Friday, February 25, 2011

Pasta makes me happy.


I hope there is a lot of pasta in heaven. I think plates full of pasta made in many different ways with different types of meats and vegetables is just about the best food imaginable. When I was a kid, if you asked me "Sarah, what is your favorite food?" I would tell you, macaroni and cheese. Unless I happened to be in the mood for some ice cream or pizza, which in that case, my preferences might have changed. But for the most part, it would be mac and cheese. Macaroni and cheese is a delightful comfort food. I loved it so much, that sometimes my brother and I would make it for an afternoon snack, and together we would eat the entire box with a glass of grape kool-aid! How I managed to stay a size 4 throughout high school eating like that, I cannot tell you. Fast metabolism I guess. Surely, I could not eat that way now and expect to stay out of the range of morbidly obese. Anyway. As I was saying, mac and cheese used to be my absolute favorite.


Now, I can't choose a favorite. I just love pasta. Spaghetti, ziti, shells, lasagna, penne, ravioli, fettuccine, linguini, rigatoni, tortellini, rotini, and macaroni. With lots of different sauces, meats and veggies like tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli and etc. I recently started creating pasta dishes with whole-wheat pasta. It may sound weird, but honestly I can't tell much of a difference. The color is different obviously. And the texture might be a little different but not much.


A few years ago, American eaters went on a big no-carbohydrate diet kick. The main culprit was that guy Atkins. He convinced everyone that they could have as much protein as they could hold, but they would still be able to loose weight because they were not eating carbs. Well, it worked pretty well for a lot of people. A lot of people lost weight, and even today dieters continue going on these kind of diets and successfully loose weight. However, there are some major drawbacks to this diet.


Drawback number 1: Large quantities of animal fat is not so great for your heart.


Drawback number 2: People were able to loose the weight, but then once they started eating carbs again, they gained the weight back.


Drawback number 3: Grouchiness. Consuming little to no carbs zaps your energy and makes you very grouchy.


So, health experts started noticing these drawbacks and started doing some more studies. They soon found out that the key is not to eliminate all carbs from your diet, but instead to eat the right kind of carbs. You know, instead of snacking on a bag of potato chips pick up a small bowl of popcorn. (Disclaimer: I am not talking about popcorn dripping with high fat butter and covered with half a pound of salt! Light popcorn or lightly salted should do the trick.) Instead of white rice, try brown. Instead of white wonder bread, try whole wheat. (Make sure it says 100% whole-wheat on the bag. If it just says wheat, you are not getting much extra nutrition.) These are good carbs! They give you energy, and don't make you grouchy. Who wants to be grouchy anyway?
So grab a bowl of whole-wheat pasta and eat to your little healthy-heart's content!

Monday, February 21, 2011

The Bane of My Existence...


Folding laundry.


While folding one of my many t-shirts today, I found myself muttering in my head about how much I hate folding clothes. The phrase that came to mind was: Folding clothes is the bane of my existence. I have heard the phrase used numerous times, but have personally never found it part of my regular vocabulary. However, for some reason that phrase implanted itself into my mind. I decided to research it.


According to word-detective.com, the someone or something that is "the bane of my existence" is a constant irritant or source of misery. Folding laundry certainly fits that description. Especially the constant part. A few months ago, I noticed a pattern in my laundry rituals. Since I hated laundry, I would let it pile up for an entire week and then find myself devoting an entire day to washing, drying, folding, and ironing laundry. This means basically that I would have six happy days a week where I could blissfully pretend that I didn't have such an awful chore as laundry. But, then that one dreaded day came, and I HAD to do the laundry. You can picture the situation: baskets overflowing, drawers and closets bare. It was one of those- I really have to wash clothes or else I'll have to wear dirty socks kinda situations. And since I am not a fan of wearing dirty socks, I would force myself to get busy. Well, as I mentioned, I began to notice this pattern, and decided to make a change. I resolved to wash and fold one load of laundry each day. This really does make sense. It works pretty well. Usually, I end up skipping a day and have to double up, but even two loads is not too bad. The problem I have now is the constant annoyance of laundry. It is always there, waiting to be done.


According to word-detective.com, The word "bane" has a very serious history. It comes from the Old English word "bana" which literally means "slayer." (a.k.a killer or murderer.) The word was also used to describe the cause of death. By the 14th century, it was used to define poisons such as poisonous plants like wolfbane or henbane. Somewhere around the 16th century, the meaning of the word transformed into something much closer to the meaning that I use, "something that makes life unpleasant."


So folding laundry sometimes does make my life unpleasant at times. I don't have a problem with chores in general, but I do not claim to be a neat freak in any way whatsoever. I have a couple friends who love to clean. They clean when they are happy. They clean when they are sad. They clean when they are bored. This is not me. I am not a huge fan of most chores, but I do like to have a clean home. I don't like the frazzled and rushed feeling I get when I find out that I will be having company and I have about 2.5 minutes to clean the entire house! It also makes me feel much less stressed to be tidy. And I mean tidy like "lived-in-but-clean tidy" not "Martha-Stewart-magazine tidy." When I'm cleaning, I like to pass the time by, listening to sermons online, klove, or talking on the phone. Some chores I can claim to enjoy somewhat. I like to vacuum. It makes me feel accomplished to look over the carpet in my living room and see all the neat little rows of vacuum marks. And cooking dinner for my family is always fun. But folding clothes. Not so much. (Except Caleb's clothes. For some reason, it feels much less like a chore to carefully smooth out and fold little baby jeans and onsies.) What about you, blog readers? What chores are "the bane of your existence?"
Well, I better wrap up this post now. The dryer buzzer just went off. Back to work!

Friday, February 18, 2011

28 chapters you don't want to miss


What do you think of when you hear the word Leviticus? You get really excited right? You can't wait to hear what I have to say about this action-packed adventure in the Bible, right? Ha. Yes, I know. Leviticus is not usually known for it's excitement. It is sorta one of those skim-through-as-fast-as-possible-to-say-you-actually-did-read-the-entire-Bible kinda books. At least that has been my experience with Leviticus until quite recently. I can say that I have read through Leviticus a few times in my life, but honestly, I'm not so sure if I could tell you much about it once I got through with it.





So, in the last couple of weeks I have been reading Leviticus. The night that I finished Exodus, I turned the page and gave Leviticus a good, long, blank stare. "Oh boy," I thought. "Good to see you again Leviticus." I have to admit to you now, I really wanted to just skip over the next 28 chapters and move on to a new book. However, something in me just wanted to find purpose in these seemingly boring 28 chapters. I believe that everything in the Bible is true, and that everything in there is there for a reason. I don't think that God would have a useless book just thrown in the Bible just to add to the number of pages. So, I read Leviticus. I took my time. I thought about it. I didn't scan through it. I researched a little on it. I would like to share with you what I learned and how I came to believe that indeed Leviticus is not useless or boring. If you have ever looked at the first page of Leviticus, sighed, and began trying to justify skipping over the entire book-this blog is for you.



Leviticus means pertaining to the Levities. The Levities were a family that descended from Levi, a son of Jacob. (one of the forefathers of the Israelite nation) The Levities were the guys in charge of the Tabernacle. (or later the Temple-the place of worship.) They were the ones to oversee worship and help the people follow God's laws. Some Levites became priests, like Aaron and his sons. So, basically the book was written primarily to guide the Levities in their very important job. Not action-packed like Joshua and his conquering of the promised land. Not poetic and inspirational like Psalms. Not historical and intriguing like Esther. But, still with a purpose. A guide. A book of instruction. A book that to me, points out the holiness of God.



The book addresses customs, feasts, laws and offerings. It tells the Levities how God wants these things to take place. So, you may be wondering, "What does that have to do with me? I'm not a Levite." That is exactly what I was thinking too. Because of Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection, we as Christians no longer have to follow these customs. We don't have to offer sin offerings of a male lamb on the alter in the Tabernacle anymore. So what does that have to do with me?



Everything. See, the book of Leviticus illustrates to me how very holy God is and how very seriously God takes sin. For example, if an Israelite sinned he would go through very time-consuming and costly rituals in order to receive forgiveness. He would first bring one of his bulls to the Tabernacle. The Levite priest would take that bull and kill it. Then he would take the blood of the bull and sprinkle it seven times in front of the curtain of the sanctuary. Then he would put blood on the front of the alter and pour the rest at the base of the altar. Then he would take all the fat out of the inner parts and around the kidneys and burn it on the altar. Then he would take the rest of the bull's body outside the camp and burn it in a wood fire until it was ashes. Sounds kinda gory huh? And difficult. I just summed up one paragraph for you. There are more paragraphs similar to this one that I won't summarize for you or else we would be here all day. The book is jammed packed with paragraphs just like this one, explaining difficult, time-consuming, and costly sacrifices that must be made in order to receive forgiveness of sin.



I think as modern-day Christians we forget how serious sin is to God. We quote a simple and thoughtless prayer of "God, forgive my sins" and move on. In the Old Testament, people recognized the seriousness of sin. I need to recognize the seriousness of Jesus' sacrifice of himself in order that I can have salvation. I no longer have to do those rituals. I can have a personal relationship with him. This is wonderful.

Okay, so the purpose of this blog is not to preach to you. I just want you to give Leviticus a chance. You just might learn something. I did.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Pick-up Lines


In honor of Valentine's Day, I'd like to share a few pick-up lines with you. Feel free to try these out on your Valentine!


You're so hot I had to put on sunblock just to come over here and talk to you.


Kiss me if I'm wrong, but have we met before?


Was that an earthquake, or did you just rock my world?


If I had a nickel for everytime I saw someone as beautiful as you, I'd have five cents.


Ouch. I just bit my lip... Would you kiss it and make it better?


Hi, I'm Mr. Right... someone said you were looking for me.


God must have been showing off when He made you.


Do you beleive in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?


Baby, if you were words on a page, you'd be what they call fine print!


When I saw you across the room, I tripped and fell... I'm going to need your name and number for insurance purposes.


Excuse me, I think you have something in your eye. Nope, it's just a sparkle.


Somebody needs to call the SWAT team, because you're the bomb!


If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together.


If a fat man puts you in a bag at night, don't worry.....I told Santa I wanted you for Christmas.


You're so beautiful, you made me forget my pickup line.


For more pickup lines, check out the app "Pick-ups", for Iphones. I hope these made you smile!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Immense Patience


I am impatient. I really want to be patient, but just like the cartoon illustrates, I don't want to wait to be patient. I don't want to put in the hard work.
One of my major pet peeves, always seems to occur at Wal-mart. You know those lines that are for 10 or 20 items or less? The point of those lines is to make it easier for the shopper with only a few items to get through the line faster. It's a great idea. If it worked. What kills me is when you get in line at the 10 items or less line and the person in front of you has like 57 items in their cart. You can try to give them a dirty look to hopefully make them repent. I try that sometimes, but usually that doesn't work. They just give you this what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it look, and then they continue piling their stuff on the counter. Agh. I can't deal with that. Just to be clear, let me explain a little about myself. I am a rule follower. Seriously, ask my mom. I like to follow rules, and it really bothers me when others don't. I never break the 10 items or less rule. You may be saying, "Ha, sure you don't," with a sarcastic tone in your voice. But, I guarantee you, I always count every single item in my cart to make sure I am following this rule. Call me OCD or whatever you want. I just like to follow the rules. So, after reading this little rant you are probably convinced that I have a problem with patience.
Lance was teaching on patience last night with the youth. He showed the little cartoon, and I thought it was so great I had to blog about it. He also had a list of verses from the Bible that focus on patience. All the verses were good, but one of them really stuck out to me. In fact, it distracted me from the rest of the lesson. I couldn't stop reading and rereading this verse. It is a verse written by Paul to his young friend Timothy. Let me share it with you. Read it a couple of times.
But for this very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Timothy 1:16
Did you read it a couple times? What did you think? This blew my mind.
Paul was once a really bad guy in the Bible. His name was once Saul. He was so evil that he persecuted the early church and killed anyone who believed in Jesus. He was proud and arrogant. In his words, he was the "worst of sinners." In this verse, Paul is saying that Jesus showed him mercy, in order to display His amazing patience. Paul calls it immense patience. Jesus was immensely patient with Paul, so that Paul's story could be an example of forgiveness. This means that Jesus is also immensely patient with us. Before we had Jesus in our hearts we were just like Paul, "the worst of sinners." And even now, as imperfect people Jesus has to daily be patient with us. As another example, think about what Jesus told Peter when he asked how many times should he forgive people who sin against him? Jesus' answer was "seventy times seven." Think about that. Jesus told Peter to forgive over and over again, Therefore, we can be sure that he believes and does the same. Jesus forgives us over and over again. That is immense patience.

Monday, February 7, 2011

The King Cake



The King Cake. Some of you reading this may find your mouth watering when hearing this phrase. Others may feel quite indifferent, and still there is the occasional Alaskan reader who may be a little confused by this unusual name. Until my recent move to the Mississippi Gulf Coast (or close to it) I was very uneducated about this cherished New Orleans and Gulf Coast tradition. I would like to share with you my limited knowledge of this special treat and what it means to people here on the Gulf Coast. Feel free to correct any of my misunderstandings or add your own info and experience's.


My first experience with King Cake was years ago when I first moved to Mississippi. It was cafeteria King Cake in Mississippi College's caf, and it was weird. And not very tasty. I was told by a few southern friends that I shouldn't base my opinion of King Cake on that one experience, and they encouraged me to try "real" King Cake. This opinion makes logical sense to me. After all, it was cafeteria food. However, the opportunity never presented itself. So, last week was the first time I ever had "real" King Cake, and let me tell you it was an, uh, interesting experience. First of all, I had to eat it alone, which is no fun at all. Lance brought me home a piece from a staff meal that I couldn't attend because Caleb had the flu. Apparently, at the meal, everyone was talking about some baby that they were looking for. Since, I had never had "real" King Cake, I didn't know anything about the problem of the missing baby or that I had to worry about a baby at all while eating King Cake. Boy, was I wrong. Lance brought me a take-home box with my dinner and King Cake, and then he left without mentioning the missing baby. I know those of you who don't know what King Cake is, are quite confused now about this missing baby.... But stay with me, and we will get to that. So, there I was, eyeing this brightly colored cake which looked to me like some kind of strange mix between a cherry pastry and birthday cake with a gazillion sprinkles. (It sorta looked like whoever was putting on the sprinkles accidentally lost the top and just decided to pour the entire container onto the cake.) Anyway. I decided to give it a try. I used my fork to get a nice, big bite and put it into my mouth.......Crunch. I thought, "What? Crunch? Cake is not supposed to crunch." (This is about to get a little graphic for those of you with weak stomachs.) So, I chew around this hard thing in my mouth, decide it's definitely not edible, and decide that there is no way I'm swallowing it. At this point, I am glad that I am not at the staff meal where I would have to pull a half-eaten piece of something out of my mouth. So, I slowly pull out the hard thing....And you would not believe what I found.....A naked, plastic baby! No, I am not kidding you people. There was a naked, plastic baby in my cake. Apparently, it is normal for there to be naked, plastic babies in King Cakes, but did Lance or anyone else care to clue me in on this? Nope. I got to find out on my own. A very strange experience.


I have to admit I wasn't super impressed. The overabundance of sprinkles was a little much, and the mixture of flavors was unusual for me. I'm sorry, but I'm not a King Cake fan. It did intrigue me though. I mean, how many cakes have naked, plastic babies in them? Not too many that I've heard of before. So I decided to do a little research.


King cake is a traditional food of Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras celebrations begin on Twelfth Night, after a period of time called Epiphany, which are the twelve days following Christmas. Mardi Gras ends on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It is also known as Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras is french for Fat Tuesday. King Cake is a dessert that people enjoy during Mardi Gras season. It is made of dough similar to cinnamon coffee cake dough, and it is twisted into an oval. Different cakes are made different ways. Many are filled with fruit and cream cheese. The cake is usually covered in purple, green and gold sprinkles. Purple stands for justice. Green stands for faith, and gold represents power. Since making king cakes has become such a popular tradition, many bakers specialize in making different types and colored cakes. There is one thing that most King Cakes have in common, and that is the baby. There is a plastic baby inserted into the cake. The tradition is that whoever finds the baby has to buy the next cake.


I looked into the history and meaning behind King Cakes, and I found a lot of information. A good bit of the information was inconsistent. King Cakes have been around for so many years. King Cake is in celebration of the three kings who went to visit Baby Jesus. January 6th is called King's Day, and is believed by some to be the day that the wise men visited Jesus, twelve days after Christmas. The baby inside the King Cake is supposed to represent Jesus. I also saw some stories about a group called Twelfth Night Revelers, which began celebrations in the 1870s. On the traditional Catholic holiday of Mardi Gras, they threw a carnival. At the carnival a make-believe king and queen were crowned. The person who found a gold bead in their cake was the king or queen for the next year.

Even though I am not so crazy about King Cake, I did enjoy learning about it. So, everyone enjoy some King Cake this Mardi Gras, and watch out for the baby!


Tuesday, February 1, 2011

My puppy dog thinks he is a little boy and my little boy thinks he is a puppy dog


It all started in June of 2009. I had been bugging my husband for months asking for a dog. I wanted something to "mother." Something to snuggle, care for, spoil, and love. For an early birthday present, Lance let me pick out an adorable black mutt. I was in love. He was a sweet, cuddly little dog who was very content to sit in my lap for hours. And hours. Well, needless to say, if you treat a dog like a little boy, he will begin to believe that he is one. I guess somewhere in my heart I knew that. I even used to make fun of people who treated their pets like humans. I can't say I was as bad as some of the stories I've heard. I don't throw my dog birthday parties or dress him up for Halloween. Since I wasn't as bad as some people, I tricked myself into thinking it was okay to let my dog behave as a human. It didn't get really bad until Max got a little brother. He now had competition for Mommy's attention. Now Max the dog believes he has every right to just as much love and attention as his little brother.


So now that you know the back story, let me explain how I came to the conclusion that my dog thinks he is a little boy.

1. He is 40 pounds and loves to sit in my lap. Not next to me. Not at my feet. In my lap.

2. He refuses to go outside to potty in the rain. He would rather hold it for hours than get wet.

3. If he does happen to get a little teeny-tiny drip of rain on him, he flops his entire body on the ground and rolls around until he is completely dry. Doesn't want for his fur to get messed up from the water. We call him a little prince.

4. He tries to trick us by hopping in the bed at night before we catch him so he can sleep in the bed.

5. If he happens to get lucky enough to sleep in the bed, he can't sleep on top of the covers like a normal dog. No, he must sleep underneath the covers. Then, in the middle of the night he has to get up out of the covers to stretch and then get back underneath, nestle down, and go back to sleep. Oh and he has to sleep in-between us.

6. If we don't allow him to sleep with us at night (which I can proudly say we no longer allow) he has to sleep in a crate with a fluffy cushion. He does not lay on the cushion like a normal dog. No, he balls the cushion up in one corner to create a pillow to lay his head.

7. When I get on the floor to play with Caleb, Max squeezes himself in-between the baby and I, and he sticks his nose in my face. He demands my attention.

8. Max has this great, deep guard-dog bark, perfect for scaring off strangers. He doesn't mind using it late at night when squirrels are scurrying past the window. However, if Lance decides to go check out what Max is barking at, he cowardly hides behind my legs and refuses to go outside. Wuss.


So, my dog thinks he is a little boy. Now, let me tell you what makes me think that my little boy thinks he is a dog.

1. I find him with everything in his mouth, including half-eaten dog bones. Yuck.

2. He loves to chew on the soles of my shoes.

3. When crawling across the floor at a fast pace, he begins panting like a puppy dog, especially when excited.

4. His new favorite place to play is the dog crate.

5. His favorite toy is the dog's water bowl, especially when it is filled with water.


I can happily say that Max and Caleb are best friends, even if their roles are a little confused. There is nothing Max loves more than hovering around the highchair at dinner, hoping that his buddy will stick a food covered hand down for a little lick. Caleb is also completely overjoyed to be the recipient of licks and a little friendly wrestling in the floor. I'm glad they are buds. Max is the perfect dog for us, even if he is a little spoiled. And Caleb is a treasure and a joy, and and he always keeps us laughing!