Zucchini Beef Enchiladas

I admit, I've never made echiladas before yesterday.  And, I don't think we had them at home when I was younger as far as I can remember.  So when I wanted to make this recipe, I was like "How do I know what they are supposed to taste like"?  Even so, I think they turned out great despite the fact that I used the large tortillas instead of the smaller ones which kinda threw off the whole "Makes 12 enchiladas" statement :)  Thanks to Lori at recipegirl.com for the great recipe!

                              Zucchini Beef Echiladas or Easy Beef Enchiladas 

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups diced onion
1 1/2 cups (about 2 medium) finely diced zucchini
12 corn tortillas, heated or fried in oil to soften
2 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, canned or homemade
3 cups cheddar- jack shredded cheese (2 works as well if you put less on top)
Serve as desired with: shredded lettuce, avocado, cilantro, sour cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with nonstick spray.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add ground beef; break apart with a spoon or spatula to crumble the meat. Saute the meat on medium heat until browned (about 5 minutes). Tilt the pan and spoon the fat out of the pan; discard. Remove cooked meat to a bowl.

3. Return pan to medium heat and add onion and zucchini. Saute until just softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the pan and add to the meat mixture; set aside.

4. Add 1/2 cup of sauce to the prepared baking pan. Spread it around so it coats the entire bottom of the pan.

5. Assemble the enchiladas: Place tortilla on a work surface. Spoon 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the meat mixture down the middle. Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of cheese on top of the meat. Drizzle 1 Tablespoon of sauce on top. Wrap the tortilla around the filling tightly and place it seam-side-down in the pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling until you have finished filling 12 tortillas. Place the tortillas side-by-side in the pan- it's okay if they are all snuggled in there tightly.

6. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the stuffed enchiladas. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
7. Remove pan from the oven and take off the foil. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top; return to the oven and let the cheese melt (about 5 minutes).
8. Serve immediately with desired condiments.

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion salt
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet to medium heat. Whisk in flour and chili powder. Reduce heat to medium and continue to whisk until lightly browned. Gradually whisk in tomato sauce, chicken broth, cumin, garlic powder, onion salt and salt. Stir until smooth, and continue simmering over medium heat about 10 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
2. Serve immediately, or keep in a covered bowl in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

** I didn't use ground cumin since I didn't have any and the sauce still turned out amazing.  Since I don't really like spicy foods, I may just leave this out anyways.

Enjoy :)



Try Something New: Homemade Chicken Broth

Now that it is fall, I love looking at soup recipe's on Pinterest.  Many times they call for chicken broth, of course.  I was finding it frustrating to have to buy those 32 oz. boxes of broth and only part of it and by the time I wanted to make another soup, I didn't have enough left!  Plus, those boxes are like $2.50-$3 or some other ridiculous amount of change for basically water infused with chicken.  Right.

So I found some recipe's online for how to make your own chicken stock which seemed like a huge money saver.  We bought a rotisserie chicken (I thought this would add more flavor to the broth) and enjoyed the meat itself.  We still have some left in the fridge.  We stripped the meat off the bones and put the bones in a large stew pot.  I also added chunks of celery, potato, green onion, and regular onion, but you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand (except I would not recommend tomatoes, which are really fruit anyways).  Pour enough water in the pot to at least cover the bird bones and the veggies.

The next part was tricky for me.  You are supposed to let it heat ont he stove for at least 4 hours, ideally more.  IT CAN'T BOIL for extended periods of time.  Unfortunately our flame almost goes out before the boiling actually stops so I had to add ice cubes once and a while and take the lid off of the pot for a while too.  In the end it worked out fine though.

Next I drained the broth (make sure there is a bowl under the strainer :) ) and put the broth in a big bowl and into the fridge.  Overnight, the fat rises to the top so you can skim it off the next day.  Now comes the cool part.  Instead of pouring into plastic bags to go in the freezer, take a muffin tin (standard size makes 1/2 cup) and pour the broth into the little sections.  Let it freeze overnight and then the next morning, flip the pan upside down and run hot water over it for aboutg 30 seconds.  They should pop right out.  Store the cubes in plastic bags and label it as "Chicken Broth 1/2 cup cubes."  I loved this idea because I can get exactly the amount of broth I need for the recipe and not waste any of it.  My pot made 3 quarts which is like 3 of those boxes you buy at the store.  And I'm pretty sure mine tastes better anways :)

Tada!

How to Make a Scrapbook Binder

I've been succesfully avoiding studying for my test tomorrow by working on my scrapbook binder - the organization of its contents was getting a little bit out of hand.  For anyone who scrapbooks, I recommend having a scrapbook binder.  Why?  Do you ever buy a scrapbook magazine from the bookstore and find a great idea  you want to try later?  So you cut it out and put it on your desk and a few months later, you want to try that layout or technique but your piece of paper is gone? (everyone say "yes" together, unless you are really good at remembering where you put stuff). 

So I'm going to walk you through the steps I took to create my scrapbook binder so that you can make your own.  The same concept works for crafters as well, but you may need some different categories.  Do keep in mind, I'm not exactly and extreme scrapper:  I don't have many of the tools, machines, embellishments, and software that "awesome scrapbookers" have today (money doesn't grow on trees or flowers or anywhere really) so I do the best with what I have.  So for those of you who like to keep things fairly simple, this may be a good binder for you:)

Step 1:  Find a 3 ring biner and some page protectors to put inside that binder.  I recommend a binder instead of a book because that way you can add pages to a certain section when you run out of space.  It's also a good idea to use page protectors so that holes in your paper don't get worn down from page turning and as a result, the paper falls out.

Step 2:  Think of some categories or sections that would work well in your binder.  These can vary greatly from person to person.  For example, if you have kids and you mostly scrap about them, you may want a section for each child.  Or, if you like scrapping holidays, you can make sections for each of the major holidays of the year - it just depends on your preference.  Here is a list of the sections I have in my binder currently:

• Cards and Paper Projects- Many times you will see small projects in scrapbooking magainzes that aren't necessarily for scrapbook pages.  For example:  "How to make stamped giftwrap." This is a good place for the things that don't really belong elsewhere in  your binder.


• Embellishments:  I often put pictures of small details for pages that I like here such as ribbon flowers.  They don't so much involved how to make the item, but more the idea that I like the feature/embellishment as a whole.
• Layout Sketches:  Now if you are like me and go crazy over layouts, you may need an entirely seperate binder for layouts.  I have a seperate book that I paste layouts into and then I number that pages at the bottom for reference.  Back to the binder, I find it helpful to have a section just for YOUR personal layout sketches.  I utilize this section by going through my photos, finding a layout or idea that I like, and then drawing the specific layout for those photos in this section. That way I won't lose my ideas.  Once that page is complete, I can cross out or remove the sketches from that section.  So this part of the binder never gets too full.

• Lettering:  There are some many cool ways to decorate letters and since Title inspiration is different from embellishment inspiration, it gets its own section.  Plus for those of us who don't do digital scrapping or have photoshop or even a diecut machine (yep me) having font ideas from magazines and some printed out fonts are great to have.
• One Time Use-  This is a category I kind of made up myself or at least I have never seen it before. Sometimes I see something in a magazine that is just AWESOME but I would never use it twice since it would be pretty obvious and boring if I did.  A few days ago I found an large owl embellishment for a layout that I would love to replicate sometime.  But once I use it, the picture will be crossed off.
• Organization:  Love looking at those freakishly organized scrapbook rooms?  Wanna trying a couple things out for organizing paper you saw in a magazine or online?  Put it in this section!
• Photography:  Photos are a very important part of our layouts.  Not only are we scrappers, but photographers as well. Sometimes a good picture can make all the difference in a layout.  Even changing the colors or background make a photo unique.  So get to know some photo editing software and get to know your camera and paste all those tips here.
• Techniques:  Techniques and embellishments sections can kind of overlap sometimes, but more so I find myself putting things here such as "how to tranfer images to fabric" or "how to distress paper."  It's more of the manual part of the binder.

Another thing you may want to do that technically doesn't stay in your binder is make a template document.  I have a Word document where I copy and paste template I find online for things like hearts, dogs, trees, etc.  I don't recommend printing out templates because each page is different and you WILL want to resize images.

Step 3:  Next you will want to make a page in Word for each section stating what the section is and maybe adding a picture to go with it.  Print each one off and put into a page protector.  When placing these in your binder, I find it easiest to put them in alphabetical order.

Step 4:  This step isn't necessary but it is helpful.   Take some page tabs and write your sections on each one.  Attach to appropriate pages.

Step 5:  Make a cover for your binder.  Use whatever you like to show your personality.  It's also helpful to label the edge of the binder so you can find it quickly on a shelf.

Step 6: THE BEST PART!  It's time to dig through those magazines, cut out what you like, and tape/paste them onto sheets of regular printer paper.  I also like writing next to the image just to clarify what I liked so much about it if there are many parts to the picture.  Place the sheet inside of a page protector and place it behind the appropriate tab.



Sometimes I have almost as much fun searching for ideas as I do making the layouts (almost).  It's a lot more fun especially when you know there is a place to store that information for future use in a place where you may actually use it!



What I Love About Fall

Fall is my absolute favorite season of the year and sadly it doesn't seem to last nearly as long as the other seasons.  But now that the air is starting to cool down a bit around here I thought I'd share some of my favorite things about the season.

1.  Colors, Colors, Colors!   Even though green is my favorite color, the reds, yellows, and organges look so beautiful together and make our normal world look different and exciting as leaves all off the trees and onto the ground.

2.  School events are back.  I loved school growing up, especially during the fall because new classes were starting and clubs were starting up.  Plus the homecoming dances were always around this time:)

3.  The cooler air is a nice change of pace from the hot, hot sun.  I can actually go sit on the porch and read without being burnt to a crisp.

4.  The foods we eat also change with the seasons. I'm a HUGE fan of soups - I could eat soup all the time if I had a variety.  It's a great time of year to start trying different recipe's for soups as well.  Plus all of the pumpkin flavored items are coming out and Apple Cider will soon be lining the shelves at Walmart (the best beverage man has ever invented).

5.  Halloween!  One of my favorite holidays!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not into scaring people or blood and gore movies.  I love dressing up, carving and painting pumpkins,  giving out candy to kids, and making all kinds of fun decorations.  I think I like this holiday so much because its one that you can really decorate for and people have fun looking at the decorations but at the same time it's not a Holiday like Thanksgiving where you have to prepare a huge meal to go with it.  You can just spend all of your time decorating and making costumes!  Plus, tensions always seem to run high around Christmas regarding family, money to buy presents, getting the perfect tree....it's a lot of work.  Halloween is just...FUN and that's the way I like it.

(way cool)

Change

Things have definately changed in the past few weeks for me.  Change can be a good thing for us overall, but sometimes we are afraid of the change or maybe it's just so new and different to us that we feel uncomfortable with a situation.  In the past month I have:

-packed up and moved 3.5 hours away from home
-unpacked all of that stuff and tried to fit it in an apartment
-started being responsible for cooking supper (not so good at it yet)
-started a new school where I will be for 12 hours each weekday
-worked on realizing that I live with another person now and I can't always have the room at 78 degrees (work in progress)
-spent hundreds of dollars on books and veterinary supplies for labs
-learned how to shop for and buy car and renters insurance
-tried to decipher health insurance forms

Honestly, it's overwhelming.  So many new things to learn so fast.  How do you cope?

Here's where the kid in me comes out.

I go back to things that I remember and love doing years ago.  I watched Tarzan and Cinderella (2 awesome movies).  I looked through pictures on my computer from high school (no, not high school itself ick) And I bought a computer game that I used to play when I was a kid: Jumpstart 4th grade (on the haunted island).  Apprently Matthew had this game too and we are both raving about it.  "My favorite game was the math one where you are a frog and you eat bug numbers coming out of the well."  Haha-and neither of us ever beat the game so guess what we are doing this weekend? Not cleaning the kitchen or bathroom:)

Storm

the windshield wipers are a handkerchief for the cloud-laden horizon-
desperately they hide the evidence of the sky’s distress.
but the tears of distress are making things new wiping away the blush and powder of purple-chalked sidewalks and forgotten dusty roads-
causing an unfolding of warm and cool colors.

Update

Hey bloggers,

Thanks for the prayers for the past 2 days. :)  I'm back home and have internet!! Such a good feeling.


Surgery went quite well and suprisingly it doesn't hurt.  The only thing that does hurt is the tooth that has been hurting for the past month, but hopefully getting to a jaw specialist next week will help that too.  Tis the season for healing.


I was talking to my mom tonight about watching TV and she was talking about the shows we watched last night.  I was like "We watched TV?"  and then I got to thinking "When did we get to grandmas?"  "How did I get out of the car?"  "When did Matthew leave?"  Apprently that sedative worked pretty darn well AFTER the surgery was over cause I was awake for the whole thing but after getting in the car to go home, I have no idea what happened and all I remember is grandma turning out the lights for bed.  Can I have some of that medicine just to keep on hand in case I can't sleep? haha  Today, Mom was mimicking the expression I had on my face last night and I'm like "O my gosh did I really look like that?"  It's fun to laugh together over situations like that.


The Waltons used to be a show that my parents would often watch.  I think I watched like 5 hours of it today.  I still don't know all their names but that redhead girl is so nice.

Right now, I live in this verse:

Matthew 6:34  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Unexpected Surgery

Sometimes you just never know what your day has in store for you.

Yesterday, my mom and I went into lincoln because I had a periodontist appointment.  Basically a periodontist is a dentist who specializes in gums and gum disease.  I went because gum disease runs in the family and was starting to have a few syptoms of it and I wanted to take preventative measures.  Also, I wanted to ask about the pain in my one tooth.

Well compared and tested the nerve and looked at the root line and said everything was fine. But when I opened my jaw, she said it felt like a ratchet and if I didn't see a jaw specialist, I would have more cartiliege damage and arthritis in it for sure.  Ok.

She tested all the gum pockets with a little probe thing and started talking to the other lady about stuff when suddenly I heard the word "graft."  I think my heart skipped a beat.  Was she serious?  Well here's the dealio.

According to her, I was born with very thin gums on the bottom.  And when I had braces, it pushed the roots even further ahead.  So there is no protective tissue left.  Meaning that if I say, cut my gums on a potato chip, my tooth root would be exposed and the healing would be very difficult.  So what happens is they harvest tissue fromt the room of my mouth and sew it on to my 6 bottom teeth to create another layer of tissue.  I've been ordered to live off of applesauce, macaroni, mashed potatoes, and ice cream for the next 2 weeks which I guess is ok with me cause I love macaroni and cheese.

Honestly, I'm scared.  My mom had this done 6 years ago and she was in bed for a while.  I'm afraid that maybe it will make me look different especially while it is healing ( you have to wear a guard and guaze for a while).  But at the same time I'm glad its happening now.  Technically they should have done this years ago and I'm not sure how the dentist missed it because the perio said this surgery was not optional and insurance company WOULD hear of it.  I will have enough time to heal before the wedding and I wont have to worry about getting this done after July and possibly not having insurance to pay for it!  Mom and Matthew are coming with me today though which will be great especially since they are having me take those sedative pills (which say you can't drive for 24 hours haha).


So I went in hoping to take some proactiv measure and ended up scheduling a $1700 surgery for the day after.  It's amazing how God works through things.  If I had gotten a job this summer, I wouldn't have had the 2 weeks off to recover and since this is a necessary procedure for my future health, I'm all for it.


To lighten the mood a bit, mom and I went shopping afterwards.  She bought me a strawberry ceramic picther and a lemon ceramic bowl as a graduation present which will look lovely in the apartment.  She tried on dresses for the wedding but still no luck.  Then she asked if I needed anything from Barnes and Noble...."I don't NEED anything, but"  OK lets go.  I came out with a book called Breakfast Heaven which has some awesome recipes for me to try.

I'm getting back RSVP's for the wedding!  Such a great feeling to know that some of these people will share the big day with us.  I hope they like the food and decorations...especially the decorations at the reception.  They have no idea.....

Struggle

Well tomorrow I visit the periodontist for a regular exam and also to try and figure out what is causing so much pain on the left side.  I haven't experienced childbirth, but I feel its comparable and after 4 weeks of this I'm ready for relief.  It's hard to do anything else but concentrate on the hurt - I would sit and watch TV and sleep all day if I could but alas we have no TV here...



Grandma brought over a crockpot of soup.  I took it down the stairs and opened the plastic lid that contained the reddish liquid of vegetable soup.  The smell filled my body and immediately brought back thoughts of my childhood - of having hot soup in winter time and wondering why there was never any cheese in vegetable soup.




Once again I walked out of Walmart with things I didn't intend to buy originally.  Peaches in a can?  An OFF! candle?  A "plant your own sunflower" kit?  And green teabags (which is really gross to drink but great for temporary toothache relief).  I think I will look for that flowerpot and plant the sunflower.  It says you have to transplant it when it gets 2 feet tall and I'm like "Why?  I wanted an indoor plant?"  But I wanted something to nurture and watch it grow as it sits in the sun of the window.



I mailed 150 wedding invitations today and I and SOOO GLAD I never have to see those things again.  I'm sure Matthew is saying the same thing.

Country Road

I talked with God on a deserted country road tonight.  The frogs happy to see me I suppose and I was glad to hear them.  The hoofprints of moved cows made craters in the road from the rain, but instead of walking down the middle of the road to avoid them, I stepped over each one carefully.

On my journey south, the wind blew hard into my ears and it felt like no one would ever hear me talking out loed.  So I voiced my fears and concerns that I am facing now in life.  I love how he listens to what I have to say and how he fills my lungs clean air that blows through the tall grasses.  People say "Don't worry, things will change and will get better" which in my opinion is kind of a naive thing to say if they have no idea what is going on.  I remind myself that God said that he won't give us more than we can handle, so although the past can't be changed, he must think that I can handle it and that there is a good reason for what we go through.

It was such a bittersweet day.

Graduation.  I graduated from college a year early with high distinction which has my parents raving.  But I never took any of the "real" science or math classes so I don't know how much distinction there is in that title.   So many people were talking about potential jobs or graduate school and seemed so happy.  Really I don't know for sure where I am going in life - if Matthew can't find a job in the area life my take a different turn for us.  But graduating from college for me meant moving back home because no one wants to hire a girl for 6 weeks of the summer.  So I'm staying home helping my parents with their house - which isn't my cup of tea at all.  Home construction and decorating is just, well boring for me and I don't enjoy it.  Plus if you've ever moved back home after college you probably can relate-  it's hard.  You kind of feel under surveillance and its weird having people "around" all the time (I had a single room - a necessity for the hardcore introverts).  It's not that I don't love my parents, but it's time to go.

In the meantine, I'm ironing out details for the wedding.  Buying tickets to Universal Studios, renting the car, looking up bus schedules so we can actually get the hotel (public transportaion on vacation- weird but cheap).  The DJ wants his planning sheet back and the pastor wants to meet for our last marriage counseling and the invites have to all be sent out tuesday - no pressure.

So tonight, my prayer to God is for peace and understanding.  Understanding to not fear the challenges I've been given but to instead see how this hardship can benefit the Kingdom and maybe, just maybe, it brings a closeness between me and God that otherwise would have not existed.  I like to think so.

Strawberries and Nacho Dip

Valetine's Day has become more of a taboo holiday than any other in my life.  It never fails that on that day, there is either a massive blizzard, or we are in some kind of fight, or both of us just assume the other is planning something for the day (cue annoying buzzer).

This year it was MY turn to plan the holiday, and really I didn't know what to do.  I dared not take my chances of actually going somewhere because with our luck the roads would be snowy or icy which they somewhat are. I had to figure out something to do without leaving campus.

I made personalized cards at cardstore.com where you can add photos and names of people to the printed cards.  They were only$0.99 each so I bought 8 personalized cards and made of "stack" of mail tied with red ribbon for him to open (Hey, I put a lot of thought into those cards so don't call me lazy).

I've made a certain Velveeta sausage dip previously which I wanted to make again but it didn't seem like very "romatic" food for Valentine's day so I made chocolate covered strawberries too :)  I read multiple articles about "tempering" the chocolate...meaning melting it correctly.  Pretty sure I didn't fully follow the directions but they turned out AMAZING!

Now, I had been asked a couple times "What do you want for Valentines Day?"  The age old question that applies to multiple holidays.  The first few times I said "I don't know" in that girly way that girls say so well.  Actually, the whole time I was thinking "Flowers, flowers, flowers..." but girls don't ever really tell cause they like to be surprised right?  And then we get upset when the guy doesn't get what you were hoping to get right?  I decided enough was enough and I sent him a simple email:

Since you may not know,

and you don’t know what to get,

I love getting beautiful flowers...

they are a safe bet.

Now before you roll your eyes and say "Jacquelyn thats not how Valentine's Day works," let me just say that the key to a good relationship is (drumroll) ...communication.  Surprises are nice but sometimes you need to say what you need to say Mr. Mayer.  And while getting the food warmed up our picnic, I found a gorgeous bouquet on my desk with my favorite flowers in a adorable heart vase:

(The thing about living in a suite room is that people can knock on your neighbor's door and go through the bathroom to get into your room...creepy but in this instance, handy.)

So you know everything was all going good...I had everything set out on a picnic tablecloth on the rug for a Mid-winter indoor picnic (complete with apple raspberry punch I made).  I suddenly realized that the chord that connects the DVD player to the TV was left at my grandma's house, therefore we could not watch Time Traveler's Wife which is one of the best movies I have ever seen...  Ok well scratch the movie no big deal.

While eating, we talked about keeping journals and the like and through a series of discussions, led to discussion about some deeply philosophical and theological ideas such as "What is forever like"  "How old will we be in heaven"  etc.  and also how we both felt there are certain things about the world only we feel that we can see or feel a certain emotino about.  But then everybody probably feels that way...I don't know.

Have you ever felt only you can see and write something a certain way?

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to see your soul outside of the body?

Just how intricate are the networks of events in life and what happens if they change?

One coversation went like this:

"Imagine the impact that checked box on the organ donor section of your driver's license is.  That organ could save someone else who gets to live longer and make some kind of chain of impacts on the world."

Okay, so Valentine's Day met my philosophy textbook this year. We were close to having a normal Valentine's Day (whatever normal is). And yet I feel Valentine's Day is also about LEARNING to love the one you love more.  Their philosophy and outlook on life/death is no different.  I suppose.

So today isn't so much about looking at each other.
Its about looking ahead WITH each other no matter what the direction.

I suppose it's 1am and I should head to bed.

Happy Valentine's Day friends and goodnight.

Roller Coaster

Today has been a day of highs and extreme lows.  I ended up asking "God, can't I just have a good day or a bad day and not some freaky and insane roller coaster ride at Six Flags?"  Tonight in class we talked about how sometimes when we are sad, we play sad music to make ourselves feel even worse even though it doesn't really help us feel better.  BUT in some ways it does because we want to match that emotion with someone else out there who is feeling the same thing. It is that writer's "job" to make me feel a certain way because I needed to hear their words.  Lyrics and poetry can be interpreted in endless ways and tonight this song spoke to me so I thought I would share the lyrics and you can look up the song on youtube if you wish.

"Not Broken"
Goo Goo Dolls

All I waited for
Was a chance to make you understand
And tell you these forgotten truths you never thought were real
And if the world should turn its back, you know that I'm still here

Time won't ever steal my soul
We're not broken, so please come home

Morning comes, and life moves on
And when it changed, you didn't know you belong
And I'll still catch you when you fall through a past that steals your sleep
And scroll these words upon your wall remind you to believe

Time won't ever steal my soul
We're not broken, so please come home
And if the world has worn you down
I'll be waiting, so please come home

I won't let them break you down
And I won't hear the empty sounds
I'm hopelessly pretending that I know the answer
Angel's light and neon fires that burn so cold through your desires
And all you are is all I need to know

When the world is insane
You get used to the pain
And you don't even know what you feel
And I am like you, all alone and confused
But you know it's not forever

Time won't ever steal my soul
And we're not broken, so please come home
And if the world has worn you down
I'll be waiting, so please come home

Link to the song

The Feline Kind

 

This is why most of the cats on our farm were so sophisticated.

This is why most of them left.

Fish Jokes

"Fishing?"

"Nope, just drowning worms."

Some people who don't like seafood complain that

it tastes too fishy.  How can you be so arrogant

as to eat something and then complain

that it tastes like itself?!

(Don't worry I don't like fish either)

Punctuation Matters

I'm not sure which professor gave this to me, but I received this paper freshman year of college and still find it hilarious!


Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is all about.  You are generous, kind, thoughtful.  People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior.  You have ruined me for other men.  I yearn for you.  I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart.  I can be forever happy - will you let me be yours?

Gloria


Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is.  All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people who are not like you.  Admit to being useless and inferior.  You have ruined me.  For other men, I yearn.  For you, I have no feelings whatsoever.  When we're apart, I can be forever happy.  Will you let me be?

Yours,

Gloria

She Paints with Water

She paints with water;

Tan, dried buckskin

stretched by four strings attached to a frame

            gives the gift of itself.

She paints with rain;

            Tears of joy shed by clouds

being reunited in a summer storm

            are collected in ornate wooden bowls.

She paints with snow;

            Winter birth in her hands is

reforming, unfolding, and crying,

            because it has betrayed its own season.

She paints with the stream;

            Clear blood from the varicose vein

twists and turns with the land,

            never questioning its purpose or destination.

The work that fades

into one solid shade

lasts only a moment

Until once again

She paints

Double-take

Chilled air rushing around my shoulders

I can see every pale goosebump

The void of sound is eerie, but inviting

I turn to the left to look out my window

At the dark knight.

Stars decided to shed their veils tonight

I too can play this game of beauty in numbers.

I catch my breath and gaze at a twin

The first is clearer, although distant

With tired relentless eyes perfectly portrayed.

Even though the light is postponed

She’s still there

In every ounce of essence she clings to.

The other is bigger but distorted.

As I move with the window

This figure grows longer and shorter

And sometimes even disappears to a line

Taunting me with a swaying gaze.

Another burden I can’t get rid of.

If I shift just right, they overlap

And become one face, a single creature

And the scary part is, this is everyone’s reality.

We all have two faces

Some just bend the light differently.

Jacquelyn

With Valentine's Day approaching, it's time to start looking for layout ideas for Valentine's Day.  Here is one that I definately will be keeping.

Welcome!

After much consideration and design work over Christmas break, I have started a new blog (the one you're looking at right now!)  I came up with the idea for Life in full Swing over Christmas when I realized that although you can never completely "get it altogether," I wanted to create a place where I could bring new ideas and my art and writing together to share with everyone.  I hope you all enjoy it! And thanks to Becky from Cutest Design on the Block who took my design made from colored pencils and paper and took it to the computer screen.  It looks great!  Hope to see you all around soon :)