The Little Things

Howdy!  How does time fly by so quickly?  Hubby informed me that it's been twenty days since my last post.  So, to the one person who checks my blog frequently for updates, I apologize for the delay in posting.

There's nothing better than taking pleasure in the little things in life.  So, I've decided that this will be the topic of this entry.  There are no big things going on right now, and I'm okay with that.  In a few weeks, my hubby and I plan to take a trip to celebrate our eight year wedding anniversary, but I'll tell you more about that another time.  It's so hard to believe that we've had eight years together, and despite the ups and downs, they have been the happiest eight years of my life.  I wouldn't change a thing.  And most of the time, it is the little things about our life together that I love most.  So, I present to you: The Little Things.

One day, as I was getting ready for work, I noticed my husband's bar of soap on the ledge in the shower.  It's not uncommon for him to use absolutely as much of the soap as he possibly can.  Here is a great example:

When I saw this, I started laughing very hard.  It was wafer-thin.  I kindly set a new bar of soap out for him to use the next time he was in the shower.

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When the weather warms up, I don't like to wear socks.  I like to paint my toenails fun colors and go out in sandals whenever I can.  When the weather was in the 80s back in March, I had cabin fever and was wearing sandals for several days.  So, I decided it was time to break out the nail polish and paint the piggies:

I went with a periwinkle paint and a multi-color sparkle top coat.  Sadly, the weather turned cold again and I've had to keep my toes covered ever since.  The paint job has held up remarkably well, though!

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I read online somewhere that you can grow lettuce indoors all year 'round, as long as you are able to keep the plants in a sunny spot.  Our house doesn't have any great spots for growing plants, except for one window in the kitchen that I've put a low table in front of to keep plants on.  I planted four romaine lettuce plants in a glass bowl and set them out:

Sadly, not long after this was taken, the plants gave up and died.  But there's hope in the future, though--in the background are seeds for other delicious goodies I plan to plant, possibly this coming week.  So rest in peace, lettuces.  I'll plant my garden in your honor this year.

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Our back yard contains one large lilac shrub.  I say shrub, but it's taller than the roof line on our house, and it's getting hard for me to reach the blossoms.  The lilacs bloomed extremely early this year, so by the time I found them open, half had already passed their prime.  But I managed to find one good bunch that hadn't faded quite yet:

At a few stores, I have been having the good luck of finding old bottles.  I have never been interested in old bottles until now, and I'm starting to love the look and character of the old glass.  I have a collection of four now, and the one in the picture is from my collection.  It's an old blue Philip's Milk of Magnesia bottle.  I loved the color, and it looked so great with the lilac sprig inside.  I tied the last of a spool of purple iridescent ribbon around the mouth of the bottle and had myself a nice little fragrant centerpiece.  The lilacs only lasted a day inside, but they looked and smelled like the spring.  

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One day this week, we woke up to a surprise.  In my half-awake state, when I got up for work, hubby, who gets up a half hour earlier than me, grumpily told me to look outside.  I did, and this was what I saw:

The first picture is of the two trees in our front yard.  The next photo is of the view down the rest of the street.  Some kids must have been bored the night before, and decided to leave those of us in the neighborhood with a festive toilet paper surprise.  It was annoying, because they make the mess and we all have to clean it up.  But we know from past experience that they could have done much worse.  Living in the country with a booby-trapped moat can't come soon enough for us!  Oh, did I say booby-trapped moat?  I meant duck pond (insert evil laugh here).

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My hubby decided to take a day off of work and spend the day with me today.  We decided to take a trip up to one of our favorite hangouts--the Toledo Zoo.  We had a great time and a beautiful day to enjoy together.  Here are a few photos from our day trip:

The polar bears were particularly active today.  There are three in the exhibit, but the two above were having the most fun.  Check out the teeth on the bear on the right in the bottom picture!

It's not easy to look this good all of the time.

 

 Just too pretty to pass up taking a picture.

I'm not so sure that this zebra is happy to be a part of the carousel.

The new tiger cubs...being cute is hard work.

The giantest crab I've ever seen.

 Even weirder close up.  "Look out, I peeench."

The Conservatory.  50 degrees outside.  100 degrees inside.  Not kidding.  Hot for even me.

 

 I didn't know you could grow Cheetos in a pot!

 A springtime stroll through the beautiful gardens.

 Mother Tiger, enjoying the peace and quiet of napping cubs.

 Come on, let us in!  We want to watch TV!!

Twweeeeet!  I'll give you the bird stink eye if I want to!

And thus concludes my observations of the little things that make life interesting.  I hope you've enjoyed them, too!

God loves it when we delight in Him and His creations.  Every time I look around, I marvel at the world that surrounds us.  If you stop and really think about it, it's astounding and reassuring that my Creator is an awesome God.  I have no doubt in my mind that He created the heavens and earth, and not some big bang.  I will never be convinced otherwise.  Romans 1:20 says, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."  Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart."  I will delight always in the beauty of God's creation, and it will always be a reminder of what a great and awesome God we serve!

Easter Fun

Not a whole lot going on right now.  I am sick with yet another cold.  Third one since Christmas.  It's getting old.  We had my husband's parents over last weekend for a visit, so I decided to be creative.  We were planning to grill shish kebabs, and I wanted to make some deviled eggs.  I saw this idea originally on Pinterest, so I decided that this would be a great time to make them.

I started out with six eggs.  I bring them to a boil, then cover the pan, turn off the heat, and leave them sit for twelve minutes.  Perfect boiled eggs every time.  (After they are done sitting in the hot water, I take them out and put them in the ice water to stop the cooking process.)  While waiting for the eggs to boil, I gathered my other items: Miracle Whip, McCormick food coloring, paprika, cider vinegar, and a bowl of ice water for the boiled eggs.

After the eggs are done, cut them in half and pop out the yolks.  I didn't match the bowl and the egg yolks.  That was just a neat coincidence.

I filled 12 oz tumblers with about 8 oz of water, added two teaspoons of vinegar to each glass, and dropped in the food coloring.  I think I started with three drops in each glass, then added three more.  I should mention that I don't think I've colored eggs since I was young...I know it's been since before I went to college.  So this was actually a learning experience.  Or, at least, relearning.  On a neat side note, if you put the egg whites in the water while the food coloring is swirled, you will get a sort of tye-dye effect.

So, I started out with the primary colors.  I dropped the eggs in and stirred to mix the water and food coloring.  I let the eggs soak for about five minutes each, then I placed them on a paper towel covering a plate to dry and absorb the extra coloring.

Then, I added food coloring to the existing colors to make secondary colors: orange, green and purple.

I let them sit and dry for another five minutes.  Don't let the different colored eggs touch--they will absorb the colors of the other eggs.

As the eggs dried, they darkened in color.  They continued to get brighter and more vibrant the longer they sat.  While they were drying, I mixed the Miracle Whip in with the egg whites (1/2 cup).  I spooned the mixture evenly into the egg whites, then sprinkled them with paprika.  Then I placed them on the serving plate, and voila!  A fun and tasty treat.  This would be something that you could make with kids--I'm sure they would like it.

On a side note, should you get any food coloring on your countertop like I did, there is a simple way of getting the dye off without permanently staining your surface: sprinkle baking soda over the stain, grab a small brush, wet it down, and start gently rubbing the stained area.  The color will immediately absorb into the baking soda, and come right off of your counter.  Pretty cool!

This weekend is Easter, or in some churches, Resurrection Sunday.  It is, of course, a celebration of Jesus' victory over death and the opportunity for us to be forgiven of our sins forever if we only accept Christ into our hearts and lives.  Once we do that, we are His forever.  As Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."  If you haven't asked Christ into your life, now would be a great time!  You never know when tomorrow won't come.

I love how the jet streams in the pre-dawn sky created a perfect cross above the church.