Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Feels like: 1

February 3, 2011 by Hannah

You know the age-old question – what does 1 million of something actually look like? Well, here in Texas, we have a similar question: What does single-digit temperature actually feel like?

Yesterday, Stephen’s iPhone told us that the temperature was 14°, which is the lowest I’ve seen the temperature in years. That alone is enough to shut down schools and businesses across the metroplex because of the inch-thick ice coating the roads. But right next to the picture of a snowflake, it added this:

Feels like: 1°


1 Degree? I can’t even compute that.

We’ve been working from home the last 3 days, and I might as well be hooked up to an IV of tea, hot chocolate and coffee. Stephen and I actually went through all 10 or so of our coffee mugs and had to do an emergency dishwasher cycle (we used to joke about how we had more mugs than we knew what to do with… we never knew we’d be trapped in a BLIZZARD for 3, possibly 4 days).

Stephen with his makeshift office:

Makeshift office with computer, easy chair and coffee mug

I like to build my muscles when I’m typing emails:

Flexing my muscles in a muscle milk hat

Um… that’s Stephen’s hat by the way.

SO GO AHEAD AND LAUGH, northern friends. But who starts worrying about global warming when the temperature hits 80°? Not us. That’s usually our first cold front of the year sometime around October. So let us have our winter storm of the century. It will be 110° before we know it, and we want to pretend like we have seasons for as long as we can.

Posted in Everything else | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments »

Rags to… better rags

February 1, 2011 by Hannah

Many of you saw this on my Facebook a while back, but I thought I would just add it to the blog so everyone could see it. It’s kind of difficult for me to come up with ideas out of complete nothingness, but if you give me just a little something to work with, my gears will start rolling.

My good friend Sarah (Pieceful Joy blog) showed me this blog called New Dress a Day. I used to occasionally reconstruct clothing, but I was inspired to go do it again. I hit the local thrift store with $3, and this is what happened.

hideous outfit from thrift store

(Yes, I know this was taken in our old apartment… so it sometimes takes me a while to get around to posting these things. Click on the picture if you want a better look at the markings!)

With a sewing machine, some scissors and a seam ripper (not to mention a big imagination…), I ended up with this.
No shoulder pads, no sleeves, no collar, no shorts, and it fits just right.

altered dress from thrift store

I’ve got a couple other outfits in the queue… who knows how they will end up!

Posted in Everything else, Sewing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

Homemade refrigerator pickles

January 15, 2011 by Hannah

pickle cucumbers

Or, “Dad’s Guinea Pig Christmas Present”

I have a deep love for pickles, and I got it from my dad. I found this nifty recipe on the Homesick Texan blog and just HAD to try it out… but I didn’t test it on myself first. Good thing they turned out delicious, or else my poor Dad would’ve had a pretty disappointing Christmas. 😉

Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the finished product, but I’ve got step-by-step pictures at the bottom!

Ingredients

Here’s my version of the recipe.

  • 6 Kirby cucumbers (or however many will fit in your jar. I used an empty pickle jar and was able to fit 5), washed, and halved lengthwise. You can use whatever small cucumbers are at your store. I think mine were called “garden cucumbers” or “pickling cucumbers.”
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • 2 Tbs salt
  • 1 Tbs black peppercorns (I didn’t have peppercorns, so I just used about 3/4 Tbs ground black pepper)
  • 1 Tbs coriander seeds
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced (like I’ve said before, if you don’t have one of these, go get one now – it will change your life)
  • 1/2 cup fresh dill (I used a little less than 1/4 cup dried dill)

Directions

They have to sit in the refrigerator for one week before you can eat them, and then they last for about a week after that. I think. Dad ate all his in 2 days.

  1. Dump salt, peppercorns, coriander seeds, garlic and dill in a clean (sterilized) glass jar. You can use a mason jar, but like I said, I just used an empty pickle jar that I washed.
  2. Pack the pickles into the jar, leaving 1/2″ at the top. Pack them pretty snug, but not so tight that the vinegar and seasonings can’t get between them.
  3. Pour in the vinegar. Fill the remainder of the jar with water and put the lid on.
  4. Shake the jar for about 1 minute. Refrigerate the pickles for 6 days, shaking for 1 minute daily.

I did find that since I used dried dill and not fresh, you had to rinse off the pickles before eating them, or else they had a layer of dill stuck to them. No big deal. Dad graciously allowed me to have one (just to see if the recipe turned out ok, of course…), and oh my goodness, they were delicious!

Here are some pictures to show you how easy it was:

pickle jar with salt and pepper

coriander seeds in measuring spoon

fresh garlic with garlic press

pickle jar with garlic, coriander, salt and pepper

pickle jar with dill, garlic, coriander, salt and pepper

homemade dill pickles in jar

I know it looks gross, but it was SO delicious!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments »

Mushroom Goulash

January 6, 2011 by Hannah

Slow cooker recipe for mushroom goulash in the crock pot

Yes, you read that correctly. Mushroom goulash. If you hate mushrooms, don’t even bother reading any further (unless you are my sister… then you are MORALLY OBLIGATED to continue).

I found this recipe in a book of wonder and joy called “Slow Cooker Favorites Made Healthy.” It called for portobello, but I used whatever those regular mushrooms are. “Button” mushrooms, maybe? It fed the two of us for 2-3 meals, if I remember correctly.

Ingredients

I used smoky paprika, but next time I’ll probably use regular paprika. I am addicted to smoky paprika, but I think it was a little too smoky for this dish.

  • 16 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 Tbs dry minced onion
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 14-oz can vegetable broth (I have the sneaking suspicion that I probably used low-sodium chicken broth, but it tasted fine)
  • 1 14 1/2-oz can of no-salt-added diced tomatoes (do not drain!)
  • 1 6-oz can of no-salt-added tomato paste
  • 2 Tbs paprika
  • 1 tsp. dried crushed oregano
  • 1 tsp. caraway seeds
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. ground pepper
  • 1/2 cup sour cream (I used light)
  • 8 ounces dried egg noodles (cook and drain these when you’re ready to eat)

Directions

I actually put this in the crock pot one night, and packed it up the next morning to take to work for lunch. I wouldn’t recommend doing that, though, because it required too many separate dishes…

  1. Combine the mushrooms, onion and garlic in the crock pot. Stir in the broth, undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, paprika, oregano, caraway seeds, salt and pepper (basically everything except the sour cream and noodles).
  2. Cover and cook on the “low” setting for 8-9 hours (or on “high” for 4-4 1/2 hours, according to the recipe).
  3. Stir the sour cream into the mushroom mixture before serving over noodles.

I didn’t stop to take pictures of the finished product that morning before work. BUT, the above photo shows you how beautiful it is before stirring and cooking.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

2010 Reflections

December 29, 2010 by Hannah

Christmas tree by the fireplace

Kristen over at We are THAT Family had the great idea of reposting your favorite post of 2010 – the one you really want to make sure everyone reads. In addition to linking it on her post, I thought I’d also repost it here.

For me, I’m going to go all the way back to January. I had decided to read the book of Job all the way through, trying to figure out what it meant to fear God. What I learned is essentially summed up in that post, and it really rocked my world. I hope it shakes you up as much as it did for me. Here you go:

Fear and Trembling

I’ve been reading through the book of Job in the Bible, and I’ve been focusing on learning more about what it means to fear God. I’d read Job all the way through in high school, but never with a “theme” in my head. If you’ve never read Job straight through before, I would encourage you to do it, because you start seeing patterns and themes, and it’s way more than just a back-and-forth between some disgruntled friends and a suffering pity party.

If you’ve never heard of it, the quick summary is that Job was an upright man, and Satan wanted to prove that if someone was faced with awful enough circumstances, they curse God (basically saying that no one truly trusts or fears God). God said that Satan could mess with Job, just spare his life. All throughout, his friends and his wife try and convince him to either curse God and be done with it or repent to God for some heinous sin (that Job didn’t do), rather than just worship God and fear Him because no matter what happens, He is the same.

Anyway, the other night I read Job chapter 21, which is Job’s response to an accusation one of his “friends” made, saying he just needed to quit being a hypocrite and repent, and that he would be destroyed and cut off like the rest of the wicked, haghty people in the world.

Job reminds them again that plenty of wicked people prosper. He notes that that’s the terrifying part: God works far beyond the simple cause and effect system they’re trying to pen Him into.

“Is my complain directed to man? Why should I not be impatient? Look at me and be astonished; clap your hand over your mouth. When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body. Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” Job 21:4-7

The biggest thing that struck me about this chapter, though, was Job’s fear of God. Job trembled when he thought about how far beyond human reason God is. It terrified him. We can’t explain God away. Sometimes He does things that don’t make sense to us at all – that don’t fit into what we think should happen or be deserved, and when I think about it, it is frightening! I don’t like not being able to explain things. I don’t like sitting there, mouth agape, knowing that God is good but wondering what just happened.

That magnitude 7 earthquake in Haiti the other day was devastating. As one of my friends put it, “Why did tragedy come to those who had nothing? Now they have less than nothing.” It doesn’t make sense that they should be “punished.” But oh, the earthquake happened anyway. This isn’t a reminder to myself that crap happens to “good people” and “bad people” alike. This is a gripping reminder that God isn’t bound by me.

We need not live in terror, because even though God can (and does) do things that don’t make sense to us at all, we can know that He loves us. Our response to anything should be worship, though, because no matter what, He is great!

The link to the original post is here.

If you want another good one, this is the runner-up: Captured Memories

What is the one post that YOU really want everyone to read? Leave me a comment and I’ll go check it out!

Posted in Everything else | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »