I can TOTALLY relate sometimes...

A conversation between my sister, Kim, and her almost 3-year-old daughter, Victoria:

(After Victoria steals a toy from her baby sister Alexandra)

Kim: You know Victoria, you are going to have to learn how to share.
Victoria:  I don't want to share.  It's not fair!
Kim:  Life's not fair.
Victoria:  I don't want to DO life anymore!!____________________________________________

My other sister, Rachel, passed this story along to me about a week ago.  I'm sure Victoria didn't even really understand what "life" is, but she knew that whatever it was, she didn't want to do it anymore!

It's just a funny little story, but for some reason that phrase, "I don't want to DO life anymore!!",  keeps ringing in my head all week.  I don't know if I'm just in a "funk" lately, but I'm just kind of tired of life right now.  Sometimes it just seems like all I do is go to work, clean, pay bills, eat, sleep (with many other responsibilities in there) and then do it all over again.  Seriously, is this what life is all about?!?  (I know it isn't and I'll get there in a minute…)  Not to mention, all the horrible, sad things that I've been hearing about recently.  I can't count how many people I've heard of with cancer or other terrible diseases lately.  My friend, Karen, had one of her elementary school students die just the other day.  Can you imagine what that family is feeling right now?  It just seems like there is so much pain in this world.  I guess I've just been longing for those care-free days of youth recently.  I'm sure it was just ignorance and less responsibility, but life just seemed so different then.  I think your eyes are opened when you become an adult, and along with "adult-hood" comes the realization that we live in a very flawed world.  It isn't always fun.  It isn't always fair.  It isn't always good- there is definitely some very real evil in this world (just read the news!).

I know I sound like I'm all doom and gloom right now, but a lot of times when I feel this way I actually feel closer to my God.  I can see that this life is not how God intended it to be.  I know that our sin as humans is what caused this world to be flawed and it makes me even all the more thankful that God sent his son to save us from this world.  It makes me long for heaven.  Why would I want to go to heaven if this world were all that I'd like it to be?! 

This verse pretty much sums up my thoughts lately:

22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Romans 8:22-25 (New Living Translation)

So, that's what I do.  I enjoy the blessings that God has given me in this life, and when the world seems overwhelming, I wait patiently and confidently for the day when this world will pass away.

It's times like this that I just can't understand the despair that people must feel who don't believe this.  How must it feel to not have a hope that there IS something better to come?  Sure, there are some good, wonderful things in this world to live for (and I am truly blessed), but if my short 80-or-so years on this earth is all there is, it just doesn't make sense to me!

Sorry for the little "mini-sermon".  I promise I'll be back with some light-hearted 101 goal completions soon!

Disclaimer:  Trevor said I need to say that I am a happy person who enjoys life.  I have a wonderful husband, amazing family, and great friends.  Really. :)

#64: Try 30 New Recipes (7 of 30) - Hot Onion Dip & (8 of 30) - Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake

I decided to try TWO new recipes for the Girls' Night we had on Saturday night. I am always a little nervous to try a new recipe for other people, so I figured if I made two, one of them surely would turn out alright! Turns out, they were both great! Both keepers in my book.

A co-worker from when we lived in Little Rock gave me this recipe after she brought it to an event. I remember really liking it even though I'm not a huge fan of onions. She told me it was an easy recipe to memorize since the ingredients are "3, 2, 1, & 1/2". I only had written down the ingredients, so the actual baking wasn't an exact science, so you might want to do a little experimenting. I just kept checking on it until it looked done.

	___________________________________________ Hot Onion Dip
	Ingredients:
	-3 pkgs of Cream Cheese
	-2 cups of Grated Parmesan
	-1 bag (12 oz) of Frozen Onions (thawed)
	-1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1	Heat oven to 350°F.
2	Mix all ingredients together with an electric mixer. (I put the onions in a food processor first so there wouldn't be any chunks of onion.)
3	Spread mixture in a 9x13 pan.
4	Bake 30 to 45 minutes until the top is browned. Serve with potato chips, crackers, or bread. ___________________________________________

My sister-in-law Elaine gave me a subscription to Taste of Home magazine for Christmas. I saw this recipe and just had to try it. Chocolate & cheesecake....has to be good! It was.

	___________________________________________ Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake
	Ingredients:
	-1-1/2 cups Oreo Cookie Crumbs (about 16 cookies)
	-3 tablespoons butter, melted
	-4 (8 oz.) pkgs. Cream Cheese, softened
	-1 cup Sugar
	-1-1/2 cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips, melted and cooled
	-3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
	-4 Eggs, lightly beaten
	-20 Oreo Cookies, coarsely chopped
1	In a small bowl, combine Oreo crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom of greased 9-in. springform pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
2	In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in chocolate and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Fold in half of chopped cookies. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with remaining cookies. Place pan on a baking sheet.
3	Bake at 325° for 50-60 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. ___________________________________________

#17: Host a Girls' Night at My House

Chelsea, Karen, Heather, Emily, Lacey (& Payten!), Karen, Kori,
Melissa, Allison, Rachel, & Emily

These are the great girls I had over for a fun night this past Saturday night!  Karen was so good about hosting Girls' Nights when she first moved here.  I think it is such a great time to get together and eat, talk, play games, and just have lots of fun.  Well, I told Karen about a year ago that I would give her a break sometime and do one at our place...and we haven't had one since then.  I think she was waiting on me to volunteer to host!

I feel so incredibly blessed to have such amazing Christian girlfriends.  We're definitely going to have to keep these going ladies!

#61: Take a Multivitamin Every Day for at Least 3 Months

I've taken a multivitamin everyday since January 3rd!  I'd been pretty good about taking vitamins before that, but wasn't very consistent...probably about once every couple days.  It's definitely become a habit as long as I don't change my morning routine, so I think I'll keep this one up.  Although I did just realize that since I've been taking the vitamins I've been sick twice and I've had inflammation in my corneas twice.  Hmmmm...

I was looking for a picture for this post so I typed "Daily Multivitamin" into Google Images.  I always think it is interesting to see the pictures that show up.  Here is a quick sample of the randomness:

"What will this multivitamin do for my temple area specifically?"

What the heck?!

Hmmmm....

Will taking a multivitamin make my eyes this big?!!?

Not sure what to make of this one.

Is it Really Almost April?!?

Our poor tree in the backyard

When we got back from our trip to Memphis, our trees in the front had some beautiful white blossoms.  It made me all cheery and excited that Spring had arrived!  Here's what they look like now covered in snow and ice.

 

This is pretty....but I'm SO ready for Spring.

Sweet Caroline...

This past week was Trevor's spring break and he planned on heading down to Little Rock to visit his brother Adam.  I decided at the last minute to take off a few days of work and tag-along with him to Little Rock and then make the drive over to Memphis to visit my sister Rachel and see Caroline!  My Mom was down there visiting and my college roommate Gladys was visiting from Dallas and staying with Mary Ellen, my other college roommate that lives in Memphis.  So it was a great trip and I got to see some of my favorite people in the world!

We got to Little Rock LATE Wednesday night and I got to spend Thursday morning hanging out with my sister-in-law Elaine and my niece Allie before I left for Memphis. 

Trevor, Allie & Me

(My cornea is inflamed again, hence the glasses all week...)

Gladys has a really nice digital camera and she brought it along to Memphis and took some GREAT pictures of Caroline!  I think she has me almost convinced to save up some money to buy a camera like hers.  She'll have to teach me how to use it though!

Here are lots of pictures of the fun time we had...

Rachel & Caroline

She's so expressive now!

Aunt Steph & Caroline

 

 Rachel & Caroline

Grandma & Caroline

On Friday we took a trip to the Memphis Zoo....

   Gladys & Caroline

Gladys & Mary Ellen

The polar bears were definitely our favorite.  They are so fun to watch!

Grandma's face cracks me up!!!

 Me, Rachel, Caroline, & Mom

Gladys, Mary Ellen, & Me

Daddy & Caroline after a long day at the zoo

#62: Floss Every Day for at Least a Month

                  

I had a dentist appointment today - no cavities!  Woo-hoo!

I have always gotten rave reviews on my teeth.  The dentist often says I have "beautiful teeth."  I think I'm just lucky in that regard.  Not that I don't take care of my teeth, but I don't feel like I put that much work into them.  I don't think I ever really wore my retainer after braces like I was supposed to, yet the dentist thinks my teeth are so straight that I must still be wearing my retainer.  I'm not a regular flosser, yet the dentist always had said, "You sure do put a lot of work into your teeth."  I thought I had him fooled until the last time I went to the dentist.  I guess my x-ray showed that my bone density in between my teeth was low or something like that and he told me I needed to be better about flossing.  So I made it one of my goals to floss for at least a month straight. 

They say it takes at least 3 weeks of doing something every day for it to become a habit, so I made quite a few of my goals for at least that length of time.  I don't know why I hate flossing so much, but I'd been putting off starting this goal until the last minute.  In fact, I started exactly one month before my dentist appointment! Ha!  I managed to remember to do it everyday, and it wasn't that bad.   It hurts your gums a lot less the more often you do it!  

I got more rave reviews today, but they didn't do the x-ray that checks my bone density, so I don't know if it made a difference. 

To be honest, I doubt I will keep flossing everyday, but I think it will become something I do more regularly!

Does anyone out there actually floss everyday?!?!  If I was a betting woman, I'd guess maybe only Monica (the dentist) or Heather (the dental assistant).... Anyone else?