I Said "Yes"!

It's been 2 years since my husband asked me to marry him. April 8, 2008 wasn't nearly as nice of a day outside as it is today. It was a little warm but things weren't green yet.

We had been dating 2 months. Shocking I know, but when you are both 30 years old, you don't mess around! We covered a lot of ground in those first 2 months of dating! From the beginning my husband was a "what you see is what you get" kind of guy and was always very honest with me. It's now one of the qualities I love most about him and yet it scared me at first. Scared me to be that real and vulnerable with someone!

****I just had about 3 paragraphs in here that I deleted. One of these days I want to write out our love story and the way we met but for now, because it's the anniversary of our engagement, that's what I wanna write about, our engagement. It was just getting too long. Soooo back to the proposal. I seriously knew it was coming. I had been joking around with Brad that he should tell me when he's going to propose because ummmm.....I wanted to make sure I had my camera along. After all, every girl wants pictures of her proposal or right after right?! It was a joke with us. I didn't want to know but I kinda did!

I was still teaching school, and Brad had just had an accident at work and broken his nose, which is a whole other story. He had been stopping in at school a lot to see me since he was off of work and was bored. So Tuesday morning, Brad's cousin who goes to the school I taught at, came in to my classroom with a camera, and put it on my desk. "What is this for"? I asked him. Guess what he said! BRAD wants it for something later today! I'll give you 3 guesses to figure out what he wanted it for! Bet you need only 1!

So I sent off a text to Brad. "T brot a camra 2 skool. Wat do u need it 4?" Wish I coulda seen his face on the other end. He texted back something like..."I need it 4 somthin l8r. Fone quality pics wudnt be gud enuf". Poor guy. Even now, I kinda pity him. I wasn't very nice at all!

He came to my classroom around 12:00. My class went to computer class for an hour and I had about an hour till they got back. Brad knew this. I took my class to computer, came back and started pacing and finding things to do to keep me busy. Brad was so nervous and I knew it was coming and I wanted it to happen and yet I was so nervous too. Finally Brad told me to come sit down. I think he said more like "Get over here and sit down"!!!!! I sat down and he came over and got on his knee in front of me and asked me to marry him. The next few moments are a blur to me! He says I kept saying "Are you serious". According to him I said that about 10 times. I think he's exaggerating!!! Finally I said "Yes".

On our first date we had talked about our conviction of staying pure and not having a lot of physical contact before we were married. I told Brad that I thought it would be neat to kiss when we got engaged! We both felt the same way and decided we would not kiss until then. So now that we were engaged, we could kiss!! I was very uncomfortable kissing in school so we took a walk. We walked down to the creek and sat there and talked and finally...kissed.

It was TERRIBLE! I had always read in story books about magical first kisses. This was nothing like I thought it would be! It sounds terrible to say that neither one of us enjoyed our first kiss!! We tried so hard to make it romantic. Our teeth were clacking and it felt like he was going to swallow my mouth! We were definitely trying too hard. We didn't really say anything about it, but later that night when we were talking about our wedding day and dreaming of being married, I asked him if that kiss was as bad for him as it was for me! We both laughed so hard and decided we needed to try again! It was much, much better the next time and now....now I can't get enough of his kisses! That story is still something we laugh about alot!

We went back to school and made up these little papers to give to people. We stuck them in songbooks so that the next morning at school when the teachers had staff devotions and turned to the page that had the song "There is Love", they found this picture!

It seems like such a long time ago. It was only 2 years. I think of all we went through in the past 2 years and can't imagine my life with out Brad. We keep telling each other that we didn't even love each other then compared to how much we love each other now! And the kisses???? They keep getting better and better too!

Happy Yellow Things

Yellow is my mom's favorite color. I'm beginning to realize why. Yellow is the color of all things happy. Smiley faces are simply the best when they are a bright yellow-hands down. It's such a happy color. When we were picking out paint colors for our house, yellow was my top choice for the laundry room. The color we chose was "optomistic yellow". There's something about the first room you walk into and I love walking into a bright cheery room.

Spring is the perfect time for this cheerful color. One of the first flowers popping out of the cold ground are bright yellow daffodils.

Lately this fun color has been popping up all around my house too!

We've got forsythia bushes all around our property and I've been picking them to add a splash of cheerful color all around on the inside. I didn't know until a few days ago that they are called "forsythia". Thanks to doing research for what kind of bushes and shrubs we want in our landscaping project, I now have a name for the "yellow bushes behind the house".

Easter candy would not be right without the classic "PEEP". My favorite are the......yellow ones! Bet ya didn't see that coming!

Every Easter I buy these purely for reminiscing. Ok, I love the marshmallowy gooiness too but the memories are what does it for me. You see, one of the few memories I have of my grandpa was going to his house around Easter and he would always have yellow PEEPS there for us. He died when I was 7 years old and to this day whenever I eat one of these my mind goes back. I'm getting teary eyed just writing this...

Then on Saturday, after we got home from a wedding, I went out to get the mail. There in the stack of mostly junk was a gleaming big yellow envelope.

The handwriting was sooo familiar. I knew right away who it was from. It was an Easter card from none other than my dear husband! Talk about falling in love all over again! He knows how much I LOVE cards and notes from him and he remembered me saying about how it would be fun to get a card in the mail from him like when we were dating. We had read in a book that sending a card in the MAIL is special. I forgot all about it, but my hubby didn't! He stored that little idea away and figured he would use it someday.

Speaking of tucking thoughts away...back when we were dating, in one of our discussions on how we can better make each other feel loved, I had mentioned that he doesn't need to buy me all kinds of flowers. Sure I love roses but if he would stop beside the road and pick a bunch of wildflowers that would mean even more than a big bouquet of roses. Are ya with me ladies? Just the fact that your manly husband would pull beside the road and get out of his vehicle and handpick a bouquet for you....that just makes me melt. Well, he did that a time or 2 when we were dating, and every time it made my heart melt. On Sunday when we were on our way home, we passed a bank full of smiling daffodils. My husband nearly gave me a heart attack when he jammed on the brakes and pulled beside the road. I thought something had happened to the car. I asked him what was wrong using a panicked tone of voice I'm sure! He said nothing, but got out of the car and started doing this... He scampered all over that hill and picked the most lovely bouquet of daffodils for me. Meanwhile, I'm sitting in the car with tears streaming down my face, taking pictures. To say that God has blessed me with such an amazing husband would be an understatement. I never, ever dreamed that marriage could be this good! Brad knows me even better than I know myself. I often tell him that I love the way he loves me. I thank God every day for bringing him into my life.

This week it will be 2 years since he asked me to be his wife. It just keeps getting better and better...

Fiber Balls

Did you ever, all of a sudden, get a craving or an urge for something? A few weeks ago, out of the blue, I thought about these things called "fiber balls". My sis and I used to make them alot when we were younger. Since my hubby is not a fan of peanut butter, which is probably a good thing since it is a weakness of mine, it's been a while since I made them. I put off making them because I knew they would either have to be given away or they would sit in the fridge calling my name. I would've been on my own to finish them off. Not a good thing, trust me! Not that they're really bad for you and they probably are a much better choice than say, peanut butter eggs which are screaming my name these days. They are the best at Easter.

It came to me that maybe if I got my husband to "help" me make them, he would like them! Isn't that what they say about kids? If they help to make it, it's likely that they will try it! Not that my husband is a kid or anything, but it might work. And guess what? It did! It worked! He loved them. He helped me roll them all out and then tried them and declared that they would make a wonderful addition to his lunch! SCORE!

Sooo, I have been making them every now and then. It's such a win-win. I absolutely love them, and hubby does too! Plus, they are chock full of fiber which is good for you, and in my opinion healthier than cookies. They are also easy to make and fun for kids to help with.

Start out mixing 1 cup honey with 1 cup peanut butter. Sticky, sticky.

In a separate bowl, combine 3 c. oatmeal, 1 c. choc. chips (I use mini), 3/4 c. bran, (I use oat), 1/4 tsp. salt. 1 c. cocunut and 1 c. raisins.
Mix it all together and roll into balls about the size of a walnut. This gets very sticky and your hands will kinda glump together after a while.

YUMMO!

They are best kept in the refrigerator or freezer.

Enjoy!

Fiber Balls:

1 cup honey

1 cup peanut butter

3 cups oatmeal

1 cup choc. chips

1/2-1 cup bran (I use 1 cup of oat bran)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup coconut

1 cup nuts or raisins

Mix honey and peanut butter together, then stir in remaining ingredients. Shape into balls and freeze or refrigerate.

'Nother Auction Find

Remember a few days ago when I ended up at an auction instead of buying pansies? By the way every time I think of pansies now I think of Madagascar and the little lemur thing calling the other animals pansies. "They are just a bunch of pansies" .. Said in a very lemurish voice. Random, I know. Moving on...

At then end of one of the rows and rows of treasures, sat this pile of cupboard doors.

They didn't seem like the thing to buy, but as the auctioneer was begging someone, anyone, to start bidding, my hand went up. Before I knew it, for $1 this pile was now mine. My mind was spinning, trying to think of what to do with them. I love reading blogs about how people redo things, and I knew the latest thing on a lot of blogs is making chalkboards. These would make wonderful chalkboards I thought and so I set out to do just that. Since the cupboard fronts were already lite, I didn't primer them. Using leftover paint from our house remodel, I painted the edges, then after it dried, I sanded the edges and corners to look aged.

Then I covered the inside part with 3 coats of chalkboard paint. This was my first time woking with chalkboard paint and next time I will take my time more. It was hard to get close to the edge without going up the edge a little! I have a few things in mind to try next time! Here's the finished product.

There are about 15 more boards waiting on me in our garage. My goal is to have them all done and then sell them at the GMS yard sale! I plan on doing some different colors and also adding some corkboard to half of the bigger ones, turnng it the other way so that the bulletin board would be on the top half and the chalkboard on the bottom half and then maybe adding some key hooks on the bottom to make it a "message center".

For $1.00, I think I got a pretty good deal!

Old Becomes New!

Yesterday the most random thing happened to me! I was feeling all springy and decided to go and buy some pansies to brighten things up around here. Pansies are one of the first flowers you can plant in the spring and they survive the sometimes coldish weather when winter wants to hang on. Anyway, on the way to the greenhouse I noticed all kinds of cars and trucks at the Farmersville auction. They have a sale there every Tuesday, but I totally forgot about it. I turned in on a whim and ended up spending the rest of the day there! Gone were thoughts of pansies and what I should be doing at home (housecleaning). Instead I was surrounded by bargains! Granted, some of the stuff didn't look like it was worth much, but I knew that with a little TLC and some creative ideas, old things could take on a whole new purpose! Sooooo, I stood outside, followed the little golfcart around, and bid on many things and got a few things. Things are a little tight for us right now so I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I spent about $11.oo and got lots of goodies. Here is one of them.

This whole bundle of old red fenceposts were sold along with a tattered planter for $5.00. The plant stand probably should be thrown away, but I thought of something I could do with it so for now it stays. OK, I keep getting sidetracked! Back to the boards. Since I have such a crafty hubby I thought I'd buy them and see if he could make me a frame with them. I have an old picture of my mom that I blew up to a 16x20 size and have been looking for a frame. "Rufus Hoover" wanted me to spend $40.00 for one but I decided no! I took my bundle of fenceposts home and when my hubby came home from work, I showed him my finds and asked him if he would make me a frame with the boards. Of course he agreed. Meanwhile I thought that a fence would be a neat thing to add to our flower beds or have to deco with. My hubby cut the back boards for me and then turned me loose with a staple gun!

Here's the fence

And then this afternoon, I finally got my pansies. For now the "fence" is on our little porch but may be moved into flower beds this summer!

I didn't get pictures during the process because we were to busy hard at work! I think this frame is far better than any "Rufus Hoover" could make. Definitely cheaper!

Needless to say, I'll be going back to the auction and seeing what else I can find! Oh, and wait till you see what I come up with for my other bargains of the day!!!

Foot Detox

A few weeks ago I had a consultation at a nutritional center. A few friends had recommended that I go. Basicaly I wanted to go and see if they could see anything in my body that may have caused my miscarriages. They tested my urine, saliva, and drinking water. After doing a few small tests on me, I had a consult with an RN there. She asked me lots of questions about my health history. Things like, have I been exposed to mold, microwaved plastics, and all kinds of other questions. Then I had a consult with the nutritionalist. He said that because of the things they found in my urine and saliva, he thinks that I may have a blockage in my liver. Other than that, he said I appear very healthy. Soooo he prescribed some natural detox stuff for my liver. According to him, I should only have to be on this about a month and then we could "try again".

While I was there I was reading some literature they had on various other services they offer. One thing that caught my attention was the foot detox thing that they do. I thought "Hmmmm, this looks fascinating...maybe I'll try it". After I found out that the first visit was free, I decided I would definitely try it!

You basically soak your feet for an hour in water. There is a little electrode box in the water. The electrodes draw toxins out of your body through the pores on your feet.

This is how things looked at the start of the soak

This is 30 minutes into the soak

And......... brace yourselves.....this is at the end of the hour soak!!

Ewwww!!!! YUCK! NaStY! I'm sure there are a few other adjectives that would fit here! The water at the end was black and looked kinda like algae. There were black flecks all over the water and on my feet. My pores were black too. I was horrified. There was a paper explaining all of the different ways people's feet have looked and explaining what was probably wrong. The blackish greenish look mine had was from toxins in the liver. Pretty much what they had said! The black flecks were from "heavy metals". Still not sure what this all means, but hope to learn more.

I know this method of treatment is somewhat controversial, but it felt "right" to me. The people I worked with were all Christian people and explained everything very clearly to me.

I would love to hear your opinions and experiences with doing things "naturally"!

Cultures

Culture has always been something that intrigued me. The study of people and how they live is so fascinating to me. In America we are surrounded by various cultures and people groups, and yet, here in Lancaster County, it's sometimes hard to look beyond our own culture!

Brad's brother is dating a girl who is originally from Kenya, Africa. She stays at our house when she comes to see her lover boy! We love having her stay here and it is fun for me to see Brad get to know his brother in a new way. They weren't very close growing up, but lately it seems they have more to connect on! She wanted to make us a traditional Kenyan meal. Of course, I was delighted at the thought and love trying anything new. Saturday I was busy helping my sister get her new house ready and it was so nice to come home to dinner ready!


Joy fixed a delicious feast of a type of beef, a sweet rice, something made with little green wumpa beans and a tortilla type thing. It had the look of a tortilla but had a totally different texture. I should have asked her to spell out the names of the things that she made because I can't remember what it was called!


And then on Sunday night we experienced a totally different culture! AMISH! My parents were Amish until I was 2 years old. My mom is an amazing cook and loves having people over. My parents were always open to having various groups of people in our home.

My brother works as a chef in a coffee house in Lancaster. He makes amazing food! We all stop in to see him at work and sample his cooking! Somehow my mom found out that a lot of the kids working in there had never really had "Amish" cooking so she offered to have them over for a meal. They were of course eager to take her up on her offer and after planning and trying to get a night together that worked for most of his friends we had it on Sunday night. Of course I "HAD" to be there to help mom serve everything! : )


One of the main dishes Amish are known for is "Roosht". It's kinda like a stuffing with the meat already in it. So soo yummy! She also served mashed potatoes, cooked celery, noodles with brown butter, homemade bread with peanut butter shmear, and snitz pies for dessert. Nobody went away hungry!

It's funny how a culture is known by it's food. Italians and pasta, Mexicans and Tortillas, Amish and Roosht!!!