when i grow up....

I've had to face come harsh realities about my life in the last... well, 24 hours. I will share some of them with you
1. I will never have money, (I'm going into ministry)
2. I will do a lot of work I will never get paid for ( a wife)

3. I will probably end up having children (no matter how hard I pray against it)
4. I will have to find some other way to make money (too many jokes here)

Last night B asked me what I wanted to do with my life and other than youth ministry I could think of anything. This was followed by tears and choruses of "I suck at life" and "I'm not good at anything"

Jesus is so funny sometimes

A couple of days ago a friend asked me to create something for her. She's having a graduation party and she wanted little invitations that looked like Graduation Caps.

This is what they look like.

Yes. I created this. Yes, I'm awesome.

Jesus reminded me that I am pretty crafty. I love making things and being one of "those" ladies. I will be the old lady that starts the crafting community at church....And I think I'm ok with that. (It's better than being the crazy cat lady.)

So, I've decided I'm going to start selling these. Among other things my brain decides to create. For any of you who have somebody graduating this year pass the word a long.

It's $1 for the first 50 invitations and $1.5 every invitation after that. They can be made in any color combination suited for your school.

So the moral of this story Is that Jesus is going to provide for us no matter what. And maybe in a few years after I get out of this vortex called WBC, I'll be able to start doing crafty things as a full time gig.

thats all for now
-j

2 months

Sorry For those of you who care. It's been almost 2 months since my last post.
You can blame it on my school work. I'd take a picture of my apartment so you'd see the explosion but I thought this would get the point across better:


Yep thats my collamore apartment at the moment. Thats my wife life, eating nothing but frozen food and or 30- minute meals.We weren't even able to go grocery shopping this week. Which is in a way a blessing because now my freezer will be cleaned out.

Although I did open the refrigerator this morning and something had died... I quickly shut the door and walked away. It was one of those "oh gosh!" moments. The kind that scare you. I'm pretty sure it's left over potato soup that stinks. It's gotta be at least two weeks old. No judgments.

I expect to live in this nuclear explosion until it's time for us to move in June. Move you say? Yeah, Thats a whole other post.

thats all for now
-j

Cinnamon Explosion pt. 2

SNOOWWW DAAAYYY

Maryland has had tons of snow days this winter. WBC has only had 1. (Dont get me started)

However on that glorious Thursday morning I woke with the urge to cook.

My other awesome sister in law got me a cook book for Christmas. It's "The Pioneer Woman" Cookbook. (AH-MAZING)

In it, there was a french muffin recipe I was DYING to try. Well what better opportunity was there than a snow day. These aren't ordinary muffins. These are muffins rolled in butter and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar.

CALORIE COMA!

But they are SOO worth it.

Brian and I had some of our friends over and I made them breakfast and then I got started on these muffins. They were wicked easy.

They came out of the oven BEAUTIFULY.

If you'd like to try this recipe, you can find it here http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/french_breakfast_puffs/
I highly recommend it. However, they go fast and in number. I think one of our (guy) friends had 4.

Thats all for now
-j

Cinnamon Explosion pt. 1

I hope you like my name. I feel pretty proud of myself... No Cinnamon didn't explode in my kitchen... well it has, just in a good way.

I love to bake.

My husband love that I bake.

My friends love that I bake.....

I made. Cinnamon Raisin Bread

A couple weeks ago I wanted to make bread. My awesome Sister in law gave me a bread pan for Christmas. And I wanted to use it. So I did and I made cinnamon raisin bread. I made 3 loafs of it (I gave some of it away so Brian and I wouldn't eat it all.

Before I show you pictures and feel prideful about myself. I'm going to embarrass myself.

I use allrecipes.com I LOVE that website. There is a automatic calculation; you type in the number of servings you want, and it tells you how much you need of what. Well I only wanted 1 Loaf of bread. Seemed reasonable to me.

I started to make the bread and I thought "1 Tablespoon of flour?" How can 1 Tablespoon of flour make 1 loaf of bread. But I've been wrong before so I kept trucking.

Finally when I had all the ingredients in I realized there was NO way that this was going to make a whole loaf of bread. So I asked Brian what he thought. He changed the calculation to 3 loafs of bread because thats what the recipe was originally. Again. Calculations were SOOO small. Then I hear this "oooohhhhhh". Like in Despicable Me when Gru says "Light Bulb"

Brian, My Genius husband informed me that I was trying to make 1 SLICE of bread. That instead I should have been calculating 12, for 1 loaf.

Yep. He's pretty smart.

so then after feeling like an idiot, I made bread. And it was glorious. We ate half a loaf in one night. yeah, it was that good.

If you'd like to try this recipe it's

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cinnamon-Raisin-Bread-I/Detail.aspx

I suggest it. It's amazing.

for funsies

- So I have 2 posts that I'll post hopefully this weekend, that are actually worth some value , I'm just swamped with school work and life. You can thank my Bible prof for that one.


HOWEVER, just because I thought it was funny. And this is the wife life after all.

I've not been sleeping great lately.

So I woke up in the middle of the night at like 3 and Brian had his eyes open and was smiling at me. This goofy, cheesy smile.

Naturally as any girl would.

My thought was, Aww he's watching me sleep how sweet is that...........also a little creepy.

So I roll over and try to fall back asleep.


I look over maybe 5-10 minutes later and he's looking at me again. And has the same cheesy smile on his face......

CREEPPYYYYY

So I whispered "...baby" no response......"Baby".... nuthin.

then i gave him a good ol' wife poke... you know what i'm talking about. the kind that gets 'em right between the ribs.

he stirred and his smile kinda went away. "what?"

".... are you awake"

"well i wasn't" then he continues to roll over and go to sleep.

He gets up the next morning and goes.." did you wake me up last night"

"yeah, you were smiling and had your eyes open it was creepy"

apparently. he was having a dream that he was famous and getting his picture taken for the front cover of Time Magazine. He was also dreaming that the photographer asked him to open eyes eyes bigger. Hence, the eyes open and the goofy smile.

It makes me laugh thinking about it.

I hope it makes you laugh too, not at Brian, but at the situation. Hardly a dull moment at the Colligan house.

And yes for those of you who wonder, I do ask Brian before I put ANYTHING personal about him or us.

thats all for now
-j

Week 1 - God-Centered Spouse

I love my MIL, she's such an encouragement to Brian and I. For our wedding, She gave us Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas. (If you're married, or about to be I suggest you read this book)

Well for Christmas she bought Brian and I the devotional for the book. It's split up to read one devotional, once a week for a year. Now because Brian and I are still students it might take us longer to get through it, but I thought I would blog about at least the one we read.

Week 1, Is all about being a God Centered Spouse, and what that looks like.

"A spouse centered spouse acts nicely toward her husband when he acts nicely toward her. She is accommodating as long as her husband pays her attention....But Paul tells us we are to perfect holiness out of reverence for God. Since God is always worthy to be revered, we are always called to holiness; we are always called to love. A God-centered spouse feels more motivated by his or her commitment to God than by whatever response a spouse may give."- Gary Thomas

I started to think about what that looks like for me.

Psalm 144:12 "Let our sons in their youth be as grown-up plants, And our daughters as corner pillars fashioned as for a place;"
This verse intrigues me, but I only want to focus on the second part of it. Women are a corner stone. Women were set for a place.
What is a corner stone.
....It holds everything up (It supports)
..... It gives the building it's shape.
...... It is there doing it's job, even if the roof isn't there to shelter it,
..... or if the things inside the building isn't there to appreciate and thank it.

I am Brians partner in ministry. I am also his partner in life.
He needs to be able to count on me.
He also needs me to not take the lead in ministry.

Women have an unbelievable power to manipulate. I've met some pretty manipulative men, but I've met more manipulative women. I believe I am the manipulation queen, just ask my mother. It's a wonder she still has her sanity.

I DON'T WANT TO GET MY WAY.
I DON'T want to be "that woman"
I DON'T want to hinder his ministry
I DON'T want to NOT support him.

I want to be what I was made for. I was made for a place. I was made to support, not lead, not manipulate enough so I am leading.

I want to love him, even if he doesn't love me. I want to be gentle towards him, even when he leaves the seat up. (Which btw he NEVER does because he grew up with 4 women). I want to be focused on God that I serve Brian, despite how i feel or what he does.

I want to be a God-Centered Spouse. Instead of being centered on myself and what I want.
I challenge those few of you who read this, to be the same.

Thats all for now.
-j

food adventures

I love Mexican food.

and thankfully so does my husband.

I am secretly Latina.

Or at least in my dreams I am.

Last night I thought it would be fun to try and make our own tortillas. (Partly because I only had one tortilla left and I was too lazy to go to the store again) Sounded easy enough. And for the most part it was. They didn't come out terrible, but they definitely weren't as good as what you get in the store. But at least I can say that I made them.

We did have a lot of fun tho. We made quesadillas out of our tortillas which may not have been the smartest idea. But for the most part it worked. Brian was throwing the dough on the counter like he was on t.v. telling his imaginary audience how to make them. It was rather entertaining.

I had hopes it was going to be easier and cheaper then buying them every week and I'm not sure thats the case. I might try a different recipe next time I feel the need to satisfy my inner Latina. Or I might just work up the energy to go back to Safeway and get more.

This was what our tortillas looked like. We couldn't really master the perfect roundness so they mostly looked like giant eggs. Or other various shapes.



This is what my quesadillas normally look like. Big and Beautiful. With store bought tortillas.


This is what the ones with our home made tortillas looked like. They are special.




Brian was a good sport about it. He usually is. He usually only gives his opinion about food when I ask for it. This might be something we try with youth kids and do a taco bar. Becasuse it is fun... just different. And not good for making quesadillas.


On a side note. Normally My quesadillas are the bomb. I end up making enough for multiple people. Brian will take them to work and share with a few friend of ours. (Not to toot my own horn *HONK!)

Secret quesadilla sauce.
1/4 cup mayo
2 tbs jalapeno juice
2 tbs cut up jalapeno's
little bit of Chipotle pepper seasoning
little bit of chili powder

- and then mix all together and Voila!

You may have to play with it to get it to taste. We like ours spicy and I never make it the same way twice. (I dont use measuring cups --too many dishes, too little a sink)

My quesadilla recipe: (I use 10 inch tortialls.)
Preheat the oven to 350
Cut chicken into little paces
In a bowl combine equal parts chicken and cheese and a bowl (usually needs more cheese)
Butter ONE side of the tortilla and fold in half
Spoon on jalapeno mixture to suit your taste (I always put a lot on)
spoon on chicken and cheese mixture

bake in the oven for 2(ish) mins. flip over and bake the other side.
It should be golden brown, crispy and DELICIOUS!

Serve with the usual sour cream or salsa (brian also like queso sauce)

Let me know if you try it and what you think
thats all for now
-J!