Hearty Winter Breakfasts November 30, 2009

I love eating a hot, hearty breakfast that warms me up on the inside when the wind is blowing and the snow is flying outside. So far this fall our standard fare has been oatmeal with cinnamon, raisins and maple syrup. But I plan on trying this recipe which includes pumpkin, very soon.

2 cups cooked oatmeal

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 cup milk

Combine ingredients and enjoy!

 

Here are recipes our two favorite fall breakfasts

Whole Wheat Apple Pancakes with Brown Sugar Glaze, if you’re in the mood for something other than maple syrup you’ll enjoy the butter and molasses based glaze.

Apple Raisin French Toast Strata, fabulous! This would be a good holiday-morning breakfast because you can assemble it the night before.

Happy eating!

 

More, More, MORE! November 24, 2009

Hi, I’m 24 years old, and I have my first retail job this Christmas season.

There, I’ve said it. It’s out in the open. I feel so much better now.

Most people get one while they’re in high school, but my parents decided that they wanted us to focus on being kids and having fun rather than worrying about car payments and such. The logic has its ups and downs, but there’s nothing I can change about that now.

First thing I’ve noticed is that Christmas starts the moment Halloween is over.

Being in the mall significantly more often this season has made me see commercialized Christmas in a whole new way. I mean, I knew we were horrible about it, but this year it’s repeatedly thrown in my face.

I keep seeing the overuse of the word “more”, and it frustrates me to no end. One store has it on every sign they put out. It’s bigger than any other words in the advertisement, and all it makes me think of is that greedy girl, Veruca Salt, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Another store sent out advertisements saying that “Joy is just a click away.” Real joy, my friends, is not just a click away. Actually, when I start clicking away, my stress level rises and my joy is definitely not present, even if it is part of my name.

And then there’s the whole idea of Black Friday. I know a lot of people love going out and getting these amazing deals after standing in line at ridiculous hours that morning, but I dread the idea that I now have to work that day. The idea of fighting traffic with the same people who have been planning their schedules for months makes me apprehensive. I’m just thankful we don’t have snow yet this year. (But that’s still a couple days away, so who knows?)

So, how do I avoid the holiday pressures while working at the mall? I’m not sure. I’m still trying to figure that one out. And just think: sales are so much harder to resist with an employee discount!

What about you? How do you avoid all the stress and pressure of the sales? If you do, have you any suggestions for the rest of us who are much more easily (and as guiltily) swayed by them?

Christmas Music and Rule Breaking November 23, 2009

I’m listening to Christmas music as I write this post. No, I’m not overlooking Thanksgiving. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving and I’m thankful for Christmas music.

Sometimes, I get a little rush from breaking rules. Like my rule not to listen to Christmas music before thanksgiving, or to put garlic in meat for tacos. And (only occasionally) not making the bed.

I’m convinced you can get a creative rush from breaking “rules” too, at least in first drafts. One of the rules I’m most fanatic about is active voice. So for my writing prompt this week, I’m going to write something intentionally using passive voice.

Here’s what I have so far:

I was here and she stood there

a little grin played on the corners of her mouth.

She peeked at me from beneath the stairs.

Flecks of glitter sparkled on her hands and cheeks.

A piece of red garland hung in her hair.

The light glinted off tiny streaks of tinsel on her shoulder

and evergreen air-freshener drifted through the air.

“Look Mommy! I’ve been helping you decorate for Christmas!”

So I encourage you this week in writing or life to break one of your own rules, just a little one, and see what comes of it.

Oh yeah and if you’re a rebel like me, here’s one of my favorite Christmas carols.

Maybe I really do have Christmas on the brain…

Madeleine L’Engle November 16, 2009

Read this wonderful post where Novel Journey blogger Noel De Vries share some fantastic insight from Madeleine L’Engle.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

 

Writing Prompt November 9, 2009

I’ve been participating (sporadically) in the November poem a day chapbook challenge on Poetic Asides with Robert Lee Brewer. I wanted to share my favorite prompt from this week.

I want you to take the phrase “Maybe (blank),” replace the (blank) with a word or phrase, and write a poem using that new phrase as your title. Some example titles: “Maybe we really did need a bigger boat,” “Maybe next time you’ll listen to me,” “Maybe never,” “Maybe baby,” and so on.

Here’s what I came up with:

Maybe Someone Else Should Cut His Hair

As the cat bats dirty-blonde tufts across the floor
soft tumbleweeds
My brother rubs his scalp
surveying the damage
Mom stands with her hands on her hips,
“That was not what I had in mind.”

 

I’d love to see what you come up with! What do you think of this writing prompt and writing prompts in general?

 

Money Saving Tip: Stop Buying Granola! November 2, 2009

I’ll be the first to admit that buying all natural foods can cause sticker shock, especially in the cereal aisle. My husband and I love granola and for months we gladly forked over the $3.79 for a 13.5 ounce box (that lasted about three days).

Then I realized that the primary component of granola is rolled oats, and rolled oats are cheap. Hmmmm ….

So I tried making my own with wonderful results! So far, I like this recipe best.

Here’s a cost breakdown:

Olive Oil- I make sure to buy olive oil in a solid container, olive oil in glass bottles loses some nutrients on the shelf. So I buy the Filippo Berio in the metal containers. It’s right around $25.00 for three quarts. So one and a quarter tablespoons costs  about 13 cents.

Oats- Meijer sells rolled oats in bulk for 79 cents a pound, I’ll go ahead and say we used a full pound.

Butter- I buy organic butter at Meijer for $5.00 a pound. So 1/3 cup costs about 75 cents.

Honey-I buy raw honey at Apple Valley for $12.25 for 5 pounds, 1/4 cup costs around 61 cents.

Molasses- I bought a 15oz jar of unsulphered molasses at Apple Valley for $5.19 a tablespoon costs around 16 cents

Dried fruit- I put in 1/2 cup of raisins which cost about thirty-eight cents.

So I pay about $2.05 for six cups of granola. To buy that same amount from the store would cost $5.31. So If I we bought a box every other week, we’re saving about $86 a year just in granola! Also by making my own I know everything in the granola is wholesome and I don’t get shorted on raisins.

So there’s my money saving tip for the week! What do you do to save on groceries, specifically at breakfast?

Happy Eating!

Fruitless Envy November 1, 2009

There are certain people in my life who seem to have exactly what I want:

• the comfort of a great (non-temporary) job they are passionate about,
• the adoration of a loving husband,
• the creativity that can spark awe in the dullest of imaginations,
• impressively productive will power,
• the cute kids,
• means to support so many different good causes,
• world-wide travel,
• an adventuresome nature that goes beyond “what if”.

And those are just a few of the things.

Sometimes those people spark me as inspiration, like when Katie came up with the reason and the means for us to dress as ninjas and slink through the night to spy on a suspected statue thief. There’s no way I would have done that on my own, and that’s become one of my favorite memories, largely for that reason alone.

There are other times, however, when I become envious of the people I hope would have inspired me. For instance, I see no relationship or children in the near future. Yes, I steal other people’s children on occasion, but I’m repeatedly told that it’s not the same as having your own.

I’m fully aware of the fact that the Bible describes envy as “unclean” (Mark 7:22) and “meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 4:4), and that it says it “rots your bones” (Proverbs 14:30). It’s true. No matter how much motivation envy brings about, you never really achieve what you were aiming at. You never truly are satisfied with what you have.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary puts it this way:

¹en·vy

Pronunciation: \ˈen-vē\

Function: noun

Date: 13th century

1 : painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage

Clearly, that pain is not going to be comforted by some sort of effort on our part. The pain only leaves when “the desire to possess the same advantage” leaves. We need to learn to be thankful for where we are in life and for what we have. As I’m repeatedly telling the preschoolers in my Sunday school class, we have many, many things that God’s given us to be thankful for. We just have to take the time to think about them.

So, as I sit and look at that list, I wonder, How can I turn that around?

• the comfort of a great (non-temporary) job they are passionate about, I have a job, one that has potential to become permanent.
• the adoration of a loving husband, I’m not so old that this could never happen. I know someone who found love at 80 years of age.
• the creativity that can spark awe in the dullest of imaginations, God has given us resources to inspire us on our not-so-creative days.
• impressively productive will power, God gives me the strength to get done what needs to be.
• the cute kids, I steal everyone else’s kids . . . and I get to give them back!
• means to support so many different good causes, I can pray, and I know firsthand that God answers those prayers.
• world-wide travel, I learn something new about where I live on a regular basis, and I have traveled far more than the average Joe.
• an adventuresome nature that goes beyond “what if”. I am inspired and challenged by friends around me, even if those friends are only two to five years old.

How can you take your list of things you envy in others and turn them into reasons to be thankful?

Writing Gems from Annie Dillard October 27, 2009

Novelist Alexander Chee recently wrote a beautiful, thoughtful essay about the time he studied writing under Annie Dillard. The essay is sprinkled with Dillard’s insightful little gems about the art and craft of writing, like this one:

• Don’t worry about being original … Yes, everything’s been written, but also, the thing you want to write, before you wrote it, was impossible to write. Otherwise it would already exist. You writing it makes it possible.

Okay, so they’re the sort of gems that make you scratch your head, lose yourself in confused contemplation for several minutes, and still think that maybe the idea is too advanced for a lowly mortal to comprehend. But still, the essay is certainly worth some head-scratching.

Apart from the writing insights he learned from Dillard, Alexander Chee offers yummy descriptive sentences all his own, like this one about revising:

• You could think that your voice as a writer would just emerge naturally, all on its own, with no help whatsoever, but you’d be wrong. What I saw on the page was that the voice is in fact trapped, nervous, lazy. Even, and in my case, most especially, amnesiac. And that it had to be cut free.

To me, this says that just writing a lot isn’t enough to find my voice. I must write consistently, with discipline, then cut out the bad bits, the lazy, nervous, and “trapped” bits, and what is left over after I’ve filled in these now-empty spaces may be my “voice.”

I’ll leave you with a final quote from the essay, something Annie Dillard said in her class:

• Talent isn’t enough … Writing is work. Anyone can do this, anyone can learn to do this. It’s not rocket science, it’s habits of mind and habits of work.

Headphones October 26, 2009

Back in April, Jars of Clay released their newest CD called “Long Fall Back to Earth.” Instantly, I was a fan. (In fact, I think it’s been out of my car for maybe a week total since then. I listen to it all the time.) The song called “Headphones”, however, reminded me of my one true addiction in high school (besides chasing the boys, of course).

I couldn’t go anywhere without them. I had them at school (so that I could listen on the trip to and from, of course), while I cleaned our church, on quiz trips. You name the place, and I probably had my headphones with me. Back then we didn’t have mp3 players, so I had to settle for lugging around my tote of CDs as well. I wasn’t even deterred when my CDs were stolen at a church camp, it just proved that I needed to keep them with me rather than leave them with my stuff.

One of the times I was at work cleaning the church, the pastor of my church said something to me in passing, something I took personally and was offended by at the time, but now I look back and realize that he was right. He said something to me about  how maybe I spent too much time listening to music, that it was an idol to me.

Looking back, I realize that I used them to block out everything going on around me. I claimed that I just connected with the music and used it as an “outlet” to “express my feelings.” In reality, I was expressing nothing. I was listening to others express while I only empathized with what was being said, as if I knew the lives of the artists or something.

Since then, I’ve learned of other ways to actually think for myself and express my own thoughts. (Crazy, I know!) Writing has become one of those outlets. I wrote minimally in high school, but college is when I realized quite how much I could use them to my benefit. Now, let’s just hope that I don’t become quite as dependent on my pen as I was on my headphones back then.

I’ve included the lyrics (and a link to a YouTube clip) to the song I mentioned at the beginning in case you want to know the exact lyrics.

“Headphones”
by Jars of Clay

I don’t have to hear it, if I don’t want to.
I can drown this out, pull the curtains down on you.
it’s a heavy world, it’s too much for me to care.
If I close my eyes, it’s not there.

With my headphones on, with my headphones on
With my headphones on, with my headphones on

We watch television, but the sound is something else,
Just a song played against the drama, so the hurt is never felt
I take in the war-fires, and I’m chilled by the current events
It’s so hopeless, but there’s a pop song in my

Headphones on, in my headphones on
With my headphones on, with my headphones on
With my headphones on, with my headphones on
With my headphones on, with my headphones on

At the Tube Stop, you sit down across from me.
(I can see you looking back at me)
I think I know you
By the sad eyes that I see.
I want to tell you
(It’s a heavy world)
Everything will be okay –
You wouldn’t hear it,
(I don’t want to have to hear it)
So we go our separate ways

With our headphones on, with our headphones on
With our headphones on, with our headphones on

I don’t wanna be the one who tries to figure it out,
I don’t need another reason I should care about you,
You don’t want to know my story,
You don’t want to own my pain,
Living in a heavy, heavy world,
And there’s a pop song in my head,
I don’t want to have to hear it.

My Writing Verse October 26, 2009

I’m not sure if other writers have a verse that applies particularly to their writing, but I have a verse that helps me type that next word.

Did God wake me up in the middle of the night with a verse in my mind? No. After discovering my “writing verse” did I hop on the computer and cheerily pound out 50,000 words? No. In fact, God gave me that verse in the midst of my biggest writing struggle and it did not end instantly.

During my senior year in college, I often found myself staring at a blank screen. Any thoughts I’d had before writing drained out of my ears. But I didn’t have the luxury of avoidance because of my writing classes. I had to extract each word like a dentist pulling out a bad tooth.  And of course when I edited my writing, everything seemed terrible. I’d shake my head and say to myself, I should be better by now. Why in the world did I think I could do this?

During my daily Bible reading one afternoon, I stumbled across this verse in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 2:3-5 (The Message, emphasis mine)

^{3 -5}I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway.

I’m not sure how many times I read it, but each time a wave of relief rolled over me.

Paul was scared? Paul felt inadequate? Yes. And despite his inadequacy, God used him to spread the Gospel. And He will use me too. Yes, I need to give my best effort, but after that, God will use my words,  no matter how bumbling, to tell His beautiful story.

That thought makes me brave enough to keep writing. Eventually, as I persisted the words came easier. One day I found myself on the other side of that dark tunnel. I think part of my problem was the pressure I’d put on myself to be perfect. (See my old post on perfectionism.) But when I do my best and leave the rest to God, writing, though still had work can be immensely rewarding.

Do you have a verse that God has specifically give you for your calling? Please share!