Snow Day

Snow, snow, snow!

Monday and Tuesday have been even more snow days. Both mornings when I received the phone call around 6am I screamed loud enough to wake up Chris. "No Schooooooool! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Something like that.

It's funny because when I was a student, I always had it in my head that the teachers didn't want the snow days, that for some reason they were actually disappointed when they watched the morning news and noticed their school listed as one with NO SCHOOL. Now, I see that in reality it is quite different. Teachers are just as excited if not more to have no school.

Like me.

Although, I'm not sure if I will really enjoy it in 4 months when I am making those days up at the end of May, when the birds are chirping outside, flowers are blooming, and my shaven legs are aching to be in the sun.

We'll see.


Loreli on our way to the library

Today my friend Miss called me and asked me to get lunch with her and her girl Loreli. We had fun hanging out at the Library (Columbia has an beautiful, awesome library). I checked out Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Breecher Stowe. It's a classic that I still have yet to read. Loreli picked out lots of fun books, especially ones about Fancy Nancy. Then we traveled to Target, Michaels, and finally lunch at Panera.

After we were finished at Panera, Miss was away getting something when Lorlei said, "You have a daughter in your tummy."

"Um, what?"

Well, turns out I don't have a "daughter in my tummy" but hopefully I will be nice and ready when the day comes. Thanks, Loreli. :)

Babying Christopher

So, finally Chris is the one that is hurt, not me! (Usually I'm the ill one).
I've been taking claim of this rare opportunity to "baby" him. So, I made him
Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip cookies! Yum!

Here's my recipe from Quaker Oats
(It makes 3 dozen, so you could half it).

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
• 1 cup raisins
• *aimee bee added 1 cup chocolate chips
  

Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins (and chocolate chips); mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

• Prep Time: 20 min
• Cook Time Time: 08 min

Homemade Valentine's Cards

Valentine's love is in the air!

On Valentine's Day this year a group of my friends and I are getting together to make homemade Valentine's cards and cupcakes for the homeless in Columbia. Check out our event here. We've partnered with a soup kitchen in the area called Loaves and Fishes that is going to incorporate us into their Valentine's dessert.

Last night I wanted to have some examples to work with so I started making my own homemade Valentine's cards. My ingredients: cardstock, scrapbook paper and glue.

Here are some ideas I came up with. Feel free to use some of my ideas to make your own. Enjoy!

coffee love

tree love


spring love

glitter love (for my sister)


grow love

redemptive love


striped pj love


classic love

Snow day/Potato Party Massacre

Have you ever had one of those deep sleeps where you wake up to find that you've slobbered all over everything nice and you feel like you've been hit by a truck?
I just did.
It was heavenly.
(notice the time... I have been asleep for a couple hours)

We had a half day today because of snow. It is b-e-autiful outside at the moment. Let me give you a glimpse:

...

Last night, however, was a different story.

Thursday nights mean Canvas Group (home group) for Chris and me. We meet with the same bunch and afterward do some sort of activity together. Well, last night Christopher and one of our friends Zachariah Burmaster decided we were going to have a Potato Party.

What is a Potato Party you might ask? Well, of course, it is a time when a group of people come together to make home-made french fries, straight from the bagged potato.

This is how is all began: Chris was just cutting potatoes with Zach, chit-chatting and such, when he jumped and sprinted off to the bathroom. I'm not sure if too many others noticed this as irregular, but I did. I walked to his knife on the counter and noticed blood. Not a good sign. I hurried to the bathroom. There I found Chris holding the end of his finger together.

"Should we go to the ER"
...uh yes
I knew it was bad when he didn't put up a fight.

We grabbed some toilet paper, keys, and some coats and ran out the door. Just that time Kirstin and Andrew Schulz showed up (Kirstin's a few months from being a RN) and they jumped in their car to follow us.

From there the night got better. Really. We actually enjoyed ourselves. It was our first ER visit as a married couple and we were laughing about the experience. Everyone makes mistakes right? Too bad this one will cause us to instill fear within our future children so they will never touch a knife! just kidding

Here's the documented version:
Warning: there's blood in these photos! Careful if you're squeamish!

3 stitches, that's it!

Somebody else's day

Today was not my day.

It was a bad day.
The kind of day where I come home and ask Christopher can you please feel sorry for me? Can you please baby me? Can I complain now? Can it be about me now?
I know. It sounds silly now.
Aren't we all silly though?

A wise philosopher, Regina Spektor, once said,

"Somedays aren't yours at all. They come and go as if they're someone elses days. They come and leave you behind someone elses face and it's harsher than yours, colder than yours. They come in all quiet, sweep up and then they leave. And you don't hear a single floor board creak. They're so much stronger than the friends you try to keep by your side."

Well, I guess today was not mine.
But that's okay.
It was His. Everyday is. And so I'll keep going for Him.

On a lighter note, there were a few things that made me smile today.
One, my spider bite/fungus/eczema/weird thing on my arm is getting smaller. Maybe I can wear my watch again soon...

Also, I opened my fridge today to see this:
LOST fans, you know. Dharma Initiative.
We had a LOST watch party last night. Chris bought snacks and labeled them. And so we still have the Dharma Initiative salsa in our fridge. Clever.
Chips and salsa anyone?

Happy day tomorrow. There is much to be joyful for. I promise.
1 Thes. 5:16-18

Craft Sabbath Week 2

This Sunday for Craft Sabbath I continued with the Valentine's Day theme and made a Love Mobile that I began last week.

1. I cut out some letters from scrapbook paper. You could do many different combos, but I went with "PEACE AND LOVE." (I used double sided scrapbook paper. I would recommend this so when the letters spin it's not white on the back).

2. Next, I cut out many different hearts of different sizes and shapes.

3. Then I turned on my sewing machine and sewed the letters together as below. I left a lot of string hanging for extra tying for later, and I started sewing halfway through the first heart of each word/heart set. I left a little time in between each letter so it is able to spin better. Each letter and heart is about 1/2 inch apart. I wasn't precise with my measuring though. Be free. :)



4. Last I went out to my backyard and found some nice sticks and tied the words and heart lines to the stick in a way so it says, "PEACE (hearts) AND (hearts) LOVE."

Here's a few shots of the details:

And the finished project:

Swift visit

This past weekend Mike and Anna came to visit us from Springfield. We did lots of fun things!

Fun things:
1. Ate at Shakespeare's Pizza, yum! (I think everyone who comes to Columbia eats at Shakespeare's).
2. Went to church together
3. Ate at Cafe Berlin (my faaaavorite breakfast place in Columbia because it's local, organic, weird food)
4. Walked around Mizzou campus
5. Ate the best frosted cookies (I am seeing a trend with food here...)
6. Caught up :)

Anna and the amazing cookies I get to buy when we have guests. Please come guests! I like these cookies... and you of course. ;)

Although Chris tires of "so many photos of us," I do not.


One of Chris' finer shots.




Notice the resemblance?





My bite, better