Pillowcase Dress

My SIL recently clued me into a cute idea for a little girl's outfit called the pillowcase dress. She ordered an adorable one for my niece for her 1st birthday so I figured I'd look and see what these dresses were all about. Well, as you can see from Grace's picture they are cute. Fortunately for me, my mother taught me how to sew. So I decided to use some leftover fabric from Grace's curtains and bed skirt and try to make the dress. I think it turned out pretty nice but I will be making some modifications to my pattern for the next time I make this dress. And there will be a next time. The great thing about these is she can wear it as a jumper this spring, a dress this summer, a shirt over long sleeves next winter, and a shirt by itself next summer. So versitale and long lasting. Isn't she just the cutest? Don't mind the jeans underneath. I just slipped it on over whatever she was wearing that day.

Too Much TV

Why do I watch so much TV? Last night Matt and I were having a discussion about how much TV we watch and concluded it is way too much. Until about 6 years ago I NEVER watched TV. And from then until about 1 year ago I rarely watched TV. I didn't know what shows were on and I didn't care. There were several days I would come home from work and read an entire book if I didn't have anything going on that evening. But over the last year the tides have changed. I don't turn the TV on during the day while Grace is awake unless I want to watch the news but during her afternoon nap I watch it at least twice a week. Once Grace is in bed at 7:00 we probably have the TV on 4 or 5 nights a week. Here are my 3 answers to why I/we watch so much TV.

1. Netflix - I love Netflix. It is cheap and you can get anything to watch. We really don't watch that many movies through Netflix but we watch lots of TV shows. Since we really haven't watched much TV over the last several years we have tons of shows we can rent and catch up on. We just watch everything a year late. We are currently watching Chuck.

2. Hulu - O my, this is addicting. Somehow we have the capacity via some kind of chord to play our computer through our TV so if it's on Hulu it is as good as TV to me. Did you know Hulu has over 100 episodes of House Hunters? Have you heard of the ABC Family show Make it or Break it? We don't even get cable but I've watched the 19 episodes so far this season on Hulu.

3. We can't leave - Now that we have a baby that goes to bed at 7:00 and isn't old enough to take care of herself we can't leave. So after taking care of a baby all day long watching TV is the mindless activity that we enjoy. I wish I could do more mindful things like playing games, crossword puzzles and reading but it's just not happening as much.

I have been feeling like my TV watching habits need a little bit of a makeover. I don't want my mind to rot. But when it comes to the end of the day I have no motivation to do anything else. Maybe just writing this post will help me keep the TV off.

I Want This...

The Radio Flyer Pathfinder Wagon 2700.

Who knew such and amazing wagon existed? Can you imagine Grace and her little friends riding this wagon from our house to the nearly completed* park in our neighborhood? I have been drooling and daydreaming about this wagon for the last several days. It comes with a lofty price tag of $70-80 if you get it on a good sale. I'm beginning to think it would be worth sacrificing my own miscellaneous and clothing money to get this. I wonder what the chances are of finding this used or at a consignment sale....

*When I moved into my house 4 years ago one of the selling points was the 7 acre park that was being built. At the time I didn't really care but I know several families were very excited about the park in our neighborhood. Last summer they FINALLY started construction on it and it is looking ever so close to being done. The playground equipment is installed but still sitting in an unfilled hole. I really hope they get it done before the summer begins.

Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

I bet you blinked your eyes when you saw one of my recipes was vegetarian. Yes, I do cook without meat but only for special occasions. And Matt didn't eat a bite of this so I've been eating it for a week strait. Grace loved it though and signed more (which I had only taught her once a week before after I gave her some). I hope you find time to make this yummy dish. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 chopped medium onion
  
• 2 chopped peppers (I did one yellow and one red)
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup salsa
  
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 15.8 ounce cans black beans, drained
• 6-8 tortillas (I've been buying all whole wheat products and Meijer sells some yummy whole wheat flour tortillas)
  
• 2 cups cheese shredded
• 3 tomatoes chopped (optional)
• sour cream (optional)
• sliced black olives (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine onion pepper, garlic, salsa, cumin and black beans in large skillet and bring to simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes.

Arrange 1/2 of the tortillas in bottom of 9" x 13" baking dish overlapping them as necessary. Spread half of bean mixture over tortillas and sprinkle with half of cheese. Repeat layering process with remaining tortillas, bean mixture and cheese.

Cover dish with foil and bake 15 minutes. Carefully remove foil and serve warm.

*******Garnish with tomatoes, sour cream and olives.*******The garnish made it go from really good to delicious!

Homemade Salsa

I have been trying for the last several months to make the perfect homemade salsa. I tried and failed and tried and failed several times. I finally found a great recipe on a fun blog I read. I didn't modify it much. The main difference between my recipe and hers is mine is modified to fit in my 11 cup food processor. I learned the hard way that the liquid max fill line is there for a reason.

Ingredients

1 15 oz. can whole tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1/4 yellow or white onion
1 jalapeno
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 large handful cilantro

Preparation

Cut jalapeno and onion in to chunks. Slice garlic into a few pieces. Put everything in the food processor and run until desired consistency it reached.

Eat and enjoy!

Book Review: Total Church

I have been trying to read more books in 2010 so you may see me posting my brief thoughts about what I've read. The book "Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community" is an interesting book that proposes a simple model: "Christians are called to a dual fidelity: fidelity to the core content of the gospel and fidelity to the primary context of a believing community." The book was written by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis who are two pastors in the UK. I found the book very intriguing both from a intellectual and practical perspective. The simplicity of their perspective is backed up with biblical teaching and the authors go to great lengths to detail how the principles of gospel and community should permeate all of church life. I was challenged many times in this book to be more gospel- and community-centered in my everyday life and in my ministry roles. In the practical section of the book, I found many specific takeaways that I could reflect on for the church I'm a part of. One limitation of the book is that all of their practical examples are in the context of their specific church in the UK; it doesn't take-away from the book but I would be interested in reading their analysis of other churches applying their principles. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is part of a local church and is open to being challenged in the way they do church.

Here are some quotations that were especially inspiring/challenging to me:

"Church is not a meeting you attend or a place you enter. It is an identity that is ours in Christ."

"Church is not another ball for me to juggle but that which defines who I am and gives Christlike shape to my life."

"[The church] is at the very heart of God's purposes. Jesus came to create a people who would model what it means to live under his rule. It would be a glorious outpost of the kingdom of God, an embassy of heaven. This is where the world can see what it means to be truly human."

"All theology must be missionary in its orientation. We need the same reorientation as churches. We are in a missionary situation, and all that we do must be missionary. Church planting is the best way for this to happen, as it inevitably and naturally shifts the church into missionary mode."

"Being word-centered is more than how you teach and disciple people. It means governing church life by God's word. It means every decision, formal and informal, is explored through explicit reference to God's word."

"Theology is also the task of the church because the only theology that matters and is worthy of the name is practical theology. Theology is the stuff of life...Meaningful theology needs to take place primarily in the routine life of the people of God."

"The key to successful youth work is the Bible."

Thankful Thursday: Meadowbrook Park

This is Pennyrile's best male blogger, Matt, taking the reins for Thankful Thursday. This week I'm going to give thanks to God for my favorite park in the area: Meadowbrook Park. I frequent the park throughout the year to take walks on the nature trails. I enjoy spending some quality time enjoying God's creations on the numerous paths that aren't heavily trafficked. There are also a few weird sculptures in the park that I tend to ignore mainly because I don't understand them.

To state my political perspective: I have no problem that a portion of my tax money goes to support this park. Well done, local government. Well done.