Category: Uncategorized (Page 14 of 201)

We are dog sitting this week.

He is a Puggle and his name is Jaxon Bear. He belongs to our friends at church–they are on a Disney cruise. Fun, right?! The kids were over the moon excited to be able to dog sit again (we had another dog here not too long ago–she was a Beagle named Honey. I’m forgetting when that was now… but it has been a few months)

Maddie was a bit apprehensive about Jaxon, but has completely warmed up to having a dog in the house. At first she was VERY concerned about whether he would lick her. But he’s 12 years old and not particularly wild (he basically sleeps most of the day!) so that has helped her overcome her fear.

It has been a nice change to have a Puggle instead of a beagle this time. Dende and Honey both got into EVERYTHING, especially the garbage can. Or pretty much anything that had any residual smell of food. Or any smell at all. Ha! Jaxon will still sniff things out (that’s the beagle in him) but if we tell him to “go lay down” he will stop his sniffing and obey! It’s fantastic. It kinda of makes me open to perhaps, if we ever decide to get another dog to get a mixed breed… I do really love beagles though… but I would also love to be able to train it a bit better, and beagles are SO nose driven… ah, the dilemma. The good news is we aren’t planning on getting a dog anytime soon, so we have time to consider our possibilities.

I’m leading a new monthly Women’s Bible study at church.  We’re going to go through the study, “Seamless” by Angie Smith.  I’m excited to connect with more women at church and help them see the old testament connected to the new testament.

But you should know, I wasn’t actually looking to start a small group.  It actually makes me super nervous. But God works in mysterious ways.  Or sometimes God works in obvious ways–like 3 of my friends asking me to lead a small group and do this book study.  Ha!  So, here I am.  And I am excited.  Well, excited and nervous.  But I know I am just the organizer of the group and he can do all the heart work.  So, pray for me, and the group.  We’re meeting the last Sunday night of each month.

Here’s the short promo video for the series in case you’re curious:

Ode To An Egg Slicer

Do you have an egg,

that “Slice me!” does it beg?

Or do you often wish,

for an egg in your dish?

Then this slicer is your dream–

and when you use it you will beam.

It cuts each egg with ease,

in even slices that please.

All the kids in this home,

fight to use it on their own.

“I’ll get the slicer!” they holler,

almost dragging others down by the collar!

This gadget makes eating eggs fun,

And we really use it a ton.

“Let’s call it Eggy!” we all agreed,

With our egg slicing needs it will always succeed!

Fried rice has always seemed like a daunting thing to make.  So, whenever we would have an Asian inspired main dish we would eat it over noodles or mashed potatoes or occasionally plain rice but that was pretty boring.  Then after we had one of our babies (ha! I can’t remember which one.  It must have been Maddie or Levi because we were living in this house) one of our friends brought us a meal which included homemade fried rice!  Tim and I agreed that it was scrumptious and I asked her to teach me how to make it.

I’m going to post the recipe below (in a “read more” tab since I feel so special that I know how to do that now).  😉

And because every post is better with a picture… here is my attempt at a picture of my fried rice and Teriyaki chicken.  Apparently rice and chicken don’t photograph well… it looks a bit sad and washed out.  But let me tell you–it’s delicious!

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Well, I did it.  I actually did set some goals for 2020.  I know, I know.  I said I wouldn’t.  And then it got me thinking about what would make me happier if I could actually get it done.  You know, those things that are just looming over you unfinished, eating away at you.  But they are not actually important enough to get done by a certain date.  For example, I have a skirt that I want to take-in. But I keep putting it off.  And I just wear other clothes instead of that skirt… or I just wear it too big and that’s fine… but I would really feel better if I would just sit down and fix it.

It’s stuff like that.

So, I’ve started a list of things I would like to actually accomplish in 2020.  But along with that, I’ve included things that would make me generally happier.  I’m calling these my “Self-Care & Goals List.”  Some items are very vague while others are specific: (Here are a few)

• Make exercise a priority
• Cook a healthy vegetable each week
• Fit into my new Jeans
• Go on 12 dates with Tim
• Spend 1 hour a week reading for fun
• Work on bettering my studio (Student Progress and Theory Exam especially)
• Spend 1 hour a week crafting
• Finish learning Theme From Love Story (on piano)
• Take-in Black & Blue Skirts
• Scrapbook a year (Friesen Family Yearbook)
• Finish painting playset
• Redo basement bathroom (decor)

I’ve also decided to start a new tab at the top of my website of all the books I’ve read this year.  Most of these are going to be books that Chloe is also reading, but I thought it might be fun to keep track this year.

So, there you have it!  It’s going to be a great year!

That’s right folks, we officially have NO CRIB in this house!

Levi has transitioned out of his crib and into the lower bunk.  And there was much rejoicing. Well, I dragged my feet pretty heavily, but everyone else was totally on board.  I just remember the transition to the regular bed with Madison was HORRIBLE.  So, I was concerned that it would be equally difficult with Levi.

But I was wrong.  He has done smashingly well.  Amazing even.  Just like Chloe and Josiah, he has stayed in his bed and calls for us when he’s ready to get up.  The only alteration we’ve had to make is for his morning quiet time he used to play in his crib, but now he gets to play in his room instead of being contained.

Whew!  I’m glad this transition was so much smoother than I expected. He’s seeming so grown up all of a sudden.

On Kylene’s blog she had a little “read more” tag that folded out the rest of her post and I thought that was cool (especially for longer posts) so she told me how to do it.  This post is simply me trying out the fold technique to see if I can figure it out…

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The other day I was looking to make a different kind of appetizer for our football gathering and came across this recipe.  I like the idea of pinwheels since they look so cool all rolled up.  And we’ve made a bacon ranch dip that we simply love, so I thought this would probably be right up our alley.

And I wasn’t disappointed!  It was crazy easy to assemble (and eat!).  The only alteration I would make is to be sure you make them in the large tortillas because there ends up be a bit of waste in the smaller ones on each of the ends… but I’m totally nit-picking!  You simply combine the ingredients and spread it on the tortilla and then cut them into as big or small of sections as you want.  Boom.

Here is the link to the website that I found the recipe:

Bacon Cheddar Ranch Pinwheels

I’m not going to make it a hyperlink because strange stuff happens to my site when I do, so all you have to do is copy and paste it into the search bar.  And I would go look at it now.  Because I forgot to take pictures of mine and her pictures are simply gorgeous.  😀

And finally, for fast reference (since I totally plan on making these again) here is just the recipe:

Bacon Cheddar Ranch Pinwheels