happy belated love day

happy day after love day day. (in my mind that TOTALLY makes sense. read it again s-l-o-w-l-y...it will also make sense to you)

anywho....it's february 15, the day after valentines day and almost 3 weeks since my last post but who cares about that since it's practically still a holiday and come on folks, we cut people a little slack when it's a holiday. (we also cut people, who tend to use run-on-sentences too often, a little slack too)

what did YOU do yesterday to celebrate love??

did you eat copius amounts of chocolate? (you know, the jackpot of candy that your offspring landed at school.)

spend ridiculous amounts of money on flowers that will soon die? (i heart flowers)

did you go on a fancy-smacy date?

did you just stay home and um, cuddle??

valentines day in our home is just like any other day.

we celebrate love everyday. (sappy, but true)

which means that EVERYDAY we eat copious amounts of candy and do a lot 'cuddling'.

 yes. we. do.

everyday we do NOT go on fancy dates and buy expensive flowers. we are cheap.

we like plastic, NO maintenance plants.

yes. we. do.

anywho...

this year, my hub surprised me.

if you know me well, you know i HATE surprises.

H.A.T.E.

i hate not knowing who i'm going to have to hang out, what am i going to have to wear, what if i don't like what the plan is??

WHAT IF I HAVE NO CONTROL???

gasp.

i really HATE surprises.

that being said, i kinda liked my surprise last night.

the hub had told me to be ready by 4:30.

since i was in Seattle for the day with my bff, who btw, knew all about 'the plan' and wouldn't even tell me. what sort of bff  LIES to her bff?

mine. that's who.

(i'm glad you didn't tell me. brat.)

4:3o i was ready. all dressed up (adding assult to injury, i had strict orders to NOT wear jeans.) and no clue where we were going.

as we were walking out the door, he told me to grab my make-up bag and NO, we were NOT going to stay overnight.

i consider myself a fairly intelligent girl when it comes to figuring out a man and his ways and wouldn't you know it, i busted my man.

and i'm SOOOO glad i was right!!

the spa....we were going to the spa!!!

it's been a fairly emotional couple weeks (love my life but i tell ya, sometimes it gets the best of me) and my dear hub KNEW that THIS is what i NEEDED.

he's a gem.

he's a keeper.

he took me to the spa. i think i'll keep him.

we met up with our friends from b'ham and spent a wonderful, very relaxing evening together.

ok, i may have changed my mind...

i guess i DO like surprises. (don't surprise me unless you're taking me to the spa. or to Maui.)

house pic 2007

i just found this picture.

this picture is the reason why we even looked at this house.

although it's now red, has a porch full of furniture (NOT an old Lazy Boy or anything trashy like that....just rocking chairs and such), and hello, the flowers, mine never looked that good and the trees in the background are now MASSIVE! 

still, don't cha just want to roll around, like a little puppy in that grass??

i love home.

 home is where my heart is. (sorry, that was SO cheesy)

but it's true. 

culinary rut

what will YOU make for dinner tonight??

yesterday, my bff asked me at NOON what i was making for dinner.

then we laughed together, both knowing FULL well...

1. i'm not a very good cook.

2. i won't actually have what i need for a full meal in my pantry/fridge.

3. i have REALLY  kind of picky eaters.

4. most importantly, i NEVER, (rarely) think about dinner before i get the daily phone call from the hub, in his sweet little voice  studly, MANLY voice asking "so babe, what you thinking about for dinner?" bless that dear man that i call my hub....he doesn't expect much and he's always so gracious when i say, "i don't know...what do you want?" which in other words means 'what are YOU making us tonight?'

here's something funny....i collect cookbooks.

yes i do.

but only ones from churches or schools and ones that have pictures. i'm a visual, i need pictures.

that's a good sign that i love cookbooks...maybe, just maybe SOMEDAY i'll learn to cook.

that being said, i don't hate cooking.

in fact, i kinda like it.

my sista made me a dang cute apron that i LOVE and feel purdy in every time i wear it.

it makes me feel VERY June Cleaver like.

  IF i actually had everything in the house that i needed to complete a full meal, i might even cook everyday. or every other day. or every 4th day.

probably every 4th day.

here's another little tidbit that you may not know:

my mother-in-law feeds us twice a week.

sunday noons and wednesday nights.

is that not the sweetest thing EVER??

it isn't a big sit down meal, it's more 'come when you can, eat what you want' meal.

sundays it's ham buns....(yes, she's Christian Reformed. that's what we do...eat ham buns).

wednesday nights it's usually a roast.

she does Hospitality well.

she always has the coffee on. everyone is always welcome.

one of these days, i'm going to do a post on my dear in-laws.

 they are a bunch of saints...i'm so honored to be a part of them.

we are a loud, crazy bunch and i love it.

so....what recipes work for your family?

what do you feed 'finiky' eaters?

do you usually have the same menu from week to week?

throw out ideas.

except for lasagna, spaghetti, pancakes and pizza.

those are the few items on your weekly/biweekly schedule.

i'm really good at those.

oh, and hot dogs. i'm a good hot dog maker.

i need to start mixing it up a bit.

trying new stuff. stepping off the 'safe food ledge'.

talk to me.

guilt...

ok, so here's the thing. one of my 'famous' sayings in life is:

LIFE IS TOO SHORT FOR GUILT.

many of you have heard me preach this to you. sorry about that.

wouldn't ya know it, i'm feeling it today big time.

am i loving my family well?

am i spending enough time with friends?

i should have called her and let her know i was thinking about her but i didn't.

i didn't pray for them like i said i would.

i eat too much garbage.

i didn't do my devotions last night, instead i played Tetris til 2 am.

i don't know Jesus like i want to.

i didn't do the laundry.

the fridge is dirty.

all i want to do today is watch HGTV or the DIY channel.

i don't exercise enough.

i don't read enough.

my car is too dirty.

blah. blah. blah.  

i didn't blog as often as i promised myself (or you) i would.

i want to think that i do it so that I'll have a running snippet of our life for my kids.

 i want to think that i made a goal and i must keep it.

but come on, let's be honest here. truth is, i've been hearing, over the past few weeks that there are a pile of people (strangers/friends) that follow my blog (those of you who read but don't leave comments!! you know who you are!:)) and i don't want to let you down.

do i blog because the weight of knowing that i may be 'erased' from someones 'favorite' list suffocates me? i know this because i've been know to NOT check those who don't update their blogs often enough.

gasp.

i lay awake at night thinking, obsessing over what i should or shouldn't have done.

why do i do this?

and WHY, WHY must there be guilt attached?

 i feel guilty to not know the answer to WHY i feel guilty.

 

 i must STOP the guilt train!

hop off and run.

RUN the other way!  

spill it...what do you feel guilty about?

and please, PLEASE don't tell me NOTHING because then i'll have guilt about that.

talk about a train wreck