Need A Good Book?

I've been on a real reading kick these last 8 months or so and it's been wonderful. The funny part is that all through school I HATED reading. I have always been a slow reader, I think part of this has do with the fact that I like to read dialogue in the way it would be actually spoken. I can read faster, but it doesn't sound as good and my characters lose all their accents and inflection.

In 7th grade I got a C in reading because I'd just put my head down and fall asleep. They gave me this completely bogus and unattainable goal, so after about a week I didn't even try (I'll try not to teach my children this trait). In high school I was supposed to read Crime and Punishment at least 3 times, I think I read 30 pages... oops. Then in college, by my third year, knowing I wouldn't read the books, I didn't even buy most of them. I saved my parents a ton of money (you're welcome). Tangent... senior year of high school, AP English teacher gives the assignment to ask our parents one piece of advice for college. You can assume the usual, "stay on top of reading, visit the professor, don't get behind, do the reading, blah blah blah." My mom's advice, "Go To Class. If you go to class, you don't have to do most of the reading." Best (and truest) college advice I ever received.

However, something in me switched once I was no longer made to read, and to read books that I had absolutely no interest in. Now, I'm an animal and cannot stop. A small praise to Jesus for this 180, since My Hunka Hunka Burning Love is reading law books most nights until bed time, it's nice to sit on the couch together and read rather than ostracize him to the office to work.

Below are 5 books that I've read recently and highly recommend. I tried to pick ones that hopefully you haven't seen on all the best seller lists and the like.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

If you're like me and didn't quite understand all the fuss about her other book, The Secret Life of Bees, it's ok, this book is still phenomenal!!

Early 1800s Charleston, the story of a slave girl and the plantation owner's daughter and how they walk the road together towards freedom from both of their worlds of bondage.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

This is a very easy read, due to this, when I finished it at first I kind of brushed it off. Slowly the story just kept coming back to me over and over again and I realized that while it's not a piece of literary genius, the story is so sweet, heart warming and heart wrenching. It's slowly creeping up as an all time favorite.

 Doll-baby by Laura Lane McNeal

This is not The Help 2.0 like some of the reviews like to compare it to. It does take place during Civil Rights era in New Orleans, but the plot serves a completely different purpose. It's a touching story about a young girl who ends up living with her grandmother after her father's death, and how they essentially raise and protect one another.

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

I read this one a while back, so I don't remember the exact details, but it's during Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorship and how four sisters, only one who's still alive, lived through and resisted political oppression.

 Villa Triste by Lucrieta Grindle

I've read several WWII novels, but this is the first one I've read that depicts what was happening in Italy and the resistance forces that emerged after the armistice to help resist the German invasion. The story unravels a great mystery of betrayal by some of the leaders of the resistance.






I may or may not love historical fiction. In school/never was/am I very good at remembering the details of big historical events, but wrap history in the story of particular people, some falling in love, families learning hidden secrets, tangible examples of how people were living day to day, I'm hooked. Maybe social history would have suited me a little better.

Let me know if you have any recommendations.

Saving on the Little Things

So I'm basically stealing from my friend Becca's blog (she's great if you don't already know/read her). She wrote a blog inspired by this book about how to save money ($100/day - woaw, that's a lot). If you don't know... My Hunka Hunka Burning Love and I are currently accumulating just a little bit of debt as he goes to law school. We're constantly trying to stop spending money, but I'm we're really not very good at that. When I read Becca's blog I thought, oh wonderful, I'll just use all the ideas she's already come up with... uno problemo, we don't spend money on the same things repeatedly. It feels as though we're constantly spontaneous/splurge spenders. Now, I haven't read the book, so I don't know all the ideas she came up with to accomplish her goal, but I've taken the ones Becca highlighted to demonstrate the dilemma I face.

"Here are a few things Janice did, as recorded in her book:" (I omitted a few I felt were null, as to not inundate you).

1. Canceled my television service. My HHBL would never this happen... he loves his ESPN way too much (I may or may not get HGTV out of it too).

3. Used up my samples from Sephora. I don't have any. I don't have samples from anywhere.

4. Used up the creams that were just so-so before I repurchased my favorite. We have a few bottle of lotion, but my HHBL hates the girly smelly ones, so I can only go through the ones I have but soo fast.

6. Invited friends out for hikes, coffees, or frozen yogurt rather than wait until they invited me to pricey dinners. We are attempting this, luckily our friends are pretty cheap as well.

8. Drank all the tea in my house before buying more. Oh lordy, I had a lot of tea. We only have 2 cabinets in our little kitchen for food, so we don't have a lot of anything just hanging around waiting to be eaten in our house.

9. Ordered a small coffee instead of a latte. It would have been cheaper to make coffee at home, but less social. We rarely order coffee, My HHBL makes a scrumptious French Press coffee every morning for us. Travel mugs are the way to go and skip the ordered coffee all together.

10. Said no to dinners at restaurants. Ok, we can actually really work on this one. We are trying to eat out less, whether it's a fun date night out or ordering take out. We will have only done that once this week - Go Us!!!

12. Oatmeal. We eat this regularly in the winter. I have a stash in my desk at work for breakfast every morning. I just can't do it in the summer.

13. Did my own nails with all the polish I already bought. I only get a mani/pedi maybe twice a year, so this really isn't going to help the bank account all that much.

14. Accepted gifts from people. Strange, but the more I released, the more I received gifts, largely in the form of free meals and stationery. Bring it on friends, I'll accept your gifts, no problem!

16. Searched my medicine cabinet before I went to the pharmacy. What I needed was usually there. We don't have much besides Nyquil and Advil. We're tough! The cave men didn't have medicine, so neither do we.

17. Stopped falling for coupons. You know what’s cheaper? Not buying at all. Ok, ok, I'll listen to this one. At the grocery we also buy most everything generic brand because that's usually still cheaper even if you have a coupon for the name brand one. Maybe one day I'll figure out how to be one of those crazy couponers who gets away with everything name brand and somehow get's paid $25 to leave with $1,546 worth of stuff.

22. Convinced my family to not get each other big Christmas gifts. Instead we got each other a small stocking stuffer. It was delightful, and no one missed the lack of presents. Our poor families are already used to getting $1 Scratchers... If they're really lucky we buy the $5 ones. Did I tell you my husband is in law school?

25. Welcomed overnight guests into my home. Strange, but they basically fed me half the time out of gratitude for the free place to stay, and I was delighted to see them. Our door is always open (literally, if you can see into the house through just the glass front door, we're home. If it's dark outside we half shut the wooden door (no peeping Toms), so just check for T Tog and lights). We just recently had some fun guests stay with us for a wedding and it was absolutely delightful!

While I was hoping that she would do all the hard work of brainstorming the money saving tips, alas many of them don't fit within our current lifestyle, so I've had to do some thinking of my own. Here are a few I've come up with:

1. I hosted a baby shower recently and instead of keeping the leftover cups, napkins, etc. that weren't used for "next time" I took them back for a refund.

2. When I returned them, I didn't allow myself to browse the aisles... just in and out, thank you for my money back.

3. Eat the food we buy rather than wait for it to go bad and throw it out.

4. Use the public library always (even if it means being the 138th person on the waiting list), day-gone books are expensive these days!

5. Stop visiting T.J. Maxx or Marshalls. If you go, bring your husband who will only let you purchase what you went in looking for and nothing else.

Since I don't have the easy solutions like, stop drinking beer and you'll lose 5 lbs, please let me know if you have any other great money saving tips. This blog was not for your benefit but rather a hope in it benefiting me.

Goulash

My Hunka Hunka Burning Love and I had dinner at our mentors' house last week and were told a great story. They have 5 grown children, but often growing up they would not only have brinner (breakfast for dinner) they would also have "clean out the fridge" nights where everything came out and everyone could eat from the buffet of leftovers.

One night the dad decides to not only have "clean out the fridge" night, but he decides to make "Goulash" and literally stuck it all in one pot. When all the kids sat down for dinner eyeing this bowl of mush in front of them, his selling point was... "it has melted cheese on top!" What kid doesn't love a bowl of mystery as long as there's cheese on top?!

As I listened to this story and laughed, to my delight I also thought, "oh no, goulash cannot have a bad name it is soo delicious" (or at least the recipe I stole from a dear friend). It's not so much a clean out the fridge thing though as a, I have to go to the grocery and get everything.

So here it is: Goulash 

1 red onion
1 butternut squash
2-4 zucchinis (yellow and green)
2-4 red and green peppers (or other colors if you like)
4 cans chicken and/or beef broth (I like 2 of each and reduced sodium)
1ish LB Spicy Italian sausage (ground beef, not kielbasa style)
2-4 chopped tomatoes
goat cheese
cilantro
and all of these spices

First: It helps if you chop all the veggies first, but sometimes I just make sure the squashes are all cut and then continue cutting as I cook. So, chop all the veggies. In a big pot over medium heat with olive oil saute the onion then add the butternut squash. The squash takes the longest to cook, so the smaller the pieces the better. 

Once the squash has cooked a good bit, maybe 10 min (or enough time to cut the zucchinis) add the zucchinis. Maybe 5 min add 1 can of broth, allow to cook maybe another 5 min, add the peppers, cook 5 min, add more broth. This is not a very specific science, so add veggies and broth as you see fit. 

Second: While the veggies are cooking, in a separate pan brown the Italian sausage, drain and add to the veggies. When you add the sausage all the broth and veggies should be in the pot. Add all the spices and allow to simmer 5-10 min. The spices have no measurements and the amount you use depends on how spicy you like your food. In order from least dashes to a lot I use: salt, curry, pepper, chili, cayenne, cumin. (I use a lot of cumin) I usually save the salt until the end so I can figure out if I need it at all, just a dash or a large dash.

You have to make sure you re-hydrate after chopping all those veggies, it's seriously a workout.
Tony made me hold so he could get his drink in the photo. He said his whiskey felt left out.

Lastly: Scoop into a bowl, top with goat cheese and cilantro, eat and ENJOY! You don't need to worry about making a side of veggies because the thing is chock full of 'em. Delicious as leftovers. YUMM YUMM YUMM!

Thank You, Ashley!

A dear friend of mine, we'll call her CB, is having a baby in March. Another dear friend, we'll call her Super, got married on Jan 24th. It just so happened that both of these dear friends run in the same circle as all my other best friends... (you following?) Since all our friends would be in town to celebrate the bride, Super, I thought, well let's have a baby shower for CB, and see just how much celebrating we can do in one weekend.

CB already has most everything she needs for the little baby girl that will join their family, so there was really no big ticket item we could all go in on. Instead, we all chipped in some mullah and got her a large gift card to Babies R Us for her to spend as she finds the need (probably on diapers and wipes once the baby is here). So we got her some diapers and wipes to start the show and I decided I'm make her a baby quilt to wrap it all up in. 

What I haven't mentioned is that I decided this 2 weeks before the shower... good idea? Definitely! BUT only if you have a friend like Ashley!! THANK YOU, ASHLEY!

Exhibit A                                                                                                     Exhibit B

First, Ashley gave me the majority of the little fabric squares, she helped me pick out the others at the fabric store, as well as let me know how much I'd need of each and picked out the batting. When I got home I hypothetically placed all the squares where I thought they looked best (Exhibit A). I figured out how big the squares would have to be, given how the lady at the store cut the material, I didn't have much choice. I'd probably still be sitting there in Exhibit B if it weren't for Ashley.

Did I mention this was my first quilt? Ok, I kinda did another one, but that was 10 years ago, my mom held my hand the whole time and I wasn't patient enough so it turned into a pillow (It was also all by hand, where for this one I used the sewing machine... sooo much faster).

Exhibit C

Ashley helped me figured out how big the middle white sections needed to be, then based on how large the entire front was she helped me figure out how big I needed the back and border. Exhibit C is where I should have pinned the squares starting in the middle and working out rather than lining them up on one end. Don't look too closely at the final product... the squares totally don't line up... but this is homemade with love. Did I mention this was my first quilt?

Ashley showed me how to pin the front, batting and back together to do the actual quilting. Luckily, I do already know how to use a sewing machine, so she was off the hook on that element.

Waahaaa Laaahaaa!! The final product, done in 2 days... who needs 2 weeks? All in all, I think it turned out pretty cute. Did I mention this is my first quilt?

I've totally got the quilting bug now, so if anyone needs/wants one, just let me know. I promise, I learned some vital lessons and yours hopefully won't have as many errors love marks.

Cannot wait to meet baby girl Catalino!!!

Christmas in Review

My Hunka Hunka Burning Love and I just celebrated our second Christmas as a married couple. Any adult can understand that the holidays can be a very trying, exhausting and stressful time. We, like everyone else, have also found this to be true, but I think we're making large strides in just a short time and learning how to take advantage of time with our families and eliminate as much negativity as possible.

This year we got to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the visit from Santa Clause three times. We started at my parents' house with everyone home... Mom, Dad, Chris, Erica, Hunter, Skyler, Emmie Lu, Kase, ME, Adele, My HHBL, me (that's 12 in case you were counting). We had Christmas early so my oldest brother could be back home so his kiddos could wake up in their own beds Christmas morning.


We visited Christmas Town at Busch Gardens.

...So we embraced it!

We got photo bombed...

Most parents don't really get a vacation either at the beach in the summer, or during the holidays. The kids are fighting, jumping into large puddles in the swamp or babies are crying. However, I'm not too worried for the loss of vacations, as long as my niece Skyler is around. She is the sweetest and kindest little 6 yr old I've ever met. She can handle two 2 yr olds (with very strong personalities) like it's nothing. I'm so excited to see how her caring heart will continue to grow with her.

We also got to celebrate WILZAR Christmas with all of us. 10 Wilsons (one not photoed) and 12 Luzars makes for 22 Wilzars. Now that all "the kids" are parents with their own kids and we scatter the map from Virginia to Florida it's a little more difficult for us all to be together, but this year was a true Christmas Miracle! We tried to figure out when Wilzar Christmas started and while we couldn't completely decide, it's been at least 20 years... and counting.

After Christmas in the Burg we headed to My HHBL's parents' home for our 2nd Christmas, followed by our 3rd and final Christmas in our own town and our own home. (Don't get the wrong idea, we weren't alone - we got to celebrate actual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my mom, dad, Kase, ME, Adele and my Aunt Beth).

So now 2 days into 2015, I'm hoping and praying for a great...ok I'll settle for even just a good year. We have one year of marriage under our belts, there's only 1.5 years left of law school, my HHBL is currently in SE Asia and will be for the next two weeks, one of my best buds is getting married in late January, another best bud is having a baby, another one is having twins (yikes!) and who knows what other fun and exciting things await us in 2015... CHEERS!

Take Comfort

A dear friend's family recently had a very sad and heart breaking tragedy occur. As a group of people surrounded her, religious affiliations mostly unknown, many of them had similar words of comfort, "I don't believe God wills things like this, everything happens for a reason." At first I found it perplexing that this group of people, with different levels of belief in God, would all find solace in believing that terrible things don't just happen to innocent people for no reason. Is this because they want comfort in a world where evil exists or because it's actually true?

As I thought about this more it dawned on me that many of the phrases and sentiments we use to comfort and console one another, Christian and non-Christian alike, are very basic and biblical principles. Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." My friends are right, God doesn't want or cause terrible things to happen, his desire is for us all to prosper and to live with hope. It amazes me that while our Nation continues to take God out of everything the word of the Lord still infiltrates our everyday language and lives.

Whether someone is churched or not, the Bible has proven itself so real by the fact that even people who do not know the Lord are using his words to relate with one another. This really shouldn't surprise me all that much, the Bible tells us that this is true, Psalm 19:1-4, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Then in the New Testament we're told again, Romans 1:20, "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." The glory of the Lord is all around us. You don't have to go to church or have heard a single word from the Bible. He made the world a beautiful, complicated and wondrous thing to reflect his image and his nature so that all men may know him. Whether those friends realize it or not, they are testifying to the reality that God is real and active in our lives.

I'll close with a line that one of my favorite pastors usually says after he's finished reading the scripture, "this is the word of the Lord, it is given to us in love, and it is absolutely true."

Giving Thanks

My family has never taken on the ever infamous Thanksgiving tradition of going around the table and saying what we're thankful for. Perhaps it's just hard enough getting us all to sit at the same time, maybe it's because saying grace takes long enough and we're gluttons who just want to eat the delicious hot meal before us or maybe by the time dinner gets around we're all just too exhausted from sitting on the couch watching football the day of cooking. Regardless of the reasoning, this year I'd like to take a bit of time and really reflect on what I'm truly thankful for and could not imagine my life without.

• Jesus' immense love, saving grace and unending mercy.


• My Hunka Hunka Burning Love


• Living so close to family and getting to be a regular presence in the life of growing nieces.


• Other family members who aren't close, but are willing to drive a really long way, with three kids, to celebrate and spend time with us.


• My mother's willingness and diligence in reading my blog posts immediately upon publishing and letting me know of all the words I misspelled or misplaced punctuation what a great job I did. And everything else she does to love me and who she is.


• Obviously the usuals: health; a warm house; food on the table; freedom; wealth (we don't have much, but we have much more than many others).


• Friends with whom to celebrate, cry, rejoice, play and talk into the night.


• A job


• The gift that is delicious food


• Laughter and games


• Blaring out and singing along to Christmas music with my HHBL


• A warm, cozy and comfortable bed where I like to snuggle up and pretend I'm in the clouds.

Some of these things are a little more fun than the dramatic line "truly thankful and could not imagine my life without", but none the less they are what make up the small things in life that I do not care to take for granted.