Generosity

This past week I was in contact with Jocelyn from our church, I needed to get her address so that I could send her Nicole's baby shower invitation. I don't even know Jocelyn and in talking I found out some interesting things. First, she's from the same small town in Ontario where a few of my relatives live and she knows them!
Then, the Lord was just chattering away at me when I was emailing her a reply. He said that I needed to offer her the spare bedroom in our house because she's going to need it until she get married this July. I offered and it was TRUE! She does need a place to stay from April 19-July. She and Steve came over on Saturday to meet us, because like I said we don't really know each other. We got along very well and they loved our house.
The Lord is really speaking to me a lot about this situation. Hence Proverbs 11:24-26 (NLT):

Give freely and become more wealthy;
be stingy and lose everything.

The generous will prosper;
those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

People curse those who hoard their grain,
but they bless the one who sells in time of need.

The funny thing is that Brian told me yesterday that in the past he felt that someone was going to be living with us but didn't know who and so he never mentioned it to me.

Very Observant

UH, my 3 year old is becoming way too observant of things. Today while watching Rachael Ray she had on a low cut bright green top that had a knot right at the bottom of the v-neck, I assume to accentuate her "assets". Then Adam says "Mom, she has boobies." To which I respond "yes, I see that." 2 minutes later "Mom, she has boobies" me "OK, now please stop talking about it, that's rude."

After the commercial break "Mom look she has little boobies." me trying not to laugh "That's enough, stop talking about that ok?"

Thankfully the show ended shortly thereafter! Brother. I guess the shirt worked!

Happy Easter

Love,

Snow White

U2 show

For my birthday my parents got us tickets to go see U2 3D at the IMax. We went tonight and it was great. Except for the part where you have to wear dorky looking 3D glasses.
U2 concerts are very memorable for me. I don't go to concerts very often, so when I do attend one it has to be a really awesome show.
The first U2 concert was with Brian when we were dating and we sat in the nosebleed section of the Palace. It was great and all but I couldn't see anything on stage.
The second concert was on our honeymoon in Rhode Island. It, of course, was very memorable but more so because we had floor tickets and were able to be right in the middle of the high energy action of the concert. I was fantastic!!!
Then on our anniversary 3 years ago we went to another concert and were on the floor at the Palace. The R.I. venue was a lot smaller so the Palace concert had a much larger feel to it.

I highly recommend seeing this IMax show. It is as good as being on the floor at a U2 concert!

Thanks mom and dad!

(and thanks for babysitting too. I feel like a human this evening for once!)

A Stroke of Insight

Watch this. It's 18 minutes long but well worth it and quite interesting.

IIIII'm dreaming of a whiiiite

Easter? huh?

Snow plow sirens are going off like mad. Would winter please decide on whether it's coming or going already!

It Can Happen to YOU

I won the prize for bringing your bag to Trader Joe's!!! I knew this would happen. I've been bringing my own bags to that store before they even offered this incentive.

Wow

On the inside of the cap of my bottle of Honest Tea it reads:

"Last year, Honest Tea sold 7,998,654 bottles of tea. This is the same amount of Coke sold in 9 minutes."

That's insane!!!

Etsy Favorite

So, I'm pretty much a crunchy, granola lovin hippie right? So, in true hippie fashion I've been searching for that deodorant that isn't the average run-of-the-mill full of aluminum stuff. I bought this one on Etsy in the spa fusion scent and I LOVE IT!! It isn't an antiperspirant but I solve that by putting a little baby powder on too. And after trying SO many "natural" deodorants I've found that this one actually works and works all day long! I'm proud to say that I am stinky no more.

Etsy Favorite

This is one of my favorite sellers on Etsy. I've bought 2 dolls so far for presents and they are SO awesome!! I love giving something unique and supporting people who are in business for themselves. And if it's handmade there's no lead in the products!

And now Sarah is on Etsy too!! So support her as well!

Currently Cooking

I've gotten into a cooking slump lately. Nothing sounds appealing to my taste buds. But THIS was SOOOO yummy and easy that I just have to share. If you like middle eastern shish tawook or shwarma you'll love to make this at home!

Grilled Chicken Shawarma serves 4

Combine the following ingredients in a shallow dish for marinating:
(here's a tip, double the dry seasoning mixture and save it for future use. This way you won't have to make it every time)

1T ground cumin
1T ground coriander
1T ground cardamom (I didn't have this in my cupboard and it costs about $10 a bottle at the grocery store so I omitted it and the dish still turned out fantastic!)
1T chili powder
1t sweet paprika
1T grill seasoning
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup EVOO
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped or grated

Add 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts to this mixture and marinate for at least 15 minutes. (I marinated them basically all day in the fridge because I like the flavor to really sink in)

After marinating is done cook the chicken breasts on a outdoor grill or grill pan. While the chicken cooks prepare the yogurt sauce. Combine:

1-1/2 - 2 cups plain Greek style yogurt
1/4 sesame tahini paste (it's located near the hummus in the grocery store)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 t ground cumin

Now you can slice the chicken and place it in a pita with the sauce and some lettuce or do what we did and just place the sliced chicken over a bed of lettuce and top with the yogurt sauce.

It's to die for, seriously.

Here Comes the Sun

Ai

Man, would that crazy haired rocker chick please just leave AI! I acutally can't stand to hear her sing, it hurts my brain.

It has arrived

My son

Locked me in the laundry room today.
little turd

Thankfully I yelled loudly at him and he let me out pretty quickly. When I came out he says: "HA HA, I locked you in there!"
little turd

Give and Take

Yesterday I gave away some stuff on Freecycle and when Brian saw it on the front porch he thought to himself "I bet we could actually sell this stuff but instead I bet we'll get something really great in return."
Well, today I saw someone in Dearborn Heights posted a piano for free. We're going to look at it tonight. The woman said it's in great condition and she bought it for $4,000 about 20 years ago! Brian has always wanted a piano and I'm so proud of myself for finding one for free! Go me!

Now, how to move it here and where to put it...........hmmmmm

Sledding

I was a little unsure because I thought Adam might be too young but I did it anyways. I took him sledding and he LOVED it! He's a bit of a chicken like his mother and refused to go down with me at all so I just forced him to sit with me and he was hooked. He screamed like crazy the whole way down and didn't want to leave the hill. (which btw was only 2 minutes from my house at Dearborn High. It wasn't crowded, wasn't too steep and had plenty of parking since school was closed). He loved watching all the kids go down the hill in crazy ways and laughed like crazy the whole time.
Now we have a winter activity! Yeah! I wish someone was with us that could take a picture but oh well!

Final Product

The final product from my birthday celebration. A trivet made of purple, yellow and beige mosaics. I didn't have enough time at the end and should have organized the tiles a little better at the edge because it was too hard to grout a nice smooth edge. But, I still like it and I USE it which is very important!