Sometimes, you just need the wildflowers.

On Monday, I got stitches on my stomach. And they came with directions like "no swimming for 10 days" and "you're not allowed to pick up your daughter". They are big-time irritating, and much harder to forget about than the previous ones on my back.

Yesterday, we went with my mom to pick a few berries. I got stung by a bee in between my toes. It seems like such a small thing, but man ALIVE it hurts. And it's swollen, and itchy, and all I want to do is take some Benadryl (which is allowed by my doctor), but I can't do that until Justin gets home or else I'll fall asleep on the parenting job, ha!

Then, last night we had to leave Justin's baseball game again because Lizzy wasn't listening, and started hitting and kicking me. So, that was also fun, and by the end of the night I was definitely having a bit of a pity party.

I woke up in the same mood. Trudged to the living room to balance the checkbook, flipped on the light switch, and yet another light sparked and burnt out. Clearly, the morning was not planning to turn around on its own.

So, this morning while the coffee was brewing, I went outside and walked around the backyard for a few minutes...even though it looks like it might dump rain on my head any second. I drifted over to the bank of wildflowers, which I'm so glad that I planted this year. Sometimes, you just need to see the wildflowers, you know?  They're a daily reminder for me of all that is a beautiful blessing...because I know there's lots of those beautiful blessings in my life...sometimes I just have to take the time to notice them.

To quote from Phil Robertson (of Duck Dynasty, which y'all NEED to watch if you don't):

 "Nature. They need to get into that more. Look around. [See] what the Almighty created."

Thursday Thoughts

{one} 

Can I ask a favor of y'all? There are so many of you who have left comments over the past couple of weeks that I've wanted to respond to, but many of you haven't had email addresses associated with your accounts, and it just makes it much harder to get back to you! It's really easy to add an email to your account--in blogger, from your dashboard click on "edit profile", and then add an email address to your profile! With so many free options for email, you could even create a separate email just for your blog :)

{two}

I am so happy about the Top Chef finale. I don't want to spoil it in case there's anybody who hasn't watched it yet, but I really thought the other person was going to win and it was making me nervous! I'm glad the one I was rooting for pulled it through!

{three}

Thank you guys for the thoughts and prayers about my dad in the hospital, he went home last week, and then had been back in again since Monday of this week, but got to go home yesterday! Hopefully he's recovering well and can say out of that place!

{four} 

I'm thinking about re-instating "Photography Fridays" on the blog, which I haven't done in awhile, but in the past has included the 12 Weeks to Better Photography course. That particular course isn't available any more, but I think there are others we could do, or that I could come up with something. I'm just jonesing for more photography and need an excuse! What I'd like to know is if you're interested in participating, what sort of tutorials would YOU like to see--very basic, beginner, more advanced, etc?

{five}

Lizzy had been doing pretty great with potty training. And then all of a sudden, I'd tell her that it was time to sit on the toilet and she'd start to scream, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!! I too BIG!" (I think she actually means she's too little). I've been trying not to push it because I know she'll do it when she's ready and blah blah blah. But seriously, I'M READY.

{six}

I have Mom's Group this morning, and I *really* should shower, but I just don't want to. Most people at this particular Mom's Group usually come pretty dressed up, but I think that I may end up going in a sweatshirt and yoga pants today. Oh well. I'm feeling lazy. Plus, if I go out dressed ready to work out, I may actually be more likely to do Jillian's Yoga Meltdown later today like I'm supposed to, you
know?

Thursday Thoughts

-Last night, I had the most vivid dream that two of my sisters-in-law, and I were all pregnant. One of my sisters-in-law, Renee, really is pregnant. Anyway, in my dream, no one in the world could feel their babies kick anymore and everyone was freaking out, and scientists were all trying to explain that our bodies had evolved to offer an additional layer of protection, and that's why it was impossible to feel movement anymore. It was so weird. And so real. And then, I dreamed that I blogged about my weird dream. Heh.

-I've mentioned before that a total guilty pleasure of ours is watching the Challenges on MTV. I know. I know. But anyway, we watch them every time and talk about the very few people that we really like, and Justin plans out how he would win all of the challenges if he were ever on them and re-enacts it all in our living room :) . So anyway, one of my favorite people is @Sarah_Rice. This time around, she was partnered with Vinny. Vinny is an idiot, and got disqualified and sent home for ripping another girl's shirt off at a club. In the past, nearly any time I can think of, when one partner has gotten sent home for bad behavior, they've allowed the other person to stay and brought in a new partner for them. But Sarah Rice? THEY SENT HER HOME TOO. Because the person that they paired her with was an idiot. I'm actually really fired up about this. Not cool MTV, especially when that has NOT been the precedent in the past.

-We completed our first budgeted month and are doing great! We've set the budget for February...and I've already purchased something that wasn't in the budget. *Sigh* I'm a rule follower, so I hate doing things like that. But, it was a need rather than a want, so we'll shuffle things around to make it work.

-Speaking of being a rule follower...I had been reading Grace for the Good Girl by Emily P. Freeman (@emily_chats) on loan from the library. I just returned it...I wasn't done reading, but it was overdue and I couldn't bring myself to keep it! I felt too bad! Is that saying something about my "good girl" status or what?!

-I'm not usually a big chips person, but I cannot get enough of Kettle Chips Sea Salt and Vinegar lately. I want to eat them for every single meal.

-My knee is still all buggered up and swollen, so I haven't been able to do Insanity. Heck, walking is a challenge. This is frustrating for me, especially in light of the previous snippet.

-This week, we're officially a Nielsen family! Am I the only one who has always wanted to do that?!

Linking up to:

and

Snippets/Confessions

-I couldn't get Lizzy down for a nap until almost 4pm today. It was a battle royale, but I won. And because she went down for such a late nap, I'm seriously thinking about taking her to Justin's softball game tonight, which doesn't start until 8:30pm. I feel like it's going to be another battle royale to get her to bed tonight, and I just don't want to do it alone. On the other hand, I just feel badly keeping her out that late.

-Once J's game is done, we are staying up to watch the season premiere of Bones. I don't care if we have to stay up until MIDNIGHT to do so.

-I took this recipe to Mom's Group today, and it was glorious. And so easy.

Source: stamps4fun.blogspot.com via Meredith on Pinterest

And the perfect comfort food for a Mom's Group that I cried all the way through--we had an amazing woman named JoLayne come and talk about her faith. And, about her daughter Faith who died in September from cancer. JoLayne is now trying to raise awareness about childhood cancer as well as funds for research. I told JoLayne that while this is a small thing, if she ever wanted to write about what she's doing here on the blog, she's always welcome. And I hope she does--there were so many things I didn't know, and I'm sure most people don't.

-I've got two prayer requests for you guys. First, my-brother-in-law Justin's grandpa died today. I know his whole family would appreciate your prayers for comfort. Second, one of my best friends Kaitlin just recently found out that her husband Jesse is deploying for the third time. Very soon. I think they could use prayers all the way around too.

BQOTD: What Do You Watch?

Do you guys have any can't-miss TV shows? What are they?

Justin and I have two shows that we REALLY enjoy watching together--Bones, and The Closer. Seriously, I think we've watched every episode ever made of both shows. And our cat is even named Bones...after the show. I love hanging out on the couch watching these together and laughing. I'm really sad that the next season of The Closer will be the last. Boo!

I used to be equally obsessed with Top Chef, but we cut down our cable package and no-longer get Bravo. Between Hulu and my parent's house, I'm usually able to catch up on Top Chef, albeit a little late.

Those are the faves--we usually also DVR Fringe, Glee, The Daily Show, and Phineas & Ferb (for Justin) and watch during lazy mornings or evenings at home.

What about you guys? Are you reality junkies? Soap opera lovers? Grey's Anatomy fans?

A few things....

- I fell asleep before Lie to Me finished last night. Anyone want to tell me how it ended?

- Speaking of sleep, I cannot get enough. On Sunday, I got up, got ready for church, and had to take a nap again before we went. People keep telling me that it's "normal" for this stage of pregnancy. This may be true, but it's really kind of difficult when you're still working. Regarding sleep, people keep telling me, "You just WAIT until the baby comes!!!" Yes, I know, I won't be sleeping much. I'm a zombie now, I'll be a zombie then.

- I discovered a great no-knead bread recipe. Click here. You can substitute some of the white flour for whole wheat flour. I topped one of my loaves with cheese, and J proceeded to eat pretty much the entire thing with a beer on Saturday night. Justin is a sucker for beer, cheese, and bread.

-Last week, I also froze a couple batches of Ropa Vieja, which is a Cuban beef stew, to toss in the Crock Pot. The name of the recipe translates to "old clothes"--there's a story that a family was so poor that they had no food. The father decided to try and make a stew out of his old clothes. His love conquered all, and it was the best tasting stew ever. Unfortunately, I can't quite say the same for this recipe, because I had to doctor it quite a bit. We're talking 5 or 6 tablespoons of cayenne pepper, quite a bit of chili powder, and I am NOT a spicy food gal. Next time, instead of the tomato paste, I think I'd substitute a can of Rotel or something similar to give it more heat. In the end, we ate it over rice with cheese, and it was pretty good.

-I need to do some photography. Heck, I'd even be happy just taking pictures of leaves, but the weather has been so non-cooperative lately, that hasn't even happened.

Friday Morning Fun...

One of the TV shows that Justin and I have become addicted to this year is Glee. I know what you're thinking...I didn't have ANY interest in it whatsoever when it came out. But we ended up seeing an episode somewhere and we both thought it was absolutely hysterical.

This episode in particular, we were both laughing so hard we were crying. Especially since my brother's football team has their own song number that they do when they win--though it isn't nearly as good as this.

So, sneak away somewhere, turn up the volume, and take a look:

Burning Question of the Day: How Much Do You Pay For Cable?

How much do you guys pay for TV each month? Who is your service through, and what does it entail? Do you have a DVR? And, do you consider cable a necessity, or a luxury?

For over our first year and a half of being married, J and I had no cable of any sort. Even before antennas were made obsolete, we couldn't pick up any signal whatsoever in our apartment. And mostly, it was fine. We watched a lot of movies, took advantage of TV shows that made full episodes available online, downloaded shows from iTunes, etc.

After moving into our house, we decided to spring for cable when Direct TV offered us a promotional package of the basic package (maybe 200 shows?), which included our local stations, and Bravo. I believe Dish Network was technically cheaper, but to get the channels that we actually watch, we would have paid a lot more.

What we didn't spring for, and now I'm kind of wishing we had, was a DVR. But it looks like the cost to upgrade is insane. I'm considering buying one off of eBay, after verifying that it doesn't have an additional balance attached to it. Then again, most shows are available on the internet, but our connection seems to have a hard time streaming shows.

For us, it's definitely a luxury, albeit one that I'm hoping to keep around for quite awhile--for me, coming home and watching a half hour or so of mindless TV is one of the quickest ways to de-stress from my job! Plus, there are a couple of shows that J and I really enjoy watching together...

Edited to Add: I forgot to include how much we're actually paying, which is $29.99/ month.