The girl between the lines- Week 3

This week's prompt:

Your go-to meal

Justin and my sister (accidentally) collaborated on my wedding gift.  I say accidentally, because they realized they had both thought of the same idea when it was too late, so they combined their idea into one.  They both asked about 10 ladies and some of my friends to share some of their favorite recipes, which got written onto cute notecards and categorized into a box.  The box was Justin's idea.  Just to brag, it came plain and he painted it red and added the designs. I was so impressed!  My sister got me an adorable apron from Anthropologie and was planning on putting the cards in the pockets, but like I said, they combined ideas, so all the recipes went in the box and I got the apron anyway :)

My go-to recipe is one from this box.  Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have wasted your time telling you about said box.  It's SUPER simple and only requires 4 ingredients.  I've discovered that guys, or at least mine, like simple dishes.  Almost every time I plan my weekly menu and ask for his input, he suggests spaghetti or hotdogs. This is almost as easy. 

 

 

Enchilada Skillet

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
1 pkg (8-10) corn tortillas, cut into about 1" squares
2 cups enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded cheese (you can use any kind, but Mexican blend is best)

Directions:

Brown beef in a large skillet and drain fat.
Put beef back in skillet and add enchilada sauce and tortillas.
Bring to a boil, add cheese, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Done!

We like to eat this with chips and guacamole. 

This is seriously one of the easiest dinners I've ever made!  I promise you'll love it!

The girl between the lines- Week 2

This week's prompt:  Your favorite things about the holiday season.

 

I seriously have so many things that I love about Christmas.  My parents did a really great job of making it a special day for family and tradition, so those are the things I really look forward to this time of year.  My birthday is on the 19th, so they have also done everything they can to make sure my day doesn't get lumped in with all the Christmas celebration.  My mom always wants to make a cake for me and have a small "birthday party" which is basically just them, my sister and I (and now Justin) eating cake and opening a few presents.  Last year was my first Christmas to not get to spend with my parents (we were visiting Justin's family), but this year will be both of our first Christmas to not get to be with any family on Christmas day.  We will fly back to Texas on the 26th, but there's something about waking up on Christmas morning in the house I grew up in that I'm going to miss. 

 

I love watching old home movies that my dad was faithful to record every year until we got too old to be cute on film anymore, or he may have just gotten tired of holding that dinosaur of a video camera on his shoulder.  Like I said in my last post, I'm an early bird.  This has always been especially true on Christmas.  I don't care if you want to sleep in, there are presents under that tree and we are waking up to open them!  My sister had the mindset that no one else was going to get to them until we did, so what's the rush?  Every video we have includes me shaking her awake, assuring her there's only presents and no "switches" from Santa, and even once literally dragging her out of bed onto the floor.  Confession:  Before I woke her up, I'd go into the living room and try and make out any big unwrapped shapes sitting around the tree.  Not sure what good this did, but I think it just made me feel sneaky.  Before we got to unwrap anything, we opened our stockings.  Once we got to middle school, I had friends bragging about getting cell phones in their stockings.  I would get so mad that all I got was candy and lip gloss, but looking back I'm glad I wasn't allowed to have a cell phone until I could drive.  My parents are pretty old-fashioned, and I'm thankful for their values.  Anyway, then we got to open presents (finally).  In most cases when we were young, my sister and I would get the same toys but in different colors, just so we could tell them apart and not fight about it.  Within the last 5 years or so, we've started getting together with my older sisters and their families on the Saturday after Christmas.  The adults buy a gift for each kid, but we do a "secret Santa" style gift exchange with the adults.  We have a big dinner and play games and catch up.  I love this event because I don't really get to see my whole family that often.  My three older sisters were grown and out of the house before my younger sister and I came along, so we've always loved getting to hang out at holidays. 

 

Another thing that puts me in the Christmas spirit is snow.  We never got much of it in Texas, but we've had quite a bit the past few days in Virginia.  It's made me feel like a kid again waiting for the announcement that school is closed.  We closed Monday and Tuesday, and have a 2 hour delay today.  These kids are going to be crazy, I can feel it. 

 

We had a women's event at church last weekend that I got to be a part of.  The way it was set up was there were three speakers (including myself) who each had a conversation with Mary on her way to Bethlehem.  These conversations were just us sharing part of our story with her and encouraging her.  While I am really not much of a public speaker, I agreed to speak and I think it went pretty well!  No one booed me off the stage anyway.

 

Even though I won't get to see my family on Christmas day, there's a part of me that's excited about just waking up in a quiet house with just Justin and I, making breakfast, and opening presents.  My mom mailed our gifts to us so we would have presents from her and my dad to open that morning.  I am SO pumped about getting to see my family and friends when we go visit, but who knows, it might be nice to start our own Christmas morning traditions this year.  

   

A day in the life

Have you ever taken a picture of something you're doing, or even a selfie, and thought, "Ew, I can't post that... Retake!"  I do it all the time (not so much the selfie part, mind you.)  I find myself way too often comparing my life to what I see on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, wondering why my life can't be that perfect.  The truth is, I would be much more content if it weren't for social media.  Don't get me wrong.  I love being able to stalk keep up with friends.  But if we're being honest, I do a lot more comparing than catching up.  I felt convicted on the other end of this situation as well.  Do I try to portray a life of perfection to others?  Do I make it a point to edit my life so that others will only see the good?  It's possible.  For that reason, I wanted to post what a real day in my life looks like. 

(I got this idea from Lauren over at The Albrechts Blog.  Check it out!)

We had a snow day today, so that means NO SCHOOL! We woke up around 6:30 thanks to the power going out. We normally have a fan going since I can't sleep in total silence, but because the power was out, that meant no fan.  Justin is not one to wake up that early, especially on a day off.  I, however, am a hardcore early bird.  I went downstairs and opened the windows and read for a good 2 hours.  It then dawned on me that if the power didn't come back soon, I would need to find some place to put the milk, yogurt, etc.  I loaded up a cooler and put it outside.  It was colder than the fridge out there anyway, right?   

When Justin finally woke up, he noticed that the roads were clear enough to drive, so we decided to venture out and escape our house that was slowly growing colder.  We went to lunch at Chipotle and bought some Christmas gifts at Target and Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  Since it starts to get dark here around 4:30, I wanted to buy some more candles to help light the house a bit until the power came back.  Justin insisted that we already have, and I quote, "a million candles."  I haven't counted, and obviously neither has he, but I'm pretty sure we only have about 5.  Anyway, we ended up buying this beauty, along with some pricey D batteries.  The power was back on when we got home....
 

 

Justin and I do something together called a HEAR journal.  HEAR stands for highlight, explain, apply, and respond.  For example, we are currently reading 1 Corinthians.  We read one chapter every day, complete our journal, and then talk about it.  It's something that we really enjoy and is a great way for us to share our thoughts on what we're reading.

 

 

We were both feeling kind of blah after an entire afternoon yesterday and most of today just sitting around, so we thought it might be a good idea to pump some iron at the gym in our neighborhood.  And by pump iron, I mean run/walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes.  It was moral victory.

 

I probably should have taken a picture of my sweaty self after working out, but I thought of this post while I was in the shower.  I thought a no makeup, wet hair picture would be just as good.

 

Did I even bother to make the bed today? Nope.

 

 

We are expecting more snow tomorrow (which hopefully means another lazy day at home!) but it also meant I needed to shovel the existing snow off my car so my windshield doesn't break.  Does that even happen?  I've heard of it happening with carports or garages.  I'm new at this, people!

 

 

As I'm writing, Justin is setting up one of our many games for us to play.  We like to play tabletop games, or "nerd games" as I lovingly call them.  I believe the one he is setting up is called Revolver.

 

 

Well friends, that was my day.  I wanted to be as real as possible, and hopefully I did that!  There was nothing extraordinary about our day, but it made me appreciate the little things, like electricity.  Peeing in a dark bathroom is a terrifying experience.


Have a great week! Stay warm!

Kristen

 

 

 

 

The girl between the lines- week 1

This is the first time I've done any sort of bloggish (if that's a word) type of thing, but here goes!

The prompt says: share a photo of you and 3 things you love about yourself.

I've always hated the part in an interview where they ask you what your strengths are and what you can bring to the job.  I guess I'm just not great at bragging about myself.  Oh well.  It's worth a try!

1.  I love my sense of humor.  I can laugh at pretty much anything.  It's probably the most immature form of humor one can have.  I'd describe it as a mix of sarcasm, wit, and anything involving poop.

2.  I'm extremely compassionate.  I love that I care about people's feelings.  Sometimes I care a little too much, and get overly concerned that I came across as rude during a conversation.  I can usually make someone who is upset feel better.

3.  I'm really good with kids.  Thankfully, because I teach 3 and 4 year olds every day.  I love that I can be silly and they just think it's the best thing ever.  I get smothered in hugs, open pudding cups, apply band-aids, and teach kids the beginning stages of reading and writing.  I love every minute of it!


Looking forward to next week's prompt!

Kristen