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How to Roast a Chicken
First of all, why should you roast a chicken when a rotisserie chicken costs $6.00 and there’s considerably less (as in none) work? Because it’s delicious is why, and your house will smell amazing, and you will impress your husband, and you will magically transform into Betty-Freaking-Crocker if you do. Promise. Don’t check out when I tell you there’s 10 steps, because 8 of these steps are insanely easy. I’ll tell you which steps are hard when we get there. Here we go: 1. Salt the chicken Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Rub your raw, skin-on (and completely thawed!) chicken down with salt, inside and out. …
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Cost Cutting: 22 Easy, Medium, and Hardcore Tips
If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly watching for ways to save a dollar. Also if you’re anything like me, you’re hoping this article is full of easy ways to magically save money with little to no effort. Hopefully by reading this you’ll save money by osmosis. That’s my goal when I click on articles like this one. Truly, I hope you find some osmosis-like savings here. Even more truly, I hope you find some fantastic ways to cut costs that make your life simpler. We have done most, if not all, of these things. In fact, we do most of these things on the regular, and it doesn’t even…
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Psalm 119: Falling in Love with the Word
How blessed are those whose way is blameless,Who walk in the law of the Lord.How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,Who seek Him with all their heart.Psalm 119:1-2 This has been one of the most difficult posts to wrap my tiny brain around. I used to think of Psalm 119 as a really long chapter of poetry that pretty much just said the same thing over and over, as if David just couldn’t get enough of the sound of his own dreamy voice. Now, having spent 22 weeks camped here, I realize how rich it is. The reason I couldn’t get a grip and write the dang thing for so long is because I couldn’t choose…
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Baby #2 and Radio Silence
Guess who’s joining the Two-Under-Two Club! Is there an initiation ceremony? Bootcamp? Prayer circle? We’ll only be in for a week or so before Amelia graduates to a full on 2 year old, but I’m claiming it anyway because I feel I’ve earned the right. Baby S will be here in late July, and of course we’re stoked! We’re taking bets now on boy vs. girl if you want to throw some money in the pot! Amelia was the easiest pregnancy, but #2 is not playing nice. From Thanksgiving until the end of January, I spent the majority of my time throwing up or wishing I could (aren’t you so…
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The Art of Re-Gifting
Remember that scene from The Blind Side when the Leigh Anne Tuoy is about to hire Miss Sue as a tutor for Michael Oher? Miss Sue says, “there’s something you should know about me…I’m a democrat.” Well, before you go on, there’s something you should know about me. I’m a regifter. At our house, we have a designated re-gifting area. Let that sink in a minute. We literally have a tote of things we’ve received and for whatever reason aren’t using and can’t return. When the moment is right, we shop the box for potential re-gifting opportunities. Now, if you’re reading this and you’re thinking man, I put so…
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5 Tips for Smarter Not Harder Cooking
A couple of years ago I was at my friend Amanda’s house helping make Friendsgiving dinner. (In this scenario, “helping” means standing near her and drinking Malbec.) We’re chatting while she’s dicing veggies, shredding cheese, stuffing mushrooms, and browning elk sausage. And it dawns on me- she’s not running to the trash can every 30 seconds to toss scraps as she cooks, yet there are no piles. Where is everything going? I know I saw her crack some eggs. Answer: the scrap bowl. Amanda tosses butter wrappers, empty cans, veggie ends and eggshells into a bowl as she cooks, greatly reducing the number of steps she has to take per meal…
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Living that Debt-Free Life
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. Proverbs 6:5 I’ve told you this before, but when Mason and I got married, we had negative dollars to our names. Student loans and credit cards- ya’ll know this song. We made our payments, trudged along, hoping to pay off Wells Fargo sometime in our 40s. And then our friends bullied us into taking Financial Peace University (thank you, friends; readers- consider yourselves bullied) and decided to get Gazelle Intense about living that debt-free life. We made a lot of sacrifices, worked a few jobs we hated, said no to some fun things…
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Sinning Like David: Prevention
We’ve talked about the progression of sin, and the beautiful picture of repentance that Jesus gives us, but the third leg of this bar stool is prevention. Wouldn’t it be better to avoid the spiral and just not do the thing? Obviously we’re not going to get it right every time, but let’s bulk up on some tools that can tighten the screws for us a bit. Psalm 119 doesn’t identify it’s author, but it’s generally believed among Bible scholars that David wrote it. It’s the longest chapter in the Bible (176 verses) and the whole thing is dedicated to describing the value of God’s words. David’s Thoughts Here are…
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Cookie Quest 2.0
Well guys, I bought flour, butter, white and brown sugar at Sam’s Club. I guess it’s time to admit: I bake now. This wasn’t always true about me. I preferred cooking to baking because baking seems so final. Like once that batter is in the oven, there’s no turning back. If it sucks, it’s too late. You’ve failed, might as well go live in a box because who can love you after a cake with crunchy edges and a completely uncooked middle? Answer: no one. Go sleep in the alley with the cats. With cooking, you can taste and tweak as you go, it’s a little more forgiving. Being failure-averse,…
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Sinning Like David: Repentance
David was a shepherd boy turned celebrity king. His life was huge. He killed a giant, battled violent armies, hid behind enemy lines and faked insanity out of self preservation, recruited renegades and turned them into a military force, and ruled Israel for decades. David also sinned outrageously. We can learn a lot by watching the progression of his biggest mistake. He knocked up a military officer’s wife (Bathsheba), and had him killed in the line of duty to cover it up. BUT (and it’s a big but), he repented wholeheartedly. Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of confession for his sin with Bathsheba. It’s an incredible example of what brokenhearted…
