HippieMommy

posted by amanda on Oct 29

Ahh, life is going well I am back to being vegetarian again (on day 4). I ended up having a vegetarian dinner instead of the calamari the other night, so that was my first day. For lunch I am attempting to recreate Chipotle’s vegetarian burrito. Oh man, I love them! So I’m making rice and beans right now, and I’m going to add some cheese and maybe some sour cream. I don’t have any guacamole, but I may run up to Wild Oats and grab some! I’m really looking forward to this meal!

Bellydance class was TOUGH today! We did the routine with swords on our heads for the first time, and it was really challenging. It even made an indentation on my head! Apparently I’ll develop a permenant one. Ack! Its tricky, but its a lot of fun.

So my rice is cooking in my steamer, and I’ve never done this before. Hopefully it’ll turn out well. I’m looking for some great new vegetarian recipes, so if anyone has anything good, please share! I’m trying to find stuff that I can use meat for dh and/or stuff that everyone likes vegetarian (like baked ziti).

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday!

posted by amanda on Oct 26

I am really dragging today. I slept pretty well, but I still feel really lathargic (I just yawned as I typed that out). It feels as though I haven’t been eating properly, but that’s really not the case. I haven’t showered yet today though, maybe that’s it. Maybe I need to put my shoes on - flylady would say so.

I’m going out tonight with a friend for a little “GNO”. I’m really looking forward to it. I think we’re going to go to Carabbas, which is one of my all time faves. I also just found out that she likes calimari, so I think we may get some. That makes my mouth water. I just feel a little guilty since I know its an unclean animal…

I spent the morning talking to my family, and it looks like they won’t be getting power anytime soon. Check out this pic from the Palm Beach Post. Its totally crazy. My parents said that their power poles look the exact same way. In the darkened picture, you can see my college on the far left. The next building over is where I had my first corporate job (in a law firm). Its so strange to see them all blacked out. The estimated day for my parents and my aunt to get their power back is November 22nd. Isn’t that horrible? Ugh. I can’t imagine!

posted by amanda on Oct 25

I painted 2 of the walls in my formal livingroom this afternoon. They look fabulous, but its physically impossible for me to paint the other 2. Boohoo. We’re going to have to hire someone with scaffolding or something. The 2 “short” walls are probably around 12′ at their shortest point, and go up to around 20′ or so. The taller walls go at least another 5′ above that. Even with my super long, 20′ pole, I can’t do the fine edging work on the top of the taller walls. It really stinks, because the 2 walls that are done look GREAT. For now they’ll just be accent walls though…

I am praying that my family will come out here to visit. They are stuck with no power and it looks like it’ll be this way for a few weeks. No one has work or school until next week, so it makes perfect sense for them to come out. I found a $200 flight. My aunt and mom both want to come, but they’re kind of waffling. My mom said she’ll pray about it, which made me smirk, because I was just talking about how people use the excuse for amoral decisions.

I was supposed to go to Bible study tonight, but I didn’t. I have been feeling kind of blah today, and I woke up with a migraine, so I’m just going to take it easy.

posted by amanda on Oct 24

Joe played this song when he asked me to marry him. Awww. It brings back happy thoughts.

Well, my family made it through the hurricane OK. My parents have a tree on their roof, their fence is gone, and no one has power, but other than that they’re doing well.

Matt (my 3 year old) just came in the room with his magna doodle and said “Look! Its my family!” and then showed me where he had drawn all of us. We look like blobs, but I wish I could save it! Unfortunately he already erased it.

So, nothing too exciting is happening here. I burned myself twice today, so I think I need to stop cooking until tomorrow. This morning I burned myself on the breadmaker. Its really hard to get the bread pan out of there, and I was using a potholder to grab and pull, but somehow my thumb wasn’t on the potholder and I made a nice blister line on my thumb. Then, tonight I was making some pasta in the microwave (I was short on time) and when I pulled it out, the boiling water poured over my hand and burnt the whole thing. It hurts SO BADLY. (sigh)

I hope everyone is having a great night, and I’m praying for everyone who is stuck without power from the hurricane!

posted by amanda on Oct 22

You Passed 8th Grade Math
Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!
Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?
Thank goodness!

Only one was a little tricky and made me shake the cobwebs out of my brain, and that was the definition one. It’d be embarassing for a math major to be unable to pass 8th grade math, huh?

I’m anxiously awaiting Joe’s return home, because I need to get to bellydance class and he’s off doing work. I need a foot tapping emoticon. I’m going to be SO bummed if I miss it!

Alright, I’m off to clean to get rid of my nervous energy…

PS What do those white lines under your nails mean? I haven’t had them in forever and they just popped up again. Is it too much calcium? Not enough? None of the above?

posted by amanda on Oct 19

CBS last night was really great. At the end of the class one of the women asked about “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”. I guess she just saw this movie and its supposed to be based on a true story. Anyways, her question to the Bible study group was whether or not its possible for a person to be possessed if they are also Christian. We discussed it a bit and then ran out of time, so we decided to discuss it when we reconvene next week. We prayed for wisdom and that God would reveal scripture to us that could help us understand.

So, so far the only scriptures that I can find that would kind of address this are:

Luke 11:24″When an evil[h] spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”

I’ve been taught that this first one means that you need to “fill the house” with God so that there’s no room for more demons, but I really need to go study that before I say anything to her, because I’m not sure how accurate that is…

1 Corinthians 10:21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

I’m not sure that the above is related to this topic…

Romans 8:7 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This should at least prove that demons can’t take us away from God, which should prove the point, right?

Anyone have anything to add? I’d love to help this woman out, because she is really bothered by the thought of being possessed…

posted by amanda on Oct 17

Itunes picks my song lineup, so don’t judge me for the Joy Electric…

Church was really great tonight. I love a sermon that makes you think. It was from the passage in Matthew where Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are caring too much about their rituals (he specifically mentions hand washing and eating forbidden foods) and not about loving others. So, the pastor (who is actually our youth pastor - he was filling in) asked us to consider what rituals we have in our life we are doing just to look Christian and which ones could be stopping us from loving (like the Pharisees giving to God instead of taking care of their parents).

The pastor talked about the evangelical tradition of praying before meals and told a story about being out with friends and having appetizers, salads, and soup and then everyone freaking out because he almost didn’t pray before the enteree (as if the entree is holier than the rest of the meal). I really think that our prayers before meals are genuine thanks, not just something that we mindlessly do, but I see how it could become that. It definitely made me think.

The ritual in my life that hit me was (once again) the issue of not listening to “secular” music. I’ve already been convicted about my legalism in this area, but I don’t really feel the need to go search out secular music. I’m trying not to worry myself when I hear it though. I’ve almost brainwashed myself into thinking, just like the Pharisees, that God needs me to do a certain activity (in this case avoiding secular music) in order to be “clean” so that he’ll accept me. I know its really wrong. Anyways, the sermon was a good nudge and reminder.

posted by amanda on Oct 12

I have the first Harry Potter book waiting for me at the library. I need to go pick it up. My aunt had loaned me all of them a few years ago (well - all of the ones that were out at the time), but for some reason I just didn’t’ feel like reading them at the time. I was in the mood for classics. Now I’m interested in checking out HP and seeing what all of the hubbub is about. I figured that considering what an uproar my church caused with their Harry Potter themed outreach, I should really read the books so that I can have an educated opinion.

I’m on day 5 of being curly. Life is going well. I’m pretty pleased with the results. I had no idea that my hair was so curly! I realized a few nights ago that I really make more sense with curly hair. It fits my personality so much better.

posted by amanda on Oct 10

My head kind of hurts.

Other than that, life is going well. Its snowing. Its nice. I like the change. It’ll be back in the 70s this weekend, so I am going to enjoy it while it lasts.

I’m making another loaf of sourdough bread. I have an awesome recipe for the starter and bread, if anyone wants it. Its really yummy. My family devours it, and its dairy-free, which is (of course) the only reason that I can make it. My only problem is that when I added the flour and water today to replace the part of the starter that I had used, the yeast went all crazy and poofed up and over the jar that I have it in. I guess I’m going to need a bigger jar. I kind of have to tweak the actual bread recipe each time I use it, because if not the dough is too dry. I think that may be an altitude thing though. Sea-level bakers probably wouldn’t have a problem.

I want to work out today, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Maybe yoga, maybe the elliptical, maybe yourselffitness. Any suggestions? I’m feeling kind of lethargic, so I think it’d be good for me. (yawn)

BTW, I’m on day 3 of the Curly Girl routine, and I’m really amazed. My hair is so curly and easy to manage! Who knew that I just needed to stop shampooing?!

Well, it smells like my chili needs to be stirred. I hope everyone is having a great day!

posted by amanda on Oct 9

As you can see from my profile pic and my “Currently Reading”, I am trying to embrace my curly-haired side. Its way less work to just let my hair dry naturally, but I’m still getting used to seeing myself with curly hair. (See the comments from my last post for more about my profile pic - I won’t bore anyone with repeated info.) Everyone at church seems kind of shocked that I have this secret curly hair. Its pretty funny, actually. I’ve been trying the methods from the book, and I think I had forgotten just how curly my hair actually is. We’ll see how long this lasts Joe prefers it straight, but I think that’s just beause he’s used to it straight. Once he gets used to it curly, he’ll prefer it that way too. When my hair was short he told me to keep it short because he liked it best that way… Now that its long, he says not to cut it because he likes it long.

Church was really good today. At first I thought I might disagree with the sermon, but I ended up really enjoying it. It was about God leading us through tough times. My pastor is punitive-minded, as far as I can tell based on how they raise their kids, and I thought it might show through in this sermon. He did a good job though. He even went as far as to say that many parents work too hard on controlling their children when they should be loving them. I liked that statement. He said that he believes that this causes a lot of problems once the kids are adults, because the parents overstep their boundries and try to control their kids even once they are grown. This causes the kids to push the parents away and ruins the relationship. Very interesting for him to say, since it seems to me like they are very controlling with their kids.

Still, I really like him, and they have chosen great parenting curriculums even though I think they may be Ezzo-ers. I mean, I don’t think they would say that, since Ezzo is pretty frowned upon in general, but I think that they probably practice a lot of things that they read in his books. I know they believe in a literal “rod”.

Well, we’re off to Red Robin. My kids are psyched, as is my husband. They all LOVE Red Robin. I have to admit that it is quite good. That terriyaki burger is awesome.