It's definitely been a while...

And what's been happening you ask? Death, birth, and life.

My grandpa died. Ben's grandma died.

I attended two births. One I was at for 50 hours, one I was at for one hour (technically I was there longer, but I was only there an hour before the baby was born).

Ben and I are struggling to get him through this semester. He is very burnt out. I just want him to pass everything, with what doesn't matter at this point. Next semester is his last semester if all goes well, and I am SO ready. What comes next? We don't really know. Perhaps Colorado and Ben being an electrician, perhaps staying here. But I am looking forward to a new chapter.

I'm going to work more hours at my office job and I get to quit my cleaning job (hooray!).

Christmas will be in Moberly again, but we will be in Colorado for a week over New Years.

Ben is supposed to start supply preaching over Christmas break, which should be interesting. I think it will be an adventure.

Spiritually, emotionally, mentally...I don't know. In some ways I'm growing I think, but I often find myself in ruts.

Ben and I certainly have never been closer than we are now. Everything we've gone through the past six months or so have knit us much tighter. We've been lonely, we've had to grieve, we've been stressed and overwhelmed. But we have supported and loved each other through all of it. We've spent a lot of time together and have had a lot of fun with each other. He is a huge blessing in my life.

Two new buddies!

I'm well on my way to becoming a crazy cat lady. We adopted two little kittens, so now we have three...



This Darcy McTaggart, AKA Darcy.



And this is Solomon Greybeard, AKA Greybeard.

Scurvy was a bit wary at first, but he's starting to warm up to them. I think eventually he will be happy to have the company.

I have to say, if I am a crazy cat lady, Ben is a crazy cat man. Unfortunately the stigma is only attached to me. Oh well. We love our new little kitties, but how could you not love those little faces?

Crafty Time!

Ben mentioned that he wanted a basket or something to put the stuff he keeps on his dresser in. I checked at Goodwill the other day and didn't find what I wanted. Then I searched for DIY basket ideas, and still didn't find anything. As I was driving home from work today, it hit me! I'd seen bowls made out of old records, and that sounded like the perfect idea. We even had a record at home I could use. I googled how to do it. All the tutorials said to put it in the oven. I didn't really like the idea of putting plastic in the oven where I cook my food, so I tried to search out if it was unsafe, and wasn't satisfied that putting it in the oven was a good idea. I figured I would have to give up the idea, but I was disappointed. Then I thought, maybe I could use boiling water. The oven method only required heating it to 200 degrees. I thought it wouldn't hurt to try, so I did, and it worked!

This process was a little bit time consuming, but it wasn't difficult. If you try it you do need to be really careful so you don't burn yourself with the water or steam. I'm not sure about fumes being released into the air with this method, but I definitely didn't smell anything.

To do this project you need:

A record you don't care about.

Oven mitts.

A bowl.

A can (like a soup can. I used a can of chicken broth.).

Boiling water.

I had my kettle boiling and a pot of water boiling. I'm not sure how many times I ended up having to pour the water over it.

Put the bowl face down in your sink, with the record on top of it, and the can in the center of the record to keep it stable.


Pour the boiling water over it. I recommend concentrating on one side at a time. You will have a very few seconds after you pour the water where the record is pliable enough to bend. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR OVEN MITTS ON. This is very important. I don't want anyone to burn themselves. Bend the record down toward the side of the bowl.



Continue to boil, pour, and shape until you are satisfied with shape. I actually ended up switching to a smaller bowl so I could pinch the corners together more.





Here is it after I was finished shaping. It's not perfect, but I like how it came out.



I hot glued some fabric on the bottom of the bowl (although it's more like a tray really) to make it more stable, and I glued a piece inside so the stuff I put in it wouldn't slip and fall all the time.



I like how it turned out, and I like that I didn't fill my apartment with fumes or potentially poison anyone by tainting my oven with plastic.

Yummm.

When I heard Starbucks had a Mocha Coconut Frapuccino, I knew I had to try it. I love mocha and I love coconut. The town I live in doesn't have a Starbucks, so when I went to visit some friends at the beginning of summer, I made sure to swing by and pick one up. It was so delicious! Well, all summer I've wanted another one. But I rarely go places with a Starbucks, and even when I do I don't necessarily have a chance to get one. I've seen some recipes floating around the internets. None of them sounded exactly like something I wanted to try. So I decided to make up my own recipe, drawing a few elements from the other recipes. The first time I tried it, it was pretty good but needed some adjustments. The second time I made it, it was great! It's been a couple months since I tried the Starbucks version, so I can't vouch for how it matches up, but I do know it was delicious.

Here's what I used.


Toast your coconut on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for a couple of minutes. Make sure it's spread out in one layer, and I put foil on it so I don't have to wash it. Check it and stir it often, until it is golden. I toasted a good amount and put the extra in plastic bag so I didn't have to toast more every time.

Put about 5 ice cubes in your blender. Add 3/4 cup coconut milk, 1 tsp instant coffee, a good squeeze of chocolate syrup, and a splash of milk (I started without the milk, but it was little to thick without it). Blend until ice cubes are mostly blended in. I usually have a few little chunks left, but I don't have that great of a blender.

Pour into your glass, and top with whipped cream, chocolate drizzle, toasted coconut, and enjoy! It helps to have a straw to drink it.

Here is the finished product.


The picture is actually from my first attempt. The second time I didn't have that separation.

Some days...

Some days I just want to crawl in to my little hermit shell and never come out. I'm not sure what it is about some days. It's disheartening to have my emotions go up and down and to have to wade against the tide. It makes me pretty tired. Anyway, by tomorrow I'll probably be in a different mood.

Two posts in one day, crazy!

I saw a picture on Pinterest that had the quote "Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." I like this quote because I have a real problem with trying. If I can't do things perfectly to start with, I give up.

So what am I trying right now? Meal planning. It may seem a little silly, but this has been something I've wanted to do, but have struggled with. There are some sites that you can pay for them to do it for you, which I wasn't opposed to. But the problem I found was that the sample recipes that they showed you to tempt you in, didn't sound like anything we would really like. So that route wasn't going to work.

So here's what I've been doing. Gathering recipes. Trying recipes. Starting a list of meals that we already know we like. Adding to the list as I go. Attempting to plan a couple of meals ahead of time for each week.

I'm not going to be able to plan our meals for a year, a month or even two weeks when I'm just starting out. To begin with, I don't have enough recipes. And it's something that takes work and practice. It's a habit to form. I'm feeling excited about my progress so far. I feel proud that I've stuck with it. I've looked through tons of recipes, and have gleaned a few from each search session. It takes time, but I think it will be worth it. And maybe someday all my hard work will help someone else.

Thankful.

For a roof over my head.

Food in my fridge.

My job.

A husband who I love, and who loves me.

My family and friends.

My cat.

Refreshing rain.

I have a tendency to be negative and pessimistic lately, and sometimes I forget how blessed I am, and how thankful I ought to be.