2011 Nostalgia

So tonight, I just watched my almost-thirteen-months-old niece, Ellie, for the last time in 2011. My husband would say phrasing it that way is a bit dramatic, and he's right, but right now, it just fits since I'm feeling a little nostalgic about the past year. Our lives are competely different than they were this time last year. See, it's kind of ironic since this week last year (Christmas 2010), I was just meeting my almost-one-month-old niece for the very first time. Some words I wrote after the experience, "She pretty much stole my heart before she was even born, but when I met her, words can't even describe the joy I felt holding her. I mean, she isn't my child, but I just felt this huge love for her." And that was before I spent a year almost forty hours a week with her. And that same week, Nate and I made the major life-changing decision to move to Texas so that I could be her nanny. (You can read that novel here and here. I warn you, I do not exaggerate when I say it's pretty much a novel.) And now, I can look back on the past year and honestly say we have been so blessed.

Nate has two jobs that he really, really enjoys. Right now, he is really praying for God's direction in his career because he really just wants to find something he knows he is supposed to do for the next thirty years. I feel pretty confident right now that one of the two places where he works will turn into that for him, but if not, I'm so proud of him and I know he will do whatever God wants him to do. People at his past jobs and even now at his current jobs always come up to me and tell me how much they appreciate him for how hard he works and how invested he is in doing whatever it is well. I can't adequately tell you what that does for my heart. I know what kind of man he is, but to hear it from others just brings such joy to me. It just affirms that I married the perfect man for me.

As for my employment, I have spent more time with Ellie than anyone save her parents, and when she isn't crabby, overtired, or teething (and I'm not crabby, tired, or feeling sick), I cherish pretty much every moment I have with her. I talk to her all the time. I explain things to her that there is no earthly way she can currently understand, but she listens to my voice anyway. We play and giggle and talk. We have conversations, but a lot of the time I invent what it is that she is saying since I can't understand most of her babble. I read her stories. I tell her how to be gentle when she pets the doggies (mostly my dog, Apollo, since he's the only indoor pet she interacts with regularly). I taught her that the Christmas tree is pretty, and that we can look but we can't touch. Every time I say that to her, she looks over at me and shakes her head "no". She understands more than we give her credit for, I know. She is sort of potty-training as she knows when she is wet and tells us "diaper" when she is ready to be changed. Her little voice is so sweet. I thank her for being obedient when she does what I ask, and I praise her for being a good girl even when she isn't asked. She generally claps for herself when she does something right....haha. She loves to share her toys and her food. I love all of these little moments with her. I pray I can be a good influence on her. This job isn't what I went to school for, but it is almost like practice for being a mom someday. I've wanted to be a mommy since I was four years old, so I'm so totally okay with this. I will pursue my graphic design business on the side and hopefully grow it slowly. Right now, I'm not in a hurry.

So, I have the next two weeks off to be with my husband on a road trip over Christmas which is a strange but wonderful story in and of itself, and God is continuing to bless us. That's such a common little catch phrase, but it's true and in ways I can't wait to write about. I will write another blog about the road trip and yet another about how God has blessed us. Two thousand eleven has been such a full year!

...leave to thy God to order and provide...

I often have a hard time with things not going as planned. Not that I consider myself to be a complete planner, but I would rather have a Plan A and be flexible with it than no plan at all. For example, my days off. When I have a day off, completely unscheduled, I get exactly NOTHING done. I stay in lounge clothes. I don't necessarily shower, and sometimes I forget to eat. It's sad, but it's true. I don't get the house clean or the grocery shopping done, unless I planned to do that.

So I generally run with a limited outline in my head of what the next few weeks, months, and years will or should look like. I probably should keep a day planner, but since graduating from college, I don't. Anyway, it generally helps because I like having goals. Goals are great. But, many times I try to make plans involving people or things outside of my control, things I never should have planned in the first place. And then when they don't turn out the way I expected, I just do not handle it well. At all. It's like I set myself up for disappointment.

I know better than to be this way. There are lots of verses in the Bible that remind me not to try to be in charge, but Proverbs 3:5-6 pretty much says it all.

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

I know these verses very well. I memorized them in elementary school. But I still need reminders. Because sometimes I read a Bible verse and think, yeah, yeah, I know that I should do ____. But sometimes the concepts are abstract, like trust. Your own understanding. Acknowledge Him. And if I don't take the time to absorb it, I move on because I didn't listen to what God was saying to me or even to apply it to my life. Maybe it's just me, but music (especially hymns) speaks into my life so often and gives me the reminders I so often need. For example, I'll be doing something like checking Facebook and listening to my hymn station on Pandora in the background, and bam! A phrase will just hit me.

I love the song, Be Still My Soul anyway, but the line "leave to thy God to order and provide" has never jumped out at me before. In the middle of a time when my plans were not occurring in the order I wanted them to and also when I knew I couldn't provide for some of my own needs, I heard this line of this song in a whole new way. I can plan and set goals and make lists and budget, but God is ultimately the one who orders my days and provides all of my needs and my wants even before I know what they are.

 

This image is now my desktop background, so I have constant reminders that it's okay to set goals but I need to allow God to micromanage my life.

Hanukkah!

So last night, Nate and I took our niece to a Hanukkah service and party at our church. I should preface by saying that our church has a large-ish Messianic Jewish ministry, which means they minister to Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah. They meet about once a month on the first Friday evening of the month, which I believe is when the Sabbath technically starts (at sundown). We have been to a service before, as it is open to anyone who wants to attend and is not limited to Jewish people only. Since I've never been to a service at a Jewish synagogue, I can't say with any degree of certainty, but I would imagine this service is a cross between our regular weekend services and a traditional Jewish service.

I love experiencing new and different things as often as I can, so going to a Messianic Jewish service was an awesome cultural experience for me. A few interesting things to mention:

• They read from the Torah in Hebrew and then again translated into English.
• They do not write out God or Lord as, in Jewish tradition, God's name is considered so holy and revered that it's too holy to try to spell or write on paper. Instead, they write G-d and L-rd.
• They sing songs in Hebrew (I think?) and in English. We sang the famous song (in the movie/musical "Fiddler on the Roof") Hava Nagila as well as others. The song that got stuck in our heads the most is "Shema Yisrael" which means "Hear O Israel" and the rest of the song translates to "the Lord, our God, the Lord is one."
• There is a group who does traditional Jewish dances during the worship part of the service, which is soooo awesome.

So they explained Hanukkah to us, which I am going to sum up to the best of my knowledge. If this is totally off, please don't be offended. This is my blog and not a history paper, so I'm not going to do a ton of research for this. I am leaving out a lot of what I'm sure are important details, so if you are curious, look it up. :o)

Basically in the time between Malachi and the Gospels, there was a really bad king who forced the Jews to worship the Greek gods in the Temple and to slaughter pigs on the altar, which is obviously a huge afront to how the Jews were to worship the One Living God as per the Law in the Old Testament. One man rose up in rebellion and started a revolution that overthrew the Empire of this bad king. They rededicated the Temple to God. During the uprising, they only had enough oil to last one day, but it is believed that God made the oil last for eight days instead of one. The Menorah is a symbol of God's constant protection and provision for his people, Israel. I believe this is recorded in Maccabees, but since that isn't in our canon and I'm too lazy to look it up, I wouldn't know for sure.

Anyway, before attending this service, I had a very limited knowledge of what Hanukkah actually is. I knew what the Menorah was and the Dreidl, but as for their meanings, I had no idea. At the end of the service, the pastor of Jewish ministries, said this, "You can basically sum up all Jewish holidays like this: They hated us and tried to kill us. We fought back. We won. Let's eat!"

We laughed so hard. Love it. After the service, we went to the party. They served some traditional Hanukkah food, which is predominantly fried to remind us of the miracle of the oil. They did some more dancing to teach anyone who wanted to learn. There were photobooths, music, driedl games and the chocolate coins all throughout, and festive decorations. So much fun. The only thing I didn't like is that there were too many people for the size of the room! My niece, Ellie, loved the driedl! It was such a good experience, and I would recommend something like it to anyone who is curious about Hanukkah.

My DIY Christmas Wreath

I've been doing so many crafty projects lately that I am dying to share. I love decorating, and so right after Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year because that's when we start decorating for Christmas! I want to share one of such projects, but first, the back story.

While going through our boxes of Christmas decorations, I came across the wreath box. I opened it and went, "ughhhhhh." I'm not a DIY blogger, obviously, so I forgot to take a before picture, but I haphazardly put the wreath back together so you'd get the idea. Sorry the picture is not so great.

It's not the ugliest wreath on the block (you should see my neighbor's!), but let's be honest, it looks like something circa 1994. My mom is one of the best bargain shoppers I've ever met, and she knows a find when she sees one. A year or two ago, she knew I didn't have a wreath and found this one for me probably thinking it was better than nothing, as I used to be into collecting bears when I was little (that's a story for another day). So, I paid nothing for this wreath, but I wasn't really feeling it this year. But, since there's no money in the budget for a new wreath, I ended up hanging it up anyway thinking I might find a way to modify it to my liking later. I'm a little ashamed to admit that. As an aside, after hanging it, I discovered the bears covered the little peephole in the front door, which I felt like was kind of a safety-hazard.

I did do some shopping around the next day to see if I could find something I liked better, or at least inspiration to make mine better. Have you seen prices on wreaths? Unless you get the yucky, fake looking ones, they cost anywhere from $20-50 dollars!!!!! Even if I did have money for it, I am wayyyy too cheap to pay that much for a wreath. Well, I might pay $20, but after this project, no way. What I did notice is that grapevine wreaths are still in style (or are again?). I knew there was something I liked about this wreath!!! I also saw that Hobby Lobby was selling plain grapevine wreath bases exactly like mine for $10. Score!

So when I was out shopping yesterday, I picked up two branches/bunches of the cranberry-looking floral embellishments. I'm sorry I don't know what they are called. I have never done this before! They were $1.27 each, but I got them for half price. Score again!

Last night, I sat down with my pliers and ripped the bears and little sign off the wreath. I noticed the twine on it was old, weathered, and had broken and been tied back together in places. Thankfully I already had the heavy duty jute twine to replace it, so I took off the old twine, added the berries and new twine, and ta-da! The result:

A brand new, contemporary, natural, gorgeous-looking wreath that only cost me about $1. :o) And while I am pretty excited about the low cost, what I am even more proud of is that I did it myself. Pinterest actually had nothing to do with this project! I've never done anything like this before, and I had no help. This is so not like me: I didn't even look at any pictures for inspiration or how-tos. *gasp* I just kind of sat down and did it. And bonus, it doesn't cover the peephole anymore! So yay for craftiness. The end.

My DIY Centerpiece

We are hosting Christmas dinner at our house for the first time ever this year, and while I was decorating, I couldn't find anything I liked in my decorations that would work well for a centerpiece. While are only hosting my brother, his wife, and their daughter on Christmas day, Nate and I both wanted something festive on our table that we could enjoy all season. So, along came Pinterest. I love that site for so many reasons, not the least of which is for decorating ideas. I found this picture and thought it would be perfect!

Link credit here.

I was so excited and had everything I needed except for the vase, but I showed this picture to Nate. He was less than impressed. "It doesn't look very Christmas-y," he said. Granted, I knew he looks at a picture and sees...exactly what is in the picture. I look at it and see the possibilities or how I would do it differently. I am the artsy-crafty one and can visualize it with our silver platter, our ornaments, and on our table. Nate, not so much. He was obviously reacting to the colors, and since they are not red and green, they are not Christmas-y. ;o)

Anyway, I had already decided that in order to keep our living space in our apartment from looking totally tacky, it was going to have to have a consistent color scheme. I decided to keep the traditional colors red and green (keeps the husband happy), add silver, and use those elements all throughout our living room/dining room area.

If you haven't read or heard much about us lately, you might not know, but we are on a tight budget (which sounds awful, but we love it). This means I don't have much extra to just go out and
buy decorations for Christmas. The only thing I had to buy for this centerpiece was the vase, the silver ribbon, and the green ornaments. Not too shabby! Without further ado, our centerpiece.

My pictures aren't as awesome as the original, probably because I took it right before the sun went down this evening and not earlier in the day, like I should have. Oh well. Hopefully you get the idea.

Elements of the centerpiece:
Green Table Runner - Dollar Tree - $1 (I need to iron it still, obviously. Pretend it's not wrinkled. ;o) )
Silver Platter - already had - I think this is a "Mom Find"
White Pillar Candle - already had - Mom Find (I used homemade mod podge, salt, and fake snow to make it sparkly. It turned out awesomely!)
Square (actually rectangular) Vase - Target - ~$10
Red & Green Ornaments - Dollar Tree - a tube of 12 for $1
Silver Ornaments - IKEA - Mom found them at Goodwill, I think for really cheap. I have two small boxes of them and there are enough to cover our whole tree and then some. I love them, and so does Nate.
Salt & Pepper shakers are just a part of my Pfaltzgraff dishes set
Fake snow (the kind you sprinkle) - Meijer last Christmas - IDK how much it cost
Silver Ribbon - Hobby Lobby - $2.50 (It was half price in the floral section and not in with the Christmas decorations. I have used it A TON. I was going to get more yesterday since I almost ran out; but, the sale had ended, and it was back to full price. Yuck.)

A few extra notes:
• I like that in the original picture, it looks like they used ribbon for the table runner. It looks nice but is so not practical for all month in my house. Plus, you can't really beat a table runner for $1.
• I also found a how-to on making the bow since I've never attempted something like that before. My grandmother is good at things like that, though, and she would be so proud!

My very favorite thing about this centerpiece is that it is pretty to look at but also very low profile, meaning you can actually see the people across the table from you, which is a rare quality in a centerpiece for those of us who are short! Also, Nate loves how it turned out, too. Hope y'all enjoy seeing it!

Christmas with the Piatts

This year my husband and I are spending the holidays (meaning Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's) away from our parents and extended families. If you are new to our blog, I should add that we do live near my older brother, his wife, and their daughter, but it's very different, and many times difficult, for us to not be near our extended families and friends or able to enjoy many of the Christmas traditions we are used to. This year, we have decided to carry along with the spirit of the Attitude of Gratitude: 30 Days of Thankfulness and come up with 31 things we are doing to make the Christmas season special to us. We chose 31 because that's how many days there are between today and Christmas Day this year.

Christmas with the Piatts
31 Things that Make Christmas Special to Us
(Most of these things are free or inexpensive!)

November 25: We listened to Christmas music and decorated the tree! (I squeezed in a second fun thing by making our first batch of Christmas cookies while Nate watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. He loves that movie!)
November 26: Today, I brought out the Christmas dishes so we have a full month to enjoy them.
November 27: I made a dining room table centerpiece.
November 28: I made a wreath for our front door.
November 29: We had dinner and spent time with new friends.
November 30:
December 1:
December 2: We went to a Hanukkah service and party for the first time!
December 3:

I will continue to update this post as the days and weeks go on, but I'll try to post a photo of each thing each day, as I am able. Enjoy and Merry Christmas! :o)

Attitude of Gratitude: 30 Days of Thankfulness

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and daily post on Facebook the things I'm thankful for. It only takes a minute or so each day, but it has significantly impacted my mindset and preparedness for the Thanksgiving holiday. It's easy to get caught up in looking forward to the day of eating turkey and other yummy food and planning for Christmas (which seems to start the day after Halloween), but doing this simple thing every day has really drastically changed my outlook on my life. Not that I hated my life before, but I truly am thankful for all that I have. I will list all of my posts for this year below, for posterity. :o)

Attitude of Gratitude: 30 Days of Thankfulness
November 1-30, 2011
1 :: I'm thankful for days off when I can sleep in. ♥
2 :: I'm thankful for Starbucks and chats with great long distance friends like Laura Taylor.
3 :: As much as I'm looking forward to us having kids of our own some day, I am so thankful for this time in our lives when it's just the two of us.
4 :: I'm thankful for a zero-based budget, Dave Ramsey, and Financial Peace University which we are attending in January.
5 :: I'm thankful for three-day weekends!
6 :: I'm so very thankful for our pastor, Robert Morris, and Gateway Worship at Gateway Church. We are truly so blessed with a wonderful church home.
7 :: I am thankful for life, my relationship with Jesus, and my upbringing as I'm praying for the unknown family and friends of our 32-year-old neighbor who committed suicide last night.
8 :: I'm so thankful to live in a country where I get to vote. It is an honor and a privilege that is way too easy to take for granted.
9 :: I'm thankful for grilled cheese and tomato soup. Whether I'm 8 or 28, it has never failed when I want yummy comfort food. ♥
10 :: I am thankful for new, cute and inexpensive outfits. It seems trivial, but since it's rare for me, I am sincerely grateful for it!
11 :: I am truly thankful for veterans, especially the brave young men and (woman) that I know who have served, but today I'm also thankful for YouTube, Baby Einstein, and my parents for what they dealt with when I was a cranky, sick, teething kid. Now that I understand more of what they went through, I can reeeeeeally appreciate them.
12 :: Seeing as I was on the go from 8 am to 11 pm today, I am thankful for rest! :o)
13 :: I am thankful for Skype and FaceTime which make 1,000 miles not feel so far. :o)
14 :: I am thankful for Pinterest!
15 :: I'm thankful for our small group. I am missing it tonight, but I love the new relationships we have established. I am going to be so sad when the semester is over!
16 :: I'm thankful for my amazing, annoying, loving, thinks-he's-a-lap-dog, five-and-a-half-year-old mutt Apollo who keeps me company. Thanks to him, I never have to be home alone! :o)
17 :: I know it's controversial, but I am thankful Occupy Dallas is over. It was disbanded last night, and since they DO NOT represent me or pretty much anyone I know, I'm glad they no longer have the media attention and voice to accomplish a whole lot of nothing (but abusing people and public property).
18 :: I'm thankful for guilt-free date nights on a budget! No regrets. I love spending time with Nate Piatt. ♥
19 :: Today I am thankful to live in Texas. I know how blessed we are to be able to experience events like my niece's first birthday party today, and I hope I don't ever take it for granted. Oh, and the 79 degree weather in November isn't too shabby either. ;o)
20 :: I am so very thankful for a 87-year-old lady, my GramE. She is my only living grandparent, and today is her birthday. I know lots of people don't get to know their grandparents as adults, and I am so thankful to have her. I just wish she didn't live so far away. Love you GramE! :o)
21 :: I am thankful for these "Attitude of Gratitude: Season of Thanksgiving" posts. It forces me to stop and reflect on my life every day and has totally prepared me for the upcoming Day of Thanksgiving. Even though we are so sad to be away from most of our family and friends this year, we truly have so much to be thankful for.
22 :: I'm thankful for Ellie Grace Wills. Happy first birthday ever, Elle Belle. Your "Ayaya" loves you more than you know.
23 :: I am thankful for employment.
24 :: I am thankful to be able to spend Thanksgiving Day with family, even if it's only the 5 of us.
25 :: I am thankful for friends. I don't have nearly as many good, close friends these days as I did back in college, so I'm thankful for the ones I do have and that Facebook helps us keep in touch.
26 :: I mentioned them in a previous post, but I am thankful for my parents. If I do half as good a job being a parent (some day) as they did with us, I'll be doing just fine. Love you Mom and Dad!
27 :: I am thankful for my two awesome brothers. I wouldn't trade them for anyone, and the wives they picked out are pretty great too. I love having sisters now that are also my friends. :o)
28 :: I am thankful for my husband, Nate Piatt. He is hands-down the hardest working man I know. He is quiet and serious a lot, but we are so goofy sometimes – he cracks me up like no one else. I am so grateful that I get to do life with him every single day. I love you, babe!
29 :: I am so thankful for the Bible that I can read and understand in my language and that I can carry with me everywhere I go (on my iPod). We take it for granted but other generations and cultures did not have this privilege, and it's pretty awesome.
30 :: Last, and definitely not least, I am thankful for Jesus, who truly was and is the best gift ever.

Journey to Financial Peace - Part 1

Let's start at the very beginning – a very good place to start, naturally. ;o)

Early 2000s. Financial Peace University [FPU] was offered at my then church. My concept of Dave Ramsey and FPU was that this class was for middle-aged families who had major financial difficulties, as in major credit card debt, mortgage, etc. Sort of like an AA for finances. For some reason, I just had that stereotype in my head.

2009. Nate and I decided we weren't happy with our finances. We didn't have what we considered major debt, but we just knew there were a lot of things we should be doing but weren't, such as saving for retirement, and we had no idea where to start. We got Dave Ramsey's book, "The Total Money Makeover," as a gift. We excitedly read the beginning of it, and then...stopped. Not for any reason, but I don't think we had hit enough of a "rock bottom" to feel desperate enough to change our situation. Dave Ramsey says, "you have to get mad." We definitely weren't mad at that point.

2010. Toward the second half of the year, I went through a period of unemployment. I have no idea how we managed without racking up a ton of debt. Our idea of a budget was to write down the bills that we had to pay, such as our loans, etc., and then to make sure we covered them. It was an attempt, but it certainly wasn't a very good way to go about it. So suffice it to say, we weren't budgeting at the time. Right before Christmas, I was offered a job, and we moved to Texas. You can read about all that here and here.

Early 2011. We hadn't been in Texas longer than a few weeks when we felt convicted about the fact we hadn't been tithing. It's embarrassing to admit, but we hadn't tithed faithfully pretty much ever. We put in a little here and there, but the 10% God requires as per the Bible, yeah, no. We didn't. I recently heard a statistic that 5-7% of Christians tithe. I could write a whole post about this, but I'll just say that that makes it easier to admit since we obviously weren't alone. Tithing has changed our world. It requires faith. And because of that, we have been forced to get our finances under control. It's been HARD. But God is faithful.

August 2011. Remember up there where I said we hadn't hit rock bottom? Well, in August, we did. Three weeks without work in addition to three planned (but not budgeted-for) cross-country trips? If we had been budgeting properly, we could have saved the money beforehand. But, we didn't. Because of our own lack of planning stupidity, we got ourselves into consumer credit card debt for the first time. Yeah, that one is hard to admit. Ouch. This is what Dave Ramsey calls stupid tax (the price you pay for a stupid decision). Anyway, we discovered that Financial Peace University was offered at our church, and the class had already started. BUMMER. We didn't have the money for the class materials anyway. But, we "got mad" and were determined to do something about this hole we had dug for ourselves.

September 2011. We did our first real budget in September. That process is initially so hard. To scrounge up all of the info of where every single dollar you spend goes is, well, painful. But so worth it. I can honestly look back and say it was the hardest part. We also took an Equip class at our church about what the Bible says about how to handle money. Our new way of handling our finances was definitely not perfect, but we felt encouraged. I started listening to The Dave Ramsey Show hour-long podcasts, which helped keep us motivated. We researched more about the Seven Baby Steps (which we now have memorized), and we started saving for our baby emergency fund plus cost of materials for the FPU class at our church that starts in January.

October 2011. Nate and I finally understood how the zero-based budget works and wrote out our monthly cash flow plan. Thanks to bumming materials from an old FPU kit, we started using the envelope system for groceries, eating out/date nights, personal care items, vehicle care, etc. It has helped a ton to not just use the debit card for those things. Before if we had gone over our budget by $5, I would have just said, "oh well." Now, when paying with cash, I can't do that, and it really helps us stay under our budget. At the end of the month, we finished Baby Step One: the $1,000 emergency fund plus the cost of materials for FPU! We feel so encouraged. I started listening to the 3-hour-long Dave Ramsey show at work, which continues to inspire and keep me motivated to start Baby Step Two and our debt snowball.

November 2011. We wrote our zero-based budget/monthly cash flow plan at the beginning of the month, as we will continue to do. As we are right now, we are scheduled to pay off our consumer credit card debt by the beginning of March 2012, though we would love it if we could beat that. We have budgeted for a teeny-tiny Christmas, and we will hopefully be able to scrounge up some extra income in the next few months. Nate and I are so in-sync about this, which is apparently not the case for most married couples in our situation. I am so thankful for that. Our next goals are, in this order, to pay off: our truck, my student loan, our car, and then Nate's student loan. These are based on pay-off amounts (as the interest rates are all very close to the same). Right now it looks like it will take up to two years, but then we will be finished with Baby Step Two, and we can be DEBT FREE.

You can read all about Dave Ramsey and everything he teaches on his website, but just for quick reference, the Seven Baby Steps are: 1 - $1000 emergency fund, 2 - pay off debt using the debt snowball (except the house, if applicable), 3 - build full emergency fund (3-6 months expenses), 4 - invest 15% of income in retirement, 5 - save for kids' college, 6 - pay off house, and 7 - build wealth. Since we don't have a house or kids yet, we will adjust this to fit us as recommended by Dave. Having kids and buying a house will probably fall somewhere between step 2 and step 4, depending on how quickly we can pay things off and save for other things appropriately.

I know personal finances are a very private thing for most people, and since this is the Internet, I will not share tons of details. But, Nate and I are so excited about this. We are embarrassed about the stupidity and ignorance that got us to where we were, but we don't even mind talking about it because we are on the path to get out of it. I will continue to update on our progress, probably after we start the class!

Learning to Enjoy Grocery Shopping

I found my new favorite place to grocery shop: Walmart Neighborhood Market. The ambiance is like a high-end grocery store such as the local Tom Thumb, but with the exact same prices as Walmart SuperCenter. LOVE. No seriously, if you can be in love with a Walmart, I am. This seemingly very minor discovery totally changes my world when it comes to grocery shopping because I hate grocery shopping.
I actually love shopping in general, and I don't particularly mind cooking. I do hate spending money, especially when there is the issue of fluctuating grocery prices and determining what a good price is on a gazillion products in a grocery store. This is a potentially stressful process for a frugal woman like myself. A frugal woman who has a teeny-tiny grocery budget to stick to. When I say teeny, I mean less than $50 a week (and our eating-out budget is even smaller, FYI).

Enter EMEALZ. Since cooking isn't my favorite thing to do, meal planning feels like homework. I dread it. I put it off. I don't mind scouring the internet (ie. Pinterest) and cookbooks for fun things to make or even for food to make for special events, but for weekly meals? Yuck. Not on this budget. It's no fun for me. Emealz takes care of this for me. I've been using Emealz for almost a year now, and we've absolutely loved like 90% of the meals we've made with it. The 10% we didn't love were mostly because we aren't big fish eaters, but you can swap the fish out for chicken in just about every instance. It is so worth the $1.25 a week if you are like me and hate meal planning. TOTALLY.

BUT, I still dreaded grocery shopping. We're on the Walmart plan (because overall it's cheaper than the others) with Emealz, but I've never been able to enjoy the shopping. It's the overall experience that I hate. It is generally better if I have a drink with me, but the overcrowded aisles, the ridiculously long check-out lines, the hike to and from the parking lot, and even the ultra-bright white fluorescent lighting in the store make it a miserable experience. This Walmart Neighborhood Market is a grocery store only. It's much smaller than even a basic Walmart. The parking lot is smaller. It's the middle of a mostly residential area, which means the store is less congested. The lighting in it is more subdued and indirect. This week, I spent less money on a week's worth of groceries than I normally would and was in and out of the store in record time. I have been shopping there for several weeks, and now I look forward to grocery shopping. What a difference shopping in a decent store makes!

This post probably doesn't interest anyone too much, but it was too exciting for me not to share!

My Dr Pepper Birthday Party

This year is the first time I've celebrated my birthday away from my parents and younger brother. I've lived close enough to them to be able to get together for birthdays and holidays every year until now. We've been in Texas for 9 months now, and while we love it here, this is the first birthday we've come upon (since we moved two days after Nate's birthday in January). It has been hard, but I know Christmas will be harder.

So, to keep from being so bummed about it, I decided to plan a little Dr Pepper themed party for myself. Not that my husband wouldn't do it...because he was very willing, but I wanted to do it because I love being creative, decorating, event planning and fun things like that. It was truly a joy for me.

I joined the addiction that is Pinterest, and I pinned so many ideas for my party-on-a-budget. Seeing as I'm already an avid fan of Dr Pepper, it was super-easy to use things I already had for this evening.

For example, I have three awesome vintage Dr Pepper bottles that today I discovered (while touring the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco) are older than I thought!

I have two like these with the red 10-2-4 design. They are from the 50s (when I previously thought they were from the 70s).

I also have one of the above clear bottles that reads "Good For Life" under the logo. It is from between 1927-1950, when I previously thought it was 1950s or later. I also already owned a vintage wooden Dr Pepper crate, which is from the same period. The rest of the items in the photos are self-explanatory. 

I used Dr Pepper flavored Jelly Belly Jelly Beans that I found on clearance for half-price (*squeal!!!*) at Target to hold the roses in place.

The recipe for Dr Pepper cupcakes came from here.

Please don't judge my cupcakes too harshly; this was A) my first time decorating cupcakes pretty much ever, and B) I discovered my muffin pans are smaller than the cupcake liners which resulted in squished and weird-looking cupcakes. When I bake, I usually make cookies, so this was kind of an adventure for me. :o) The "28" design was what I decided to do instead of candles. I initially wanted to copy the look of the "23 flavors" on the Dr Pepper bottle, but it was way too intricate to do repeatedly on cupcakes for my first try.

Dr Pepper made with cane sugar - the original recipe. You really can't tell the difference in the taste, but the little glass bottles are awesome. :o)

I also made a banner that says, "I'm a Pepper", but I have to wait until I can get better lighting to get a good picture of it.

I originally wanted to have chocolate covered strawberries and raspberries stuffed with chocolate chips for other snacks, but it was a bit too pricey for our tiny budget right now. We all enjoyed it anyway!

Ten Years :: My 9-11 Memories

Everyone has their own version and their own memories of the day. Mine are not especially significant. I didn't know anyone who was affected, and I don't have anything to say that is profound or really even worth sharing. In fact, on the tenth anniversary of this historic day, I even put off thinking about it because I didn't want to remember how I felt or how sad it was. It helps me to process my thoughts by writing them down, and so that's what I shall do.

Ten years ago. I was 17. Seventeen. I've almost forgotten what it's like to be a teenager. I was recently made painfully aware of this when hearing the age (15) of a babysitter who was going to watch my niece, Ellie for me so that Nate and I could go to a comedy night at our church. I thought, fifteen is too young to babysit a nine month...oh, wait. I started babysitting when I was 12 or 13. *facepalm* But the facts are that seventeen-year-old-me and my family had just moved to Michigan like a month prior, and school had just started about two weeks before September 11. I worked at McDonald's. All of my grandparents were still living (and I now only have one living grandma). I drove myself and my 13-year-old brother to school in my parents' 1983 Chevy Celebrity. I was also enrolled at a university, where I would later earn my bachelor's degree, taking a college-level Spanish class Monday and Wednesday afternoons, but Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons were free for me to spend extra time in the lab of my favorite class, Yearbook, of which I would later be asked to be editor. This is what I wrote as it appears in my high school's 2001-2002 yearbook.
9-11
They said we'd always remember 9-11. I could never forget. Could you?
By Laura Wills, Editor of the Royal Heir 2002
      It was a normal Tuesday morning, just like any other school day. I was sitting in government class, trying to stay awake, when everything changed. Mr. Barsuhn was called out of the room, and he returned with a serious expression on his face. He told us that a terrorist-controlled plane flew into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The class sat silently in disbelief. Later, we heard that another plane flew into the other tower of the WTC.
      This experience was frightening, but God did not want us to be afraid. The Bible is full of encouragement that applied to the events of September 11, 2001. God continually tells us not to be afraid because he sees the big picture. "...'Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight' (Joshua 10:25, NIV)." God has also warned us that we will have trouble in this world. "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33, NIV)."
      Our nation will never be the same. Good has and will come from this tragedy. Let us never forget Who this nation stands for, and let us always be thankful for the freedom to worship Him. We must remember that God is always in control.

Obviously, I wrote this after I had had a lot of time to process the events that had happened. The things I said were true and still are. I don't believe our nation has been the same since. But that day, my emotions were raw. I spent nearly the entire school day in front of the one TV our small Christian school had in the "Cafetorium" (multipurpose cafeteria/auditorium). We started watching after the first plane hit the first tower, and so we watched LIVE while the second plane hit the second tower, the other plane hit the Pentagon, and the fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania. That day, we had no idea that that would be the end of the planned attacks. We just knew that our nation was under attack, most likely from terrorists, and it was terrifying. For all we knew, there were many more attacks to come. For the first time in my sheltered American teenage life, I didn't feel safe. That day after school, I remember going out to dinner with my dad and my little brother to a little establishment in our small town. The restaurant was full of people, but the atmosphere was hazy and quiet. With only the news on the radio, everyone was silent in complete bewilderment.

Just today, I watched video footage of the second plane hitting the second tower of the World Trade Center. It is common footage that you can find a million times over by doing a simple search on Google or YouTube, but I hadn't seen it in years. Memories of how I felt the first time I saw it came flooding back to me. Those are the snapshots that replay in my head when I think of this day. Aside from the obvious countless lives lost, the surviving friends and family, the country at war with terrorism, and the renewed sense of patriotism, here are a few things I noticed while flipping through my high school yearbook that have changed. The New York City skyline. Airline security. Security to large public places and events (including amusement parks, tourist attractions, and sports arenas). The Sears/Willis Tower. The Internet. Facebook. The software we used to design the yearbook, Pagemaker, doesn't exist anymore; it is now called InDesign, and it's in its 5th version. There are countless more, but that's all that have come to mind just now.

The world has changed and will doubtlessly continue to change in the coming years, but of one thing I'm certain: my God is greater and more powerful than any evil in this world, and He is in control.

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"I'm pressed but not crushed; persecuted not abandoned / Struck down but not destroyed. / I'm blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure / And his joy's gonna be my strength // Though the sorrow may last for the night / His joy comes with the morning." - Trading My Sorrows, by Darrell Evans

Gateway Church :: Membership and Volunteering

As I've mentioned many times on this blog, when we moved to Texas, we knew it was where God wanted us to be. Similarly, when we started attending Gateway Church, where my brother and sister-in-law both worked, we felt at home there. We actually didn't do any "church shopping" at all because we felt like God was telling us, "This is it; this is where I want you to be. Stay at Gateway."

Gateway is not what we're used to...at all. (I'd like to write all about the size, the children's ministry, the worship, etc., but that will have to wait for another post.) But from everything we've learned about this church, it is absolutely right where we need to be. We did our homework right from the beginning. We researched the website, and at our first opportunity, attended the first of the three membership classes, which are more like seminars, called Catch the Vision.

I'm going to be really, really descriptive for this part, just because Gateway is such a different church than we've ever attended, and we'd like to dispel any rumors or apprehension any of our family and friends might have after hearing about our involvement with this new church. That being said, if you could care less, please feel free to skip to the end to read about how I'm going to be getting involved by volunteering starting in September, hopefully.

Catch the Vision
This first class was more like a seminar, a totally low-key, informational format that allowed you to make your decision on whether to become a member either immediately or later, at your leisure. I loved that there was no pressure. We watched a video about the history of the church, and it was really awesome to see how they followed God's direction at every turn. I was especially pleased to discover the church was born out of God leading our pastor to start a church rather than a group that started after breaking away from another church after a conflict. The class provided a workbook full of information including the history, vision, mission, statement of faith, and position papers (which could also be seen as their doctrine). I eagerly read it all. We prayerfully considered our decision and became members after attending for less than a month!

The Journey
The second class, called the Journey, is a lot like a class I took in college called Core 300. It focused on your personal spiritual walk, and it explained a lot of basic theology about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. It was a good refresher for us and confirmed again that Gateway teaches what we already believe doctrinally. There was one topic, having to do with the Holy Spirit, that was and still is a struggle for me, but in a good way. Having grown up in the church and having attended a Christian university, it is easy for me to get comfortable that I already know everything I need to know about what I believe. It's foolish to think I know everything there is to know, as I could go my whole lifetime learning and still barely scratch the surface, so I like that there are a few areas, especially, that have come to my attention in this class where I have room to grow.

Discovery
The third class, called Discovery, was also a lot like a class I took in college combined with a seminar I took in college. The first was a required course called Core 400, and the seminar, called Discovering My Design, was a several-day workshop offered to sophomores. I love personality tests and learning more about who I am and how people interact with each other. It fascinates me. Needless to say, I was looking forward to this class with much excitement. Catch the Vision had emphasized the need to get plugged in to a group, a necessity in such a large church, as well as getting involved as a volunteer. I've always believed it is important to minister and to get ministered to equally. Discovery is Gateway's way of helping you get to know yourself better in order to find the best place for you to serve...and to actually enjoy every second of it, rather than doing it out of obligation. I love this concept!

Most of the workbook could not be completed in class as there was just not enough time to cover it all, so I worked on most of it at home. The finished results were to be applied to the Servant Profile. The sections covered were:
1. Life Experiences, where you were given the opportunity to write about experiences you had whether it was something difficult, relational, achievement-related, or ministry-related that might impact where you might choose to serve. One example I used was achieving my art degree, and how I wanted to use my creative skills in some fashion in ministry.
2. Passion and Interests, where you could describe the things that you most enjoyed doing, and my examples included working with kids.
3. Personality, in which I took a version of the DISC test which is also compatible with the Gary Smalley Personality Types: Lion, Otter, Golden Retriever, and Beaver. I scored exactly how I expected: S (Golden Retriever), with an ability to pull out the I (Otter) or C (Beaver) when necessary.
4. Spiritual Gifts. A questionnaire almost identical to one I took in Core 400 in college which helped you know which God-given gifts you had, which for me included Craftsmanship (creativity), Exhortation (encouragement), and Helps/Service/Hospitality (assisting others, serving others, and making others feel comfortable).
5. Strengths/Abilities/Skills. This section dealt with your natural strengths. If you are familiar with the Strength Finder test, that is basically what this was. I scored high on Input (collecting, archiving, and traveling to learn more), Learner (enjoying learning more on a variety of topics), Relator (wanting to know a few people closely), Context (fascinated with learning from the past), and Arranger (organizing complex things).

[If you've skipped to the end, start HERE.]

After completing the Servant Profile, I was connected with someone, called a Ministry Placement Coach, whose job (as a volunteer herself) is to help others find their perfect place to volunteer. I just met with my coach for the first time today after church, and I have to say I'm so excited to get involved. She explained a few ideas where she thought I might be a good fit. She told me about the Event Administration volunteers who help to decorate for events. I'm sure my face lit up when she described it, and I told her that sounded really fun. If you've ever been to Gateway for any event, you know they go all out making it a fun environment for those in attendance. I love decorating, and I'm really excited to get to do this. I'll also probably begin working in Gateway's Amazing Kids, the kids' ministry, which has a more involved application and interview process in order to help keep the kids safe in such a large church. Ideally if I pass that process, I'll begin helping with the kids groups or in the nursery on the weekends.

After meeting with my coach, I don't have to do anything else until the ministries contact me. I love that Gateway has the volunteer ministry organized so well and that it is set up so that I have a contact person. Once I start volunteering, if I'm unhappy with my placement, all I have to do is contact my coach and she'll move me. That simplifies it a lot, and makes it a lot less awkward. (There's no going to a leader of a ministry and trying to come up with excuses for why you don't want to volunteer with them anymore.)

So that's what I have to look forward to in the next few weeks...getting involved. We're also going to get involved in a group, which I will explain more about in another post when I have more information.

Eight Months

We've officially been in Texas for eight months now. Minus this infernal, eternal summer heat, we pretty much love it here. There are lots of people and places we miss back in Michigan, but I am constantly reminded how much we are supposed to be here right now, at this exact time in our lives. It just feels so right.

I feel like I should kind of summarize what life has been like for us these past eight months, so if you've not been keeping up with us, you'll know what we've been up to. Can I really squeeze the past eight months into one post? I'm going to try . . . and GO.

January 2011
January was basically a whole month of packing and saying goodbye. The month culminated with the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad actual trip. We drove: Nate, a huge moving truck pulling our car on a trailer, and me, our truck with our dog in the passenger seat and his dog house in the bed. The weather was awful. But we prevailed. It took us 2 and a half days (when we can normally do it in 17 hours), but we made it.

February 2011
Nate job hunted, while I spent the time getting to know the ins and outs of life with an infant, and I began working as Ellie's nanny on Valentine's Day. Ellie turned 12 weeks old that day. I was also working part time doing some graphic design for a business in Michigan via the Internet. We were living with my brother, his wife, and their baby, so it was close quarters for awhile. But, we made it work. We had our meals together and divided up the chores. It was communal living at its finest, and I have fond memories of our time together. I think it especially helped Nate and Valerie, the in-laws, get to know each other better.

March 2011
Nate found a job, actually two jobs, and began working at our church and for my brother's IT company. We found an apartment about ten minutes away from my brother's house. It was so nice to finally have a place that was ours to call home. When we weren't working, we began slowly moving our things to our apartment and out of the rental storage unit where all our worldly possessions lived while we were staying with my brother. By the end of the month, the transition was complete, and we were moved in. The biggest highlight of March, for me, was getting my first pair of glasses. I knew I would have to get my eyes tested to get my license, and I knew without glasses, that I would have failed that test. So, off to the optometrist it was. I can't believe I went so long without getting my eyes tested. But, I am pretty used to them now, and I really like the frames. I'm thankful the adjustment wasn't too difficult for me.

April 2011
Now that we finally had a permanent address, we started making the adjustment of getting our vehicles licensed and registered in the State of Texas. It was a miserable experience, to be sure. I've moved lots of times, but this was the first time I've moved out of state as a vehicle owner. We jumped through the myriad of required hoops and finally got everything taken care of by the beginning of May, I think it was. We celebrated Easter with my brother's family, which was different, but in a good way. We're so thankful to have family near us so that we don't have to celebrate holidays alone.

May 2011
After the move and all of the necessary expenses involved with becoming residents and getting settled in our new house, we didn't have much left over for our yearly anniversary trip. I always like to go somewhere, just the two of us. I love to travel, and our anniversary is just the best time of year for us to do it. Since we were new to this area, we decided the best option was to have a Staycation. The only thing I regret about it was that we didn't take more pictures! We really did have the best time together. The first day, we went to breakfast at iHOP (Nate's very favorite place to eat) and then spent the day at Six Flags, which is literally about 10 minutes from our house. That night, we enjoyed the pool and hot tub at our apartment. It was the first time we had been to the pool, and it felt like we were staying at a hotel. It was lovely. The next day, our actual anniversary, we went to the Dallas Museum of Art. I've been to lots of art museums, and this certainly wasn't the finest I'd ever been too. Still, they had ancient Egyptian pieces that Nate enjoyed seeing, and I enjoyed visiting regardless. Afterward, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe, where they had a few guitars belonging to Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. This was significant to us, as we had just gotten hooked on the show Bones, in which Gibbons occasionally guest-stars. After dinner, we wandered over to the historic site where President Kennedy was shot. Everything was closed, but we visited the monument and walked down the street where it occurred. All in all, we enjoyed our Staycation.

June 2011
My little brother's wedding was at the beginning of the month, so we took the opportunity to head to Michigan early to visit. We spent the first few days with Nate's mom and stepdad before heading to my parents' house. It had been in the triple digits weather-wise when we had left Texas, but with the humidity in Michigan combined with the lack of air conditioning most places, it was horribly hot! A few days before the wedding, I visited an old coworker of mine who I had arranged to have cut my hair. I had been growing it out since our wedding three years prior, and I was ready to have it cut. I wanted to donate to a non-profit organization, such as Locks of Love, but I didn't want it super-short. It was the shortest I've ever had it, but it turned out awesome. Kelsey did a great job. :o) My brother's wedding festivities were amazing. I had a blast hanging out with the girls, especially Becca, my new sister-in-law, and our friend and fellow bridesmaid, Angie. This wedding will always be especially memorable to me because I got to walk with my husband, as he was a groomsman. How often does that happen? It was so fun.

July 2011
The hottest month of my life. Literally. Our area of Texas was in close-to-record-breaking heat for number of consecutive days over 100 degrees. The previous record was I think 42 (or 43?) days, set in 1980. We missed the record by a few days due to a minor storm front that passed through and dropped the temperature to the upper 90s for like a day or two. We also had extreme drought conditions as we had had very little rain. We just learned to stay inside most of the time. Since everywhere is air conditioned, it didn't seem to be so terrible. The last weekend of the month, I flew to Michigan to throw a shower and bachelorette party for my best friend, Laura. (Yes, we have the same name. Yes, we're used to it. No, it's not weird for us.) It was a small gathering, but we had a great time. We went to a Tiger's game (where it was miserably hot) and then went to Hard Rock for dinner. It was a whirlwind trip for me, but it was unforgettable.

August 2011
A few weeks later, Nate and I flew back to Michigan to attend my best friend, Laura's wedding. I spent the week with Laura while Nate went to see his parents for a few days. In the past nine years of our friendship (has it really been that long?!?!), I have come to know her family and friends. It really feels like they are an extension of my family and friends. Laura and I are like the sisters each of us never had, and I love the friendship we have worked very hard to build and maintain. It has been so worth it. I told Laura the weekend after I met Andrew (but several years before they began dating), that I wanted her to end up with a guy like Andrew. I had no idea she would actually marry him, but I am so glad she did. They are perfect for each other, and I just love that they are now Mr. and Mrs. After the wedding, we came right back to Texas to take part in Ellie's dedication at church. It was awesome to go to God in prayer, together, to ask him to bless her little life and to help us be a godly example to her. As her aunt and nanny, I was honored to be a part of it. I definitely teared up. She means so very much to me, and I constantly thank God for allowing me to be a part of her life.

That brings us to the present. Thanks for being interested in our lives. We have some new things planned for September, including me getting involved volunteering at church as well as both of us attending an Equip class (a month long topical Bible study on Wednesday nights) and joining a small group at our church. Stay tuned!

Mrs. Piatt's Log. Stardate: -311347.8

So I'm a Star Trek fan. Not a closet Star Trek fan. A full-fledged, seen-almost-every-episode-of-every-show, geek-speaking fan. I don't hide this fact. I mean, my external hard drive is named The Defiant, and my flash drives are all named after runabouts. I am totally okay with my geeky-ness. I've been watching TNG* since I was probably about nine years old with my dad and my brothers. Admittedly, I used to hate it. I'd complain when my dad and brothers were watching it, but they would just tell me I could go do something else if I didn't like it. So, I sucked it up, and got sucked in as a result. Over the years, my mom has even learned to enjoy the show.

This works out perfectly because my husband is also a Trekkie. (Great, you're thinking, their future kids are doomed.) Nate watched the show Star Trek: The Next Generation religiously on TV when it first aired. We're geeks. It's true. It's one of our favorite things to watch together. Because without our geek shows, we'd have a hard time finding shows we both enjoy. Generally I like period dramas, and he prefers action/comedy. It's hard impossible to find a show that fits both of those categories! So Sci-Fi it is.

A year or two ago, we borrowed TNG* on DVD from my younger brother and watched all seven seasons. We own the subsequent movies, and we watched them as well. Then we borrowed DS9* on DVD (also seven seasons) from my dad. Now that we have discovered Star Trek: Voyager on Netflix, we are excitedly watching it. Yep. You guessed it. Seven seasons. We're currently on season four.

Anyway, after all of that useless knowledge to amuse and entertain you, I was recently struck by something one of the characters said on an episode of Voyager that I recently watched. Bear with me: it pertains to this blog entry. ;o)

One of the characters was chattering on incessantly, and the other said, "You know, you really should keep a personal log. Why bore others needlessly?"

It was meant as a humorous quip, but it really struck me. I've been reevaluating my use of social networking sites lately, and I have discovered at a time in my life when social networking is my virtual circle of friends, I probably "chatter on" too much with constant posts about unnecessary things – things only a select few care about. Sites, such as Facebook, serve their purpose and I'm thankful to have them, but I think my time is probably better spent writing in a blog. I used to journal several times a week on actual paper as well as online blogs, and at certain times in my life, I have kept daily journals, such as my trip to England and Scotland in 2005. I cherish those journals as they help me remember significant events, but more importantly to me, how I was feeling and what I was thinking at the time.

That being said, I hope to keep up on this blog a little better than I have in the past few months. No promises, but it's worth a shot. Besides, this way, if I bore others, I'll be able to say that it's my personal blog, and if they are bored, they can just stop reading. :o)

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*Common Star Trek abbreviations as follows: TOS = The Original Series, TNG = The Next Generation, DS9 = Deep Space 9, VOY = Voyager

English Muffin with Egg

Well, I really didn't mean to take a five month hiatus from blogging, but alas, it is done. However, I am back and ready to continue. Hopefully, I'll keep it up.

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Nate and I have decided to swear off eating out for at least a month but we're hoping to try for six months. The exception is that we can use our allowance - we each have our own personal allowance - for eating out if we want. This is sort of a challenge to ourselves, but I have decided to take it a step further, just for fun.

I received a digital cookbook a few years ago from who knows where filled with recipes on how to create favorite fast food, restaurant, and other popular dishes at home. I don't know how legal it is, whether some insider swiped the recipes or if some aspiring chef concocted the recipes by making the dishes at home as close to the original as he could get. Regardless, I have chosen some of them to try for fun, and I will list my favorite modified successes here.

The McDonald's Egg McMuffin is by far my favorite breakfast sandwich from any restaurant or fast food place. I feel almost no guilt in eating it, save the ridiculous $3 it costs at McDonald's. It is one of the more expensive breakfast sandwiches they offer, probably save the Steak Egg and Cheese Bagel or something. At 300 high protein and low-in-fat calories, it is one of the healthiest breakfast options at McDonald's. Anyway, as far as the recipe, this one is seemingly a no-brainer. Anyone who has ever eaten one could probably figure out how to make it easily, but I am going to list the recipe as I make it that is an even healthier alternative to the original. I can almost guarantee you can make it at home for a fraction of the price McDonald's charges for theirs! *NOTE: I usually nix the cheese to save 80 calories, but if you want it closer to the original, add it!

ENGLISH MUFFIN WITH EGG

Makes 1 breakfast sandwich

Approximate Cost Per Serving: $1.20

Approximate Calories Per Serving: 170

1/4 cup egg whites

1 Thomas' Light Multigrain English Muffin

margarine

1 slice Canadian bacon

(Optional: 1 slice American cheese - adds 80 calories)

1 "12x12" sheet of wax paper

Non Stick Cooking Spray

Egg ring or a tuna can with both ends removed

1. Toast the English muffin. Lightly butter both halves with melted margarine (if you use a spray, you will use much less and save calories). Put the cheese on the bottom half.

2. Cook the egg whites. Microwave: cook the egg whites in a microwave-safe, shallow round 6 oz. custard cup sprayed with non-stick cooking spray for approx. 1 minute. Watch it carefully as to not overcook and to keep the egg from popping. Stove Top: spray a skillet and the egg ring with non-stick cooking spray heated to medium heat. When hot, add the egg whites. The egg whites will cook much faster than an egg with yoke. After approximately two minutes, remove the ring. You may need to slice around the ring if it sticks. Carefully flip the egg.

3. Add the slice of Canadian bacon to the skillet. After a few minutes, turn it over.

4. Remove the egg and place it on the cheesed half of the English muffin. Then remove the Canadian bacon and layer it on top of the egg. Cover with other half of muffin.

5. Eat and enjoy or wrap in wax paper to enjoy later!

Frosty Cappuccino

I originally wrote this blog entry in my live journal in July 2008, but I figured it was worth reposting in blogger as a refresher for me. I have edited it to make the costs more applicable to prices now since apparently some prices, such as the cost of milk, have gone down since 2008.
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I love Frappuccinos from Starbucks or even the McDonald's Mocha Frappe version. They are soooo good, but I hate to spend $3-5 on a drink! So, naturally I was so excited to find a recipe on how to make a homemade version for about an eighth the cost! I have modified it quite a bit to fit my tastes, preferred serving size, and to make it lower in fat and calories. 

MODIFIED FROSTY CAPPUCCINO:
Makes 2 - 8 oz. servings
Approximate Cost Per Serving: $.47
Approximate Calories Per Serving:  118


1/2 cup - fat free half & half
1/2 cup - fat free milk 
1 1/2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon - chocolate or caramel syrup
1 teaspoons - instant espresso powder or instant coffee
4-5 ice cubes
2 Tablespoons - Light ReddiWhip whipped cream


1. In the bowl of a food processor or blender, blend the ice cubes and combine the half-and-half and milk until ice cubes are sufficiently blended.
2. Add caramel/chocolate syrup, espresso/coffee, and ice cubes. Cover and whirl until the mixture is smooth.
3. Pour the mixture into two glasses. Top with whipped cream and drizzle the remaining 1 teaspoon of caramel/ chocolate sauce. Serve immediately.


Most of the time I forgo the whipped cream and chocolate drizzle to save calories, but I do add other flavors sometimes to vary the recipe, such as dark chocolate syrup instead of regular chocolate or adding mint extract or tiny chocolate chips. It is fun to experiment with this recipe to make a different flavor every time!


*I should note that all prices reflex the price I paid for these items in Texas in 2011 and that the price of milk, especially, varies.


Cheers. Enjoy your 118 calorie, $.47 Frappe. ;o)

Project 31: Day 20: Job

Day 20.  Write about your job and why you love it or hate it.


Well, I have two jobs.


Graphic Designer
I work as a subcontracted graphic designer for a company in Michigan.  I love it because I can work from home (yay!) on projects at my own pace in my own schedule. I get to work on some big projects for some major clients and small projects for local MI clients. It also love it because I do not have any contact with the client. Having a middle man can be frustrating, but my boss is also a designer, and he knows what questions to ask the client and is really good about making them sign off on projects (so they can't say they never approved a design and refuse to pay for it, which happened at my former place of employment). That helps a lot. It's not perfect, but it is working for me.


Nanny Extraordinaire
I start in four days (eek!) working as a nanny for my niece, Ellie. I will be providing full time care for her so her mommy can go back to work. I can't say whether I will love this or hate this job since I haven't started, but I'm pretty certain it'll be love. I've been able to babysit her off and on over the last few weeks. I'm so thankful I've had this time living with them to gain some experience. Watching her all day will come much more naturally now that I've had practice. I am thankful that her mommy has been so open with sharing her. It's been so fun already. I do know that it's going to be super hard the first week or so for them to be apart, but I know Valerie and Andrew have full confidence in me. I am so excited to continue to watch Ellie grow. She'll be 12 weeks old the day I start watching her.


I couldn't pick two better jobs for me. Seriously. I feel so blessed.

Project 31: Day 19: Comfort Food

Day 19.  Write about your favorite comfort food (we are women - we ALL have comfort food!)

I wish my comfort foods were healthy. Alas, they are not.

1. Dr. Pepper. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I would swear off soda/pop completely if it weren't for Dr. Pepper. The only way Dr. Pepper could be improved is if they came up with a natural sugar version with fewer calories. Pepsi has experimented with this, so it must be possible. A Dr. Pepper free of artificial sugars (including high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, and sucralose [Splenda]) and not so high in calories would be a dream for me. I could do without the caffeine, though that isn't as important to me. This is the part of the show where I show you a slightly an extremely embarrassing but funny picture of me from a trip to England/Scotland, Land of Scarce Dr. Pepper, in 2005.

Call me addicted, but I am just thankful to now live in Texas, Land of ABUNDANT Dr. Pepper. It's everywhere! Seriously, if you don't live in Texas, have you ever seen Dr. Pepper machines anywhere where you live? Pepsi? Yes. Aquafina? Yes. Coke? Yes. Mt. Dew? Yes. Dr. Pepper? NEVER.

2. Snickers Peanut Butter. Have you seen this yet? I was in Target Saturday when they were giving out free samples. Snickers were already my very favorite candy bar, but the only thing that could possibly be better than Snickers would be a Snickers/Reese's Cup combo. That's exactly what this is. To die for. I'm surprised I didn't take the lady's whole stash of samples. My waistline is thankful that I didn't. At 7 g of fat per snack, they aren't even remotely low fat.


Dove Chocolates - dark chocolate - are another favorite.

3. Moose Tracks Ice Cream. I've had it in peanut butter ice cream, mint ice cream, and chocolate ice cream. It doesn't matter. I love them all. My personal favorite has to be low fat chocolate moose tracks ice cream. Same great taste with fewer fat and calories. Whenever I'm in a bad mood or grumpy, this is my first go-to snack food. Healthy? Of course not. Soothing? Oh, yes it is. I usually limit myself to ONE scoop, though, so I don't feel too guilty.