My Girl is Golden

This is what I looked like twenty-two years ago this morning:

It was very early in the morning. Very Early. But Hubby and I were on the way to the hospital so we could meet this sweet little angel:

Oh, just look at those cheeks! So, so sweet! We were all enthralled with her from the moment we heard, "It's a girl!" (...and we are all just looking at the adorable baby in the picture and not looking at the just-given-birth-mom, right? Good!)

We named her Megan partly because it's the name her daddy liked the best from our list and partly because we knew her almost three year old big brother would be able to pronounce it correctly.

Those big brown eyes and that endearing smile captured our hearts. It was fun to have a girl with all the girly clothes and things.

With the addition of Megan, we became a family of four. One boy, one girl. One kid for each hand. Two babies to fill my heart with more love than I could imagine. More hugs, more kisses, more tears to wipe away, more laughs.

This girl's love of ice cream started at a young age thanks to her grandfather. She really liked it and kept wanting more after she got over how cold it was!

I had so much fun staying up late on Birthday Eve making her a shape cake every year for her birthday. Eighteen of them. Her nursery was decorated with bunnies, so of course a bunny had to be her first birthday cake. It was a lemon cake with lemon icing. She even shared a piece with her great-grandma.

Such a sweet picture of two so very different generations.

And then that little girl grew...

 

...and grew...

...and grew...

 ...and before I knew it she was a bride...

This daughter that God saw fit to bless us with has been one of the best things in my life. I admire her so very much. She is smart, works hard, a good cook, very beautiful and a loving and loyal woman. She loves God with all her heart and loves her husband too. How lucky have I been to be her mom? 

Megan, I pray for you on your 22nd birthday that this will be a joyful year for you, that you will know many days of happiness, that you will learn more about becoming the woman God wants you to be, that you will love your husband even more, that you will be a blessing to those around you. I cannot even express how much I love you. Happy Birthday, sweet-pea!

In my heart I will always be holding your hand.

A Little of This and a Little of That

Here I go letting a lot of time pass between blog posts. If I want to keep my two or seven regular readers interested, I best keep writing.

• I went on a road trip with my hubby last week. He had meetings in the state just south of us and I tagged along. Aside from God protecting us on some icy roads on our way down, it was a pretty quiet week.
• I spent Valentine's Day shopping and trying to knock some things off my shopping list. I wasn't entirely successful, but had fun trying.
• I'm thankful for the Internet to fill in the blanks of the things I was shopping for and couldn't find. Now I just have to wait for the UPS or FEDEX truck to come by!
• Have you ever eaten at a Chick-fil-A? LOVE IT! I can pretty much eat chicken for every meal and be happy, so this place is right up my alley. They have the BEST service. I ate lunch at one last Tuesday in a mall. I sat in the food court area and read for a long time. TWICE someone from the Chick-fil-A place came by my table and asked if I wanted a refill on my drink. In a food court. I was impressed.
• Tuesday evening I was trying to figure out where I wanted to eat supper because Hubby had a business dinner. I have never minded eating out alone. I just make sure I have a book with me and I'm good. But on Tuesday, all of a sudden I realized it was Valentine's Day and I would be eating out amongst all sorts of couples. Alone. I felt kind of like a cross between a loser and a dweeb.
• Hubby was sweet and gave me two Valentine cards and even a couple of CDs that I had been talking about!
• Wednesday I picked up some of our favorite treats from a great Dutch bakery. Pastry filled with almond paste. I also bought myself what I thought was a giant heart-shaped sugar cookie, only it wasn't any ordinary sugar cookie. It was a sugar cookie stuffed with that same almond filling. I about went to heaven eating that thing. Yum.
• We visited our son-in-law's sister and her little family. They have a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 month old. So fun and so cute and so sweet. Needless to say I enjoyed my time with them and of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy a cute little girl outfit for the baby and some Duplos for the older one.
• The past two Sundays we have been able to hear our former pastor preach. He was a guest preacher at two different churches. It was great to hear him preach, talk with his wife and have lunch with them two Sundays in a row! They are some of our best friends and we don't get to see them terribly often since they live about 150 miles away.

A random tangent here....

• I have been very intrigued with reading the Living Proof Ministry blog -- specifically the posts that are written by Beth Moore's sister, Gay, describing her life as an alcoholic and God's amazing work in her life and how God pulled her out of that life. I find it all so incredible. You can go to this link to find links to all the installments that have been published so far.

Back to the other randomness...

• This shows to be a pretty quiet week. I hope to make some good progress on some projects in my sewing room.

 I have no idea how to wrap this post up in a neat little bow and end it, so I guess will just end it.

Marmalade Muffins (Pioneer Woman)

**Another great addition through my Cooking Through PW Cooks Adventure.**  
(believe it or not)

Remember that my girls (daughter and daughter-in-law) and I were working our way through Pioneer Woman's cookbook? (You can click here to see all the other installments.) My last post on that was way back in August! Gulp. The girls and I talked about it over Christmas break and decided that I would carry on the torch alone. They are super, super, super busy with their schooling (They are learning to become a pharmacist and a doctor. I really don't understand why they think they are busy. ha.) (Actually I totally, totally understand.) I asked Hubby if he would bravely try some of the recipes that I had initially passed on to one of the others because I knew he wouldn't like them and he agreed to. I should probably have the pizza delivery guy on speed-dial just in case. I'll do my best to make my way through cooking all the rest of recipes in Ree Drumond's cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks, just don't know how long it will take me.

There were just a couple of recipes left to finish up the breakfast section of The Pioneer Woman Cooks.
This was a muffin recipe. Ree calls them Marmalade Muffins, but there really isn't any marmalade in them. Just orangey yumminess.

The cast of characters:

The first step is to cream the butter and sugar together, then add the egg. I should have taken a wider shot to show my 27+ year old hand mixer. I got it for a wedding shower present and have used it for all those years (except for the three years we lived in Singapore).

As I was doing the creaming, I remembered working hard at this step when I was a little girl. I loved to bake even then. I would mix and stir and mix trying to get it all blended, then take the bowl to my mom and ask her if it was good enough and she would take the spoon and somehow magically make it even more smooth.

The ingredients for these muffins are pretty basic. Butter, sugar, egg, flour, baking soda, milk. The really yummy part is the addition of orange zest. All I had on hand were some clementine oranges. I don't know if the zest is the same as a regular orange or not, but these were tasty just the same.

The recipe made 24 mini-muffins. That's a few too many for just two of us, so I made half a recipe and got out one of my mini-muffin pans. But it ended up making.... 24 mini-muffins. I must have different definition of mini than Ree. I guess it's a good thing I didn't make a full recipe!

To finish off the muffins, mix together some brown sugar and orange juice squeezed from the oranges that were zested and pour over the hot muffins and let it soak in. Again, I don't know if it made a difference that I used clementine oranges or not. They seem to be just as orangey as regular ones.

So, the verdict was...

I liked the muffins without the  orangey-syrupy stuff. I thought that made them too sweet and too sticky. The plain muffins were very delicate and I loved the orangey flavor.

The Message

I like jewelry and my hubby has done a good job with spoiling me with it. A few weeks ago I was wearing a necklace with three pendants on it and Hubby wanted to know why I had so many on the chain.

My hubby bought me the cross the week we moved back to the US from Singapore. He said it was for surviving the three years and I said it was because of Jesus that I did make it through. The rectangle with the Chinese characters is from Hong Kong. The two characters sound like the two syllables in my name. I don't know what the characters mean, but I did have a Chinese lady once pronounce them and they did sound like my name. (Drew? Rachel? Do you know what they mean? I just hope it's nothing bad...) No matter, I love that pendant. My daughter has one in silver for her name. The little ruby heart was a gift from Hubby for Valentine's Day a few years ago.

So my message when I wear this combo is: Jesus died on the cross for me because He loves me. I need to be reminded of the gospel everyday. This is just one way I do that.

Superbowl Party for Just Two

Hubby and I had a Superbowl Party tonight. Just the two of us. For several years we had the youth group to our house for the Superbowl. I kinda miss that. Frankly, I miss the days we had friends. See, we don't know any one in this town and when event like this happen, it bothers me.

Anyway... Hubby and I made some snacks in good Superbowl tradition, and settled in for the event. I ignore the game and watch the commercials. Hubby actually watches the game! I think it's kind of hard on him to not mute the commercials. He's the king of the mute button. As of half-time this year, I can only say there were two commercials I really liked. Hands down my favorite was the VW commercial. You know, the one where the dog wanted to chase a car, but wasn't skinny enough to fit through the doggie door so he worked out enough to get small enough to take off after the new VW Bug. Then it cuts to a Star Wars-ish bar scene complete with Darth Vador. Awesome. Oh look --  I found it on YouTube! Here ya go:



I clapped at the end of it.
The guy in the bar was referring to this great commercial from last year:



I know this is all such fascinating stuff, but hey, it's my life right now.

Random Stuff - Part 2

Today I have a continuation of the random stuff in my head. But there is an added bonus of pictures in this post! WooHoo!

::I am not a fan of shopping in a grocery store under renovation/remodeling. One word: Chaos. That and the store seems to be under-supplied or out-dated supplied. I wanted to buy some sprouts today, but put them back when I realized the date on it read 1-31-12 and the package was a bit drippy. Eww.

::I was a bit too optimistic on the whole going out without a coat thing today. The temp was the same as yesterday (45), but cloudy. The sunshine yesterday was the difference. Now I'm sitting here with the space heater on. Brrr.


::I got a new cover for my phone today. I seem to be slightly obsessed with looking for the "perfect" cover. But I think this is my most favorite one. I just love the colors and polka dots!

::Before Christmas I ordered some flowers online and had them sent to my parents through Proflowers.com. I will not be using them any more. Why? The flowers were fine and my parents loved them, but earlier this week I received a Newsweek magazine that apparently I am now subscribed to for a year. Through some emails to Newsweek I was told the the subscription was made through something called ValueMags. I Googled that and discovered that Proflowers gave my info to ValueMags and thus the unsolicited subscription. I called the phone number I was given and after trying to get through for 30 minutes, I finally did. I was able to cancel my subscription and was told it was complimentary because of my order through Proflowers. But I have no interest in the magazine and what happens after that year is up?? Did my credit card info get "sold" as well?? I will no longer use Proflowers.com. The whole thing seems a bit shady to me.

::My quest to use up what we have on hand is being extended to getting rid of unwanted mailings. For instance last year when we went to Chicago for my birthday we went to a symphony concert and ever since have been getting mailings from the hall we saw it in. I've been hunting for email addresses on the catalogs and so far have had good results with answers back saying our information will be removed from their mailing lists. Hopefully that will cut down on the stuff that I just throw away as soon as it comes in the mail. Most of the catalogs/flyers followed us from our old address! Apparently our new address was sent to them. Ugh.


::I started a new book today and am beyond tickled that I found a Post-It Flag bookmark that matches the cover.

Yes, I am a bit of a dork.

Random Stuff

Has it really been a whole week since I last blogged? Sheesh. I had no idea. Today I think I will bless you with some random stuff. You're welcome.

::I went to the grocery store today with no coat on, people!! Please take note that it's February 1st and I live in the frozen tundra Minnesota. It was 45 degrees at the time and I really enjoyed not shlepping around with a coat.

::Apparently the tip about not grocery shopping when you're hungry is true. I went today before I ate lunch and came home (along with the good stuff on my list) some chips, mint Oreo cookies, and licorice. Sigh.

::My quest to use up the things around the house is going well. I'm almost through all those tiny bottle of shampoo and conditioner. I'm amazed and a bit ashamed of all the food stocked up around here. Tonight's supper is homemade pizza.

:: A couple of nights ago when Hubby went to bed, I snuggled myself into a comfy chair in our bedroom to read for a while before I crawled into bed. We usually turn on a white noise machine at bed time, but that night hadn't yet. As I was reading, I heard distinct footsteps crunching in the snow outside the window. I froze for a bit trying to figure out what it was and if someone was trying to get in the basement door. I managed to work myself into a bit of a frenzy, but prayed for God's protection and eventually turned on the sound machine and slept soundly. The next morning when I opened the shades in our bedroom I did indeed see footprints in the snow. They quite obviously belonged to a deer! (Grin.) Two deer in fact. I guess they were checking out a bush by the patio to see if it was yummy.

::I've been reading a biography about Eric Liddell. Anyone remember the movie Chariots of Fire? (One of my favorite movies.) It was about Eric Liddell, a Scottish man who won a gold medal in the 1924 Olympics in the 400m track race. Interestingly, after the story of his competition in the Olympics (which is where the movie ends) there is still 2/3 of the book left. Eric's parents were missionaries in China and Eric followed that path as well. That guy worked hard to have Christ in all parts of his life. Quite an amazing story. I cried when I read about his death in a Japanese internment camp in China during World War II.

::We get to hear our favorite preacher twice this month (Lord willing and weather permitting) and I am looking forward to it very much! (Especially since we are quite discouraged with the preaching at the church nearby we have been attending.)

::I get new glasses next week. I picked out some frames that have no frames. My opinion about glasses is that they are utilitarian and I would rather not have really prominent glasses. The people helping me at the glasses place are always a bit shocked that I don't want the trendy glasses. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting them and being able to see to read a bit better. (Oh the joys of getting older.)

Okay I think that's enough randomness for today. Time to get that pizza going.