Prepared

As I enter my third week of working two jobs, I'm slowly getting ahead on some things.

We knew going into this contract that there would be some sacrifice. We expected to lose some lazy tv watching time together on the couch quality time, and I knew that Blake would have to eat chicken nuggets several nights a week make his own dinners on the nights I work late. I also knew that I'd have to give up some hobbies, there's little time for knitting and baking in the hour of 9:30 - 10:30. I knew that the more prepared we were, the better we'd fair the change. I made sure there was food in the house (beside chicken nuggets) so Blake could 'cook' something and I made sure to always bring dinner with me on those days, so that I didn't come home tired, hungry and grumpy (just tired) :).

What I didn't expect is that we'd let our lunches go out the window. I usually make sure Blake has an elaborate well-balanced lunch and some snacks. I tend to grab a pb&j on the way out the door, or scrounge some leftovers. For the last two weeks though, we've been eating processed/prepared foods for lunch. Blake has been eating out (poor thing) ;) and I've been grabbing microwave food. This is not only expensive.. it's really not that healthy or diet friendly.

SO.. in order to make it as easy as possible to grab a healthy lunch, or easier for me to make Blake's the night before, I did as much of the prep work as I could, tonight. I know this is kind of like bragging.. but I just had to share my handiwork :)

That's a whole watermelon there, and a Costco
container of grapes!

I made up some salad kits, including dressing.We really like homemade dressing. It's so easy! We bought these little cups at Cash & Carry, mostly for convenience and for portion control. It's a little wasteful, but helps my sanity to be able to throw this one thing away instead of washing another plastic container.

Just start with a TBSP of oil (I use garlic
 infused olive oil usually, or plain olive oil),
a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper to taste.

This is key: Dijon mustard, or regular mustard, or mayo
but mustard has fewer calories than mayo. Any of the
three help keep the dressing together
and act as an emulsifier

Next add some seasoning, garlic powder, onion
powder, a pinch of rosemary or whatever you
like/have. Then add a TBSP of your favorite vinegar.
 Blake likes balsamic best, so I do that. 

You ideally want a ration of 3:1, three parts oil to one
part vinegar, but oil has calories and vinegar doesn't.
So I try to go heavy on the vinegar or equal parts.
It gets a little tangy if you put too much vinegar,
so I add a little water to it to give it more volume.
Shake it up and refrigerate.

I love having a stocked fridge!
All I need to do is add meat and there's
seven salads, and plenty of easy
to grab, healthy snacks!

A few veggies too, and we love our cottage cheese!

I sure hope that this helps our lunch habits! There's nothing like feeling ready to take on the week!

Here's to happy eating!

The Road Ahead

The most profound thing that my grandpa has ever said to me went something like this:

"Jilsy-Pillsy, I'm proud of you. You've worked hard and your parents did a good job with you. I'm proud of the kind of parents that all my kids turned out to be. You have worked hard and got a good education, but take it from someone who didn't get past the 8th grade, book smarts aren't all that matter. On the road of life you never know what's up ahead or around the corner. It might look like a four lane super highway, but it is like a real road - there are smooth patches and there are potholes. You never know when they are coming but they'll come, and you'll have to get past them. An education is good, but sometimes life takes some good, solid common sense to get through it."

Now, if you know my grandpa, you know that this is out of his norm for granfatherly advice. He usually sticks to the bit about education vs. common sense and promotes the use of the World Book Encyclopedia and the news as his best education. I can still remember being nervous as he pulled me aside at my college graduation party and sat me down on the green couch in the parlor of my parents' house. You never knew what grandpa was going to talk to you about, or how long he'd talk

I don't know why, but his analogy of the road ahead has stuck with me. I could just see the sincerity, the hint of humility, and the honest desire to share something from his years of life with me in my budding adulthood.

It's true that we just don't know what the road ahead holds for us. Does it hold many twists, forks and curves; does it hold washed out patches and potholes that will nearly swallow you whole or pop your tire?
I like to plan (what an understatement) and so does Blake (have you seen his spreadsheets!?), but some things you just can't plan for, you just have to trust.

My grandpa trusts his common sense, and I'm thankful for the common sense that he's passed down to my parents and on to me. However, even more than common sense I trust the One who made the road, the One who wrote the book on wisdom, the One who has been there with me through the journey and the One who promises to never leave me or forsake me.

Proverbs 3:5-6 will always remind me of the word picture my grandpa painted, and the things he didn't say when he sat me down on that couch. I'm thankful that my parents filled in the blanks as I was growing up.

In the devotional, Jesus Calling, Sarah Young shares what Jesus told her about trust. It was just what I needed on the day I read it:

"Walk with me along paths of trust. The most direct route between point A and point B on your life journey, is the path of unwavering trust in Me. When your faith falters, you choose a path that meanders and takes you well out of your way. You will get to point B eventually, but will have lost precious time and energy. As soon as you realize you have wandered from your trust path, look to me and whisper "I trust you Jesus." This affirmation will help you get back on track. The farther you roam along paths of unbelief, the harder it is to remember that I am with you. Anxious thoughts branch off in all directions, taking you farther and farther from your awareness of my presence. You need to voice your trust in Me frequently. This simple act of faith will keep you walking along straight paths with Me. Trust in me with all your heart, and I will make your paths straight." - September 9th

Little Choices

"Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature; either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself." — C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Recently, I learned a lesson about making daily, little choices. I often overwhelm myself by trying to tackle a problem or situation by looking at the big picture and the long term desired outcome. Specifically, I can easily get overwhelmed and defeated when I think about the kind of person that I want to be (and who God wants me to be) and the kind of person that I truly am day-to-day. I think about how we are all sinners and about the lessons I've learned (and re-learned) that are shaping me to look less like a sinner and more like Christ. Yet, I am still a sinner that... sins.

I read verses like this:
"And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did."
(1 John 2:3-6)

And this: 

"Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in Him. Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.
Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.
(1 John 3:4-10)

And I think... but I sin! It says whoever abides in Him does not sin... but I still sin! I still miss the mark and my heart isn't righteous!

-NOW, I know that there is more going on here. John's message is largely about forgiveness of sin and Christ as our Advocate. Please read these verses in context if you haven't recently (hover over: 1 John 2 and 1 John 3).-

My point though, is that I get caught up in those out-of-context words. I see the end goal of being without sin as Christ is without sin and I see how far I am from there. I see the black and white without the blood red of Christ bridging the gap. I see the standard: Jesus did not sin; and I see my status: failing on a daily basis. 

Now believe it or not, I'm not being too hard on myself (this time). I know that I'll never be able to meet the standard alone, no matter how good I am, how much growth I make or how little I sin. I need Christ's payment for my sins, large or small, but thanks to Him — someday in heaven I will meet the standard.

So in order to feel hope in my daily struggle with my sinful nature I had to change how I looked at progress. I can't look at the big picture and see that, yep I'm still a sinner. I realized that I need to look at the little things. If I take life one choice at a time, it's more manageable.

For example, instead of this goal:
Jillian will act and think in a way that glorifies God in 100% of opportunities by [tomorrow's date].


I'd work on this goal:
When presented with a choice to think/act in a way that glorifies God or to think/act in a way that gratifies sinful nature, Jillian will choose to glorify God in 1/1 opportunities across ∞ (infinity) consecutive trials with 100% dependence on cues/prompts from the Holy Spirit by [end of life].

or this goal:

Jillian will increase dependence on the Holy Spirit during activities of daily living as evidenced by an overall increase in the presence of spiritual characteristics (e.g., love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control) in order to increase enjoyment of, obedience to, and glorification of God by [end of life].

(Okay, Medicare and IDEA would prefer the first or none of these goals, but you get the idea... and I'm just being silly because I spent the day reading/writing goals.)

I came to this realization one night when I stumbled across these verses, so familiar but so new and alive at that moment: 

These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law (of Moses). When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Here there is no conflict with the law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives." (Galatians 5:16-26)

Aye Matey!

The weekend has come and gone, and so has the pirate themed 60th birthday party. The pirate shirt project was pretty fun, and helped me get more into the dress up part of the party (usually not my thing). It was also about as much work as I thought it would be, but crammed into a week and a half. Just in case you're thinking about making your own costume for your next party.. here's how you do it:

Step One: Find/borrow/buy a sewing machine, if you don't already have one. I got mine for Christmas last year :)

Step Two: Go to the fabric store, look through the books and pick out a pattern. I chose this one, and planned on making the upper right shirt (D).

Step Three: Read the back of the pattern and figure out how much and what type of fabric, thread and accessories you need to purchase. Purchase those.

Step Four: Read the instructions, maybe twice, to get an idea of what you'll need to do and in what order. Figure out which parts of the pattern you'll be using and cut those pieces out.

Step Five: Lay the pattern pieces out on the fabric according to the instructions.

Step Six: Pin the pattern pieces onto the fabric.

Step Seven: Cut fabric according to the pattern.

Step Eight: Transfer markings from the pattern onto the fabric, using a fabric pen that washes out or disappears in a certain amount of time. Make sure to mark the right and wrong sides if there is a difference on your fabric. The right side is the side you'll want facing out when you're done.

Step Nine: Remove pins and put the pattern aside, you may need to refer to it again. Arrange the fabric pieces so that you can easily find the parts you need.

Step Ten: Read the instructions again. The instructions will tell you what to do, and how to do it. However, some brands of patterns give better instructions and explanations as others (according to my mom, who would know, my pattern brand didn't give very good instructions/explanations). Figure out which instructions apply to your pattern, and which instructions are for the other shirts/garments (called 'views') in your pattern. Some instructions will be the same for all views, and some instructions will be for only one or two of the views.

Step Eleven: Follow the instructions, sewing each piece together as the instructions indicate. This is obviously where the bulk of the time is spent. Get comfortable!

(this is actually my mom's machine, I did
most of the sewing when I was at her house)

The instructions should walk you through everything you need to know, but like my mom said, some brands are better than others. Anything that the instructions can't tell you, Google (or Bing if you prefer) and/or asking your mom/grandma/aunt etc., all are good sources for clarification. My mom was great about knowing some tips and tricks that the pattern didn't share.

What the pattern doesn't tell you is this: you will waste a lot of thread! Between the ends that you trim each time you start or stop sewing, the stitches that you have to rip out, or the basting stitches that you sew in to make a gather and then rip out... you waste a lot of thread!

This was just one night's worth.. not even half of it!

Step Twelve: Wash and press the finished product!

Mine

Blake's

Add some accessories and voila!

And, because it doesn't deserve it's own post... here are some pictures of the weekend.

The accommodations. The building is a three or four car
garage with a developing apartment. The people
that own it add a little more to it each year.
This year they added a kitchen and a shower - YEAH!

Tent city - with view of the water

Down on the beach
(a pretty good hike down a steep hill,
and pretty cold water)!

My pirate husband

Lots of pirate costumes!
I was glad I made ours, it was *somewhat*
cheaper, and saved us from having the
same outfits as the other guests. There were
a surprising number of duplicates!

MIA

I feel like my poor little blog has been neglected lately. Here are some tidbits to help me catch up.

• Work - I started my new job this week, and began the adventure of working both jobs. Should be interesting to find out what Blake makes himself for dinner. Hopefully I don't get home too late. So far it's going well. A little hectic with the start of the school year scheduling stuff, but I'm staying positive.
  
  
• Weekends - We have three more weekends planned out and then we have no weekend plans after that until October. We'll see how fast the next few months fill up, but hopefully we'll get a break and stay home for awhile. We have been gone for the last ten weekends in a row, maybe more but I didn't look back that far. It's one of those things that I try to appreciate while it lasts, because I know that someday we'll stay home more than we go somewhere. It's nice to be able to pick up and leave easily.. but it's nice to stay home now and then too.

Speaking of weekends, check out this fire that we
drove by on our way home last weekend.

There was a huge lightning storm and it must have
hit one of the windmills, it was all around them.
Lit the sky up for miles.

• Sewing - We are going to a pirate themed 60th birthday party this weekend. We always go camping at Lake Roosevelt, WA over Labor Day weekend with Blake's friends from college. Blake has been doing this for a long time, and I have only been a couple of times. The people that own the property are gracious hosts and it is his 60th bday. Should be interesting. At any rate, I've been working on sewing pirate costumes for Blake and myself. I have just a few details left to finish: hems and some adjusting for size. It's been fun and would not have been possible without the help of my mom this weekend. Maybe pictures later.

I've been staring at some variation of this
every night since last Friday.

• Book club - This month I chose the book for our book club and just finished. Down to the wire! The book was The True Story of Hansel and Gretel.  It was hard to read at night because it's a fairly dark book about WWII.. I'll have to admit that I regretted picking it for awhile, but it did end as well as can be expected. I finished it last night at about 3:30 AM. Yikes. I'm glad I read it, but wish that it had been less graphic and vivid. The story was about two children trying to survive in war torn Poland. A perspective of WWII that you don't usually read about. It was very interesting, but disturbing.
  
  
• Blogging - obviously I'm behind on my blog but I'm also behind on reading the ones I love. Maybe this weekend if I have cell service at the lake. I have had many a thought that could have been a post, but no time to write more than this. Once I get into my new routine, and past the holiday weekend, hopefully I'll be overwhelming you with words again soon.
  
  
• Sunsets - One benefit of driving home from Pendleton at night is getting to drive home into the sunset. They have been gorgeous all week. 

This Little Blog of Mine

I'm gonna let it shine...

This little blog received a Little Blog award! Not just once, but twice! The Little Blog award is something that fellow bloggers award their 3-5 favorite blogs that have under 200 followers. It is intended encourage the author and to bring some awareness to the blogs you love.

I'm am honored to have been chosen for this award by two bloggers that I respect greatly. If this award is audited, I'm confident that I'll be fine because according to my dashboard, I have one (1) follower. :)

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the giver(s) and link back to them.
I probably should give these gals their own posts to thank them, but that seems redundant and I'm sure that they are good at sharing - they're moms.

Lisa: Life, Love, and Laughter - I met Lisa for the first time when she signed up to take over a NSSLHA (National Student Speech Language Hearing Association) office at WWU, treasurer maybe. My memory isn't great, so I could be making it up, but she was a year after me in our undergrad program at Western anyway! We also went to grad school together. She is (obviously) a fellow speech-pathologist and I love it when she writes about her (more) exciting job (than mine) with adults. Lisa also keeps me rolling on the floor with her honest humor and stories of her life, which often have to do with being a mom and things that involve her cute little guy. I know that when the time comes for me to have a baby, Lisa's blog archives is what I'll be reading when I am up late nursing. She is the kind of blogger that puts herself out there so that someone else doesn't have to feel alone. I really respect and appreciate this kind of wisdom and humor. Oh the humor!

Julie: Spontaneous Joy - I met Julie in grad school and she is also a fellow speech-pathologist. I regret not knowing Julie better in grad school because I think that we would have gotten along well. As it was, we must have studied in different circles because my first distinct memory of Julie is when I heard someone say that she was going to Sierra Leone on a mission trip. It was probably the last day of classes or very near the end of our grad school time on campus. I think I went over to her and said something to her about her trip (or at least I wanted to). Julie lives in Montana and I came across her blog from a Facebook post. I was instantly captivated by her writing and jealous of her brevity. She has a way with words as she talks about her life, faith and joys. I really respect her ability to seamlessly bring glory to the One who made her in all that she does and goes through.


2. Reveal your 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
Okay. So... I don't have five blogs to pick from! I only read five personal blogs and two of those come from the fantastic women mentioned above! I'm going to break this rule and only pass on one award, because I think she deserves one. Also, it would kind of take the honor out of the award if you won it by default.

Macey: Perseverance - Macey is my cousin and the closest thing I have to a sister. We grew up only a few miles away from each other and after we moved apart in our pre-teen years I went to live with her and her family for a few months one summer. She is the one that got me to start a blog back in 2008 and is my one and only public follower. She used to blog about everything, but lately she has a new, cool job that keeps her from it. She is inspired by everything and inspires others with what she shares. She is an amazing photographer and designer and has more creativity in her little finger than I do in my house (no offense to Blake). I love her dearly and hope that she keeps on blogging :).

3. Copy and paste award to your blog.
Check!

4. Have faith that your follower(s) will pass the love to other bloggers.
I bet that Macey has already received one of these when if first started.

5. And most of all have Bloggity-blog fun.
Bloggity-blog fun for me is blogging while making dinner and watching TV in the background. So, Check!

Bloopers Reel

So I must have been an aggressive deleter, because I'm so positive that there were more of these embarrassing photos. Actually, aggressive deleting is progress for me, usually I keep photos forever, good or bad.

For all the trouble of my blog being taken over by our trip to Australia, I thought I'd provide some entertainment for you. Also, I'm procrastinating from my photo book, because even though I want to get it done ASAP... it is a really slow process and blogging is easier and faster, and still crossing something off my to do list. I should be sleeping... but darn the jet lag, I'm just not tired.

I have to share this as a blooper
because.. come on, what is that thing?
A bunny, a jackalope, big foot?
It really is our first Kangaroo sighting.

and I'm looking at...?

Oops, zoomed in. Cute little Red Panda though.

This whole sequence cracks me up... Sometimes, it's hard being a girl and having hair.

I was going to take a picture of my blown out hair,
but something happened and we got this face...

Apparently it was scary..

Usually it's Blake that blinks

and trying it again.. nope.

Love it. We're so enthused.

Seriously, wind was my enemy.

not so cute, nearly blown away.

Not quite ready with the timer.

Since I'm just sharing silly things at two in the morning... there would have been millions more blooper shots if it hadn't been for the following handy device. It worked really well and was easy to carry around.

Amazon has everything!

Mine is actually about two inches longer than this,
I decided to get the bigger version.

Day Ten: Sunday

Day Ten: The Long Day

We got up early on Sunday morning, packed up the last few things in the hotel room and headed out to the airport. We had gotten some insider tips from our Aussie family and there were a few more items I had to try before we left the country.

This happened at the airport, since we had plenty of time to browse. Our flight was almost an hour late leaving Sydney. We had some Gloria Jean's Coffee, which is like their Starbucks (according to Voula, who is a teacher and ought to know). I also picked up some Tim Tams, which are apparently close to the heart of many Australians (according to Theo). Tim Tams are a type of chocolate biscuit, otherwise known as a cookie. Last but not least, I had to try an Aussie Lamington, which is a type of cake that Aussies love very much (according to little Nicola - "it's her favourite!"). They also informed us that Vegemite is not to be eaten by itself, it is best when mixed with butter (what isn't better with butter) in a ratio of more butter to less Vegemite, and even better when cheese is added. I'm not sure if we'll try this... it's pretty bad by itself, so I don't know how much butter it would take to make it tolerable or palatable. Maybe. The Lamington and Tim Tams, however, delicious!

Our flight was as any 15 hour flight can be expected - long, cramped and sleepless. I wish we'd slept, but we just weren't tired enough and couldn't force it. We watched at least five or more movies, together with a headphone splitter and me half looking at Blake's monitor because mine would die every time I tried to watch a movie. It didn't really matter though because I was knitting like crazy trying to finish my first sock. Seriously, it was like ten straight hours of knitting - awesome! I can't believe I still didn't finish it though. I might have, but I needed to see how long to make it, but Blake didn't want to take his shoes off (for stinky feet reasons, although he'd probably hate that I said that). So I still need to measure how long to make it and I hope that the project doesn't get stuck at the end of my knitting queue like SO many other projects. I will finish it! I'll post a picture if when I do. Then when we go on our next vacation I can make the other sock ;) (Oh, how I wish that weren't so likely).

So a tidbit about the Lamington - A coworker asked me to find something delicious and Australian to make for the office (I made chocolate tarts after Italy and Baklava after Greece). It was a challenge I gladly accepted, but was afraid I wouldn't be able to complete until I discovered the Lamington. I mean, I can't exactly make Tim Tams, and most of the other food items they're 'known for' are not delicious or sweet. So when I make my Lamington attempt, I'll let you know how it goes.

Yeah! We made our train!

Sad, we're leaving :(

Our last view of the bridge and opera house
from the Circular Quay stop.

Chocolatey deliciousness

Bring on the Lamington! I was so glad that I
could find it at the airport (we checked five
cafes before finding this one).

The Aussie Lamington

Sponge cake, dipped in chocolate icing,
dusted with coconut.

My breakfast of Aussie champions.

When we arrived in Vancouver, BC, for our connecting flight to Portland, Oregon, we had missed our connection due to the plane leaving Sydney late. We were rescheduled on a flight five hours later and given meal vouchers from the airline. Even better, the agent that was helping to reschedule us, felt so bad that we had just gotten off of a 15 hour flight and had to wait five more hours, that he gave us guest passes to the Maple Leaf Lounge (it's a VIP lounge), out of what I'm pretty sure was his personal stash. It was so nice of him and definitely the best layover we'd ever had. They gave you free food and drinks and had the most comfortable chairs.. although what isn't more comfortable than an airplane seat after 15 hours. Without that lounge I'd have gotten no sleep at all that 36 hour day.

All said and done, we were awake and calling it 'Sunday' for over 36 hours. It was a ridiculously long day and such a weird phenomena. It was worth it though. What a trip! I feel like I got to know this little part of Australia pretty well, and best of all we had a great time together.

OH, I almost forgot. I found out that kangaroos travel in... Mobs!

Sorry for all the random details for the digital journal. I promise I'll start blogging about something else soon!