Real Cheese!!!
8 February 2010
Last night we gathered with our Bible study friends to watch the Big Game. At the grocery store, I picked up a jar of queso to bring in case people weren’t enamored with my black bean salsa. As I opened the jar, my gaze caught on the label, which declared, “Made with real cheese!!!” I have to say, I’m a little depressed to live in a time where queso being made with real cheese is a selling point.
I wouldn’t call myself a foodie, but I do enjoy food, and I can be kinda picky about stuff. But it’s more stuff like I prefer Jif peanut butter, Hellman’s mayonnaise (that’s Best Foods to you folks west of the Rockies), and name brand graham crackers. Labels that say weird stuff like, “Made with real cheese!!!” are a big motivator for me in cooking. I like putting all the ingredients in the pot myself. I like knowing what’s in my cookies, dressings, and stews. And if I had a good queso recipe, I might have put forth a little effort yesterday. (Most recipes I see use Velveeta, and I just have a hang up about that stuff for some reason. Though I occasionally eat Kraft mac and cheese and Cheetos, so…)
You would think with my delight in knowing where my foods come from, I’d be more of a gardener. Um, no. Like at the moment, I’m excited to start our garden. I want to do Heirloom tomatoes this year. And I’ll be enthusiastic when we’re at the nursery getting our plants, but my enthusiasm will wane throughout the summer. And in August, when the mosquitoes, spiders, and cicadas are out in full force, my interest will evaporate entirely. But I come from a long line of gardening women, so there’s always hope that this is the season where my passion will flourish.
Hope everyone had a great weekend! See you back here on Wednesday.
Book Friday – The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaeffer
5 February 2010
McKenna and I recently started going to story time at Barnes and Noble instead of the mall. The downside to this is that the books you find and take home aren’t free.
Two Wednesdays ago, I noticed a book in the “Young readers” section, which in the biz we refer to as Middle Grade. Ages 9-13, pretty much. (Though the back cover copy says 8-14, which seems like a pretty big gap to me, but whatever.)
I haven’t read an MG book since I gave up Babysitters Club, so I picked up The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaeffer. I’m not quite finished, but I’m close enough that I feel I can give a pretty well-formed opinion of it.
The first word that comes to mind is “cute.” Teashop Girls is about 13-year-old Annie, who’s trying to save her grandmother’s tea shop, which has been threatened by a Starbucks across the street (though “Starbucks” isn’t specified, that’s my guess). Annie is gung-ho about the project, and is frustrated when her two best friends, who used to be the “Teashop Girls” with her, are distracted by their own lives.
Annie’s a really fun narrator, and her fears about everyone growing up and growing apart really ring true. I also liked the recipes peppered throughout the novel (though I’m a 26-year-old who enjoys cooking … not sure if they’d have done anything for me as a 10-year-old). I would definitely recommend this book for a girl between 8 and 12, even though some of the “chi” and “energies of the universe” stuff is a little wacky for my taste.
Not sure what I’m reading next. Probably Julie Klassen’s latest. That’s been lingering on my shelf far too long…
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Allowing Stress to Take Over
3 February 2010
Scripture memorization has always been one of those things I feel I should do, but I don’t. Kinda like exercise or daily flossing. Good things that get lost in the shuffle of daily life. (Though I do floss regularly. Not everyday, and certainly not twice a day like the sign at the dentist office said I should. Am I crazy, or has that number gone up? As a kid, I remember being told once a day.)
Back on subject.
So last night, around 11:30, I had a total emotional breakdown. Lots of crying. Some really loud nose blowing. Blubbering. I was a mix of pregnant, crazy tired, and crazy stressed about writing stuff, and that’s a bad combination. I kept saying to my poor, patient husband, “I just didn’t think it would be like this,” (I’m talking about writing stuff, and how I haven’t rocketed up the best seller lists) “I thought God would take care of this!”
Within about ten minutes, I’d released enough stressed to conk out.
Then I woke up at 4 this morning and my mind started whirling with “What if?” scenarios. So productive. So I was repeating to God pretty much everything I’d said a few hours before, when my mind was suddenly dominated by this thought: “Do not worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Which is a paraphrased version of Matthew 6:34, which says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
A couple months ago, my pastor spoke on these verses, and it really spoke to me. Any sermon on worry usually does, because it’s a real problem I have, and one I’d love to shake. And the only way to shake it is to grow in faith. Which takes time. (Grr.)
After that sermon, I dedicated myself to reading Matthew 6:25-34 every morning for a week. And apparently it stuck, because at 4am this morning when I needed those verses, there they were.
So I thought to myself, “What do I need to be doing right now?” The answer was easy—sleeping. So that’s what I did.
And while I still have a few niggling doubts about the twists and turns of my career, I have the comfort of verse 33 which says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Referring to life’s essentials of food and clothing. It’s a reminder that God knows what I need. I’m seeking Him, so He’s got it under control.