Roger and Rachel

Don’t you hate those home renovation shows that make you sit through an hour of home owners arguing and bickering as they work through a project before you ever see the final result? Me too, so let me start with the “after” picture:

New cabinets and a new paint color add up to a prettier and more useful laundry room.

Roger did most of the work, although I did help bring the ridiculously heavy counter top upstairs…TWICE.  We had to cut the counter to size (go go new circular saw!), which wasn’t a big deal. The huge warp in our front wall, however, was a little challenging to hide.

I’ve had a crazy urge to paint lately, and this project satisfied that craving. Roger and I painted the walls Friday night, and I painted all of the trim Saturday. Then we both painted the mailbox and stair rails outside Saturday morning. It was a beautiful day and we were on a roll, so why not?

Read the rest of the post to see before pictures and how the kitties helped on the project.

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Last week I found a recipe that required my crockpot AND beer. What could possibly go wrong?

Ugh. It was so bland! First, I needed parsnips but couldn’t find them, and I didn’t know what they were anyway. So I’m on my phone at Publix looking up pictures of the elusive veggie, only to find out it’s an uptight carrot. I’m not a huge fan of carrots, so I opted for mushrooms instead.

And maybe that was the problem? Do parsnips have an incredible taste that I missed out on? Who knows. But all was not lost…

I was able to get 3 separate meals from this brisket. THREE! I was determined, because I just cooked 3 pounds of meat and wasn’t about to let that money go to waste. But I also wasn’t about to eat flavorless crap either. Read on for the recipes…

• Slow-cooker beef brisket with beer (bleh)
• Brisket fajitas (yum!)
• Philly cheesesteak sandwiches (easy! fast! good!)

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Roger took me to Elevation Chop House for my birthday last year. The restaurant is next to the runway at a small airport, so you can watch the planes take off and land. We’d been wanting to eat there for a while, and it’s a cool place but unfortunately the food is overpriced and not very good.

HOWEVER…

They serve martinis and margaritas made with liquid nitrogen (that stuff Mr. Wizard used once to freeze a rose and then break it by smashing it onto a table). When you order one, they bring a bucket of their house mix and pour the nitrogen into it. It freezes immediately, and they scoop it out like ice cream. Yum!

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That’s the Bellagio, and it was our home for the MLK holiday weekend. Well, more like our crash pad. Since we partied like college kids the entire time, we saw very little of our ultra fancy room.

This was mine and Roger’s first time in Vegas, and we were impressed. The hotels are beautiful. I kept thinking how small Vegas looked, but then I realized it only looked small because EVERY building is huge!

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As many of you know, last June Roger and I went to Ecuador on a mission trip with my home church Wilmer UMC. You can read all about the trip on our Ecuador page.

I knew then the trip was changing my life, and it’s an odd feeling to be aware of such a change as it’s happening to you. But what I didn’t expect is the lasting impact it’s having on me. I find myself often thinking of Ecuador: the kids dancing at Colinas del Norte, Pastora Ruth singing to us after VBS, school kids racing to hug us.

I’ve struggled lately with being happy with all that I have when I know the people in Ecuador have so little. I nearly had a nervous break down Christmas shopping, because I felt like I was slapping God in the face by buying stuff that makes me happy but doesn’t feed or clothe me. Why should I have all these wonderful things (and that’s what they are – just things) when people in Ecuador face poverty with potentially no way out of it?

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I don’t have a lot of notes on this dish, because I followed the directions exactly. And it came out delicious!

So instead, I’ll share a story… Read the rest of this entry »

Happy New Year! I hope your Christmas and other holidays were great.

I managed to catch a nasty cold just in time for New Years Eve, and it was one of those that forces you to rest all day, even though you don’t really want to. But ironically, I think the rest helped me over all, because I woke up on fire this morning! I’m NEVER “on fire” at 6:00 on a Monday morning (OK, at 6:00 on any morning). Especially this particular morning since it was only 18 degrees outside!

New Years is a time to reflect, and in that spirit I’m reviewing the books I read in 2009. Not all of these were stellar choices, but I stopped feeling guilty about unfinished books a long time ago. If I’m not hooked by page 100, I’m done! Actually, I start getting skeptical around page 50. I’m too busy to waste time on a boring book, even if it is a “classic.”

Here’s a quick run down for my 2009 reads:

• Favorite book: Water for Elephants
• Least favorite: The Shack (don’t get me started)
• The movie didn’t live up to the book: The Time Traveler’s Wife
• The movie was better! Confessions of a Shopaholic

You can also click each book cover to see my rating and a quick review of it.

My 2009 Reads

Rachel’s favorite books »

Update: Thanks to everyone for reading my post and voting in the contest! I didn’t win, but I’ll probably try again soon. If I don’t see you before the holidays, Merry Christmas!

I’m participating in a contest called The Great Experiment. It was started and is hosted by The Girl Who.

Each month, a topic is posted and readers are asked to submit a blog post about the topic. Then all the readers vote on the topic they like best. It’s $10 to enter, and the winner takes home all the money.

I thought this was such a neat idea. So simple and fun. This month’s topic was open, so I entered my post on cooking pulled pork sandwiches. Check it out, and if you like it, be sure to vote for my entry.

To vote (ends Saturday night at 10:00pm Mountain Time):

Voting is only open for one day, and only one person can vote from each computer. She tracks IP addresses to keep it fair.

• Go to The Girl Who blog.
• Enter a comment saying that you are voting for my post.

Wish me luck!

I have a rule – I don’t listen to Christmas music or put up decorations until after Thanksgiving. But that Friday it’s on. I listen to the 24/7 Christmas music station with total glee. And if I’m lucky I’ll talk Roger into getting the Christmas tree.

Normally this rule is easy to follow (despite my love for Christmas music), because I’m in the church choir. Around September we start practicing music for the Christmas cantata, and by November we are having extra rehearsals devoted to only the cantata music. It’s Heaven!

However, this morning I don’t know what happened. I cranked my car and 104.7 The Fish greeted me as usual. I can always count on them, because they wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving to start playing Christmas music. So I was confused when I heard the DJ say, “It’s The Fish Holiday season…” and proceeded to play “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”

Well that was all it took. I’m like a junkie – a Christmas music junkie – and I needed a fix. But I was maintaining. I was OK. I was going to make it to Thanksgiving dang it! Mind over matter!

But here’s the thing. I love Christmas music. No I mean, I LOVE it. I have Christmas music on my iPhone all the time. I never know when I’ll need to hear “O Come, O Come Emanuel” or “O Holy Night.” Usually in the sweltering sauna we call August around here, I can listen to one song and I’m good.

But in November? With the leaves falling and the wind blowing? With my excitement that my parents will be here in less than 24 hours? With pumpkin pie waiting for me? How could I resist? It was the perfect storm. So I gave in. I sang along with the radio and then switched to my own music. It was a holiday hoedown in my car all the way to work this morning!

I’ve managed to regain control of myself, so I won’t be singing “Frosty the Snowman” while I cook the ham. Baby steps. I can do this.

Why should you make this dish? Sure, it’s delicious and somewhat healthy. But let’s get serious. Here are the real reasons to make it:

• watching 1 cup of Arborio rice soak up 3 cups of liquid is better than watching old reruns of Mr. Wizard’s World
• all the stirring and chopping builds up your arm muscles
• your mom never let you throw a pile of leaves into a pot and cook them
• it’s meat, veggies, and carbs in one dish (who needs sides?)
• saying “risotto” makes you feel like a real chef
• nothing fills you up quicker than rice so this meal can go a long ways

This is yet another great recipe from Martha Stewart. It was really easy to make, and I found all the ingredients at my local Publix. Click the link to view the recipe. Enjoy!

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