Half-Pint House

Oh, this should be EASY

I discovered this little blog share project recently and realized this may very well be the ONE...the one I can participate in often because, well let's face it, I have a lot of #Fail stories in my life.

Last Saturday we decided to watch a movie. I was so smart. I looked up a free Redbox code to use. I went to Shop and Save and came home with a free movie. We watched Amelia. 

Fast forward 5 days...

Just now I was wondering what I should write about. I said as much out loud. Craig dropped the movie in my lap and said, "How about you write about Amelia?"

As in, the fact that we never returned it and here it is Thursday night. So much for that free code. I think it's going to cost $5-6 when I take it back tomorrow (if I remember to take it back tomorrow).

And thus concludes Friday Fails with Megan. Just keeping it real, y'all.

For other melonheaded activity, check out Myra's blog.

WFMW - Exercise (Don't Laugh. I'm Serious)

 

I could also title this, The Ann Taylor Weight Loss Plan and why I hope it works.

In yesterday's post I said something like "Blessed is the family who never stops starting being intentional with each other." That's because someone once told Craig, "Blessed is the man who never stops starting doing family devotions." Because all of us have good intentions. It's the follow through that gets sticky sometimes. 

So today I'm bringing the mantra back in: Blessed is the gal who never stops starting to attempt to develop some kind of exercise routine. 

I have a new walking buddy. Three times a week, we get up at the ungodly hour of 7am (are you laughing at me yet?) and meet each other at the local high school track. I walk there and it's one mile from my house. We proceed to walk together for two more miles and then she brings me home. I will not stand this friend up. She's my pastor's wife.

I have just enough leftover legalism in me that will forever prevent me from bailing on my pastor's wife. She knows I am weak and she knows that if she even suggests we skip it I'll be all over that so fast it'd make her head spin. So she never says that. Instead she says this: I'll be here. Even if you decide to sleep in, I'll still be here.

Who wants that on their conscience for the day? Not me.

So, making your exercise buddy someone you also feel some weird sense of spiritual obligation to? Totally works for me.

Now then, for my Ann Taylor Weight Loss Plan. I came up with this one all by myself and when I'm motivated it really works. The plan is this: I weigh myself once a week. If I've lost anything at all (and I do mean anything... I count negative .2 as progress, folks) I get to put $5 in my Ann Taylor jar. 

The rationale here is that by the time I finally have enough money to actually afford something from Ann Taylor I will have lost enough weight to justify the purchase. In my dream plan, once I get to the goal I would some day like to be, then I will continue to put $5 in my jar for every week I can maintain it.

The drawback from this plan showed itself to me last summer when I tried this. I lost 10 pounds last summer and had about $40 in my jar. Cash is like free money around here, though, and any time one of us needed a quick $5 we would rob my jar. Also, I fizzled out on the weigh loss thing by August and so never made it to the goal.

But...blessed is the gal who never stops starting to take her weight seriously. Right?

That's what's working for me. (for now)

Visit We Are That Family for more (and better) Works for Me Wednesday ideas.

WHAT? I have a BLOG?

How did this happen? Where did this come from? A blog? Me? Hardly seems right. I mean, aren't blogs supposed to be for people who, you know, write on them?

I, apparently, just like to post random pictures of things I'm making and then flee for a week at a time.

I'm not sure this post is much better than leaving the picture up. But I wanted to be consistent. You know, consistent with this pattern:

• Post a picture of something I'm making
• One week later, post a shocked, "What? I have a blog? entry
• Three days later, post another picture of something I'm making
• One week later, post a shocked, "What? I have a blog? entry
• Etc.

So stay tuned for some riveting photo of one of the 30+ dinner napkins I'm in the process of making. Or maybe some more zippy bags...

Almost Friendship Bread

You've probably received one. A starter for Amish friendship bread. And maybe you were excited because you've wanted to try it and it's kind of fun and the bread is super yummy. Maybe that's been you.

If you've been at all like me you've let your starter die several times. Maybe you forget to feed it. Maybe you forget to squish it. Maybe you just get tired of it. Done! In the trash.

And then you start to wonder - was this really a friendship bread or an almost friendship bread? Because what kind of friend, or potential friend, would inflict another friend with a ziplock bag full of liquid guilt?

It happened to us again a couple of weeks ago. And the funny thing is it happened on the sly. The friend in question had her kids handing out the bags of extra starter. One of the kids kind of ran up to me and tossed the bag in my lap and took off.

I had been starter-ed. My response? It was this: "No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!"

But my kids were exited about it, so we brought it home with us. The first round wasn't so bad - my kids took our starter to a friend's house and they made it there. But then my friend had some 9 new starter bags. This stuff multiplies faster than dust bunnies under my bed. That's some kind of fast.

For the second round, I was determined to feel no guilt about it. I measured out the extra starters...straight into the trash can. I kept one for myself and didn't inflict it on anyone else.

But that seems rather wasteful, you know?

Today I got a brainstorm (and yes, I'm sure I'm the last person on the planet to hatch this genius idea, but indulge me a minute here, okay?): I measured out one starter for me. I the poured the other three cups' worth into a mixing bowl. The portion that remains in the original bowl is what you are supposed to use to make your bread with that day. I discovered that bit of batter is exactly 1.5 cups...bingo! I had enough batter to make 3 batches of bread.

So we now have 6 loaves of Amish Friendship Bread cooling on the counter. And I have a feeling that if I share some of this with a friend, there will be no almost about it.

Home on the Range Ball Field

I've mentioned before my attachment disorder to homes. When you move as often as we have in the 13 years we've been married, it becomes harder and harder to call a place home.

Our house is taking time, but it is slowly starting to feel like ours and is becoming home. But community wise, it has been a harder one for me. Periodically, Craig asks me if St. Louis feels like home yet and I always hesitate to answer. Honestly? I'm not sure what feels like home anymore.

When we lived in Colorado Springs (apart from the time we thought we might be moving to Uganda), I truly didn't think we'd ever move away. Colorado Springs was home: we weren't from there, and didn't have extended family history with the place, but we did have our shared history of starting adult and married life together, so thus it became the default home for me.

Going back to Oklahoma is, of course, my home because my parents are there, but the town I grew up in has changed so drastically I hardly recognize it anymore. Apart from the people, it no longer really feels like home, either.

St. Louis should. We've lived here for almost 5 years now, yet something has held me back all this time. I think at first it was the perceived temporary nature to our move: we came for seminary and we thought we'd move again after seminary.

Moving off campus did help with the whole "Oh, we really do live in St. Louis" mentality, but living somewhere and calling it home are two different things. I was still stuck in a nomadic existence and not sure what to do with that.

Today, I was riding home with three other women from our church's ladies retreat. As we entered St. Louis from the east side, I suddenly realized all four of us were transplants to St. Louis. I asked them when they felt like St. Louis had become home to them.

Not everyone answered, as somewhere in the middle of that conversation we almost got hit by a car and the topic changed, but I do remember this: as we drove past Busch Stadium, I wondered if it might be baseball that represents home here in St. Louis.

Why baseball? It isn't even because Craig loves it so much (though if he didn't, then I wouldn't really have a reason to). But baseball might very well be the one stabilizing factor to our five semi-transient years here in St. Louis.

2005 was our first year here, as well as the year I discovered all the different library systems around that all give away Cardinals tickets as reading prizes. We went to two games that year because of this. We went to a third because my parents came to town and sprung for tickets.

Ever since then we've played the library reading program game, but two years ago I also started buying discount group tickets and selling them so that we could go to more games.

All told, last summer I attended 7 games; Craig  at least 10. We're on track for more of the same this year.

We love baseball. And driving by the stadium today felt right. It may be the only big thing about St. Louis that I can claim right now; everything else still makes me feel like a tourist in my own town. I still have to Google map just about everywhere I go. I still get seriously lost at least once every six weeks. I still see the Arch as a place to take guests to, but not a place to frequent.

But baseball is ours. I know the stadium. I know the route to get there. I know the best place to park. I know how to pack dinner so we don't pay for anything inside. I know how to share directions and tips and tricks with others. I would miss life without it.

I know. I need to get out in my city and learn it. I need to explore it and understand it and work hard to develop a personal history with it.

But until that happens, I have baseball. And as funny as it sounds, that one simple thing grounds me to this place and makes it feel like home.

So Sweet

Am I the last person on the planet to see this? My friend Anna (Hi, Anna!), of my Mike Shannon's-near-miss, sent me this link tonight and I wanted to post it here:

See? I Told You So

I'm writing this post tonight to prove to everyone why it is just better all around for me to go days and days and days without writing anything when I don't really have anything to write.

Because when I choose to write on days I don't really have anything to write, you get to read nonsense.

Like this.

See? I told you so. I'm going to bed now. Isn't your life so much better for knowing that now?

Night.

Watching the Olympics is So Much Work

Or: These girls will disown me some day for posting this photo...

Getting Our Group-on

So if you are one of my Facebook friends or Twitter pals, you probably know I have a serious love of all things Groupon. If you've been hiding under a rock, though, and don't know what Groupon is, it is basically a shared group discount to local businesses/restaurants. The discounts are usually pretty good. The little trick is that there needs to be a minimum number of people to buy in to the discount before it goes "live." But so far, nothing we've participated in has failed to happen due to lack of interest.

Also, every time someone uses my referral link and ends up making a Groupon purchase themselves, I get $10 worth of Groupon money deposited into my account towards a future Groupon purchase.

Confused yet? Bottom line: I have a nice little savings account of Groupon money stored up right now. Sweet.

Anyway, last month one of the local Groupons of the Day was this: For $20 you get a $50 certificate to Mike Shannon's Steaks and Seafood restaurant. I looked at the fine print a little closer and noticed they would let you use two of these for a table of 8 or more. 

Now I've never been to Mike Shannon's before, but thought it sounded like a nicer family restaurant. It's baseball themed, for the love of Pete! I thought this: my parents are coming to town soon. Wouldn't that make a nice evening out for the eight of us? I was thinking $100 would easily feed 8 people. I was thinking it would cost $40 worth of my Groupon money, but not really cost me anything at all. That was what I was thinking. I bought two.

I told my friend, Anna, what I was thinking. She asked me, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" Okay, so she didn't shout at me, but she very kindly suggested I check out the menu prices before hauling my entire family over there for a budget-friendly dinner out. So I did.

Did you click the link? Did you laugh at me? Did you find out, like I did, that there is no stinking way on the planet you can feed eight people there for $100, even if four of those eight are under twelve?

Not. Gonna. Happen.

So last night we sent my parents out for a nice dinner. Tonight, Craig and I went.

If you checked the menu prices, you will know that in addition to it being impossible for eight people to eat for $100 at Mike Shannon's, but it is also impossible for two people to eat for $50 there. It is impossible unless...unless you plan ahead. We did that. We decided before we got there we would share our meal. Knowing you are going to do that on the front end makes it much easier to scan the menu for what will work once you get there.

Here's how we made it work: We ordered the 20oz Prime Rib for $35, the Butcher Style Caesar Salad for $8 and the Hand Cut Fries for $8. Our total came to $50 even. I know. If you do the math, it comes to $51, but when our bill came, it was $50 plus tax ($5.xx).

All we had to pay was tax and tip and we had one very excellent salad, steak, and fries for $17 and some change.

And I can tell you this - it was plenty of food for two people. I'm not sorry at all we had to share.

It was one of those once-in-our-lifetime experiences, but for $17, it was a super one!

Anyway, that's my long way of saying, if you haven't heard of Groupon, you should check it out. And click my link on your way. *wink*

Linky Slinky

I've had open tabs all day for links I want to go back to. You might want to check some of them out too.

Tulip Girl: Restoring Gently and Carrying Burdens: This was on my mind this week, after a conversation I had. . . I keep praying that the Lord will show me how to “restore gently” as the boys are getting older, as we are instroduced to new struggles.

Wistful Wrists: No Apple iPad for this Mom! Seriously. If you are a mom blogger, you need to read this. The new Apple iPad is not for you. Sure, they make be marketing it with a catchy name that is sure to catch any woman’s eye <insert sarcasm here>, but I’m pretty sure this thing is really for the Kindle set, which is my politically correct way of saying the geriatric demographic...

Amy's Finer Things: Rice Krispy Roll: Wanna ramp up your Rice Krispy Treats a chocolaty, peanut buttery notch?  Look no further!

Me at WORLDMag.com: Count it all joy: A couple of nights ago I had trouble sleeping. The next morning, I woke up and began praying that God would allow me to find joy in all the things that normally drive me crazy...

Inspired to Action: Perfect Mothers vs. Balanced Mothers: How many of us fall into the trap of believing that we need to be “perfect moms” who raise “perfect children?” That we need to mother a certain way, dress a certain way, keep our homes a certain way and discipline a certain way. That our kids need to behave a certain way, look a certain way and speak a certain way... (hat tip to Amy).

Second Drafts: Live-Blogging POTUS State of the Union Address: He took out my, "We're good enough, we're smart enough, and doggone it, people like me" line. The president didn't say that, but he came very very close. I think it should have a place in Craig's list of mentionables...