25 Years

Today is March 31, 2009. 25 years ago today, Doctors at Children's Hospital in Denver removed a malignant Wilms Tumor from my little 8 month old body, along with my left Kidney. There were so many reasons that I might not have made it, but God made a mighty move in my life and saved me. For what, specifically? I may not yet know, but I plan to be faithful and live my life for Him in order to find out.
My favorite part of this day is being able to share it with my mom and dad. Most parts of my story seem to be just that, a story. I don't remember the long nights in the hospital, the nurses taking me away through the doors and down the hallway to surgery, or the 14 weeks of chemotherapy that followed, but they do. They were the ones who had to live it, and I'm so thankful for all that they've given to me. I truly believe that on March 31, 1984, the Lord used the skillful hands of those surgeons to give me a second chance at life. I have spent these past 25 years living for Him, and I intend to spend the next 25 doing the same.
Today at work I received this gorgeous arrangement from my amazing mama - I love you, mom! Thanks for always, ALWAYS being there for me, in spite of all I put you through!

Disney Pics Part I

We're on our way! First morning shuttle to the park

Here we are! DISNEYLAND!

Family pic in Adventureland right next to the Tiki Room!

After Splash Mountain. Torrey was just sure that the person in front wouldn't get as wet as the person in the back. So Torrey took one for the team and took the spot in the back. What you can't see, is that he's standing behind the camera. Dry.as.a.bone.

We are one mean family. In line for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience 3D show

Oh dear, we ran over Torrey...Toad is going to be upset...

More pictures to come...

Menu Monday

Good Monday morning! We are back from a fantastic vacation (more on that to come) and our kitchen is running on empty, except for a freezer full of bread that I got from a lady at church. When I say freezer full, I mean freezer FULL...I'm afeared that if I put anything else in there, it will quit freezing things for lack of air circulation. Translation: I need to use some bread this week. So here's what we're eating...

Monday: Pan seared chicken with wild rice and garlic almond green beans. Buttered sourdough toast on the side.

Tuesday: Tortilla soup c/o my bestie, TaraBean. She's been cooking up some fantastic soups and I cannot wait to try her recipe.

Wednesday: dinner at church...possibly for the last time in awhile. We might finally have time to eat at home before heading to our mid-week activities.

Thursday: Dinner with our beloved Wentworth's. Menu: TBA Our contribution will most likely be some sort of garlic bread, dinner rolls, or sandwich buns...go figure :)

Friday: Pressed ham and manchego (or provolone - whichever is cheaper) sandwiches on sourdough. (I read a recipe recently that included cream cheese on the bottom of the ham and provolone...I may get brave and try that one out this week. I'll let you know how it goes) Tossed salad on the side

Saturday: Tacos for lunch and Dinner with the Pullen clan! Our contribution to this meal will also have something to do with bread, I'm sure.

Sunday: Poppyseed chicken for lunch and leftovers for dinner. If no leftovers, and as is becoming tradition on Sunday nights after The Gathering: popcorn, apples, and cheese - be still my beating heart!

So there you have it, folks. Nothing too fancy, but I'm excited about this week. I'm trying out a few new recipes, and I think I can keep the ingredients I need within budget...It looks like it's going to be a great week. Now tell me, what are you eating this week?

It really is the happiest place on earth!

For those of you who don't know, Trevor and I spent last Wednesday through Friday at Disneyland and California Adventure with Gene and Dixie, Kendra and Torrey. We had a FANTASIC time, and Gene was definitely surprised. I'm trying to get caught up at work today, but wanted to post something to say that a recap is definitely in the works...

Pictures and video to come...hopefully TONIGHT!

Makeup Meltdown

I hate it that I haven't written in 3 weeks, and now my first (and highly anticipated, I'm sure) post will be about something as superficial as makeup...but this morning, I had a complete and utter makeup MELTDOWN! I should preface the story by saying that in February I switched over to Bare Escentuals and I love it. I will probably never go back to regular foundation. The product is light, and the coverage is flawless. I am in LOVE!


Other than my very solid choice in foundation, however, sometimes my judgement in products is...well...questionable at best. If you read this blog at all, you know that I am a coupon junkie. Thus, it is really hard for me to buy a cosmetic product that is not a) on sale or b) packing a considerable coupon discount. So yesterday, as I was buying a few last minute items for a trip, I headed to look for thee perfect (albeit cheap) mascara. For the past few months, I've been using Almay and LOVING it...but when I got to the aisle, it was full price and a little more than I hoped to spend. I looked at L'Oreal Voluminous which also has a good track record with me, but it was full price as well. I flipped eagerly through my coupons and found one for $1.00 off any Revlon product. SCORE! $1.00 off! So I picked the Revlon mascara with the best looking brush shape and went on my way.

Fast forward to this morning: I excitedly opened my new product expecting to find a nice, soft, fine bristled mascara brush, but instead it was this scrawny flexible silicone shaft with little mounds poking out all over it. Seriously..it looked like a bumble ball toy that my brother had as a baby


Scary, huh? I guess the name of the mascara and the shape of the alien wand should have tipped me off...LashFantasy, anyone? x|

At this point I was running 15 minutes ahead of schedule and was anxious to be done getting ready, head to breakfast and be early to work. But NO...this mascara had something totally different in mind. After what seemed like 10 minutes of combing and curling and coaxing, I walked out of the bathroom looking like this


okay, so not REALLY...but pretty much. I had six of the LONGEST, STRAIGHTEST, stuck together lashes I have ever seen. I combed them again. I curled them again. I combed and I combed and I combed. Trevor laughed. I think it was mostly to cover up the fact that he grimaced when he saw them...so now, 5 minutes behind schedule, I slathered on my eye makeup remover, washed my face and STARTED OVER! Needless to say, I did not use mascara the second time. I would rather go without than look like this


(not actually me, but a good representation, since in my ridiculous state, I forgot to take a picture for your enjoyment)

I am going to call Kroger and see if they accept returns on opened cosmetics. I doubt they do, but I've got to do something. Revlon LashFantasy is by far the worst mascara I have ever tried.



What about you? Have you ever spent a good $5-$10 on a cosmetic product only to end up HATING it when you get home?

An Affirmation

In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus.

When I am alone,
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

pressed sandwiches

Y'all (yeah, I went there) - our pressed sandwich was such a hit last night. Talk about tasty! We've got enough fixin's left over to do it again tomorrow... For those who are curious, here's how it went down:

1. Split one loaf of ciabatta bread lengthwise
2. Start with a layer of fresh mozzerella (or shredded, whatever you have) on the bottom half
3. Follow with deli meat (we used honey ham)
4. Top meat with layer of fresh spinach
5. Add one more layer of cheese onto the spinach
6. Finish with a little freshly ground pepper and dash of oregano on top of cheese
7. Close up sandwich and brush top and bottom crust with a little olive oil
8. Squish flat between two cookie sheets and bake at 375-400 until cheese is melted and crust is crispy

We'll never have to go to Quiznos again! If it sounds good, try it out and let me know what you think.

darn groceries

Remember yesterday, when I told you I was super excited about only being over my grocery budget for the week by ONLY $0.50? Well, last night it all hit the fan when I realized that at my Kroger, the tilapia was $6.99, not $4.99 as it was at the other Kroger. AND my coupon was only for $0.75 off, instead of $1.00. Oh yeah, and we needed milk. That brings my grand total to just over $5.00 over budget instead of $0.50. Ick!

Looking at the bright side though, the tilapia was buy-one-get-one-free, so there's plenty more in the freezer. I guess maybe it pans out in the long run. Someday I'm going to figure out the secret...

Menu Monday-ish

Okay, I know...I'm TERRIBLE...I said that I wanted to write 3 times a week and I haven't. I want to - but I haven't. So much has been going on in our lives lately and someday I'll write a post all about it. For now though, all you get is our menu. Here it goes:

Monday: Chicken quesadillas

Tuesday: Grilled Tilapia with rice and garlic butter green beans

I'm not crazy about fish, but I'm eager to learn. Good thing Trevor is both motivated - if I like fish then we will eat it more often - and good in the kitchen. I'm excited to try

Wednesday: Dinner at church (maybe the last Wednesday that we'll have to do this)

Thursday: Pressed ham, spinach and mozzarella sandwiches

Basically a neolithic panini. I can't call it a panini because we don't have a press. What we do have however, is two cookie sheets and two 28 oz cans of tomatoes. They oughta do the trick just fine. We'll brush a little olive oil on the top, press it for awhile - encourage it physically if need be - and Viola! Pressed sandwiches! (served with dill pickles and chips, of course)

Friday: Steak and potatoes

Thee quintessential American dinner. We have some Omaha steaks left over from our Valentines Day feast a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to fix our BBQ Grill yet, so we'll probably pan sear them again this time. The potatoes are Yukon Golds, so I may oven-roast them or do garlic mashed...guess it will depend what mood we're in.

Saturday: eggs, turkey bacon and country hash browns for breakfast/brunch; sandwiches for lunch; homemade deep dish pizzas and buffalo wings for dinner; heart attacks all around for dessert. :)

We love making our own deep dish pizzas and one of our favorite shows, America's Test Kitchen (PBS Saturday mornings), has the best deep dish pizza recipe. One secret I can share with you is this: microwave your pepperonis, out flat between two paper towels on a plate for 30 seconds to one minute before you put them on your pizza. This will let the pepperonis start to cook, and also release some of their grease to be absorbed by the paper towels. This has made a HUGE difference in our pizzas, and also makes Turkey pepperoni look and taste more like the real thing.

Sunday: grilled chicken and rice for lunch; leftovers for dinner

If there are no leftovers, which almost never happens, we'll revert to an old standby and quite possibly our favorite snack ever: popcorn, apple slices, and cheddar cheese. MMMM...thanks to T-rev for introducing me to the wonder...

I'm pretty excited about our menu this week. Most exciting though is the fact that my trip to the grocery store only put me $0.50 over budget for the week. I am stubborn and even though food prices are still rising, I refuse to think that two people cannot eat for under $50/week. So instead of raising my budget, I'm trying to fix meals that are nutritious and yummy, but don't cost a fortune. I was able to buy a few things in bulk, a.k.a. Buy-One-Get-One-Free, so this $50 should stretch into next week as well. Lord knows that right now we need all the stretching we can handle...but more about that in another post.

Happy cooking!