Introducing

Mr. Christopher Michael
May 26, 2011 @ 1:56pm (eastern)
6 pounds 7ounces
19.75 inches

I'm a very happy auntie and very proud of my sister! I love them both so very much and I cant wait to visit him and kiss his sweet little cheeks!

Throwbacks

I am anxiously awaiting the birth of my nephew- my sister is in labor and the little Mr. will be here any minute now (see I told you she was close!). So to pass the time while I wait with very little patience, I give you another recipe!

I was reading Carey's blog on blondies when I remembered a wonderful treat from my childhood. Every once in a while, my mom would make chewy cake. I specifically remember her making it once for a vacation (to which we would always drive for hours on end to get to) and putting it in an orange tupperware. I think we were going to the beach, and everyone snacked on chewy cake while we were there. Funny the things I remember from my childhood.

Anyway, chewy cake is kind of an enigma. It has the chewy consistency (imagine that!) of a brownie but doesnt contain any form of chocolate, which makes it neither brownie nor blondie. It doesnt have icing (although a praline-like icing would fit the bill nicely), so if a qualifier for cake includes having icing, then it is not a cake either. I wouldnt classify it as a bar, even though it's served in squares...


Oh just make the darn recipe.

Chewy Cake
1 box light brown sugar
1 stick butter softened
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2.5 cups self rising flour
pinch of salt
nuts (I chose finely chopped pecans, but walnuts would be delicious also.)

325 degrees.
Cream sugar and butter until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time until well incorporated. Add vanilla. Add flour slowly until well incorporated. Mix in nuts. Pour batter (will be thick and sticky) into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake x 30 minutes. Cool and cut into squares. This is the one application in which I would recommend complete cooling before devouring. Then you can actually appreciate the chewiness!


And if that werent enough of a throwback already, for dinner on Tuesday night I cooked up cube steak with rice & gravy. And had chewy cake for dessert. Raise your hand if your mom fixed cube steak for dinner. It was like I was 6 years old all over again!


Hallelujah 10 centimeters! I'm off to wait impatiently by my phone for a "He's Here!!!!"

Days Gone By

So it's been 2 weeks since my last post! That's shameful! It has definitely been a busy few weeks here in the Mims' house, and I'm gonna post a little recap of what life's been like recently.

It took me an hour to catch up on all the facebooking (So & so got married! This girl had a baby! That guy graduated! Etc.), Blogging, and Pioneer Woman-ing. Not exactly how I could've spent an hour today, but I feel like I'm back to being connected once again.

I spent last weekend (May 11-May 18) in Augusta (with a night & morning in Houston thrown in there too). It's always nice to see family and friends again and this time was no exception. I specifically chose to come into town to throw my sister a baby shower. I expect a call anyday now that she's in labor with her sweet boy. I am brokenhearted to not be there for his birth (as I was a rule-breaking visitor and snuck in to the birth of my niece!), but hope to be back in town sometime over the summer to see him and kiss his cheeks! They still arent sure about a name, but I've heard a lot of the possibilities and would never doubt my sister's choices. If I made a list of the classiest people I know, Jenn would be at the top. She's a pretty awesome sister!

I also got to spend a lot of the weekend with my other sister, which is always so much fun. I am so lucky to have such great sisters! We went out to eat and went shopping and saw movies together and painted toenails and ate cupcakes and decorated and baked and laughed and commiserated. We visited a church that neither of us had been to before. It was so much fun! Casey's husband is looking at graduate schools and I'm hoping that he chooses UNT, which will only be about 6 hours from us, as opposed to 18!

Not only did I get in a good dose of sister time, but also got to spend some quality time with my parents and 2 of my favorite friends. By the end of my trip, I was tired and ready to come home to my husband.

I've done my fair share of working since I've been home, and when I havent been working, it still seems like I'm running all day long! Beach to bay 2011 was this past Saturday and I ran leg #2 (of 6 total) for a team with a coworker and a bunch of people I didnt know! I was kind of dreading the race, but got that familiar, overwheming excitement and feeling of accomplishment when I saw the leg 2/3 chute. I'd considered finding a new exercise/hobby, but maybe running isnt completely out of the picture for me afterall.

Early & overcast morning shot- just before leg #1 started! From L to R: Me, Zoe, Carin. I dont think I've ever seen that many skinny people in Corpus Christi all in one place at the same time! (Thank you, Men's Health magazine for naming CC, TX the "fattest city in the US." Spend an afternoon in walmart and you'll understand why. And then you'll go buy stock in whatever pharmaceutical company makes insulin.)

But that's neither here nor there.

Also, this past weekend, we recognized our graduates, both on Saturday night and on Sunday morning. The Saturday banquet was a special time spent honoring our seniors and their families and friends. Tears and hugs abounded at the banquet, coupled with laughter and good memories. Then, we spent some time during the sunday morning services recognizing the students before the entire church. And then the hubs preached. And I was proud of him. (as always!)

This is just a few of our graduating seniors. Jordan and I will certainly miss them all!!!

What I've done

I've received many more incredulous and horrified looks since revealing that Jordan and I no longer have cable. And to clarify (because i've received this question numerous times as well), when I say we have no cable I mean we have nothing. No basic channels. No local channels. If we turn our TV on, it's to watch a movie or play a video game. Most of the time it looks like this:

It's quiet. And that's nice.

This doesnt mean that we are totally unplugged from the world- last night, Jordan watched the Amazing Race finale on Abc.com or hulu or something. I'd hoped for the cowboys or globe trotters to win it all, but alas. I'd consider watching Glee online except that it's not nearly as fun and appealing as season 1 was. Again, alas.

So for those curious minds out there (and to kill some time now that I dont have mindless shows to kill it for me) i've kept up a little journal of what we've done with our time since we've left cable television in the dust.

I Give You....

What I've Done After 7pm

Wednesday: (the first day with a blank screen.... DirecTV took a few days to actually cut our feed after we cut our $$) Church. Ran 3 miles. Checked Facebook. Wrote a blog. Quiet Time. Bed.

Thursday: Watched Iron Man. Organized my jewelry...

... Played Angry Birds. Read a few pages of Desiring God by John Piper. Quiet Time. Bed Time.

Friday: Honduras Mission Team Fundraiser & Movie Night. Browsed Tasty Kitchen and other wonderful food blogs for new recipes. Read a few more pages of Desiring God. Tried numerous times to play Scene It! with Jordan via bluetooth. No success. Bedtime.

Saturday: Work. Eat (Poppyseed chicken! Thanks hubs!). Quiet Time/Desiring God. Sleep.

Sunday: Work (spent all day helping women become mothers on mothers day. Decided I wanted nothing to do with being a mother anytime soon. I love you mom!). Eat (Pizza Hut). Facebook stalked for RFHS Prom Pictures. Desiring God/Quiet Time. Sleep.

Monday: Work. Eat (Chick-fil-A!)

Sidenote: I could write an entire blog post about my newfound LOVE of Chick-Fil-A Sauce. Oh how I love thee!

Goodbye boring BBQ. My allegiance now lies with Chick-Fil-A Sauce.

Where have you been all my life?

You make waffle fries divine and chicken nuggets... nuggetier.

sigh....

Back to Monday. After I got home from work, I fell asleep on the couch after doing some facebooking & blog stalking.

See that! Life can exist outside of TV! Bah to all you naysayers! My non-work days have been filled with all sorts of good things like cooking and cleaning and laundry and exercise and naps! Tonight I am cooking Chicken Spaghetti and hosting our Bible Study group. Also today, I will do some laundry and pack for an upcoming trip to Augusta and clean the house. And Run. And finish this blog.

And post a random-not-at-all-relating picture of myself and the hubs:

Nonsensical

Once upon a time there was a doughnut. And this doughnut's life goal was to captain a ship. He hoped and prayed that an opportunity would come his way and that one day, in some way, he could become a ship's captain. It just so happened that not long ago, this doughnut found himself on a ship! He knew in his heart that his time had come. He made his way to the ship's helm and spoke with the captain. He pleaded and begged to be the captain of the ship, even if just for a few minutes. The captain told him that he was a doughnut and in no way capable of being a ship's captain. Brokenhearted, the doughnut rolled off the ship and into the ocean.

Jordan and I chose to cancel our cable this week. I announced this at work yesterday and got a lot of funny looks and stares. Someone goes, "Why did you have to turn off your cable? You're an RN!" (as if to insinuate that I have plenty of money to afford such luxuries as cable.) People just dont seem to understand that we chose to cut this from our lives. Sure, I'll miss Say Yes to the Dress, but lets face it, I'm finally cutting out a major time-sucker and I'm eager to see what proactive things I can fill my time with now that I dont have trash tv and reruns to occupy my day.

And just to clarify: according to hubs, the cable will be reinstated once football season (and more importantly, the NFL Sunday Ticket) resumes.

Speaking of football (in a roundabout way), the dates for Passion 2012 have been announced! Jordan and I will be heading to Atlanta on January 2 and descending on the Georgia Dome (where the falcons play... see the football connection now?). There has been so much that has already come from the workings of Passion 2011, that I am much-o excit-o for next year! For those of you upcoming seniors and college students here in Rockport, start saving your pennies and mark your calendars (1/2/12 - 1/5/12)!

I have a friend who went fishing the other day (not surprising- considering I live at the beach and fishing is very much a way of life here), and poor girl somehow dropped her wedding ring in the water. I'd be a basket case if something like that happened to me. Somehow, she kept on fishing, caught several fish and reluctantly went home to break the news to her husband. Once she got home, her husband started to clean the fish and something fantastic happened! Guess what he found when he cut open the belly of one of her fish?!?!!

A doughnut.

Do Something!

Today I want to plug a ministry that I am in support of. I've rewritten this blog several times because I dont want to send the wrong message. Do Something Now is a ministry branch of the Passion Movement and is based around the idea that Together We are a Force for Good. Most specifically, I want to bring to light their Haiti Rising campaign. In this, Passion has joined forces with Samaritan's Purse (you know about them if you've ever stuffed shoe boxes at Christmas!) to aid in removing what has kept Haiti from rebuilding after the devastating earthquake over a year ago.

Check out what the Do Something Now website says about Haiti Rising:

Among the massive challenges facing rebuilding efforts in Haiti is the seemingly endless amount of rubble left in the earthquake’s wake. Over a year after the devastating blow, thousands of homes, businesses, schools and churches lie in ruins, mounds of collapsed concrete slabs that remain a formidable barrier to the future. Many of the issues that plague Haiti’s rebirth are complex, yet rubble removal is not. That is, if the right equipment is in place and skilled teams are on the scene. While it takes a dozen workers armed with hammers months to clear one two-story home, a heavy equipment team using an excavator and a dump truck can accomplish the same task in one day. One month vs. one day. Yet, there are few such heavy equipment teams working in Haiti as we speak. Until the rubble is gone, rebuilding cannot begin. Together, we can help clear the way, creating the possibility for families, schools, businesses and churches to rise again.

The goal of this ministry is to provide a second heavy equipment team to aid in removing more of the rubble and help Haiti rebuild itself. To learn more about this ministry or to give to this cause, visit Do Something Now. At the very least, I would ask that, you- my lovely and wonderful blog readers, would pass this information forward. Facebook it, Tweet it, Blog it-- whatever! Half the battle is assembling the troops!

And now for the disclaimer: I dont want to make light the destruction that many southeast towns are facing in the wake of the terrible storms from last week. There are many many needs that are coming out of this and I am aware of this and do not want to pretend or seem like any one need is more important than another. I also know of many individuals personally who have been affected by the tornadoes and am happy to connect a "giver" with a need if you are interested in helping.