been a somewhat emotionally exhausting experience.  I would compare finding a house to the difficulty of finding a date in seventh grade.  However, hopefully I will have better news on that front soon.

This post is really about chicken.

I know the quality of this photo sucks. I was hungry, ok?

I love chicken.  It goes with so many flavors!  You can really dress it with almost any spice you want and get great results.  But to me, the most heavenly chicken combo is when chicken meets garlic.  Mmmm.  So if you love tasting heavenly combinations, make this roasted chicken.  Plus it is ridiculously simple and quite economical.

Our Other New Year’s Resolution

Good morning!

So if you read my last post you know that I, like everyone else in America, has a weight-loss-related New Year’s resolution.  It is going pretty well so far, but slow going ha!  I’ve lost three pounds.  Which always reminds me of Regina George from Mean Girls.Anyway, we have another really exciting resolution – Husband and I decided that we are going to buy a house this year!  Yay!!  We didn’t really want to move into an apartment after we got married, but since we had relocated from Dallas and got new jobs we weren’t able to qualify for a mortgage just yet. :(  But we knew it was something that we wanted in the near future, so it’s always been in the back of our minds.