Monthly Archives: September 2008

Sep 14 2008

guess what I haven't been doing lately

…And that is blogging.

I can’t believe it’s been 8 days since my last post. What’s crazy is I didn’t even notice the time go by. I have been so incredibly busy! Now that it’s September, we’re starting our normal routine stuff for the school year. Here’s what our schedule looks like for now:
Sundays: Sunday School class and church (more on this below). Twice a month, I sing in the choir for both services on Sunday morning.
Mondays: Paul has his discipleship group (a small group with our church that is a cross between a Bible study and accountability group)
Tuesdays: NOTHING! Which also turns into “play catch-up day”
Wednesdays: Meeting at 5pm, then my discipleship group at 7:30pm. (I wish it fell on the same day as Paul’s but… oh well)
Thursdays: Choir for me
Fridays: Nothing again! Hang out with friends time?
Saturdays: Twice a month I have to sing with the choir at the Saturday evening service at church.

Here’s what else is going on right now:

We are hoping to be more frequent attenders of our Sunday School class. We kinda slacked off last year at this time, but it seems we have more friends this year so maybe that will help. Also, our Sunday School split into two classes: the newlyweds (married under 3 years) and the “young families” (married 3+ years and/or either pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or have infants/toddlers at home). We kinda could go both ways as far as which class to attend; right now we’re in the young families since that’s where most of our friends are, but we of course are still just the two of us and have only been married for 2 years. I do like that there’s a place for people to go once a baby arrives because last year it seemed that people who had kids felt like they had to stop coming to the newlyweds Sunday School class.

We are moving! (Did I mention that?) We’re moving on September 27th, so I am (supposedly) in the throes of packing, sorting, and cleaning. The packing hasn’t happened yet but the sorting and cleaning has. We are trying to downsize, so we’re selling and giving away a bunch of stuff. I’ve been utilizing Craigslist for the selling part, as well as a huge black trash bag for all the papers we’re sorting through. :-) Wow, we have a lot of junk!

We are continuing to watch our 100 movies. Our most recent was The Graduate. Interesting movie – I think I’m still processing it. I wish I had someone I could talk to more analytically about these movies. I’m just not good at pondering them by myself. Next up is Chinatown. I’ll finally get to learn why Jake has to forget it.

I really want to change my blog template but I haven’t had time recently. I’m bored of this one, though. Too much yellow. (I still love the cat at the top though.) If you see a good WordPress template that you think I might like, send it to me!

Last week was a stressful week at work. That’s all I can to say about that.

I kinda had a mental breakdown last week. I am so tired, all the time. All this traveling and go-go-going is wearing on me I think. I told Paul that we’re not going to make any more commitments until after October. Right now there is too much going on. I am just praying that I make it until then without really breaking down!

Okay that’s enough time spent on my blog. I hear Paul in the guest room, so I will join him in packing/cleaning/sorting. Only two weeks to get it all ready to move! *gulp*

Sep 6 2008

the month of september

So far this month has been a busy one for us! I keep waiting for things to die down, but they’re not.

Paul and I have decided to do our own version of Owlhaven’s 30 Days of Nothing. For the month of September, we’re committed to only spending money on essentials. For us, it looks like:
* No eating out. Buying our food from the grocery store, and making meals at home. We’re not curbing our grocery budget at all, but that’s because we often end up not spending our grocery budget because we simply don’t go shopping. Instead we stop by Wendy’s on the way home, or run up to Subway.
* No impulse buys. I’m really bad about this. I go to the store and get WAAAY more than is on my list. I always use the excuse “But I’ve been wanting one of these!”
* Finding creative ways to make do or do without. I’ll expand on this below

Part of this also means we’re trying to creatively meet our needs without spending money (or as much money). For example, if something breaks, we ask ourselves: Do we need it? Can we make do with something else? Can we fix it so it still does what we need even if it’s not pretty? Can we simply go without it?

It’s been interesting. I’ve cooked every day this week. (Except yesterday. When we had animal crackers for dinner. Because we were both too tired and too hungry too cook. It was a long day.) Do you know where I’ve noticed the no-buying thing the most? In getting random Cokes or snacks during the day! I didn’t realize how much we do that. I miss it!

That’s the point of this exercise. It isn’t necessarily a way we always want to live, but we’re trying to make ourselves more aware of the frivolous things we spend money on, and how all the little things add up. It’s also trying to force ourselves to think creatively about meeting our needs – money isn’t the answer to all our problems! :-)

So, in order to start the month off right, on September 1st I lost my cell phone charger! I think we left it in Nashville, but the hotel hasn’t seen it so I don’t know where it is. Do we need it? Yes, it’s our only phone. We need to be able to make/receive calls. I can’t have a dead cell phone all the time. :-) Is there a way to fix it, or do without? Neither apply. Can we make do with something else? Well I found that I can charge my cell phone by plugging it into the USB port on my computer. So, that works! Not the most ideal solution – I’d rather have a wall charger, but it works. And until I come across another charger I’ll just use it. Also, I have a car charger and my boss has his Blackberry charger at work that I can use if it needs some juice during the day. It’s okay.

We probably won’t notice any difference at the end of the month because of having to move. We’re having to pay deposits for the apartment ($500 for cats! sheesh!), rental fees for a moving truck, and boarding costs for our cats for the weekend. Also, we’re probably going to plunk down a significant amount of money on airfare for a trip or two we’re taking. (And you thought we were done traveling!) We also have to get new tires for my car, and the cats need their annual vet visit and vaccinations (required for both boarding and new apartment).

Speaking of which, I need to get ready to take the cats to their vet appointment. Aren’t they lucky! :-) I had more to say in this post, but I’ll write later.

Sep 3 2008

pierogies!

I made this for dinner last night and we both thought it was excellent.

Pierogies with Creamy Mushroom and Sherry Sauce
Cook time: 15 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 onion, sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons dry sherry wine
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 (1 lb) package frozen potato pierogies, thawed
2 tablespoons light sour cream

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, onion, salt, and pepper.
2. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms and onion are tender and lightly browned, about 4 minutes.
3. Stir in the sherry and cook until evaporated.
4. Sprinkle the flour over the mushroom mixture, stirring to combine.
5. Stir in the milk, broth, and pierogies; bring to boil. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream.

Per serving: 249 calories, 5g total fat (2g saturated), 14mg cholesterol, 634mg sodium, 42g total carbohydrate (3g fiber), 10g protein, 108mg calcium

If you’ve never heard of pierogies (like I hadn’t), here is a brief description from Wikipedia:
Pierogi or vareniki are half circular dumplings of unleavened dough, stuffed (singularly or in various combinations) with mashed potatoes, cheese, farmer’s cheese, bryndza, cabbage, sauerkraut, meat, mushrooms, or other savory ingredients depending on the cook’s personal preferences. Dessert versions of the dumpling can be stuffed with a fresh fruit filling, such as cherry, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, peach, or apple; stoned prunes are also sometimes used.

We will definitely make this recipe again. If you want meat, then it would be easy to add chicken or something – either in the mushroom and sherry sauce, or just on the side. However, we found it pretty filling without any meat. (We used potato and cheddar pierogies.)