Archives for January 2016

Listening:  To Julie & Julia.  I’ve never seen it and several people have mentioned loving it.  I saw Meg post about watching it the other day, so I checked it out at the library.  So far it’s adorable and Julie is a blogger…which I love.  And she’s adorable.  And it’s about food.

Eating:  Nothing.  It was taco night which leaves zero leftovers.  If I had cookies I’d eat them.  Or chocolate.  Or ice-cream.  #help  I really want to make these Sea Salt Chocolate Macarons.  I had some a while back and wowzers!!!

Drinking:  Water.  Always and forever.  I do have a plan to snag a cherry limeade on my drive to Memphis tomorrow.  It is Friday and I’ll be missing happy hour with the Kelley kids, so I’ll carry it on alone.

Wearing:  PJs.  But I am loving these tees Created For Care has in their store.  I bought the Burn Bright for myself and the Born To Shine for Harper.  The money goes to help put on Created For Care and send adoptive & foster moms on the weekend retreat.  A purchase with purpose for sure.

Feeling:  Excited, overwhelmed, emotional, sad and hopeful.  Can someone feel all those emotions all at once?!?!?  Ha.

Weather:  Cold.  I pretty much hate winter.  Bring on Spring.

Wanting:  A new tattoo.  I really want to get something for all my kids, but am coming up empty on ideas.  Think I might go with something super simple and maybe geometric.  Also kind of digging a simple cross, but who knows.

Needing:  A good nights sleep.  True story.  I’m trying to get to bed earlier these days, but turns out it’s kind of lost cause.  I try though.  I really do.

Thinking:  About reform.  And the past.  And the present.  And how can we work to change things.  Just Mercy does that to you.  It’s amazing and heartbreaking and earth rocking.  It settles into your heart and mind and just sticks around…like it should.

Enjoying:  Julie & Julia.  I’m over an hour into it now and it’s adorable, funny, completely charming and makes me hungry.  I might eat a spoonful of peanut butter.  If only I wasn’t out of chocolate chips to put on top.  That sounds like a great idea.  Alas I might settle for pistachios.

 Happy Thursday night!

**Today I found myself alone for the very first time in 2 weeks and my mind just swirled.  I kick my mornings off early with my friend Alissa almost every week day.  Some days we have to start extra early and this morning was one of them.  After our workout I still had some time at home before kiddos we’re waking up for school so I did my Bible journaling.  1 Peter has been so great.  My mind raises with all it says about suffering…I’m processing all of that slowly and cautiously.  It scares me to pray for suffering. But this morning I was caught by 1 Peter 3:4.  I loved the comparison of the ESV version and The Message.

“…but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” ESV

“Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in.” The Message

I want that kind of beauty and character.  I want the kind of beauty and character which God delights in.

**I’m heading to Memphis Friday afternoon for an evening Bible journaling class.  I am ridiculously excited.  A) I love talking about Bible journaling because it has rocked my world B) I get to meet new people which is hard for me & class makes it easier.  And C) 2 words: Car snacks!  I love good car snacks for road trips.  I’m a lost cause people.

**I’m “reading” Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson.  I think every person should read it.  Every.Person.  I cried in Joanns today while grabbing some supplies and listening.  It made my stomach just churn the whole time and my blood pressure rise and my heart split and several times I wanted to bail.  It’s hard to listen to and it should be, but every person needs to read/hear this book.

(I checked the audio book out from the library.)

**I’ve been getting work done which is so nice.  Key fobs are out of control and I finally quit taking pictures of them.  Ha.  It felt great today to have a solid amount of time just creating.

**We are feeling the ups and downs of foster care lately.  Emotions are all over the place for just about everyone involved which is hard.  What’s crazy is the range of honest human emotions felt.  Love, compassion, empathy, anger, sadness, frustration, exhaustion, hope.  All over the place and it’s hard handling that range of emotions some days.

**Amon and I are having lots of him and me time this week while the bigs are in school and our littlest has longer visitations.  We’ve picked out new glasses for me & Solomon a birthday gift, grocery shopped, banking, post office…he’s the greatest errand running partner of all time.  I let him pick a treat the other day and he chose a large peppermint patty.  It was the cutest thing ever watching him eat it.

**And another day another tea.  Peach this time.

Josh Kelley and I are finishing up a documentary called Ride the Divide and then I’m off to bed.

Peace out Wednesday night!

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Snow day number 6.  I broke down and made cookies…two days in a row…and partook…because I’m not equipped to handle this many snow days with no sugar 🙂  We just finished some house wide reading time while the littles were napping.  It was quiet while everyone read and I read and Bible journaled…I’m feeling quite confident I can and will keep everyone alive for the remainder of the day.  It’s the little things right?!?!

We have played approximately 1,211 games.  Games, games and more games.  Board, card and the electronic variety.  We can’t stop.  Heavy in rotation is Speed, Yahtzee and Sorry.  Sorry is one of my favorites…I remember playing it over and over again when I was a kid.

Yesterday I decided our plates & bowls should most definitely be where our glasses & coffee cups are.  Obviously.  This is what too much time in our house does to my brain.  Josh Kelley was crazy enthused I decided to rearrange and purge kitchen cabinet contents.

More tea.  This time raspberry.  I don’t even know who I am anymore.  It’s quite delightful and makes me feel quite sophisticated.  And it’s hot.  Could tea make me smarter?!?!?  I think so.

I have gotten some work done and by some I mean a smidgen.  Ahhhhhhh.  I absolutely adore my kids, but my mind is also hard wired for creating.  When I create I feel so much myself.  And sometimes the quiet to hear myself think is crazy good for my head and heart.  Won’t you join me in prayer for our local school district and these ice covered roads.

 I did make up some extra key fobs while working on a large custom set.  They have not been clasped yet, so these can be personalized with your choice of text (10 words or less).  Shoot me a message HERE with the number (s) of the ones you would like to purchase.

**5, 7, 6, 9, 13, 18, 20 & 21 sold**

And we have our next Bible journaling class set for Saturday February 27th at our home from 1-4pm.  I’ll do an official post with all the details this week, but if you’d like to go ahead and grab a spot(s) you can message me HERE.  There are 10 spots available.

We are about to start our 15th movie and eat our 23rd bag of microwave popcorn in 6 days.  Send help and cookies.

Happy Monday!

How’s that for a title?!?!?!  I sound super profesh.  I just have random things to share, but mainly of the food variety.  You know I love my food.  It’s so true.  And while we’ve made major changes to our food over the last few months I still believe in the power and love of baked goods.  I just do.  It’s in my genes.  And I love that.  Long live #bakedgoodscanchangetheworld

Today I made THESE…my first batch ever of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  My life is changed.  So flippin’ good.  Call me crazy, but typically oats don’t scream “Eat me.  I’m delicious.”  That is for the exception of yummy peanut butter no bake cookies…Josh Kelley’s favorite of faves…and Carmelitas.

Sidenote:  A friend one time told us he wouldn’t eat Carmelitas because they looked healthy.  OhEmGee.  I was all yeah because 3 sticks of butter and a ton of brown sugar, chocolate and caramel is legit health food.  End sidenote.

Now THESE oatmeal circular pieces of heaven made me a little teary eyed.  I am hooked on the oats now.  Minus all oat recipes which include raisins.  Some peeps on Instagram tried to change my mind on this, but I just don’t think I can do it…raisins do not belong in desserts.  There, I said it.  It’s not you, it’s me…no, really it’s the raisins.  Raisins are not dessert material.  I’m standing firm and unwavering.

Now for a crazy good and healthy lunch.  I snagged this little gem of a recipe from Jami Nato’s instagram.  If you don’t follow her, you should.  She’s hysterical.  I already had cooked shredded chicken in the fridge, so I made up a batch of this dressing and had 4 solid lunches from it on 4 different days.  Soooooo easy and sooooooo good.  I don’t use oils, so I just left out the lime oil.  Easy as pie.  Pie sounds good right now.  A few days I even got a wild hair and ate this salad with sweet potato chips.  Just try and stop me.

Okay dinner stuff.  I’ve tried a couple of new recipes lately.  I’ll start with my sad dinner.  I made this Sweet Potato Turkey Chili.  I don’t know what possessed me to do this since we’re not big fans of sweet potatoes in the first place.  Unsure as to why I thought I’d be game in chili form, but I did.  Josh Kelley and I put our blood, sweat and tears into the making of this one Sunday for a weekly dinner and then I just couldn’t do it.  It actually tasted good…good flavoring…but the texture did me in.  Couldn’t do it.  So I did what any normal person does and tried to think of another semi-large family and try and pawn it off on them for their dinner.  It worked.  Thank you Freeman family!

I love crockpot chicken for taco nights.  Totally a favorite, but THIS recipe is the best I’ve tried yet.  I ditched the rice, cheese and cilantro.  We like spicy things and this had more of a kick to it.  So good.

These Turkey Meatballs are awesome.  Huge hit.  Spaghetti squash on the other hand…big nope.  It was my first attempt, but again with the crazy weird texture.  My head said “You can do this Laura”, but my mouth said “No.  Spit this out like now.”  So weird.  I probably didn’t cook it long enough or something, but it tasted nothing like noodles.

And tonight we had Ancho Chicken Tacos with Cilantro Slaw and Avacado Cream.  Just go right now and make these.  Who cares if it’s almost 10 o’clock at night and you’ve already had dinner…or you’re already asleep…make them and be so happy you did.  Massive hit.  Everyone ate them right up…minus Amon, but he seriously never eats dinner lately…3-year-olds know nothing about good tasting food.

 I taught a Bible journaling class last night and it was just so good.  It’s seriously one of my most favorite things to talk about.  I love sharing about my journey, but also hearing the thoughts of other people.  It’s just such a life-giver…such an encouragement.  I’m in James right now and have highlighted, underlined, colored, boxed in almost the entire book so far.  A friend said last night she thought God made up for Romans with James.  Total truth.  Romans almost ended my Bible reading all together 🙂  James is my scripture jam right now.

I am coming to Memphis on Friday January 29th to teach a class…6-9.  Message me HERE or email me at pitterpatterart at gmail dot com if you’re interested in coming.

I’ve been painting like mad this week and it totally makes my heart happy.  Give me all the colors of the world.

And I’ll leave you with this sweetness.  Swoon city.

Tomorrow is Friday!!!  The weekend is upon us.

Happy Thursday!