Adventures in La La Land

Sorry about the spacing and font issues. I copied and pasted a lot. :-) 1. I made a cute flower craft with the girls this week.  Picture from  tonyastaab.typepad.com   It was super easy. We got some foam flower shapes from Dollar N' More for $1. Lyla traced the flowers onto scrapbook paper and I cut them out. Then she traced a cup to get the circle and I cut that out. Lucy glued the circle on the flower. I jabbed a hole in the middle and Lyla put the straw through it. Good times. :-) 2. Here's another recipe from plainchicken I made this week: Picture from plainchicken.com  Beer Crust Pizza!! In case you haven't noticed, I've been on a major beer bread kick lately. Haha. Last week, I had half a can of beer left as well as a bunch of pizza fixings. I wondered to myself it it was possible to make pizza crust with beer instead of yeast, but Justin drank the beer before I could figure it out. Later that week I came across this recipe on my new favorite blo...

I have a new favorite blog: PlainChicken . If you're my friend on Pinterest, you've noticed all the new recipes I've posted from it lately. I just love that it's real food. There aren't a ton of ridiculous spices or strange vegetables. Just some good normal food! Anyway, this is a recipe from her site. I actually combined a couple of her recipes for my version. Here's her original recipe. I'll elaborate on my changes at the end. (Picture from plainchicken.com) Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips 4 ounces linguine, cooked al dente 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning 2 tablespoons butter 1-2 cups heavy whipping cream (or half 1% milk and half whipping cream) 2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon dried basil 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese Place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl and toss to coat. In a lar...

Our Internet is fixed, so I'm actually writing this from the comfort of my own home! Woohoo! 1. Justin ran his first 15k today. It's in Kent City, and the course actually went right by my parents' house, so Lucy and I went to cheer him on. He did so well! He got 2nd place in his age group! 2. Last Friday, Lucy fell off the non-moving treadmill and really hurt something. She's been limping ever since! I took her to the doctor on Monday. She felt her ankles, knees, hips, and everything in between and said nothing's broken or out of place. But yesterday and today she's been limping even worse than before! I can't decide if she's just being a faker or what! 3. My dad came over and tilled me a garden plot on Saturday! I've never been very interested in gardening because it seems kind of overwhelming, but suddenly I have the desire to do it! We'll see how thrilled I am when I have to weed it all the time. It's just a small plot, though. Hop...

1.I'm posting this today because I'm at Niki's with Internet. Our Internet has not been working since last Saturday. *sob* I seriously don't know what to do with myself. I've been wandering around the house aimlessly. :-( Haha. Not really. I actually have been getting a lot accomplished around my house. The worst is at night when Lucy is in bed. It's always my routine to sit down with my TV shows and some puttering around online.  Luke is working on fixing our problem, but it might take a while. Ahhhh!!!! 2. One of our fun activities this week was popsicle stick sorting: I bought some popsicle sticks at the dollar store to make  these  prayer sticks. Lucy loved taking them in and out of the cup. We even did some color sorting. I pulled out a couple purple ones and showed them to her, then said, "Can you find the other purple ones?" She did great finding all the colors! Whew! She's not color blind! 3. On Wednesday this week, Niki and I went ...

1. I realized the other day that Lucy will be 2 in 2 months. Holy cow. Where has the time gone?? She has been so cute lately. She's obsessed with being naked. Right now, she's sitting on the floor in a onesie and socks reading to herself. She's really started to read out loud to herself. It's absolute gibberish, but so adorable! 2. I read a great book this week: Choosing to See   by MaryBeth Chapman (the wife of Steven Curtis Chapman). It's about how they lost their 5 year old daughter in a terrible accident (their older son hit her with his car :-( ).It was hilarious and heart wrenching and theological and everything in between. I highly recommend it. 3. Last night, I went to see The Vow  with Niki, Libby, and Becky. I love Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, and it's totally my kind of movie. But I was a little bit disappointed. It was a great movie, I just didn't love the end. I realize it's based on a true story, but I wanted the Hollywood ending!...

This is the book Pastor Chris recommended to me when I told him I'm having a hard time balancing grace with works. It was a very difficult read. The author (C. FitzSimons Allison) is a Catholic bishop, so there were a lot of references to Roman Catholic liturgy that meant very little to me. That said, there was also a lot of valuable knowledge.  The premise of this book is based entirely on Jesus’ admonition to his disciples in Matthew 16:6, “Take heed. Beware the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Allison actually writes 10 chapters on this one verse. I've never understood what on earth the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees was before, but now I get it.  I'll sum up their beliefs really quickly. The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. In today's day and age, Allison interprets the yeast of the Sadducees as humanism and secularism - the world is all there is. The Pharisees believed in God, but attempted to earn their salvation through ...

1. I only had to work 2 days this week. I had big plans to clean and organize my house on my days off. But then the opportunity arose to hang out with friends instead! :-) We spent Wednesday afternoon at Becky's house, and all day Thursday with Kelly and Presley. So much fun! And it just reiterates the need to have a second baby. Lucy played so nicely with her friends. She needs a playmate! 2. Speaking of second baby . . . I had my follow up appt with my doctor this week. It was actually really stupid. I drove allll the way down to Grandville expecting a physical, and all we did was chat! I wanted to say, "Do you realize how far of a drive this is for me? Couldn't we just have done this over the phone?" Haha. I left the office singing that country song, "Did I shave my legs for this?" Anyway , it was a good chat. She said nothing concerning showed up in the testing and there's no reason to think I'll miscarry again. But just to be safe, next time I...