Camera Giveaway

Groopdealz.com is having a great giveaway!  You can enter to win a Nikon D3100!  Oh how I would love to win this.  I have real struggle between distinguishing between the need of having an SLR camera and wanting one.  I am pretty sure it is a need, right?  If you would like to enter the contest head over HERE and give it a shot.

Diaper Disaster

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting a $200 giveaway entitled "Share Your Diaper Disaster Story." That is what I am going to do right here so if you are faint of heart or weak of stomach, you may want to bypass this post.

When our 2nd daughter was born my husband worked the weekends. He would leave on Friday and we would not see him again until Monday morning. It made for long weekends for me with a 2 year old and brand new baby. That being said we didn't make it to church as often as I would have liked. It was so much effort for an exhausted mom sometimes.

One weekend though I decided we were going to do it. We were going to get up and go to church. We were going to see friends and it would be glorious. Wouldn't everyone be so impressed to see me walk in with my two small children? Wouldn't I look like I had it all together?

My baby daughter slept through most of the service just until the very end. I took her out to the nursing room to feed her. I rocked her, feeling very proud of our accomplishment.

Let me add here that I had chosen to wear a very light, almost white pair of capris that spring morning. That is a critical piece of information.

As I rocked her and let her nurse, I noticed her sweet little face strain and heard the gates of baby poop open and there was no closing them. Immediately I felt the warm sensation all over my legs. The pride that I had been feeling just moments ago turned to dread. I picked up that sweet little baby to find that she had not just "blown out", she had EXPLODED all over my nearly white capris and all over her sweet little outfit.

I just sat there and stared. I had no idea what to do. It was running all down my legs. I had never in my life seen so much poop. I was mortified.

I had a small pack of baby wipes in my bag but no change of clothes for my daughter or FOR ME for that matter! What was I thinking? Why did I not have a change of clothes FOR ME in there? I grabbed the wet wipes and just started wiping and may have shed a couple of tears. I wiped my daughter down and somehow managed to get her "SOILED" outfit off then wiped her down again. I wiped down the chair I was sitting in because you know it had to run somewhere. Then I wiped my capris down but there would have been no amount of wet wipes to clean nearly white capris from the obvious stains of yellow runny baby poop.

I wrapped my daughter up in her blanket and grabbed the mountain high pile of wet wipes and the one dirty diaper because of course there was no trash can in the nursing room and walked out trying to hold my head high and praying no one would see the yellow stain all over the front of me. I got my two year old daughter out of nursery and walked passed many a person who said, "You're leaving early?" I would just smile and say, "Yes, we need to get going."

I did see our family doctor and he expressed his concern wondering if everything was ok. I smiled weakly and moved my daughter's blanket that I had strategically placed in front of me. He just grinned and said, "Ahhh, yes."

Just another lesson in not getting too proud of an accomplishment because as every new mom knows, pride cometh before the POOP explosion!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

I stumbled on a really awesome food blog called Our Best Bites. Great recipes and pictures to show the step by step process. I have a few recipes flagged to try out soon. I made one last night and it was a keeper so I am sharing it here. If you love Mexican food then this is a must try. It was so easy! It was Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos. You can find the recipe HERE.

I doubled the mixture recipe because I used the larger flour tortillas. It made 10 taquitos. The next time I make them I want to try out THIS dressing to use as a dipping sauce for them.re

Veggies and Dip

I realize that I have been MIA lately. It's summer. We've been doing play dates, going to the park and all sorts of things. By the time I sit down in the evening, I'm pooped. I have found a few recipes that I wanted to share here because there were so yummy!

We love veggies and dip. My hubby would eat this all of the time. He LOVES veggie trays at parties. My oldest loves carrots and ranch as a snack even for breakfast now and then. I am always on the search for healthier dips. One of our faves is hummus so when I stumbled on this recipe I knew I had to try it. I found it on the Weelicious site which I am a huge fan on. Catherine is amazing!

The recipe is White Bean Basil Hummus. OH MY GOODNESS! I have found my favorite dip ever. It is so easy and so cheap! I do not have tahini because I use a dab of peanut butter instead in my regular hummus recipe so I just left that out altogether in this and it is marvelous. The Weelicous recipe is HERE. The following is my adaptation.

White Bean Basil Hummus (Makes 1 1/2 Cups)

1 Can Cannelini or Northern White Beans, rinsed and drained (Reserve the liquid.)
1 Cup Fresh Basil, chopped
1 Small Garlic Clove
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Olive Oil

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Add some of the bean liquid to blender if extra liquid is needed to completely blend. Dip your veggies and pita and be prepared for a taste sensation!

Letting Go

We are considering a move this summer. My dream is to be moving back into a house. I LOVE to drive around our town and look at homes stashing away ideas for someday. We are blessed to live in a community where there are many beautiful homes. My idea of a beautiful home is a place filled with character or A.K.A. it has been around for awhile. I love older homes. There are certainly some beautiful new homes but the older ones have character. You can't build character. It comes over years and from families who fill a home with laughter and tears and memories.

I've been perusing Flickr to find some examples of homes that I am drawn to.

(Original image can be found HERE.)


(Original image can be found HERE.)


(Original image can be found HERE.)


(Original image can be found HERE.)


(Original image can be found HERE.)

A big porch is a MUST!

(Original image can be found HERE.)

Alas....I have let go of these dreams for now. If we move it will more than likely be to yet another apartment that has much better rates for rent but is smaller with much less storage space. BUT the rent is extremely better for our budget AND there is a nice little fenced in back yard for us to play in and playground areas all over the complex.

When we began talking about this I felt so let down. I want a house. But then something changed. I let it go and I began to feel this twinge of excitement about something different, about change. It may not be what I had dreamed of but it may be something so much better when viewing it from God's perspective. So we consider and ponder and see if this is what God has for us. I'll tuck my dreams away for now and maybe someday I'll have a little bungalow with an amazing porch. As long as I am with my little family, I'm home.

Contentment

I am still reading One Thousand Gifts and loving it. Anne Voskamp is really an artist when it comes to writing. The way she writes is beautiful like she is painting a picture. And the words that she writes are profound and moving.

This past week I have really been struggling with being content. Currently we live in a townhouse apartment and I find myself saying/thinking, "When we are in a house....." I am not content in our current housing. We don't have a yard and I don't feel like I can really decorate the way I want to. We just kind of moved in and that's that. The book has made me see that I have so much more than so many people and I am so blessed. It's a daily struggle. Ok, who am I kidding? Sometimes it is a minute to minute struggle. I want to be content.

We will be living the college life two more years and I am having a really hard time finding contentment. I am longing for the next chapter. The one where I have the house with a white picket fence and a hubby who loves his work, our bills are paid and maybe there is a third sweet little babe in tow. I really am in a constant struggle with longing for these things and reminding myself to be content where God has me. He has me HERE, RIGHT HERE for a reason.

I stumbled on this quote online last night and...WHACK it hit me between my eyes! "The longer you wait for the future the shorter it will be." Loesje

I constantly have a running play list like the following in my head:
When we have a house....
When we know for sure where we'll end up....
When Hubby is done with college....
When Hubby has a job....
When I lose weight.....
When......blah, blah, blah!!!!

What about RIGHT NOW? What about living this moment right now that God has given me?

If I am not content right now, why in the world would God bless me with more? Isn't He always teaching me? Why can't I learn what I need to learn? It feels as though I need to be taught over and over again the same lessons. I just don't get it, which leads me to believe I am a slow learner when it comes to life lessons.

I am so moved by certain songs that hit me deep within my soul and feel as if they were written only for me. A couple of weeks ago at Bible study after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan we sang a song that I had not heard before and WHACK it hit me right between the eyes. It is on my short list of songs that have really stirred something within me. It is called Beautiful Things by Gungor. I want to share the song and lyrics here in this space of mine because it has meant so much to me. I have played it over and over in the van. My oldest daughter calls it her favorite song now and sings along with me as we listen over and over to the truth in the words.
(Remember to pause the play list at the bottom of the page to hear the song in the video player.)



You can find the lyrics HERE. They are very inspirational so take a moment to read them.

It is my prayer this week to live in contentment and watch my life be made beautiful. It is beautiful..."Because when you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing!"

Chimichangas

We love Mexican food....alot. I am always anxious to try out new Mexican recipes to add to our favorite recipes. This is one I found in a Food Network magazine and decided to try out this week. Hubby and I loved it but the littles were less than thrilled with it. I won't give up though. We'll try it again and again. I'm sure one of those times, they'll realize how good it is.

Chimichangas
2 T. butter
4 T. vegetable oil
1 white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (remove seeds for less heat) (I didn't use a jalapeno.)
1 1/2 t. chili powder
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
salt
1 small tomato, chopped
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro (I forgot to buy this, so it didn't make it into mine.)
2 1/2 c. shredded, cooked chicken
1/4 c. sour cream
1 15 oz. can refried beans
tortillas (The recipe calls for 4 but I was able to fill 8!)
1 c. shredded monterey jack cheese

Preheat oven to 45o degrees. Melt the butter with 2 T. vegetable oil in a skillet and transfer to a bowl. Heat the remaining 2 T. vegetable oil in skillet. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, cinnamon and 1 t. salt; toast 30 seconds. Add the tomato and cilantro and cook until slightly dry, about 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken and sour cream and warm through. Remove from the heat.
Brush a rimmed baking sheet with some of the butter-oil mixture. Spread 2 T. refried beans down the center of of each tortilla, leaving a 2 in. border on both ends. Top with one cup chicken mixture and 1/4 c. cheese. (I didn't use this much chicken or cheese in each tortilla so it stretched farther.) Fold in the ends and roll up. Put the chimichanga seam-side down on the baking sheet; brush with the butter-oil mixture. Bake 8-10 minutes per side, brushing again after you flip.

Serve with more cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Serve with rice, beans, and guacamole.

I think the next time I make these I will do everything the same except I will omit the cinnamon. I wasn't crazy about that taste in it. I like cinnamon in my desserts not main dishes.