Current Projects

Hello Bloggy!

Here's an update on what I am doing:

1) I am following the 30daysoflists.blogspot.com. I am not much for paying for these sort of things, but right now if you scroll down their home page they are offering the complete collection from March 2011. I think I am on Day 4 now, but here is a picture from my Day one:

2) I discovered this book at Barnes and Nobles::

It's pretty awesome. At first I was considering a different one and thought this one would be great for my a-type older sister (who told me once before she has problems being random!)

So, today I randomly opened up to a page. It said I should tape some blank pages together and then tape them to the book so they could fold in. And then spill something on it. The next picture might look disturbing::

But its great to me!! I guess I would have preferred some awesome pink and purple paints. But that wouldn't have been random. Or creative. And less like a mistake. Instead I laid it out on my kitchen floor, turned around and spotted some sriracha sauce, and grabbed it without a second thought. I admit it was quite satisfactory to squirt it about. And then since I was holding my cold coffee in hand I thought "What the heck!" And dumped that on too. 

I let it lay about and dry for a while and then folded it up and mashed it up and stuck it out on the deck, hoping the freezing air would do it some good. Right now its under 5 old textbooks. 

The one and only problem?? Sriracha sauce can sure be stinky!! I wonder, why didn't I choose something more awesome like...chocolate sauce? I guess sitting and thinking about my medium would have defeated the purpose of random, improvisation, and learning to make mistakes!! So I think I took this book to heart quite literally and made a MESS

3) I am reading Magnificent Obsession by Anne Graham Lotz. Took me about 120 pages but I think I get it now. Or at least I got ...something. Maybe an answer to a deep conversation I had last night with a dear friend. Perhaps a step in the right direction at the very least. 

4) I REALLY WANT A PUPPY. NOW. 

Good bye bloggy world. 

Bible Verse!

“So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your
everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and
walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing
what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't
become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without
even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed
from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and
quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging
you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you,
develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1,2 MSG

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Yield: 16 hearts

ingredients:

Red Velvet Layer:
3 1/4 cups flour
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
4 tablespoons milk, divided
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon red food coloring
2 teaspoons white vinegar

Cheesecake Layer:
2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 18 jelly roll pan with butter or spray with Baker's Joy.

In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons milk, vanilla extract, red food coloring, and white vinegar.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients, until completely combined. The batter will be a really thick, almost moldable texture...but don't worry, that's what you want. Remove 3/4 cup of the batter and place it in a medium bowl. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of milk (into the 3/4 cup of batter you just took out). Set aside the 3/4 cup batter.

Pour the remaining batter into the prepared jelly roll pan. Using a spatula, smooth out the batter to reach all the edges.

Now, in your stand mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until combined and there are no lumps. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the red velvet layer and smooth mixture till it reaches all the edges.

Drop spoonfuls of the remaining red velvet batter (that you mixed with milk) onto the top of the cheesecake layer. Drag the tip of a knife through the red velvet and the cheesecake layers to create swirls.

Bake for 30 minutes, rotating half way through, or just until the center is set and it no longer jiggles. Let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting. Use a medium sized heart cookie cutter to create the perfect Valentine's Day treat!

from http://www.thenovicechefblog.com

These were absolutely amazing!! Hubby compared them to cosmic brownies in how rich and think they were. I used a smaller pan than she did so my brownies were much more thick. Thus, they took FOREVER too cool. I ended up sticking them out on the deck for 1/2 hour. 

I do say these are a MUST MAKE!! I will be making them again for sure!! But...probably skip using the cookie cutter. I hate cookie cutters. I would rather just stand over the pan and eat away :0D. 

Well, I would also update on my life but..."Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is Meaningless!"--Bible. 

Off to a Vampire Diaries marathon!

Hypochondria

Hmmm....

This will be a disjointed and crazy blog. Deal.

1. I finished reading Priscilla Shirer's "Discerning the Voice of God" a few days back. While reading, although I found it spectacular, I kept finding myself annoyed. It seemed in every chapter of the book her remedy was to get into the Word of God. Really?! Two chapters in I found myself going, "Yes, I know, I get it. What else?" It wasn't until I closed the cover for the last time that I discovered: "Hmmm...maybe that means reading the Bible really IS important!" Like, maybe the whole reason she kept going on and on and on and on about it is because it really IS the best thing you can do to foster a relationship with God. Maybe, just maybe, if I want to get to know the Lord even more, and even hear His voice more regularly...I should read the Bible! Let's face it, I don't always find reading the Bible the most amusing past time. Most times I don't know what/where to read (do I study, or just read?) and I never really discover anything that pertains to me. But, every now and then..I come across a verse that, let's face it, I have read a million times. However, THIS time it catches my eye. It jumps off the page. I read it and re-read it, highlight it, circle it, look up Greek and Hebrew meanings. And pretty soon I find myself wanting to tattoo the very verse onto my wrist so I can see it whenever I am doing anything. I can just look down and BAM: Oh yeah, Jesus DOES like me! or Oh yeah, Jesus really IS the Holy Matchless One! or a good one, Oh yeah, Jesus you ARE my capstone!
So....all this to say 2 things: 1. Thank you Mrs. Shirer for being obnoxious about reading the Bible. and 2. I need to get into memorization more. I started once and probably memorized 10 more verses than I already knew. But let's face it, I only have so much room on my wrists and forearms.

2. Sigh. This is the section that will refer to my Bloggy Title today. Hubby thinks I am nuts. Maybe I am nuts. But I really do wonder if other normal, healthy people have all these nagging stomach issues, random rashes, pruning skin, and constant tiredness. I know that people say that around 2:30-3:00 is when you can really lose your energy. But I can have slept good the night before, do nothing all day, drink my one cup of coffee, and feel exhausted right up until bedtime when I pass out only to restart the cycle again. I've begun to notice through my exhaustion that perhaps I am having tiny headaches everyday. I am not usually good at noticing headaches because I tend to just skip that step and go to full-blown migraines.
And so, I have become fed up with all these weird symptoms that seem to add up to nothing. Was it really a bug that climbed onto my face in broad daylight and bit my eye to cause it to become swollen, inflammed, and itchy? Was it just the bubble bath that caused a rash all over my forearms, and just my forearms even though my whole body was obviously submerged in the bubble bath? This has led to the decision to keep a Food Journal of sorts. In it I will write everything I eat or drink and all my weird bodily reactions. But because I am predisposed to believe in (hypochondriac part is here:) a salicylate allergy, I am also going to write down lotions, soaps, and makeups I use.
Ultimately, time consuming. But also Ultimately, some sort of answers!! I hope!

That is all.
End transmission.

Gungor Lyric Mash Up

who is like the lord
the maker of the heavens
lover of my soul
who takes me from the ashes
who heals me of my blindness
who is like the Lord

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us


Create in me a clean heart, a clean heart
For I have turned my face from You
Teach us of Your ways oh God, oh God
For we have turned away from You
Lord have mercy


There is no one there is no one like You
no one like you
in heaven or on earth


With every morning there are mercies new
Your kindness
brings us back to you

Your name is stronger than the pain
it's covering the shame of all these weary hands
and causing us to turn our face again
Your Name be praised


Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy Lord the earth is Yours and singing
Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy Lord
The earth is Yours
The earth is Yours

-"Beautiful Things" album 2010

Two important news notes:

1. I am sick. AGAIN. In all honesty, I believe its the same cold. Back for the 3rd time. The first time I was only sick for like 2 days, then like 3 days of normalcy, than sick again pretty badly for about a week and a half, then I've only been 'not sick' for 4-5 days tops, and now its back again! With a pretty obnoxious need to cough all the time. So either my immune system has disappeared, or this is the never ending cold.

2. I will probably not be around the internet for quite some time. Okay, like a week. I will only use it to check email for cheer related things, view houses Hubby has found to go look at, and use the cheer group on Facebook to keep the girls updated on some important upcoming dates. 

Man, it is going to be tough. But to prepare, I have now spent WAAAAY too much time online (facebook, blogging, pinterest, email) and should probably get off and do useful things, like shower :)

Good luck to me!! 

Good bye!