Failure to Fantastic...

Well, this is what I get for thinking I was going to be industrious in the kitchen.

On my trip to the grocery store not long ago, I thought to myself that zucchini bread sounds REAL good! Not really knowing how I would find the time to make any, I ventured to the produce aisle anyway and made my selections.

Now for a week I have stared mournfully at the bag of greenness laying in my fridge. I couldn't take it any longer and figured today was the day those veggies were going to be used! Now, I cannot even convey to you how incredible stupid I feel about this....but I got out my recipe book, found Aunt Mary Lou's recipe for Zucchini bread, then realized, "wait a minute!!" I didn't buy zucchini!! I bought CUCUMBERS!!!!!!!

AND....what makes this worse, is the fact that I cut up one of the cucumbers to make a turkey breast/cucumber sandwich for lunch all week. Using them KNOWING they were cucumbers, yet STILL thinking they were zucchini that I could fashion into some sort of tasty goody for myself.

Well, to salvage the produce and not let it go to waste, I found a recipe I had been given for sliced cucumber salad. To my amazement, I had all the required ingredients, so this is what I will have to look forward to this week, not the zucchini bread.

Here's the recipe:

1/3 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1/3 c. sliced onion (optional)

Whisk together until dissolved. Slice cucumbers and pour mixture over them.

Now, this recipe is very vague. And having never made this before, I wasn't real sure what I was doing, so I doubled the recipe thinking that the vinegar mixture should cover the cucumbers. I placed the sliced cucumbers in a long, shallow rubbermaid container, poured the mixture over it and placed it in the fridge.

If any of you have made anything like this before, let me know if I'm doing it right or wrong!! AND if you have any other good recipes that involve cucumbers, pass them along!! I still have two left in the fridge that need to be eaten soon!!!!!

I'm still laughing at myself over this one. I can't believe I'll admit this, but I even looked at the bin of zucchini at the store and reassured myself that, no, cucumbers were what I needed!!!!

I would say I need more sleep, but I have done nothing but slept the past two days because of a migraine...so I guess there's no excuse this time. I've just lost my mind!

Author's Edit: Further evidence I have LOST MY MIND!!! >> I came in here to make this quick post while the chicken cooked on the stove. Went back to the kitchen to check on said chicken - knowing it had been long enough and it would need to be flipped over...yeah...I forgot to turn the burner on. Good grief!

Disney Songs At 5:30 AM????

Yes, Aladdin and Jasmine...it is indeed "A whole new world!"

One joy I had while in Alaska was rediscovering the taste, aroma and pep that accompanies a good cup of joe.

It's been a good 8 years since I owned a coffee maker. The previous one met it's demise in an unfortunate incident with a college roommate. And no, there are no hard feelings, it was just one of those things that happens. I never had the extra money to justify another purchase even though I know they can be purchased cheap, I was a college student in the photojournalism program...which meant all my money went towards film, negative sleeves, film, printing paper, film, and animal crackers (there was a slight addiction for a semester!)

So this morning, this beautiful, glorious morning was the first time I woke up to the wonderful smell of ambition brewing in the kitchen.

Now, keep in mind that as a single lady who lives alone and works from home, I often have conversations with the pooch or anthropomorphically speak to random inanimate objects around the house. (Come back...don't be scared! ; P) But a gal has to keep herself entertained! Especially when the TV hardly functions these days (which isn't a bad thing at all!)

Okay, back to the coffee maker. How did I survive these past 8 years??? I rolled out of bed at 5:10 AM to head to my brother and sister-in-law's house to get the girls off to school this morning (Eric is working out town this week and Sara has to be at work at 6.) And compared to yesterday morning which was coffee-free, I was much more energized and dare I say, gleeful, to sing the girls from their slumber, motivate, clothe, feed, fix hair and scoot them out the door!! I noticed they were more lively because I was more lively.

And productivity? Well, lets just say I've had time to shoot pictures and throw together a swanky illustration for this post in the midst of editing and toning four different photo shoots and scheduling other important things. I'd say I'm pretty productive with caffeine and beans coursing through my system.

So as I flitter about the house and sing to myself "A Whole New World" I am quite pleased with my new investment of a coffee maker and three different types of coffee. And I'm quite sure the kitchen will swell each morning with the scent of ambition from here on out!

This world will be a different place for sure!

Extreme Sheep Herding

Forgive me for being so incredibly easily entertained, but I just had to share this video, because still, after watching it a second time, I have laughed out loud in sheer delight. Part of that reason is because these guys so remind me of my own dad and brothers and some of the things they would concoct.



Enjoy : )

Saturday Evening Thoughts...

I witnessed again (for the second year in a row) an amazing thing. Street pole vaulting. How on earth can guys and gals fling themselves 18 feet into the air by just a pole?? And don't they lose their stomachs every time they free-fall to the mat? And aren't they afraid of losing an eye by the end of their pole that tends to fall in every which way?? Okay, maybe it would just be me that would lose an eye...but still!

So the amazement of this got me thinking. The past few nights, thinking has gotten me in trouble and cost me many, many hours of sleep. While I was away in Alaska, I often thought and borderline worried that I wouldn't have any work to come home to. I managed to get everything done before I left. And now that I'm home, I just might have more than I can handle! But, the work and the Lord is good because there are things around the house that need to be repaired and replaced and again, while praying I felt the assurance of my Father that He will provide!

And in Him doing so, I've felt, in my flesh, so very overwhelmed. But only because I'm looking at the to-do list through my eyes and not His.

While watching these men and women catapult themselves into the blue sky, God's words filled my heart and reminded me "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty."

And I was encouraged and reminded that although the weight of the tasks before me seem unbearable, Christ has gone before me. God is granting me these opportunities to meet new people in these many photo assignments, to grow in making a gut-wrenching decision, and to show others the truth that it is Christ who enables me to persevere and not my own abilities.

Isaiah 58:11
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Oh, how I very much want to be like a spring whose water never fails. Never runs out. Never runs dry. Always ready to spill forth and fill up those who need encouragement, need a friend and need to hear the truth of Salvation that comes from Christ alone.

Accomplishing these tasks and making these decisions seemed so impossible before but now I know that Christ is my strength and even though I messed up and drank a sweet tea from McDonalds and therefore will not sleep again tonight(!) I will be able to persevere tomorrow because He is my strength!

And I look forward to doing it all with the grace and love of Christ shining brightly from my face. Today has been a day that has physically worn me out, but at the end of myself I find Christ and that's the best place to be.