A special treat

Mom called me earlier today:
"Are you at home?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I have a special treat for you and Tony. I'll be over in a few minutes."
"Okay." :)
{Yay!!}

A few minutes goes by and Mom arrives, with a bucket of ice in tow. Inside that bucket of ice was a container with a creamy pink substance. "What is it?" I opened the lid and smelled it - "mmmmm, watermelon." And then tasted it. "Yummy!"

made.by.mom Watermelon Sorbet - it tastes sooo good!

It started pouring rain shortly after she got here, so she hung out for a while. Good Mommy-Shayna time. ;)

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When Tony got home from work, we had waffles for dinner. Then he took a short nap, while I crocheted/read. He woke up and we studied. studied. studied. Then he took his final exam for Macroeconomics. We were very relieved and excited to see his total score for the class resting at 93.27% ... an "A"!!! :)

Spontaneous Ice Cream Run

After our run this evening, I looked at Tony and said "ice cream sounds really good." He agreed. So we got cleaned up real fast, went to Food Lion, and purchased 2 individual pints of ice cream - pistachio and coffee. Oh, and a bag of sourdough pretzels to snack on for the ride back home. Something sweet and something salty. ;) We talked about various subjects all the way there and all the way back. Once home, we dished out some ice cream and enjoyed it very much while listening to/watching Tony's lessons for this week. Sweet moments of togetherness!

Wonderful weekend

Friday evening was filled with plenty of school work for Tony. While he sat in front of our desktop computer, I sat on the floor close by and finished a crocheted piggy for our niece who turns 4 this week {she was in her mommy's belly at our wedding; a miracle she is}.

Saturday the alarm clock went off early and we made our way to a meeting in Wilson. Afterward, we sat at a little table and shared a $5 veggie sub, then did a quick visit to Ollie's and Books a Million. We were back home around 2pm. I went to my parents house to drop off some made.by.me menus and decor for Joey & Chrissie's special dinner {they celebrated one year of togetherness on Saturday!! Joey surprised her with a very nice made.by.mom meal at my parents house, turning one of the spare bedrooms into an Italian Cafe'; Chrissie was so surprised and absolutely loved it! Her and Joey even made mom and I receipts and left us tips. Sweet!!}. Most of the afternoon/early evening was spent studying for a test... and then Tony taking the test. We praised God for the "A" he received!! That completed his school work for the week; always a good feeling!

We then got ready in a hurry and made our way to the last Raleigh Downtown Live for the Summer - a rain or shine event. The crowd was visibly thinner because of the rain, but there were still lots of people there. We stood near one of the exits, Tony wore his sandwich board sign (over his poncho) and I stood there with my umbrella. Something funny happened... I was standing there, staying mostly dry, when all of a sudden my umbrella collapsed and water splashed on top of my head. I wasn't expecting that at all. Haha. It made for a good laugh. Apparently, I had hit the "close" button. :) We passed out some gospel tracts. A couple guys joined us and open air preached there on the corner. The truth of the gospel was proclaimed. And one particular lady listened for a long while. I ended up talking with her for several minutes there at the end. She professed to be a Christian, but didn't agree with everything we were saying - mainly that people only need to hear about God's love and grace. Of course scripture states otherwise. One will not understand how amazing God's grace is, until they understand how wicked their sin is before a holy God. There must be a balance of wrath and grace when presenting the gospel. We reasoned about that and toward the end of our conversation she said she was very grateful that we were out there, that Tommy was preaching, and that she knew God sent us all there for a reason.

We stayed on the corner for about an hour, then we went on a **date** - Tony & me. ;) We chose Olive Garden; chicken parmesan for Tony and a personal veggie pizza for me. Endless salad and breadsticks of course. Oh, and we were excited to see that they had October fest in stock - so that accompanied our meals. It was a wonderful time of togetherness. Causing me to love my sweet husband all the more!!

Yesterday morning, Pastor Jonathan continued in our study of James chapter one. I must realize my lack of wisdom in the midst of trials and seek God for wisdom. To what or whom is the first thing I turn to? "In ________ I trust." Honestly, many things can fill that blank - google, friends, books, my husband, pastor, etc. My heart is such an idol factory! I am to ask God - He alone gives wisdom generously without reproach. It is by the grace extended to me through the cross of Christ that enables me to say "In God I trust"; blood bought wisdom, that is not deserved. May I ask God for wisdom with no doubting and boast in the grace of God who humbles me and causes me to realize the vanity of my riches apart from King Jesus! Amazing grace!!

We shared lunch and conversation with a lovely couple after church, then went home sweet home. Last night we hung out at my parents house, mostly talking. I praise God for the family that God has given to me. Tony & I ate leftovers from Joey & Chrissie's special meal ~ stuffed chicken marsala, angel hair pasta, bread, salad and chocolate lava cake with homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. ;)

Last night, nearing the tenth hour of the evening, Tony & I enjoyed our first bowl of homemade granola cereal; fresh from the oven. I used what I had on hand: oats, sunflower seeds (I started to use our homegrown sunflower seeds, but after cracking 8 of them, I realized it would take a long time to get a whole cup ... so I just used the store bought ones.), cinnamon, crushed raw walnuts, raisins, coconut oil, local honey, and a little vanilla. It was a tasty snack!!!

This morning as I was walking with Tony to his truck, we noticed that the grass and weeds in our rock driveway is dying. And we're very hApPy about that!! It means that our natural weed killer concoction is working. Woo-hoo! :) I also spent a good hour in the front yard pulling up the grass that has spread into our mulch bed. I'm about halfway done with that project.

I also enjoyed a yummy breakfast with Sheri P at B&G's grill this morning. We had fun chatting; just us girls.

Too many miles

We had a wonderful visit with Uncle Keith & Aunt Bonnie yesterday. We all hung out at my parents house for most of the day. And before they started their long drive back to CT, we shared a delicious dinner and made-by-mom strawberry cobbler. Oh, and took a picture of the "original four"...


...just like the picture that was taken nearly 25 years ago. :)

Our weekend

Bread pudding and eggs is what we had for dinner when Tony got home from work on Friday. Earlier that day, I had great plans to make a loaf of bread, fresh pesto, and a fancy dinner of sorts ... but when my bread dough didn't rise, it kind of squashed my desire to cook. But not wanting to waste, I baked the dough anyway, broke it into pieces and turned it into the above mentioned meal. And we actually enjoyed it! Especially when topped with maple syrup or strawberry jam. After dinner, some hours were spent studying four chapters of Macroeconomics and then Tony took his test - the last assignment of the week. Which meant we had two days of "vacation." Woo-hoo!! :)

Saturday morning we had the urge to go on a treasure hunt (a.k.a. yard-sale-ing), so we were out the door a little after 7am and stopped by about seven different yard sales. Only one treasure was found - a Boyd's Bear wall hanging priced at $3 that I bought for mom. {She very much liked it.} Around 9:30, my parents treated us to breakfast at Mae's restaurant in Seven Springs. Good food and fellowship.

From there, we borrowed the tiller from Tony's parents and tilled up most of our little garden. The marigolds, tomatoes, carrots, and arugula is all that's left. For the fall, we're going to plant broccoli, onions, lettuce, cucumbers, and more carrots.

That evening we had some awesome fellowship with our dear friends, Kevin & Sheri. It had been an "eon" since we'd seen them last. It was really good to break bread with them at Illiano's and drink milkshakes at CookOut; several hours of catching up and lots of laughing!

Sunday morning we were reminded to "count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds." Each trial (small and big) I go through, has been designed specifically for me by my loving Father. And I know that each circumstance will be worked out for my good and will be used to produce steadfastness. These trials are not pointless. So when I am faced with a trial (ie: bread that doesn't rise), I am to respond with joy, having a deep trust and confidence in God. This response does not come naturally. It is only by the grace given to me by Jesus' death and resurrection. May God continue to do this work in my heart and mature me in the faith.

After a fun lunch with the Daniel's boys, we went home for a "Sunday afternoon nap"; about 2.5 hours worth. :) It was real, real nice! Then we met everyone at Tony's parents house to hang out for a couple hours and draw names for Christmas. Yeah, we like to plan ahead.

Common things matter

burnt breakfasts,
dinners and suppers,
a messy house,
disorder,
chaos,
sluggish,
untimely,
bad attitude,

these don't sound to loving and romantic, huh?
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good breakfasts,
dinners and suppers,
a well-kept house,
order,
system,
promptness,
punctuality,
good cheer,

happiness in married life depends upon such commonplace things as these.

--J.R. Miller

The itsy bitsy spider

went up the water spout.
Down came the rain,
and washed the spider out.
Up came the sun,
and dried up all the rain.
And the itsy bitsy spider
went up the spout again.

Such a cute little nursery rhyme; don't you think? Well, I couldn't help but think of it this evening as I was clearing stuff out from under our front porch (one of the tasks to make the yard look nicer). Prior to our days with a shed, we stored some random stuff under the porch - things that have not been touched since they were put there. I began by pulling up some weeds along the edge of the porch ... and then I pulled out some leftover garden bed edging. It was filthy (rightly so since it had been sitting there for two years) and had cobwebs all over it. I began to spray it clean with the hose and see a few spiders running from the water. No big deal, I thought. I continue to spray and notice some egg sacks attached to the sides of the edging. Interesting. I'm now done cleaning off the edging and start to spray down a yellow crate under the porch; it was filled with some plastic containers and old flower pots. I then notice this cob-webby thing on the crate (just thinking about it now made me shiver)... it had a bunch of tiny bugs on it... I go in for a closer look and realize that it is a BUNCH of baby spiders. I kid you not! You know that feeling, after seeing something like that, it feels like they're crawling on you. Oh, that is so gross!!!

Now, I must clarify that I am not one that is easily bothered by the variety of bugs in the outside world. Knowing that God created them and that they each serve a purpose is actually quite amazing to me. And I typically just let them be. But upon seeing this not-so-pretty nest of a hundred plus baby spiders creeped me out! I immediately went inside to tell Tony of my discovery and then armed myself with wasp & hornet spray. Yes. Because we of course didn't have spider spray. Ha! I sprayed that area like crazy and kept that stuff by my side, along with the high-powered water hose, as I pulled out the rest of the stuff. ;)

I also unearthed some lovely shiny black spiders with a touch of red... black widows they were. And a really neat writing spider (he was left alone). Oh, and there was a mad wasp. And lots of black beetles. Some of our "junk" was pushed way under the porch, and there was no way I was crawling under there to get it. (I know you don't blame me). Praise the Lord, for a random bamboo stick about 4 foot long, that I ended up using to push those hard to reach items out into the light. :) Everything was hosed down and then sorted - keep or trash. The keep pile was carried to the shed and the rest is going to the dump tomorrow!!

{Insert a huge sigh of relief} I am sooo very glad that is over with!! And pray that all those little spiders do not go up the spout again. ;)
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In other news, we were able to hang up some more of our new blinds yesterday!!! Yippie! Now all that's left is the front living room and dining room.

We celebrated last night with a homemade cheese pizza and some yummy wine. <3

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My parents invited me over for breakfast this morning and this is what we ate....

It was nice eating breakfast with them and my brother Joey. :)
And just for fun, Pedro (the dog) loves cherry tomatoes.

Homework

Earlier today, we noticed that our front yard is looking a little blah. It is dull and uninteresting. Maybe it was the way the sun was shining down on it, because I know it doesn't look much different then it has for the past several weeks. ;) Weeds have grown into our mulch beds and driveway. The mulch itself has kind of weathered away. The porch has spots of green on it. The color palette is... well, rather boring. You get the picture. Sooo, I've been given this homework assignment: make our front yard look spiffy in two weeks time. I'm very much looking forward to the challenge, and by God's grace we'll have a neat, colorful, welcoming front yard in a couple Saturdays. :)

Really, really.

6am the alarm goes off. I press the snooze button and glance over at Tony, who is still sound asleep. I lay there for a few moments as my mind figures out what day it is and starts thinking [make breakfast. pack Tony's lunch. read. what did we read last night? mow the yard. I hope it doesn't rain this morning. design a business card. clear the garden...] Tony's alarm starts to go off and now I'm out of bed, busy in the kitchen. I finish packing Tony's lunch and gather all his items by the front door: lunchbox, cell phone, iPod, keys, and a book to read on his lunch break. I go chat with Tony as he finishes getting ready. <3 Then out the door we go, me following him to his truck, talking all the way. We hug and we kiss. Then as Tony drives away, I stand on our front porch, waving and blowing kisses. And praying for his safety throughout the day. ;)

Oh, I love my husband so very much! So very, very much! Marriage is such a wonderful gift from God ~ and I am graciously reminded of that each day. Waking up beside Tony is a dream come true! {Yep. We're really married. Really, really.} When we were dating it seemed like it took f.o.r.e.v.e.r. for the wedding day to arrive. But it did finally come and now we're living the wedded life! :) Thank you Lord, ever so much, for my prince charming!

My prince has been busy this week - work during the day and school in the evenings. I've been keeping house, trying to learn how to make websites, practicing my native american flute and sewing skills, cooking new recipes and baking a blueberry-peach cobbler (last nights treat).

And now I'm going to go act on some more of those early morning thoughts - particularly making all the weeds and grass one height a.k.a. mowing the yard. I started last night, while Tony was inside doing school work. But the grass was pretty thick and still wet from all the rain we've received this week. Which meant I had to stop every few minutes to clear out the bottom of the push mower. My pride was being tested for sure, as the neighbors were out on their riding lawnmower just zipping along with no problems. Haha. Oh well. Pride needs to be crushed!! I must say, though, that I really do enjoy mowing the yard and don't mind the push mower at all. I rather like it - it's a good workout and it is always nice to see the finished product.

Two little piggies go to market

Where: Pricetown Fire Department
What: Benefit/Auction for Lisa Mozingo
When: August 8th, 2009
Time: 7:00 pm