Diaper Giveaway!!

Check out the giveaway by Granola Mommy of 2!! It is for a custom made Doodly Dype ( http://http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Doodle-Dypes/264758218226 ). Link to the Granola Mommy blog is http://granolamommyof2.blogspot.com/2011/01/doodle-dypes-review-and-giveaway.html. I just ordered a custom Star Wars diaper by Doodle Dypes as Paul is such a Star Wars fan. I have heard nothing but good things about these diapers. Check out the links!!

Too busy to write!

Hello Friends!

Not sure if anybody even reads my blog anymore, I so seldom write anything new. 2009 was a good year. We had a lot going on, in Feb we moved back to Ohio. In March Paul started at Suarez, in April I started work at Safe-N-Sound Security. We enjoyed hanging out with friends & family more again. In October we took an amazing family vacation to The Outer Banks, NC with both sets of familes. We celebrated our 2 year anniversary also in October in OBX. Enjoyed a Thanksgiving day with family from both sides. Then came Christmas........

On Christmas Eve I took a pregnancy test (having some symptoms). To my suprise it was an immediate big huge POSITIVE! I had to work 3 hours that day and those hours went by so slow & in a daze. I tried to think of the neatest way to tell Paul, but didn't have much time as we had to leave as soon as I got home for Christmas Eve at his grandparents. So I stopped by Walgreens & looked for inspiration. I found a cute little moose wearing a Christmas hat, a baby bottle, and a red decorative bag. I put the positive test in the bottle, the bottle in the moose's arms & all of it in the bag. I couldn't wait to give it to Paul so I did the minute I walked in the house. I told him he had to open one more present before leaving home! He pulled out the moose first, look at it weird (I don't normally buy him stuffed animals!). Then the bottle, I told him to look at the test when he looked at me weird again. He did & boy was he suprised. I never cry really but for some reason started to. We were in shock all the trip up to his parents. I had seen my parents before Christmas, but didn't want to wait till I saw them again so I text them a pic of the test and wrote "Merry Christmas, Grandpa & Grandma!" They were so excited!!

We also got a card saying the same type thing for Paul's parents. They were suprised & excited as well.

We had a great New Years. Dan (bro-in-law) rented a SUV Limo, got some friends together & went to Wasabi in Montrose. Fun night.

On January 2nd we looked at three houses with a friends parents who are realtors. The third house we loved, it was what we were looking for in regards to size, condition and best of all price!

On January 3rd there was an open house at the house & both sets of parents came to look it over & give their opinions. Everyone loved it!

On January 4th we placed a bid on the house, a little lower then asking price, the next day we heard back with a counter offer. We countered back & our bid was accepted!

We plan to close on the house February 25th!


Our new home on Colonial Blvd.

On January 28th I had my second OB appt. We were estatic to hear our babies heartbeat for the first time! How amazing & wonderful it was! :)

Ciao,

Caroline

There is one in all of us

So we watched "Where The Wild Things Are" last night. I unlike a lot of people, had never read the book growing up. But our friends Josh & Emily were with us last night & Josh read us the book while we waited for our dinner at A1 Sushi. The book was cute, I enjoyed the pictures a lot.

The movie was good as well, although I don't think I would recommend it for little kids. It was rather sad & just in my mind would be better for children 8-10 or above. I do recommend for adults though, it was not the "Kid" movie that I was prepared for.

It got me to think though and I like how Josh put it after the movie. It reminded him of being a kid and sometimes either doing something bad (disobeying, being mean to other kids, etc) and just the way that made you feel (I hope it put it right Josh). Also even as an adult how we can sometimes take things to far, such as joking, sarcasm, etc. I think in the movie for sure Max went to far when he got lonely, sad & upset. Such as destroying things in his sister Claire's room after her & her friends messed up his igloo in the snow outside, or when he got mad at his mom & started screaming, kicking & bit her. Or even further in when he ran away and lived among "The Wild Things" and started to create issues among them, while pretending to be king.

He defiantly left home under bad circumstances, but thankfully made things right after messing them up with "The Wild Things".

Anyhow, after watching it, then discussing the movie I really got to thinking Biblical perialls. How we "kick & scream" sometimes when God wants us to do something or to change something in our lives. How we sometimes take out our anger on others & seak revenge. How we rebell against him sometimes & run from what he has for us. We think in our minds (which are small & do not know all) that we can do things better on our own, so we take flight, go out on our own & pretend to be king of our lives. But even though things may go well for a bit, in time we realize what we should have all along, that we do need God and that we are just making even more of a mess of things on our own. So we run back to God, and God welcomes us back, he forgives us & gives his support to us & doesn't rub in our faces our sin or how we ran away, but gives us a second chance. He always looks out for us, and is happy when we realize how much we need him in our lives. In the end of the movie the mother of Max does the same for him. She welcomes him home with a warm hug, tears & prepares a meal for him. She, I am sure was saddened by what we had done (just as God is when we turn our backs on him), but is willing to forgive. It just reminded me how much God does for me, and how little I am able to do on my own. I need to fully surrender to God daily. This may be a little deep for what was meant to be a youthful movie, but just thought I'd share.

Caroline

Summertime

So this summer has really been flying by! It is sad as summer is one of my favorite times, but I look forward also to fall in Ohio & the fact that our vacation is coming! We are taking a multi family vacation to Salvo, NC (Part of the Outer Banks) in October for a week. My parents & sister are going, Paul's parents, sister & brother, Paul's Grandma Dixie is also coming. It should be really fun! We rented a big pink house with 7 bedrooms & 5 bathrooms. I think there will be enough room :)

Work has been going well for me, it has also been going well for Paul. We are both very happy being back home. We spent a lot of time this summer looking for a house to buy, nothing yet but I am sure we will continue in our search (if not now, then in a few months). Our realtor has been very understanding & helpful and of that I am thankful! It is a hard process, lots of decisions.

A few months back I had an MRI of my brain and tissues. Everything came back okay, thank God! I still get little bouts of lightheadedness or a feeling of "fullness" in my head, but more days then not anymore I have been feeling good. Another Thank you GOD!!!

Not much more on the news front. I will try not to go so many months between posts next time.

Tax day blues......

Sometimes it is so hard not to be discouraged. I mean how could I not be, on this Tax day 2009 after finding out we owe in $1500.00. I was so excited that after our move & the first few paychecks at Paul's new job that we were starting to get back on track. Money was starting to go into the savings, rather then out. We were about to get back onto our budgetting system. Monday I started working a part time job at a place I used to work a few years ago, things were looking up. I was pulling the info one how much we owe on our car, which is low & we were looking to get another one. I feel like we've been obedient to God with tithing (not to brag, it is hard) and it really threw me today to hear about having to pay in on taxes. I am ashamed to admit but I question how wise it is to tithe in times like these, but God has promised to provide, He has in the past, even while tithing & I just need to keep trusting & obeying him. But it is still hard at times. Times like these. I just thank God it wasn't more that we owed. I know He will be with us & help us get it all paid off but I just pray that things start to look up as the discouragement is setting in once more.
Oh and to top it all off our tax guy had kind of gone MIA on us from February (when he got our info) till just today when he told us we owed. NICE.
Well I think I will end this post before I complain anymore.
Ciao,

Caroline

After another long silence a blog post from Caroline! I have been meaning to update but then either get too busy or get too lazy. Paul and I are very happy in our new place back in Ohio. It feels so good to be home, finally! Looking back at our time in Virginia it just feels like a long trip away from home. Not so much a vacation, because it wasn't all sand & sun, but a lot of work, stress & missing family & friends. Not that there weren't good times, there were. Not that there weren't friendships built & cultivated, there were. But it is nice to be home regardless!


I have been happy to be getting back in touch with people here, doing some lunches with the girls, dinner parties at our place, going to dinner at friends homes & spending time with our families. Paul is loving his new job at Suarez. He is allowed much more creativity then at CBN so that is making him happy. He is planning on taking on some freelance or part time work for the evenings/weekends to make a little extra cash. Our goal is to be debt free. The cost of living has gone down for us, well except for gas prices so the goal of being debt free is getting closer. I am still searching for employment but have some very good oportunities in front of me. I am training right at the moment to be a server at Bravo, and so far that is going well although it is a lot of information to take in. We are still looking for a church to call home, but have visited a one that we did enjoy. I have been doing a lot of cooking in my new big kitchen here at our apartment. Below is a picture & recipe for a margharita pizza that is absolutly amazing!

The Margheritan Pizza - Grilled

1 grilled pizza crust *

1 tablespoon Herbed Grill Oil **

1 tomato

1 ball (8 ounces) fresh mozzerella

Garnish - 2 tablespoons basil leaves

1: Brush the grilled side of the pizza crust with the Herbed Grill oil. Lay on fresh tomato slices and fresh mozzerella slices as desired.

2: Grill pizza. Garnish with the basil leaves before serving.

* Pizza dough, you can either use a mix or make your own. Roll out on a floured surface in a size that is good for your grill & serving dishes. I don't have an outdoor grill so I use a large cast iron electric griddle set at 400 degrees. After pizza dough is rolled out, put in griddle & grill each side about 2 minutes or until "grill marks" apear. Take out of griddle. After toppings are put on place back in the griddle for about 8 minutes. Take out & place on broil pan, broil for about a minute or two.

** Herbed Grill oil -

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 small clove garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Makes 1/2 cup

Place all of the ingredients in a small bowl or glass jar, mix well, and refrigerate. If it solidifies, take it out a few minutes early or microwave it at 5-second intervals until it starts to liquify.

ENJOY!!

The second time I made this pizza, instead of using tomato slices on it I made Chunky Tomato Basil Sauce and did everything else with the pizza the same, just used the sauce instead of tomato slices.

Chunky Tomato Basil Sauce

2 small cloves garlic

8 large fresh basil leaves

1 1/2 pounds (about 3 medium) rip tomatoes, cored & quartered (or use canned, diced, well drained tomatoes)

2 tablespoons tomato paste (or more)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 Place garlic & basil leaves in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the tomatoes and pulse briefly (unless canned tomatoes are used, then I didn't put those in the processor). Do not puree the tomatoes, as the sauce is meant to be chunky. Or chop all by hand.

2 Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and sugar until mixed well. If the sauce looks watery, add more tomato paste until you see no more juice.

3 Refridgerate the sauce for an hour to accentuate the flavors.

Happy pizza eating!

Ciao, Caroline

Moving back to Ohio

"If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be too cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.”
Annie Dillard

There are people who would say "Why are you moving back to Ohio, a place where it is cold & snowy, where the economy is poor." Trust me we have thought of those things.
But since living in Virginia, we have greatly missed our families. We wanted for a while now to move closer to them & friends. The quote I started this post with encourages me. We need to take chances in live, even if at times it is easier not to, to stay where we are & not where we want to be. We've been praying for months that God open & close doors, guide us & direct us. He has answered our prayers. Paul is taking a job at a company in Canton, OH doing video editing. The company has been in business for 26 years & going strong. We will live halfway between my parents & my in-laws. It is has been wonderful for us this first year of our marriage to be together in a new place & have to lean on each other more than maybe we would have had to if we'd never lived far away from family. I feel like it was good for us. Now as we enter our second year of marriage & look toward the future with our desires to own a home & have a family it makes sense for us to move back to Ohio. The cost of living is so much better, the area much more the setting in which we'd like to do those things.
Life is an adventure, not always easy, often challenging & it gets hard to know what choices to make. But to grow & learn sometimes we need to "Jump off cliffs" and "Build our wings".