"Not Even A Sparrow...

falls without the Lord knowing."

Lest I forget that the Lord watches over and cares for us, I had an alarming reminder on Monday morning. I left earlier than normal for work, hoping to have time to stop for coffee. It didn't happen exactly as I imagined. About 20 minutes into my drive, I heard a horrible "WAP WAP, WAP WAP" and knew I had to get off the highway immediately. (I have no idea how to describe the noise I heard in letters, so just use your imagination.) For the past week or so, I've been thinking that my car was making more noise than usual, but after mentioning it to Heath, I chalked it up to paranoia because of the recent trips to the mechanic. So, I was driving unusually & tediously careful. The Lord watches over us. Since I had left so early, the traffic was light and it was easy to move quickly from the far left lane to the right shoulder. The Lord watches over us. I called Heath from my cell. The Lord watches over us. He not only was home, but not terribly busy, so he left right away (after waking Ainsley up and gathering a bottle & diapers for her). The Lord watches over us. He pulled off the left rear tire, noticing that the tread had slowly started to come off - rather than blowing all at once. The Lord watches over us. This was the same tire which the mechanic had noticed was soon in need of replacement and had kindly moved it from the front of the car to the rear. The Lord watches over us. The offending tire removed, the spare was replaced, without either Heath or I (or Ainsley in the backseat of Heath's car) being run over by the speeding Highway traffic. The Lord watches over us. We were able to get to a nearby Discount Tire and get a new tire, which would be ready in an hour. We had time to go out for breakfast and coffee!!! The Lord watches over us. So, a couple hours later and a spontaneous date, we were back home safe & sound. (I had called work to tell them I wouldn't be in after all.)

Yes, the Lord watches over us!

Keeping Busy

You may have noticed that my blog has been a wee bit short of posts lately. I've been sitting here typing excuses and erasing them the moment I do. As soon as I write a sentence, I notice the lameness and immediately backspace over it. So I guess the best thing to do is to move on.

Besides working and watching, playing with and trying to teach our little girl, I've been creating a few things of my own. In the evenings, I hop onto AllRecipes.com, which is a fantastic place to find any sort of recipe to you want - simple, different, easy, international, homecooking, desserts. You can also sign up (for free) for an account and get a digital recipe box. It's wonderful! My sister-in-law introduced me to the recipe box, and I can't get enough of it.

I love to find and try new recipes. In the past week or so, we've tried Bacon Wrapped Chicken, Chicken Pot Pie, Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup, and Turkey Shepherd's Pie for dinner. Each turned out great and were put in the "Definitely Will Eat Again" category. Dinner is something I have to make (at least several times a week) so it's imperative to make it fun.

I also like to try new "just for fun" recipes - those that you don't have to make every day. Things like desserts, breads, and appetizers fall into that category for me. With zucchini in abundance and cheap these days, I've been craving zucchini bread. After searching AllRecipes, I found two promising recipes. I tried the first and didn't even glance at the second. The best part about it is it's relatively healthy. The recipe calls for brown sugar and honey rather than white sugar and uses some whole wheat flour. Yummy and healthy?! Awesome! And the recipe was huge, making enough to put in the freezer and give away!



Another recent craving necessitated a recipe search - lemon bars. The first ones I made - no good. They had WAY too much lemon in them. I like the kind of lemon bars that just barely have a lemony hint. So I searched again, this time striking gold. Another fantastic recipe!

Cooking hasn't been my only creative outlet. I've also been painting quite a bit, making new card designs and building up my stash. I don't like to be out of note cards - I never know when I may need one. Here's what I've been up to:

These are the "classic" cards that I've been making for years.

For this one, I used a brown paper sack to paint on and attached it to the white card stock with a bit of ribbon.

This is my new bouquet design, in a variety of colors.


I also tried a single flower; I'd love to know what you think about these!

All in all, I'm having fun trying new things while I take care of our little family and home!

Surprise!!

Heath told me last night that he needed to make a couple stops on the way home from work. I assumed he meant that he would deposit his checks at the bank. Instead, he walked in the door with these flowers and chocolate ice cream for me!!! Two of my favorite things! What a wonderful surprise and a fabulously thoughtful husband!

Pretty Useful

I love all things adorable & practical and this skirt is a perfect mix of the two!!

Another Favorite from Grosgrain

Okay, this new dress on Grosgrain's blog is definitely my favorite so far! It's so cute & stylish, with little girl written all over it but with a hint of grown-up flair. (I hope I win it!)
Click the link below to see it.

Train Stop Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

return of the prodigal cd

Woohoo! My Coffee Lands CD emerged from it's hiding place. I'm so happy to have it back! I just want to dance...

Pasta

When I made up my meal menu for the week and my grocery list on Friday, I decided to try something new. I recently learned that my brother's girlfriend, Chelsea, makes her own pasta, and I was incredibly impressed. My Better Home & Gardens monster-of-a-cookbook had a recipe for Homemade Pasta, so I thought I'd try it. I knew it would take me a few hours because the estimated time on the recipe said "1 hour" and everything always takes me longer. I would have made it Monday night but I forgot until late afternoon. The same thing happened yesterday. I finally remembered early enough today to get started on it. While the recipe instructions are quite straightforward and seemingly easy, I had a few snafus. (By the way, it turns out that "snafu" is a real word! I thought it was just one of those things people say.) First of all, the amount of kneading required is well, let's just say that my hands are going to be super buff if I keep this up. It seemed terribly difficult to roll out the dough and why in the world did I have to separate it into 4 equal pieces? Why couldn't I just roll it all out together? My cutting of the dough into noodle-like strips went quite about as well as the rolling out. My noodles lay drying on my wire rack, and it is such a pitiful pile. All that work for perhaps 2 servings of noodles?! Needless to say, I've learned a few things:

1. I am incredible impressed with anyone who makes their own pasta.
2. Next time I do this (if ever) I will make a bigger batch.
3. If I ever do this again, I would like a noodle cutter machine to be in my possession.
4. Buying a 16 oz box of noodles for $1.25 never sounded so great!

Lest you think that I am completely discouraged from trying new things, think again. Despite the work and little frustrations, this was a delightful experience. Besides, now I can say that I've made my own pasta!