One down

I did it!!!

I didn't panic.  I followed a recipe.  I made a meal for my family.  I didn't ruin it AND....it tasted good! Sounding a little overly dramatic?  Nope.  Not at all.  And not surprising if one really knows me.

One of my goals for this year of 40 was to conquer my fear and trepidation and strong dislike of cooking.  After all, if I don't tackle this now I may never and why should I wait until my poor kids are out of the house and I'm just making meals for 2 again?  My family deserves better than that, though they never make me feel bad for my lack of kitchen skills.

SO...I put a couple cookbooks on my Christmas wishlist.  My sweet mom-in-law got me one of them and this is the one I have started with on my new venture:

Why not just say it like it is right?  When I googled cookbooks and found this one I thought, "Finally, someone who wrote a cookbook for me!!"

Over the past few weeks I've read some of the prep/teaching parts and it's a really simple, straightforward, funny style that has not sent me running.

Tonight, I tried my first recipe and also took my first picture EVER of a meal I have made.  So this is for posterity and for the record:

I'm not a food photographer either so this doesn't quite do the finished product justice but suffice it to say I was pleased and my family said I could make it again!!

This was one of those "I did it!!!" moments that feels somewhat childlike yet completely satisfying!

One under my belt.  Not sure what combination of successes and failures will follow but I'm planning on finding out!

Saturday Sledding

One of the things we love about Minneapolis is that you can find beautiful, sometimes quiet, places that make you feel like you are anywhere BUT in a city.  Today, with friends visiting from St. Cloud, we found a new sledding hill just north of downtown.  It was worth the ride to soak in a sunshiny, 20ish degree day with a beautiful, fresh-snow view!  If I'm honest, I'm not great at playing outside with my kids in the winter.  Give me bike rides, hikes and parks ANY other season and I'm there.  Winter makes me want to just stay cozy in my house with coffee and a book.  So it was great to have an all family outdoor adventure, with some friends for bonus motivation, to get on my "Minnesotan" (withOUT the accent!).

Getting started

Half of this month has gone by and I have yet to write my first post of 2014.  So I am just diving in.

Reminding myself why I began this journal/blog in the first place: 2014 seems like a good year to intentionally write/record life's happenings.  This is "the year of 40" meaning in less than 2 months I will turn the page of another decade of life.  I am not nearly as overwhelmed with the impending change of the first of those double digits.  30 felt stranger, like I was unaccustomed to the idea of growing older to begin with and BOOM it was there.  It also could be the fact that 5 days prior our second child entered the world and we were contemplating the purchase of a mini van.  10 years later and I dig the mini-van, thankful it is still running, and I love being a mom to not only two but three children.  Changes in life can grow on you, making you not as fearful for the ones to come.

So this is how I enter "the year of 40".  Not anxious, actually excited, anticipating what the next 10 will hold.  Sure my mind can wander to the unknowns that dangle around with their potential frightening or life-changing realities.  I'm not immune to those thoughts.  There is something that age brings besides maturity though.  There is a tested faith that comes the longer you allow Jesus to be your travel partner and leader on this journey of life.  I'm privileged to be a few steps behind some traveling partners that have shown me that type of faith.  My own stumbles and valley-walks have been met with the faithfulness of my Father's strong and steady hand.  With those travels in the rearview mirror, I feel the anticipation of continuing forward.  I'm grateful to BE continuing forward.  And this will be my ramblings and documentation of the ups and downs, the small and the big stuff, the everyday stuff of life that IS my life.  One I am really grateful for.  This is mostly for me presently and to look back on when I'm even farther down this road.  If I've invited you along, welcome! : )

A good place to begin

This post was written on December 30, 2013:

On the eve of the year 2014, the year of 40, I can't help but think of someone who has been a dear friend for 23 years and some odd months.  I've known her longer than I've not known her and her friendship is one I cherish to this day.  I hadn't a clue really on the day that I introduced myself to her in the gym of our high school that she would be a forever friend.  I was just being nice to a new student and glad to see the potential for a new personality to color our very small Junior class.  I didn't have to know Mel long to see her sweetness and beautiful heart was not fake and that there might actually be potential in finding a girlfriend I could trust.  Time has taught us even more what a true friendship looks like as we've walked together roads of joy and disappointment, memory making, growing up, life questions, celebrations, heartache, and distance, through both laughter and tears.  I have never doubted Mel's acceptance of me nor have I ever worried of losing her friendship. There is such an intangible security in that kind of friend.  Decades later, while new friends have come to stay or leave, such a gift cannot be measured.  As I contemplate turning 40 in a few months, I cannot imagine my life without my sweetest of friends, Melanie Claire (Penrosa) Medeiros.  At the age of 17, when I needed most a true-blue friend to give me courage in the journey of friendship, God provided.  In the years since, I have counted myself truly blessed to know and experience loyalty, compassion, vulnerability and beautiful joy in the sustaining power of this very real friendship.  I'm banking on this taking us to our 80s, 90s and into eternity all thanks to Jesus Christ our mutual Friend and King.  That makes my heart so very happy!