The grieving is over.

We have gotten a new coffee maker! It's made for small offices and for "continous constant use" I thought that might stand up a little longer. 

It's a little louder than our last one. But hey. I don't mind as long as I can have my coffee. :-)

34 days left

Today is day 6
Wednesday- Date day


Still sick, but perhaps improving? At least today I feel like I am awake if still congested.

We took Penny to school first thing this morning so she can expend some energy and we can have fun our without worrying she is stressed home alone, or too hot in the car. (today's supposed to be HOT)
She loves her school. They love her too. She has them ALL fooled there, they think she is a good dog, if only they knew the truth. Haha. I think I am more worried about finding Penny a good daycare/boarding place when we move than about what apartment we find. I think having a place to play with other dogs is so important for her. She gets to have some free time to play and socialize without me there. Its also a safe and loving place for her to stay when were away.  I think that is good for her to know that she will be there BUT we will always come back to her. As an added bonus I get to have some free time too and go places I can't take her. If you are ever in the richmond area and need a place for your dog I SERIOUSLY recommend this place. I love it and all the people who work there are amazing! Its a chain, and I can't speak to the other branches, but the Chesterfield Dogtopia is absolutely the best! the webcams are so much fun to watch! Penny is in the "Gym" or on the Playground. If you ever want to watch. I know Penny's Grandmommy watches her sometimes. I have so many screen shots of her playing at school when I'm on vacation its hilarious. It helps calm me down to see her safe and happy.

Thats her in the middle :)

Michael and I went to Target to go midweek shopping. We always love wandering around Target as our "date" day. We ran some errands I've been meaning to get done, and then went to get the Pup from school.

Penny came home so tired she basically hasn't moved in about 7 hours since she's been home. She went in to eat her dinner, but has not gone out, or asked for anything in those hours. Happy Mommy with a Sleepy Doggy :)

I made a super simple (though long baking) dinner, Cheesy Broccoli Casserole. I think it was really good, but I can't taste right now cause of my cold. Michael really liked it. He has been in the mood for comfort food and this hit the spot.

Our devotional today ended up being skipped. We were planning on doing it before bed, but as usual when you do that, it got skipped. I was really upset at myself (and perhaps at Michael too) for letting us miss a day. I mean, the whole point of the 40 days to to be with God more, and we can't even go one week with a daily devotion? Oh well. God knows where we were at today and Ill just have to make it up tomorrow :)

35 days left

Today was day 5.
Tuesday- Movie Night

SICK DAY! Not feeling well at all. So tired. We slept in a little while cause I obviously need rest and poor Mike was stuck with me as I was too tired to get him up first.

When we did get up finally, we spent some time with our devotional. It was about the differences between a Baggins and a Took, and how Bilbo was a mix of both (his mother being a Took and his father a Baggins) For those of you who aren't familiar with what that means, the Baggins family was a very well to do, stable, and basically boring, (and therefore highly respected) family in the Shire. While, the Took family was not nearly as stayed. There were rumors that one of the Tooks back through history must have taken a fairy for a wife because Tooks were known for going on, ADVENTURES! How very unrespectable! So, the fact that Bilbo's father, a solid and safe Baggins, married a beautiful young Took it would not be unheard of that Bilbo might be persuaded to go on an adventure.
The devotional said that as humans we are creatures of habit and enjoy comfort. We can be too happy living as a Baggins rather than as Tooks. If we don't allow ourselves a little adventure we can get in a rut in life and stagnate. Sometimes to get us to grow the Lord (or in Bilbo's case Gandalf) has to give us a little nudge out the door and in the right direction.

As soon as we finished that I slept for several hours. I cant wait to be over this stupid cold, it is knocking me out!

Im going to blame my cold for part of my mood today. Both Michael and I had REALLY rough days today. Not feeling well, discouraged, frustrated, sad, and just kinda cranky. I ALWAYS listen to one Pandora station while I do housework and cook, but tonight I had to ask Michael to change the station because it was making me feel worse. I had him put on some praise music and stopped cooking for a few minutes so we could talk.
I didn't know he was having the exact same kind of rough moment I was. Because we stopped and talked it out we were able to see it wasn't just each of us individually having a "bad day," per say, but we felt like it was a test from the Lord. Not that he was causing us to feel bad, but he was allowing us to have a rough moment to see how we would respond.
I was reminded of our first two days on our way to Rivendelle. They were awesome days! Really happy, high, encouraging days. Two things about that:
1. how can you appreciate the high days if you don't have low ones, and
2. I think, sometimes God gives you high days to hold onto for the low days to keep you going and to remember what he did for you back then, and to remember He will again.

Talking this all through was GREAT for both of us. We ended up having a really enjoyable dinner and evening! We took the focus off of our bad time and how we were feeling and remember Gods goodness of a few days ago and were much more able to get past the difficulties of today.
Having "passed' this test I am both encouraged and nervous about what the next test might hold for us. :)

Dinner tonight was from the new sugar book AND Sandy's Kitchen. I'll post it on my Food and Cooking page. (link here)
It was a Asian Lemon Ginger Chicken with Coli-Fried Rice. Really good!
The chicken was from the sugar book and the rice was from Sandy.
It also was to serve 4 so I was able to put two more dinners straight into the freezer! It sure takes the pressure off knowing we have left overs to go to in the freezer if something comes up and I don't have time to cook. And I feel great knowing we don't have to go out to eat unless we choose to do so on a special occasion.

During dinner we watched an A&E movie, The Duel- Horatio Hornblower Series #1

It's a really good series. It's about a young man (Horatio Hornblower) who enters His Majesty's Navy in pre-napoleonic England as a lowly Midshipman and his adventures after war is declared. I like it because he is a young man of integrity, honor, and bravery. He reminds me of Joseph in the Bible. He does things the right way and is rewarded and highly regarded by all for his honor and dedication.

After the movie was over we went straight to bed exhausted!

A Deep Felt Loss

It is with great sadness that today we lost our dear friend, The Keurig. He was a hard worker and always gave us exactly what we asked of him. He was so giving and never asked anything in return except a full reservoir and a power socket. He passed away quietly this morning at 9am and is survived by a Hot Water Kettle a host of coffee pods. 

We can only hope that we will be able to come to terms with our great loss, and in time move on with our daily routine. 

Morning coffee, Good times...

You will be missed.

36 Days to go

Today was Day 4

Monday- TV Night

I woke up with a cold and feeling really NOT good. All my grand plans for getting up on time and getting so much done today went out the window. GREAAAAT. Slept till 8 took the dog, Oh I should get up now and not go back to bed, but OHH I Feel SO SICK. ok close my eyes for just a minute....woke up at 10. by 10:30 I was over it and just slept till noon. 

When I got up we had our showers and ate. Then we had our devotional time. It was called "A Reversal of Fortunes" about the Dwarfs, specifically Thorin, and how he had been a King and had his fortune and kingdom stripped from him by the dragon, Smaug. The comparison was made to the Israelites when Jerusalem was overthrown and destroyed by king Nebuchadnezzar and the Israelites either killed or taken into slavery by the Babylonians. 

After Bible study we spent some time on our laptops in the office. blink twice and it was time to start cooking. 

We did a recipe from the new cookbook of mine. 

I talk more about the book and the meal on the Food and Cooking part of the blog. 

After dinner we put on Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals. Watched Steph Curry take a bad fall and Im just glad he didn't break his neck. I was surprised they put him back in the game though. At this point, the Warriors might leave anyway so let him rest. Oh well, guess why that's why I'm a fan and not a coach. 

37 Days To Go

Today was Day 3

Sunday- Media Fast- Sermon

Pretty low key day. We stayed home and in all day, except for taking the Brat of a Pup for walks. 


Dinner was just ok. I think I messed up the recipe or something. I have made it a million times but it wasn't so good today. 

We started our media fast late, about 8pm but it was harder than we were expecting. In the first ten minutes we had each reached for our phones at least five times each. We put our phones on airplane mode and left them in another room. We don't watch TV or any digital media or music or touch our phones or computers, except to load the sermon we started the other morning, the one on the parable of the kings son's wedding feast. It was really good! (watch it here)

Well, after we finished our one media event allowed for the night THEN WHAT?!?! Its shocking how much of my life is spent on media, internet, texting, just playing with my phone. Michael was actually getting jittery at one point. We just kept laughing at each other reaching for the phones that weren't there. I recommend trying to see how long you can go without using ANY media. You will never realize how much you use it till you cant. No checking the weather, no texting, no emails, no adding to your calendar, no VIEWING your calendar, no typing. I wanted to write for the blog and couldnt so I tried to write it by hand... Aparently my creativity doesn't flow if its good old fashioned hand writing. 

Eventually we gave up and, I'm not joking, spent about half an hour texting to each other while sitting silently with sports on TV. 

Not having a phone will exhaust you . We were drained gave up and went to bed.

Also, I think I'm starting to get a cold. I hate being sick. I hope when I get a good nights sleep I'll wake up better.

One Year Ago Today

WOW! One Year Ago Today guess what we were doing? We left Michaels family in Ohio and drove the last leg of our cross country road trip and made it to Midlothian! From Ohio, through Pennsylvania, Maryland, and DC, into Virginia to our new home. I can't believe it was a whole year ago.

We posted this 365 days ago.
"Day 10"

How much we have accomplished in a year. It is really unbelievable.

Adorable Otters

so these are unrelated to our quest and 40 Days to Rivendell, but how could I not post these???
I love Otters.
These three are from The Daily Otter. You can subscribe and get a cute picture of an otter every day!

Otter Stirs from Her Nap

Sea Otter Pulls a “Blanket” Over Herself for a Nap

Otters Curl Up for a Cozy Nap

38 days to go

Day 2

Saturday- TV Night

8:30am

I woke up on time! (getting out of bed not so on time, but pretty close)

9am

Took the pup, it was a BEAUTIFUL day. Sunny, with a high of 75 and a breeze.

10am

We started in on the devotional. Today was about how adventures shake up your life and that Jesus shakes things up like Gandalf did for Bilbo, but in the end you get rewarded, both on Earth and in Heaven.

There wasn’t any specific verses that he used in the chapter today so I was flipping through my Bible trying to decide what to read. I found one funny thing I have never seen before,

Amos 3:12a This is what the LORD says: "A shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion's mouth will recover only two legs or a piece of an ear. 

I just thought that was funny. I don’t know why. I’m sure in context it made sense, but just flipping through and seeing that, it’s an amusing image you know?

Then I kept flipping. Nothing was hitting me. Then I remembered something I heard in junior high, if you ever don’t know what to read in the Bible, go to the red letters. The red letters are the words of Jesus highlighted in the New Testament. You cant really do better than what Jesus said right? So I went to the page that had the most red that I could find. I read from Mark.

Mark 5

It was the story of the man who was possessed by a legion of demons who Jesus healed and the demons went into a herd of 2000 pigs and then the pigs ran down into the lake and drowned. The people of the town came to beg Jesus to leave their town since their pigs were all dead now. They cared more about their (VERY NON KOSHER) herd of pigs than the healed human man. Jesus left and told the healed man to go tell his friends and family what had happened to him.

Next I flipped a few pages and started reading in Matthew 22:1-14.

 It was the parable of the king who was throwing a wedding feast for his son and none of the invited guests came. He kept sending servants out to get the guests to come to the party and no one would make time to go. They  made fun of the summons and servants. They were too busy with their own business to stop what they were doing. Some even insulted and killed the kings messengers. So, really angry now, the king sent his army to kill those who had behaved so badly. Then sent out more servants to bring everyone they could find, people out of the city or off the roads. Anyone who wanted to go was invited.

Michael and I chatted about both these passages for a few minutes. We were starting to talk about what kind of sermon we should listen to tomorrow (Sunday) and Mike pulled up a sermon from April 22, 1990. It was on the first story I had read! It was a sermon on the Demon possessed man and the pigs! I thought Mike had chosen it because I had just read that passage. HE DIDN’T! It was just a “random” message he clicked on. We were shocked and decided to listen to it. It was really good. Pastor Jon is really funny. This is his site, and I'm linking his message to where we heard them, just click the titles. www.joncourson.com 

Mark 5 from 4-22-1990 “Priority:People or Pigs”

Then the REALLY crazy thing happened. After the sermon was over Mike clicked on the “Most Recent Message” link, and guess what it was on???? It was on the parable of the King and the Wedding feast!!!!!!!! Pastor Jon taught on it last Sunday! We started it and I almost FAINTED when he started reading the passage he was teaching on that day! Just think, this guy has messages on his web page to listen to from the last 30 YEARS. He has messages he taught on from the 1980’s and we chose the TWO that are the two things we “randomly” read that morning??? We decided to save this message for Sunday but wow. Blown away here. 

Matthew 22 from 5-17-2015 “A Wedding Invitation”

If yesterdays message from God was that we were doing the right thing by giving us a free movie ticket and discounted gas, then today was a YA YOUR DOING THE RIGHT THING HERE GUYS! Like shouting…. Seriously…

2pm 

I don’t know why I am so frequently an emotional basket case, just lucky I guess. By about 2pm I was having a hard moment. We were watching an episode of Masterchef and one of the contestants story just made me cry. I found myself in her and it was sad. I had another one of my sobbing fests on poor Michaels shoulder. He just let me cry and hugged me. I was just getting my act together when we got a delivery form Amazon. Michael had bought me a book to encourage me (several days ago) to keep going and it was just being delivered at the most perfect moment! 

Its “Magical Miles: TheRunner's Guide to Walt Disney World 2015”

5pm

We started in on a new recipe that looked delicious, but found out that I was supposed to marinate it over an hour... OOPS! SO, I started the chicken in the marinade and am going to have it tomorrow night instead. Tonight we are going to cook Sundays original dinner. One of Mikes old time favorites, Medifast Buffalo Chicken Bake. It was just ok for me tonight. Its so complicated  to make that the kitchen, which had looked remotely cleanish, now looks not remotely close to anything but a MESS. Oh well, my hour of cleaning tomorrow is obviously now spoken for. We started our strict meal plan and are already both having second thoughts. :) Im craving "forbiden" food and Michael is about to blow a gasket for lack of soda, so he had a diet soda for "dessert" 

We started a movie, but got distracted and ended up watching the Golden State Warriors BLOW OUT the Huston Rockets in game 3 of the Western conference finals. I blogged (obviously), Michael eventually switched over to his video game. The real game wasn't even close. 

39 Days to go.

Today was Day 1

Friday- Date Night

8am

We woke up late but Michael said a beautiful prayer in bed. He prayed for grace and favor for the day and for our 40 days. 
We got up and started right in. Today couldn’t go completely to the schedule because we needed to plan some meals and go to the store before the “scheduled” day to do that on Sunday. We still wanted to have Date Night though. We decided to stick as close as possible to the schedule till lunch then go to a movie in the afternoon and then shopping then home to cook together.

9:30am

We started our Hobbit devotional and today was all about, not being like the Hobbits and unaware of the world around you outside your little sphere.

Then, we read Judges 4-5 about Deborah and the warrior Barak who was afraid to go into battle without help (even though he had the Word of the Lord and 10,000 men) and face Israel’s enemies the Canaanites, and so a woman, Jael, was the one who killed the evil Canaanite general Sisera in her tent not the strong Barak. Then the song Deborah and Barak sang after the Lord was victorious was all of chapter 5.

10am

After we finished our time I checked my email and saw one from my dry cleaners, (www.puritancleaners.com) an add for a food drive for local people in need. I decided to print out the paper of what they needed most for later.

4pm

We went to the movies. It was AWESOME! It was the first move we had been to since BEFORE we moved to Virginia a year ago! We can see the lights of the Theater sign from our apartments but we haven’t gone. We went to buy our tickets and I ended up getting a free movie! They give a free ticket to an individual who is going with someone in a wheelchair! COOL! This may be the first time I have gotten a discount for Mike being a Handi man :) I like it!

We saw Disney’s Tomorrow Land. It was inspiring. I think it would have made Walt proud. It was something that really stuck to his vision of what his Tomorrow Land was supposed to be. It was a clean movie. Rated PG. There was a bunch of robots shooting stuff, but no blood, and no swearing. The main girl Casey, is smart, a good daughter, loves her father who loves and respects her. She has a younger brother who she is kind too and over all just made me happy to see a happy family in a movie. Nothing creepy, just a fun movie.

6pm

After the movie we went to the store and got all our list and some canned things for the food drive. As we were paying the cashier told us that today was a good day to “stock up on canned goods” because it was a double rewards points for gas. I was amazed. I wouldn’t have been so urgent to buy things for the dry cleaners if we hadn’t read that morning in our devotional about being more aware of the needs in your community. So what we bought for the food drive actually got us some money off our next gas station visit! Completely unexpected! When we walked out to the car I had a happy little moment. 

7pm

Came home put everything away, fed the dog. Cooked a Lemon and Artichoke Caper Chicken over fresh greens. It was pretty good. We both think it would be good with salmon too. 

We prayed for grace and favor today and ended up getting a free movie pass and money off at the gas station. I really felt like this was God telling us we were on the right path.

Long but worth it... 40 Day Challenge to Rivendell

Our 40 Day Challenge

Michael and I are waiting to know what we’re doing next. We thought we knew and started acting on that feeling. But it fell through now, TWICE. I think its time to start listening more and spinning our wheels less.

It all started about a week ago. I was sitting in bed here in Virginia feeling like a failure as a wife; a fat, slow, lazy, messy slob, and was having a good old-fashion sob fest on Michael's shoulder. I was feeling utterly down on myself, and the world.

The Disney Princess half marathon weekend sign up day is fast approaching and I had SO wanted (to be honest I had promised myself) to be able to run the half marathon and not just the 5k again or the 10k. Conversely, at this point I have not worked out one time since the day of the actual Princess 5k back in February. I have gained a bunch of weight AGAIN and even if I lost 100 lbs I don’t think I could actually RUN a half marathon by next February.

Michael asked me why I don’t just change what I’m doing. He made it sound so easy.

Why don’t I just change? Oh I don’t know! Maybe cause its IMPOSSIBLE? It’s all just too big, and too far to get to, but it’s too soon, and it’s just too much. Its all so scary and really way WAY too much WORK.

AND really I have too much to do right now AND try and reinvent myself! I really felt like you would have to go to some kind of “facility” to try something like that. Like a fat spa, or a yoga retreat, or rehab in the middle of Arizona or something.  

We have to move this summer and we don’t even know where or when yet!

Michael counted the days till Princess registration, 40 days. Then he said, take the next 40 days and focus. What do you want to change? Write it all down, put it on a poster board and then up on the wall to see it every day, and then just DO it. 

Then the morning of race registration re-evaluate what you really want. Not before.

If you are tired of being fat, eat better.

If you’re sad you don’t hear from God, pray more and read the Bible.

If you are worried we wont be ready to move, pack a box every day.

If you’re tired of having a messy house, take an hour a day to just clean it.

How simple. How profound. Just DO IT? Wow, that really sounded actually manageable.

My husband is an amazing coach. He is able to, simultaneously, calm me down, get me to be honest to him and myself, and inspire me. It’s quite amazing! HE is quite amazing! How can someone talk about all your most embarrassing personal flaws and make it seem all right cause you can actually change them! He encourages me and somehow when I'm a sobbing puddle he is able to love me with dreaming, even if it's dreaming about working hard to change myself. He never judges, just loves on me. This guys got a gift... 

Michael said he would be willing to do it with me since he has some things he wants to change about himself and Just Do too. We have been given this waiting time for a reason; we might as well use it to some advantage and become better versions of ourselves. The time will pass whether we use it wisely or foolishly.

I started by making a schedule for myself. Michael is penciled in for his things, but I really hope to follow my plan.

Every morning starts the same for Michael and me.

Get up at the same time each day (except for Saturday), shower, morning coffee, then Bible study together, then its time to eat.

After that we diverge, I focus on cleaning or packing or laundry for an hour and Michael does his “constructive listening” of books and podcasts he has been meaning to study.

Lunch time, then some more housework for me, and Mike takes some time to relax with some well earned “summer fun” like music and video games.

In the afternoon I have scheduled, (yes I had to actually schedule it,) time to get on my computer and blog, OR do something crafty. Michael says I need to feed my creative soul daily. I love him!

Next is dinner cooking. Michael has promised to come in and be with me so I’m not all alone while I cook in the kitchen.

After we eat, each night is designated to a different activity.

Monday- TV Night (any of our favorite shows or sports)

Tuesday- Movie Night (something encouraging or inspiring)

Wednesday- Date Day (like a date night but in the day)

Thursday- Media-fast and listen to an audio book together. (Maybe the Hobbit?)

Friday- Date Night (like date day but in the night)

Saturday- TV Night (any of our favorite shows or sports)

Sunday – Media-fast and listen to a sermon online (We have been enjoying Pastor Jon Courson’s sermons. Here is (Pastor Jon's Webpage)

And while doing all this, we are eating strictly and mindfully. Meal planning and shopping for the week will be on Sundays (together)

We are eating low carb, no sugar, and low fat, lots of veggies and meals in healthy portions, smaller and more frequently. Michael is worried about giving up his beloved soda, and I, well lets just say Starbucks may notice a dramatic dip in its second quarter sales.

Michael (and my mother before him) says I’m a hobbit, like from The Hobbit, ya know? I’m a creature of comfort, who loves to eat, loves to garden, and has a distaste for discomfort or adventures when they disrupt my plans and life.

Just like in The Hobbit, I am going on an adventure.

According to this website, (click here for page) it took Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit 40 days to get from his home in the Shire to Rivendell. 

We like this analogy, because it wasn’t Bilbo’s entire journey, just the start. Just as these 40 days isn’t our entire journey, just an opportunity for us to refocus for the rest of adventure.

Since I love the Hobbit so much, and Michael calls me Bilbo anyway, we decided to call our 40 day challenge “40 Days to Rivendell.” We even chose a daily devotional called A Hobbit Devotional by Ed Strauss.

(Buy it on Amazon here!) 

So what we are hoping for is at the end of this 40 Days to Rivendell we will be healthier individuals, a closer couple, intimate with God, and more disciplined over all.