Tooting My Own Horn!

If I don't toot it, who's going to toot it for me?

Just kidding, but I did want to tell you that I just started writing for 5 Minutes for Faith as a guest contributor. It was sort of a dare I gave myself back in May to have some pressure to write. Last week I wrote on "The Lost Art of Letter Writing." It was Writing Wednesday at my house and that was what was sitting on my brain at the time. Check out the blog sometime, I think you will be encouraged not just by me, but the other writers as well.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting Clappy Shoes!

Pajama 5K and the Girls

Yesterday, I was talking with one of my friends and she reminded me that there was a 5K at 8:30 that night. The 5 K was to help a group of runners raise $25,000 for Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness. I had been running again some, but was not 100% I could do very well. I'm pretty sure I had mentioned on my blog that I have had problems with shin splints since late last year. I was training for a half marathon and my shin splints got so bad that I had to take the time to stop and rest. I even took the time to go to a physical therapist.
So we met up at 7:45 last night for a group picture and a "little before my bedtime run" and it was super fun. It was not what I would have naturally chosen to spend my time doing on a Friday night. I told them when we started running that my body was screaming, "What are you doing. Don't you know that it is Friday night and you are supposed to be on the couch watching a movie with a bag of Cheetos." Obviously, I would not have done it without my friends encouraging me to go though. Also, I probably would have walked half of it if I did not have a little positive peer pressure as I was running. They basically said, "We're not leaving you so you better run." It's great to have mean friends! :)

Seriously, I cannot imagine doing life without a group of friends like this. As a pastor's wife, it is sometimes a lonely business. You feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders and that there are very few people you can trust. I have a very unique and wonderful situation in which the Lord has brought a lot of people into my life who are trustworthy and are very special to me. God has orchestrated this time and He is definitely worthy to be praised.

I pray that you too have a group of special friends who are positively encouraging you to try things you would have never done otherwise.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 (New International Version)

¹⁰ If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!

Incredible Bible Study

For sixteen years I have been a Christian. In that time, I have done probably done maybe 30 Bible studies. I think this current Bible Study is topping them all. Don't get me wrong, I loved Beth Moore's "Breaking Free". I loved every part of Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God". But, "For Women Only" by Shaunti Feldhahn has put some tools in my tool belt that I have needed for a long time.

This should be a must read for anyone who is thinking of getting married or has even been married for 1 minute - 50 years. There are a few things that are generalizations, but most everything has given me a fresh perspective on my marriage with Prince Charming. If you are looking for a good Women's Study, this is a great one to invest in. Our church bought the video series and we have given out over 50 books to women in our church and a few in the community to do. To put this into perspective, there are only about 150 people who go to our church (counting kids). So about a 1/3 of the people in our church were interested in doing this study!

It is very well rounded as far as being a good book, good video series as well as providing great discussion and fellowship. Honestly, I can't recommend it enough. If you don't have a group to do it with, do it on your own or with one other person. It is so worth the time. (and it does not take very much time either. . . maybe 30 minutes 5 days a week).

There is also a young women's version. Too bad Gretel is only 7 or she would have to do the study with me. I think 13 or 14 would be a more appropriate age to start her on the study.

Point being, buy it, you won't regret it! It will make your marriage and your man make sense! :)

You Shold Be Concerned!

Yes, you should be concerned about world peace and yes about our economy, but I am helping both of those crises with my new obsession. Check it out.


Helping slave labor. :) She is a cute slave. :)
The unveiling begins.
Who is the "woman in the mirror?" I think it's obsessagirl! :)Don't you love it? You should be concerned though, because today I bought yellow paint. I think it is only the beginning of a whole new world.

Works for Me Wednesday - Yummy Dips

It has been FOREVER since I posted on Works for Me Wednesday, but I am trying to get back into the swing of that. At our small group the other night we had this really yummy dip. The hostess with the mostess, Danielle, made this yummy pizza dip. Here goes the recipe:

Yummy Pizza Dip for a lot of people
4 pkg cream cheese
2 jars pizza sauce 14 oz jars
2/3 chopped scallions
3-4 cups of mozzarella cheese (depending on how much you eat before it gets in the dish ;0)
2 T Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic salt
Pkg of pepperoni

Mix the cream cheese, italian seasoning, garlic salt and scallions. Spread on the bottom of 11 X 13 (she had a really pretty red dish that really made a difference in taste :)). Spread pizza sauce on top of the mozzarella cheese and complete by placing pepperoni on top! Bake at 350 until bubbly and melted through . . . probably about 20 minutes.

Another Dip - Black Bean aka Texas Trash
The both healthy and tasty ingredients are as follows (from Southern Living Ultimate Cookbook- a few ingredients we always add ourselves)

1 can rotel (tomatoes and green chilis)
1 avocado (chopped)
1 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds (toasted)
2 cans black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can whole kernel corn (drained)
1 red onion (minced, 1 c)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup parsley (optional, really)
1/3 cup lime juice (have substituted with lemon or without)
1/4 lime juice
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients. Cover and store tight in fridge for up to 1 week.

Now this dip is the best with chips or on chicken quesadillas or even egg burritos! Yummo!

Google 411

Have you been out and about in town and realized that you did not have the phone number for the doctor's office that you needed to call? Especially, when you live in Dallas you really don't want to carry the yellow pages with you!

Recently, I discovered and love GOOG 411. Basically, you can call any business in any town (even my little one) and find the phone number to where you are calling. You just say the business name and the city and state. The only thing that is weird about it is that sometimes it does not pick up my Arkansas accent. It says funny stuff back to me. Could that be how I sound? Nah! :) There have only been a couple of times that it could not find the place for me.

It also connects you automatically and the best thing about it is free. I made it one of my favorites on my phone so I don't even have to dial the number. The phone number is 1-800-466-4411.

Enjoy and never call information for a business again! Yay!

Gretel

She is hilarious. It seems that this year Hansel has really gotten gregarious. She makes us laugh all of the time.

We were driving home from our friend's house the other night when she screeched,"Agh!" We were really concerned and said, "What's the matter." She said and I quote, "I forgot my imaginary cat at Mrs. Shanna's house! Oh, well I am so glad that we are coming back tomorrow so I can get her!"

We laughed so hard. Only in the mind of a seven year old is this appropriate.

Summer Reading

My husband and I finally figured out how to get our kids to read without too much whining or nagging by me during the summer. We bribe them with electronic time. That goes for the tv, the Wii, and the computer. . . basically anything that plugs in. There is a "15 minute increment only" rule. That means they cannot read for 1 minute, run in the living room and play on the Wii for 1 minute and then start the process over again. Believe me, we made the rule for a reason! :)

It has been great. Every morning they have a cutely decorated clip board of chores and it reminds them to read for electronic time. They have to do chores and then they can read for the electronic time. Wow! So far, this is the fourth week in the month of June and it is going well. I think we have found a winning idea. We were at the doctor's office yesterday (for Hansel's ear infection) and an older lady commented to me that she was so glad to see boys reading like mine.

The added bonus, they usually read at the same time and the house is quiet during those fifteen minute intervals. Rare, I tell you, rare! It is definitely worth a try if you haven't bribed your kids recently!

Living Life

Do you want to live in authentic community with your neighbors? How does that play out? We live in a culture that does not naturally make us able to live in community with people. We don't hang out on our front porches sipping lemonade together. In fact, our culture pulls us away by keeping us slaves to our work, our media and even our hobbies.

God used a book called, “Making Room For Life” by Randy Frazee (now pastor at Max Lucado's church in San Antonio, TX) to change my mindset and help me to see how I could practically make community a priority. I realized that the reason community was not happening in my life was because I did not leave room for it in my schedule. My schedule was dictated in the evenings by my children’s sporting events, the need for a little brain defragmenting in front of the tv, as well as, chores that got put off until the last minute.

What is driving you away from true community spent hanging out in each others yards and homes with your neighbors? Check out, “Making Room For Life” and make living life in community a priority today.

The Eleven Year Itch

You may have heard of the seven year itch. Well, I have the eleven year itch. I know this is quite a confession on a blog that all the world can see. You know, the seven year itch is where you become quite discontent with everything to do with your spouse. You don't find him attractive anymore, you start daydreaming about other more hunky guys and all that they could do for you. You begin to think that you have made a mistake and the only thing that could remedy that is the big D. And I am not talking about a trip to Dallas.

This itch that I have is a tad bit different though. It is an itch to make this marriage stuff better than ever before. I search the web and the Word (two of the world's best resources :) ) each day trying to find answers to all of our tough questions. I listen to Christian podcasts on how to get on the same page in our finances and how to improve our love life. These are two of the most critical areas to be on the same team.

We are so far from perfect, but I refuse to paint a perfect Mona Lisa picture in my mind for us to live up to. While all the world and it's crazy statistics about pastor's and their weekend lives surround us, I will not allow Satan in this marriage only to destroy it. I am closing the gates of our home to the evil one and even if I stray for awhile (which is undoubtedly going to happen in this imperfect body) I will not give into the world's answers . . . to give up and pay the money to the courts to get out.

I will seek each day to be a wife that is pleasing in Christ's sight. I will lean on the only one who can completely make me content. He is the only one who can fill the areas in my heart where my husband has not learned to touch. Christ will be my center. May angels guard the doors of our home so that we can never leave angry at one another with intent to never come back. May Christ tenderize our hearts with meat mallets if He has to to get our attention when we are losing sight of His plan for our marriage and family.

John Mark Rutter, I pledge my love to you all over again. You are precious to me. When your heart is broken over something, my heart aches to remedy it. Believe me, I know my shortcomings. God will not let me stop learning and growing. Every time I am wanchy to you, He prods me with His disapproval. I know that I am not easy to love. In the earliest years of our marriage, when most were on the mountaintop, we were in the trenches. We basically had to grow up together. We had to figure out how to not blow a gasket when the other was a complete moron. We figured out how to build a budget, a house and a family together. I guess you can say we are still figuring those out, especially building the house! :) In the last year, we have spent time together on the rooftop shingling the house, in Morrilton, AR at a retreat center and in church praising our Lord together.

I have seen you grow in the Lord and your faith more this year than any other year of our marriage. I am in awe of the way you pull those sermons together. I have learned so much from you not only as my husband, but as a my pastor. You have shepherded my heart to a good place. I long for you not only to touch me as my husband, but to touch me with a Word from the Lord our God. Thank you for all of the times you have prayed for me over the phone, in person and even the times that you have rained on my parade. You keep me sensible! I love you. You mean the world to me. You are God's gift to me. You have treated me like a princess . . . especially in those early days when I still did not feel like a princess or child of the King. You are my Prince until the King's return. I love you, John Mark, and I have loved cruisin' with you.

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Finger Food Friday

As soon as I told my kids, Hansel 9 and Gretel 7, that Fridays were going to be the day that they got to try their hand at cooking, they begged me to let them cook today. I bought a cook book last year for the kids that are 2 or 3 ingredient recipes. I told the kids that they had to do it all by themselves. I went into the other room to work on a really important project . . . beading. I knew the recipe they chose had to do with kool-aid and it did not seem to difficult. They were going to make slushies and that sounded great to me.

I knew that this might not be working when Gretel came in to tell me that Hansel was using a very sharp knife to break up the contents of the Kool - Aid. It came in a big plastic jug and had solidified. I asked him, calmly, to get a spoon. The next thing I heard, not 2 minutes later was "Help mom! Oh no, come quick!" Of course my mind began racing and beat my legs down the hall! I envisioned smoke, fire and blood.

Well, it looked a lot like blood when I got there. It was red Kool Aid, permanently staining my laminate countertops. They forgot to put the blade component in the blender and when they poured the water, Kool Aid, large amount of sugar, as well as the ice, it all dripped down the blender, down the counter and onto the floors. I am sitting here with red stained hands, lips and tongue with a big smile permanently stained on my face at the fun times I am having with my kids. God love em!

P.S. I would have provided pictures, but they blocked my picture when I went to take it saying they were too embarassed to see it on the blog! :) They know me well.

Funny Stuff

Last Sunday, we were sitting around the kitchen table discussing what we learned that morning at church . My husband is a pastor and I told my kids that daddy talked about spiritual gifts in his sermon. The kids were excited to learn that because they had talked about spiritual gifts in their class too.

Hansel, very matter of factually stated that he knew what his spiritual gift was. I was so excited that he finally knew because I have always really wanted my kids to discover who they are in Christ and how God made them. I was sad though when he stated that his spiritual gift was "eating." Being given that tidbit of information does give me a whole lot more perspective on where all the food has been going! :)

This joke makes a lot of sense too given that his spiritual gift is eating.

Hansel came outside the other day when I was working in the garden and told me this joke. I thought he had been eating and reading Laffy Taffy's, but he swears he made it up.

Q: What happens when a lightning bug grows too quickly?
A: It has glowing pains!!!

That's pretty good, huh! :)

My Favorite I Phone Apps

I am fortunate enough to work for a company that values technology. That is why I have an I Phone. I did not know much about it when I got it. . .all of its capabilities and I still probably don't. What I knew is that I could get my email on my phone and I really liked that. It freed me up to be away from home and still hammer away at the emails that I receive at work.

In all of its little 2 X 4 body, I have the capability to talk on the phone, check my email, listen to my ipod or a podcast, map where I am on GPS and to top if off take a picture with it's camera. Ok, I am beginning to sound like a commercial, so I will stop!

Here are the FREE Apps that I have on my phone:

Pandora - listen to music
K Love - listen to a Christian radio station
Whitenoise Lite - listen to background noise while you are going to sleep or while you are laying out, pretending to be on the beach with waves crashing in the background ( who me. . .do I sound like I have ever done that! :))
Pac Man - yeah, it's for the kids, right? :)
Galaga - again for the kids
Shazam - this has to be my favorite right now! You can hold your phone up to any radio and it will tell you what is playing, what album it is on and to top it off you can buy the song from that page. I am thinking it will let you do movie quotes too, but I am not sure.
Amazon.com - you can compare prices when you are out shopping
Reqall - you record your voice and it helps you remember things you need to remember such as hamburger buns which I am out of right now for our hamburgers tonight because I forgot to use ReQall! :)
Quicken - keeps up with all of the preformulated categories in your budget to tell you how much you have in each area; such as groceries, dining out, etc.
Lose It! - Keeps track of all of your food for the day, including how many calories you have eaten. I hesitated to include this one since I am not doing so hot in that area of my life right now. Maybe I should set up my ReQall app to remind me to keep track of my Lose It App! :)

I have a lot of other apps that I will update you on later. Right now, you just need to know that the I Phone is cool. Let me know if you have other apps that you have enjoyed.

Am I Paranoid or Are We Not Getting Our Mail?

My greatest fear has happened. The mail man blocked our postal services. The reason you ask? Because our mailbox is too low.

A month ago our flooding street was "remedied" by the Independence County Road Department. Well, sort of. Ever since we have lived in this neighborhood our streets flood when we have heavy rain. Honestly, our house and our yard is not affected by this. Our house is a little higher than the rest of the neighborhood's houses and so basically the flooding stops right in our drainage ditch and yard.

This is the second time the County Road Department has "remedied" the problem of flooding in our neighborhood. The first time our mailbox became too low for our mailman to reach from his truck, we were left with the task of raising it. My husband had to build a new post that was longer for our mailman to reach the box. It not only costs us money, it costs us time.

Well, I am done with fixing the county's problems. If they are going to make my mailbox too low, they are going to have to raise it. I called the county judge and he was out to lunch. HMMM! Maybe he could stop by on his way to Sonic and build us a new mailbox.

My bills and packages are now in our mailman's truck. Maybe the mailman would like to pay our bills when they are late?

I will let you know how this turns out. As of now, I am not hopeful.

Update: Not even five minutes later, my husband comes to the rescue of our mail. He is digging a post hole. Sorry, county you missed out on serving your residents. :(

County Update: I called to let them know my awesome hubs took care of it. The lady said that she would make sure to let the judge know that this is a problem when the road department is altering the roads and they need to do something about it. I think it helped that I was nice both times when I spoke to her.

I guess I should also add that I think it is important to let the county know your needs. That is what we pay taxes for right? :)

3,000 Bottles of Excel Rows on the Wall

I love work! I love my boss! But not today! I have a spreadsheet of over 3,000 rows of information that I have to press delete, cut and paste over and over again to get the right information on there. It is 50 sheets of printed out information. I am sitting here listening to Pandora Radio - Love Songs, drinking Coke Zero and working on my office chair posture. All the while singing 3,000 Bottles of Excel Spreadsheet Rows on the Wall. I am truly losing my mind! Help! Can anyone identify?

I really should not complain. I am sure someone who lost their job recently would appreciate my 3,000 rows on an excel spreadsheet. Truly, I am thankful for my job. I work for an awesome ministry that really tries hard to please God and to follow His plan. My work/ministry is not perfect, but individually each of my co-workers has a personal relationship with Christ and they want to do what the Lord has for them. You cannot ask for much better than that. Now, back to the rows and rows and rows!

Did I Just Say That?

Mom talking to Seven Year Old Gretel: After you finish all of your chores then I will let you clean the toilet.

Gretel: Yay!

There's No Place Like Home

I am officially back from my vacation and already feel the effects of being away from the beach. . . and the TV. We do not have extended cable at our home in Arkansas for various reasons. When I want to watch extended cable, mainly HGTV, I go to the gym to get my fix. Yes, that helps two issues in one. :)

When I was not at the beach, I was on the couch eating a bowl of ice cream and watching HGTV. I redecorated my house in my mind at least 30 times, as well as gained 30 pounds. I had major "Curb Appeal" as well as "Decorating Cents." Also, at the beach we had four TV's . . . one in each room so my kids could watch cartoons, my aunt could watch the news and I could watch HGTV. Now wasn't that convenient? Who thought of that? A very smart condo realtor.

Now I am home, Clifford is on the TV and my walls are unpainted the optimal color to make the room appear larger and cheery! Wow, I am all messed up. What will I do with all my spare time? Work? Do dishes? Sweep the floor? Work in the garden? Paint the already primed walls of our addition?

There's no place like home and I am actually glad to be home. I was beginning to feel purposeless.

Loving my Time in Flo-Rida

Flo-rida!

Each and every year in January I start getting antsy. I start thinking about warmth, bathing suits and sand. My mom inevitably emails me and says, "are you ready to book the place for this year?" She always says, "should we go somewhere different or go back to the same place?" My response is always I really don't care as long as there is warmth, bathing suits and sand.

Every year is always different depending on who decides to come. My aunts, kids and granny are regular attenders. My cousin's wives even came one year with their kids. This year, I am sitting here with my regular burn, pajamas and coffee anticipating the time that the pool opens and my kids tackle me and lure me out the door to the waves. Gretel was wee little when we first started this wild tradition. Each year we travel the 12 plus hours depending on how many potty stops we make. There is always a promised adventure when we get here.

Last year we decided to go on the Dolphin Cruise. The biggest excitement was the birds that flew behind the boat and we fed them Cheetos. Yeah! Big bucks paid for that! It was fun though. Gretel got to steer the ship and we saw a crab catch.

It is so fun to get dressed up at night after being in our sandy suits all day. We pick a favorite restaurant and dine in with great anticipation of what seafood we will devour. We top off our seafood with HOT Krispy Kreme donuts. A rare treat for us that live in a town where the donut shop is only open in the mornings.

I mean to tell you these are good times. I cannot wait until I get the email next year that says, "Are you ready to book the condo?"

New Thang I'm Tryin!

I was lamenting a few weeks ago about my grocery budget to a close friend who is extremely practical and a money saver on top of that. These are definitely the people you should consult when struggling with budget issues.

What budget you ask? I have a set amount that I budget each month and we are not even coming close to what I need to spend, I mean we are going over by hundreds of dollars in the grocery category. Now believe me when I say, I do not cook gourmet meals. We eat spaghetti and beans quite often. Now when I say grocery bill I should clarify by saying, "Wal Mart and Kroger." Those are my two options for this grand metropolis that I live in. So, also to clarify when I say groceries I mean copy paper, gifts sometimes and ink cartridges in addition to my groceries.

My friend, Senor Elefante, is a Dave Ramsey junkie and she was telling me about a link on his site that he recommends called emealz.com. It has seven nights of dinners, all of the ingredients, the recipes and several different places to shop from. They even have low fat options and low carb options. The big time bonus is that it even makes your grocery list by sections such as dairy and bread, etc. Wowzers! I cannot say that it has lowered my grocery bill substatially yet, but it has made my hair not stand on end as bad when I am looking at what to cook during the week. Typically, I spend hours each week planning my menu, shopping for my groceries as well as trying to think of something exciting and new to cook. My husband happens to like new and exciting whereas I would probably be fine with tacos and spaghetti most nights. He calls them ruts. . .I call them simple and cheap no brainers. :)

So if you are up to trying something new, logon to emealz.com and check out the options for your area. Like I said, my only option is really Wal Mart because they do not have a Kroger option for my area. If you live in a larger town, your options are probably more diverse and exciting. It does cost $15 for every three months, but my time that I spend doing the work that is already done for me with the emealz list is well worth $15.

Hope it helps you have a little bit less hairy week. Let me know if you already use emealz or think you are going to try it.

By the way, I do not get any kickbacks from emealz, I just like to help moms and dads make their life more simple. Enjoy!

Family Time

I thought I would update the blog even though everyone has possibly given up on me! :) We went to Blanchard Springs in Mountain View, AR. This is about an hour drive from our house. It takes marking the calendar months in advance to actually make it happen. We camped, caught fish and ate smores! We had a great time as a family. We definitely need more times like this.

Comfort

Comfort is fried pork chops and mashed potatoes. Comfort is curling up with your favorite book in your favorite spot in your home. Comfort is spending time with your family on vacation. Comfort is being around people you know. Comfort is giving the same amount of tithe you always have for ten years. Comfort is a good life.

Uncomfortable is eating something in another country that is their delicacy, but you cannot identify. Uncomfortable is moving to a new home in a new state because your job moves you. Uncomfortable is serving as a missionary for two years in the jungles of Peru and the thing you pick up in the morning is not your cup of coffee, but your machete to keep the snakes at bay. Uncomfortable is switching the seat you have always set in at church to get to know someone different. Uncomfortable should be the life of a Christian.

God has set this in my heart. I guess I could say that uncomfortable is a blog post at 3:00 in the morning! :)

Menu Plan Monday - March 2nd

Sunday - Cheese Potato Soup
This is an awesome recipe. I just tried it last night. I had been craving cheese potato soup, but I hate peeling potatoes. This has four ingredients and you just dump them into the pot and let it get hot and bubbly. It is fairly inexpensive too. I figure about $6.50 for the meal.

Frozen cubed potatoes
8 oz. velveeta (this is what gets expensive!)
4 cups of chicken stock or chicken broth
White Country Gravy Mix

Seriously, just put it into the pot. Make sure the cheese is melted and not sticking to the bottom of the pot. Also, the gravy will thicken it. You can serve with bacon bits, green onion and a salad and voila. Awesome!

Monday - Small Group - taking Subway Sandwiches leftover from church
Tuesday - Chicken Teriyaki Stir Fry; I buy the prepared stir fry mix (large bag, makes two meals easily) and add my own chicken and rice
Wednesday - Sweet and Sour Meatballs, (I made these for our New Year Celebration as an appetizer - they were great then, but decided to try them as a main dish) Egg Noodles
Thursday - Chicken Quesadillas-chicken, cheese on a whole wheat tortilla; I may have leftovers with the kids, depends on how much energy I have; usually not much when we don't get out of swimming until 5:30 and the kids are starving
Friday - Mom gone to the Ladies Retreat! Frozen Pizza for dad and the kids
Saturday - Fajitas (really no different then quesadillas other than I make green bell peppers and onions to serve with it)
Sunday - Leftovers or Taco Salad

For the last few months, I have struggled to keep up with my grocery shopping. I realized that because I was using The Grocery Game, I was unable to get my shopping done in the short window of time between Sunday and Tuesday when the coupon database comes out. I have decided to start using The Coupon Mom which comes out earlier and is free. It is hard getting used to because the format is not as clean looking as The Grocery Game. The database was not as accurate either, but my grocery bill has skyrocketed in the last few months and I need to take action! So there it is, my confession for all the world to see. :0

Happy Cooking for your family this week!

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