broken

yesterday i broke an important thing. 

i am really blessed to have several of my grandmothers kitchen items. one of my favorites was a sugar bowl. it was kept in our spice cabinet and made me smile every time i opened the door and saw it. beautiful, simple, and classic. 

and yesterday i wanted to read a package of seasoning mix and moved it for less than a minute and when i went to put it back i bumped the shelf and it just fell out of my hand. 

i sobbed. 

i scooped up the cat and closed her in a room to keep her away from getting cut, i put a band aid on my bleeding toe, i went back to the kitchen and looked at all the sugar everywhere and the pieces of the beloved sugar bowl. 

and i sobbed some more. 

and eventually i started cleaning it up. 

my husband told me to keep the pieces to see if we can salvage it.
several people have mentioned making something out of it.
and those are great suggestions. they really are. but my goodness my heart hurts. 

i have so many memories of my childhood that i would rather forget.
so many moments that i remember through the lens of hurt and loneliness.
it was NOT a bad childhood especially in the grand scheme of things. i was loved in the best way that people knew how to love. no one meant me harm, no one set out to purposefully hurt me. 

but my grandmother loved me in the purest way of anyone. and the pieces of her that i still own make me happy because THOSE memories i will cherish forever. 

so yes, i am keeping these shattered pieces and will be putting them together somehow.
but i won’t feel bad that a broken sugar bowl is still making me cry.

swagbucks update: signing bonus!

you guys know that i am cheap by now, right? ;-) well, one of the ways we are able to live as generously as we desire to is by using swagbucks gift cards not only for the things we want for "fun" (think target runs and amazon movie purchases as well as my weekly or so trip to starbucks) but also for birthday and christmas gift money. last year we used swagbucks gift cards for approximately 65% of our holiday gift spending. when you have an extended family as large as ours to buy for that is HUGE!

clearly swagbucks is something i love. i understand that it's not for everyone, but for those of you who would like to try it i'm writing this post to let you know thati  have exciting news and a great opportunity for all of you to earn bonus SB -- enough to get a free $5 gift card!  

any of my readers who signs up for swagbucks.com through my link here between now and june 30th is eligible to get a 500 SB bonus! that is basically a free $5 gift card JUST for signing up through me. in order to get the bonus automatically*, you must also earn 1500 SB by July 14th. note that since this is an exclusive offer, you must sign up through this link and earn 1500 SB in order to get your 500 SB bonus. if you sign up elsewhere, or only do one of the two steps, the bonus unfortunately will not be available to you.  

so how do you get that 500 SB bonus? simple: you can earn SB from any of the earning activities found on the homepage or top bar of swagbucks.com (shop, search, watch, play, answer, discover, daily crave, NOSO & daily poll). i am also ALWAYS available by email to give you more tips on how to earn. i actually have a pretty effective system that you can use with whatever time you have, whether it be one hour a day or ten! if you haven't started earning with Swagbucks yet, now is a great time to sign up and check out all the different ways to earn Bucks -- all so you can get a bunch of free gift cards.  

* Please note that it may take up to 14 business days to credit your account once you have earned 1500 SB. 
**ALL links in this post have been linked so that you will receive the signing bonus...so don't worry about clicking on the wrong one! :-)

coming {very} soon: a few recipes that i've been making during the last few months of silence. also, more "only in lora's life" moments, more silly lists, more memories, and a couple of serious thoughts. maybe ;-)

thursday's ten or so: lora's real life in text

here's a few snippets from actual texts i've either received or sent over the past few weeks...taken completely out of context and with no explanation. because, you know. why not?

ohmygoshaldihadfrozenFRIEDPICKLES

     i did NOT sign up for rabies

currently following a truck that has the bumper sticker "some days all i want is to be a missing person". dark. but thought you would appreciate it.

we'll be creepy but healthy!

     apparently i was on the jumbotron while texting you that. oops.

CINNAMON!

autocorrecting my prayer isn't cool, phone.

why do you think toto was so insistent on blessing the rains down in africa?

        go punch her

hope you're not sequestered

my crazy runs deep

do you have those moments where you think "if anyone read this conversation they would seriously question my sanity"? yeah. guess i've just presented you all with evidence ;-) anything random in your messages that you'd like to share? :-)

monday's memory: the one with the signing of lots of papers

exactly one month ago
nearly 4 years (3 years and 11 months) after finding out i was losing my home
we signed papers and became homeowners

anthony for the first time
myself given a second chance
the loan is not in my name. we aren't yet done rebuilding my credit from the horrid hit it took way back then. but my name is on the deed

i feel like it's come full circle. that i am being given back in buckets what was taken from me. so grateful that redemption is a part of my journey. so thankful to have a place that's really OURS. and the timing of this and so much more is not escaping me. 

i'll show you photos of the inside once we get unpacked. so in approximately 6 months ;-)

but here we are in front of our adorable house!

and here is anthony giving emi her first tour of our new digs. thankfully, she approves because we aren't leaving here for awhile!

3.28.14

it's my birthday, and i want to write
i want to spill out words all over the page to tell everyone how amazing, how hard, how blessed, how difficult, and how wonderful life has been since the last time i wrote in this place
and at the same time, i feel like it would be ridiculous to
that year (almost) is done
and i feel like even though we did so much living during that time
if i couldn't find the time to chronicle it then, well...there's really no reason to write about it now.

so here's the very short version of life since last july: it happened
i laughed (a lot), cried (not as much) and the majority of the time was amazing.
truly.
i am very blessed to live this life.

i'm not saying i'll never tell you anything from the past few months...in fact there are some posts aching to be written about recent events. but i will have no regrets if i don't get every word out. after all, i was living my life...

but this blog is a part of that life. which is why i'm here.

i do hope that this post will launch me back into blogging. i miss it. i miss the connection across the screen and the way there is really community between posts. i plan to begin the rounds again, visiting blogs i love and have missed almost as much as i've missed writing here. i plan to write here, the good, bad, ugly and beautiful that i have always spilled out in my little corner of the interwebs.

but i know that life, it happens.
i know that i won't be here as much as i'd like. even if i'm here daily.
i know i won't comment on every post that moves me, even when i desire to.

but i'm not done here. by any stretch of the imagination. so if any of you are still reading this little blog, i'm back...in some capacity at least.

i miss you all, and can't wait to visit your lovely blogs soon :-)

so there IS a reason (or two)

i've spent much of the last few months frustrated. with myself, my body, my lack of energy or motivation to do anything at all.  

i've stayed busy, accepting babysitting jobs here and there and teaching a few piano lessons all while working 40+ hours a week. that's true. and i've attempted to make time for friends and family time in all that, but sadly have failed to do that as much as i wanted to.

and i have been tired. and i have been sick for what seems like an extreme amount over the last 10 months or so, but the last couple of months have been especially vicious.

and i've been sooooo frustrated. by being sick and tired. and being tired. and being sick.

so when a mere week after being out of work with a stomach bug that i won't detail here i woke up with a fever of 102.8 (which is pretty high for someone whose norm is 97.5) i was mad. my throat ached, but so did my whole body, and i was freezing. so i was a bit unclear whether i was dealing with strep, flu or the plague, but i knew whatever it was i was not a fan.

and i couldn't leave the bed, until my husband came home after lunch and insisted i call my doctor so that i could go there instead of a walk-in clinic.  he drove me mainly because i was in no condition to drive.

the nurse practitioner who saw me couldn't tell me exactly what was going on because both the flu and strep tests came back negative.  however, she visually diagnosed strep, put me on an antibiotic to deal with that, and told me that this was clearly a mean illness of some sort because "i've never laid eyes on you, but you look like you feel awful".

i did.

and that feeling (and fever) didn't go away for several days, and even when it did, i.was.exhausted.

anthony insisted i call the doctor, who responded "if you still feel this way on tuesday, come in for a mono test".

fast forward to tuesday and the myriad of tests they actually ran...and the following day when i got the call.

not only do i have mono that's been hanging around for an undetermined amount of time, but i also am severely anemic.

well, ok then.

lots of things cleared up with just those words. i'm not being lazy, there are actual medical reasons why i cannot bring myself to work out on a consistent basis even though i desperately want to be moving.

i often fall asleep on the couch these days is because i have reasons to be tired!

i've been taking iron for a week now, and anthony told me yesterday that he can already tell a difference. as for me?  yes, i still fall asleep on the couch once in awhile, but its for 20 minutes, not two hours. yes, i'm still exhausted, but exercising isn't out of the question. i finally am starting to get a tiny bit of "me" back, and for that i'm excited. and grateful.

i'm grateful that the tests she ran for more serious things have not materialized as anything (at least not yet--and i don't expect them to). i'm grateful that for the issues i'm dealing with there is a somewhat simple fix. i'm grateful that i have a co-teacher who is understanding that sometimes i just need to sit for a few minutes (usually with one or five children clamoring to be on my lap...and that's ok). i'm grateful that the acute antibodies weren't present in the mono test, so i CAN work...and that none of my students seem to have caught anything from me.  i'm grateful that when my job description changes in a month or so i should be back to feeling normal again. (i've been interim teaching the pre-k class since april 1, but go back to the admin team and add teaching music to all the classes in mid-august).

it could have been worse.
it could have been different.
and without a case of strep from hell, i would never have discovered that these other things were going on.

so with that said...thank God for a case of strep throat.

xoxo

...mic check...1...2...

what would i say about the months of silence?
well, nothing. 
what would i tell you about the things i haven't said in those months?
well, plenty

i would say that the payment i get in hugs and smiles and oh yeah illnesses ;-) far outweigh any paycheck i could ever receive

i would say that i never imagined that working in a preschool setting would be so rewarding

i would say that A and i are happier when the house is tidy. i would also say that when one of us is sick, it becomes a lot harder to keep tidy. we definitely work as a team around here, and i adore that

i would say that grown adults who know better can be vindictive and attempt to steal your joy because of their own bitterness all while wearing a sugary smile and proclaiming their love for Jesus
{i could write an entire series on the southern facade that i.desperately.hate. just be real for crying out loud. yanks have that one over southerners hands down}

i would say that only you can let someone steal your joy
{in other words, neener-neener, aforementioned person didn't win ;-) }

i would say that car shopping when you HAVE to car shop isn't as exciting as it seems to be
{moment of silence for lora's amazing passat...it finally died last month. and i have shed more than a couple of tears.}

i would say that fresh flowers in the house brighten my mood immensely. fresh flowers that my husband pick out for me just intensify that!

i would say that i fall more in love with texas each time i visit 
{year 2 for going on a missions trip to a children's home in the hill country. heart partially there}

i would say that getting your garden planted two months {two MONTHS} late just means a longer harvest period
{fingers crossed}

i would say that the God-encounters that you allow yourself to be aware of are more amazing that you could ever come up with by any stretch of your imagination

i would say that i have wanted to come type out long versions of each of these snippets and felt a block of some sort.  so for now they are snippets.  fuller versions on request...or as i have the time to tell them

but really, it doesn't matter what i have to say about the months between january and july.  we did a lot of living during those months.  times spent with great friends, playing board games, crashing on the couch to watch movies, having family over and A *finally* getting his youngest sister and i to watch the LOTR trilogy, taking time for a date night or two, celebrating my birthday and hosting gatherings for each of our best friend's birthdays, A speaking for the first time at our church plant...and there were also tears and hurt, and pain, and stress and confusion and wondering if we had made the right decisions about several things.

and that's life.

the next six months will hold much of the same, and i await it all expectantly.

life without pain means you forget to feel.  because of tears, i feel joy more radically.

i'm not going to make any promises i can't keep. but my desire is to be here, to be real, to live life authentically in this tiny blip in the internet where i get to have my real voice.

so for the good, for the bad, for all the lovely moments in between...here i am.

oh, and if you take the time to be sweet and comment please include what you drive and why you love it. did i mention car shopping is a pain?!


xoxo

swagbucks extravaganza TOMORROW!!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) Swagbucks is celebrating the month of January with a bunch of Swag Codes - if you can get them all, you'll have an extra 65 Swag Bucks at the end of the day!

They'll be happening all throughout the day at random times, so check their blog, Facebook and Twitter for potential clues.

If you have the new Toolbar installed you'll be able to check for Swag Codes all day long!

I've written several times about how much I love swagbucks, and y'all I promise it's totally legit! Through gift cards a large percentage of our Christmas gifts were FREE!

If you haven't joined Swagbucks yet, click any of the links in this post to join the fun and start earning reward points that you can exchange for free stuff like gift cards!

Use the code JANTASTIC during sign up - that way you'll start with 100 Swag Bucks instead of the usual 30. Enter the code exactly as it appears with no spaces.



  carry on :-)

recipe of the week: buffalo chicken stromboli

i originally published this recipe a couple of years ago, but that version contained some ingredients that i no longer allow in our home. so here's the much healthier, real food containing and yummier version that we eat now!


buffalo chicken stromboli

1 ball pizza dough from trader joes or your favorite pizzaria
1 pound chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 cup hot buffalo wing sauce (i use frank's red hot)
1-2 tablespoons straight up hot sauce (i use frank's for that too)
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup fiesta blend cheese (i use whole foods brand)
1/2 a large red onion, diced
1 carrot, shredded
2 stalks celery, diced
your choice of dressing on the side (ranch is my preferred, naturally)

you guys, this recipe is so.stinking.easy. every time i make it i mean to take pictures of the whole process, so next time i PROMISE i will have them for you :-)

spray a baking sheet lightly with olive oil (i have a mister that i use...i definitely prefer real olive oil to any other nonstick spray substance)

while the chicken is cooking, roll out your pizza dough--it helps to be more oval or even rectangular for this recipe.

mix the chicken and the hot sauces together, and put down the center of the dough in about a 1-2 inch wide strip (depending on how wide your dough is)

top with the onion, then the celery and shredded carrots

put the cheeses on top of the veggies

then start "braiding" the pizza dough

it'll look something like this when you finish. i then mist the top with a little more olive oil so that it'll brown nicely

 bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes depending on your desired brownness.

and naturally, enjoy.