New Year's Goal prompting some thinking...beware!

As the new year approaches Andrew and I have been evaluating our spending, planning our spending/ setting goals for the new year. This is taxing...it makes you see how married to the world you really are. 

Martin Luther,"The last part of a man to be converted is his wallet."

I hope in this new year we do better...I hope that we grow spiritually and out of that we realize that we have everything in Christ and thus are free to decrease our spending because we are less dependent on those things for satisfaction. Honestly, that's probably my resolution for each year the rest of my life. That I would continually refocus on how much I've been given instead of how much I want. I've read some great articles today on finances and of course debt always comes up with that issue.  They talk about the debt that most young Americans carry and it's devastating! I'm an American = I'm materialistic (period) I pray for myself and the rest of this country that Jesus would grow in our hearts and help us say no to consumerism/materialism. On occasion, if you read this blog you will have to deal with my advice, however flawed it may be. (Sorry)

Dave Ramsey is the Christian financial goo-roo of our day and I just love this motto "Act Your Wage"!  Here is the article/blog I stumbled upon that started this rant.  Also, if you are looking for a book on finances I still recommend The Complete Financial Guide for Young Couples by Larry Burkett.  This book IS intended for couples; however, I think it has great advice for anyone young, old, single, married.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! Enjoy your family! We are and of course enjoy the gifts while remembering that Christ is the great gift of the season.

Butternut Squash Soup

I actually have been cooking...just haven't told you about it yet.  Ok so I went to Atlanta Bread Company for lunch one day and had their B-nut Squash soup...I though I loved it, but they made it so sweet that I grew tired of it.  I decided I wanted to make my own.  I used this recipe but tweaked it. Below you will find my alterations in orange or marked through.

Ingredients


2 tablespoons butter EVOO

1 small onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

2 medium potatoes, cubed sliced

1 medium butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed

1 (32 fluid ounce) container chicken stock

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tsp ginger powder (maybe more - to taste)

2 tsp Zatarains (maybe more - to taste)

1/3-3/4 c half and half

Directions

1. Cut B-nut squash in half, seed. Rub with EVOO and salt and pepper. Place in baking dish and add small amount of water to cover the bottom.  Bake for 45 minutes to an hour.

2.Melt the EVOO in a large pot, and cook the onion, celery, potatoes, and squash 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Pour in chicken stock to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer while squash is roasting, or until all vegetables are tender.

3.Transfer the soup to a blender adding the squash, and blend until smooth. Return to pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper add half and half.
 
This soup reminds me of fancy potato soup and was delicious. Sorry no picture, but it's a beautiful yellow/ golden orange color!

A few more pics of the new floor!

Also, you may not have noticed, but since it took probably as long as it took to lay the floors you should know that I painted the base boards and chair molding....we hope to paint the windows too, but might hire that out!

New Floors...best birthday present ever!

Andrew slaved over the floors the weekend of December 3-5th.  There were some pretty tough cuts that we weren't sure if he would lose his sanity over, but we, make that he, prevailed and have been enjoying our new floors for two weeks now! Thanks babe; you're the best!

Going....

.....going.....

Need a break!

Isn't that sweet, baby Gage is his pillow!

.........Gone........yay!

RIP 1990s white linoleum...you will not be missed!

Preparation...

My birthday is coming up, and because I am me I wanted new kitchen floors. My husband loves me (and peace, just kidding) so he has granted my wish! Haha now Andrew's a genie...I digress...we started moving the funiture out of the kitchen and pulling up the shoemolding so that we can actually put down the floors. Andrew pulled up shoemolding and I went behind him and scrubbed the dirty dirt line it left behind...yuck! So these pictures are so you can see our ugly WHITE floor that never looks clean one last time...good bye WHITE floor you will not be missed! I'm never dramatic, am I?

This one is a little messy, but that's life...messy!

My cleaning supplies! Man I'm weird.

 Ok, these next pics are the end of a journey.  A journey through what color hardware goes with golden oak cabinets.  The answer: none really, but this is the best option.  Our hardware was gold/brass when we moved in...I immediately spray painted all of it "brushed nickel" and the hinges too. I decided this was not the best color scheme. Then I found "oiled bronze" and that seemed to be a much better match. However, when Andrew took the hinges off for the first paint job, he told me they wouldn't make it through coming off and on again...so about 6-8 months after painting the hardware we finally broke down and bought matching hinges.

See they don't match!

Yay! They match!