The Colligan try at Cake Balls

Last week Brian and I were in Maine. No, not the maine you see in a magazine. This Maine. Aroostook county. (Ah-Ru-St-u-k) - it's french indian i think..

See that dot that says limestone? I live just about there. The Maine you're thinking of looks like this.

(Southwest Harbor, ME - Photo by me)

So yes, Brian and I went to maine for Christmas. And we needed to make a yankee swap gift

(White elephant for those of you Marylanders)

So we made Red Velvet Cake Balls.

You start out by making a cake Like you normally would.

Sorry, I ate a little before I took a picture. It was just soooo good!

Then. You break it up in to your Kitchen-Aid (If you have one).

Just between you and me, I'm bitter that my mom has one and I don't cuz they are WAY cool.

Ok so anway. you need to crumble it so it's this crumbly cake mush.

Then, You take a can of store bought frosting. We used Cream cheese and used the whole tub

of it, you could get away with less. ours had a little too much. yes i said too much frosting, shoot

me.

So you mix the icing and cake together in your kitchen-aid (you know, if you had one)

Then, you have to make them into balls. We tried a mellon-baller, but it was too tough to get the

cake out due to all the frosting. SO, we use an ice cream scoop. I think this was a 2 Tbs scoop.

However, I am probably wrong.

Then you stick this out side... Oh right. most people dont live in

maine and convert your entry way into a walk in freezer. Ok so you put them in the refrigerator.

I almost think we let these chill over night.

Next you melt some chocolate....

.

Now.

there's something you need to know about my family, we are serious chocolate makers. none of

this heat in microwave crap. nope tooooo snobby for that.....

So, we melted some chocolate...

on the stove... over water... with crisco in it...

NOTE: you can use wax, which is what we'd use forever, yes they make special bakers wax.

However, I had a friend tell me she used crisco in her chocolate. My oh My does it make a

difference... .they take longer to set up with crisco, but my dad said "it's not nearly as waxy as

before" .

And, you dip.

We did both dark and white chocolate. the white was extremely tasty... However....

When using too much frosting, the cake balls are very mushy even after spending the night in

the entry way... i mean freezer...

So. tiny bits of cake ended up in the white chocolate after dipping...... which ended up turning the

chocolate pink........ which then we had to put sprinkles on them so you wouldn't notice.

Let set. and enjoy. we made a bazillion cake balls and even gave tons away. so note that you'll

end up making alot.

these are wicked (yes i just said wicked) easy. If you haven't tried them, you should.

thats all for now.

-j

A Bachelors of Arts in Biblical something er rather.

I realized today that the theme for my blog is fall...... blog fail. If i have energy to change it I will. But I love being lazy and I have a house to pack before Saturday....

But thats not the point of this blog.

I have unofficially graduated from Washington Bible College...

I say unofficially because I still have an exit test and a few things of paperwork left. BUT. I no longer have to take classes.

Now I have a Choice. I have a choice to become stagnant and plateau or keep growing.

In Bible College we hear stories of people that graduated who.... you'd never guess went to Bible College. I hear stories of people who have turned bitter and vulgar. Or you hear about the graduate who knows everything and brags about it, but doesn't live their life like they know everything. Another horror story you hear is about families that are ripping apart at the seams.

I dont want to be one of those.

Today a man in my church got up to preach. He's not the pastor, just a man with a Bible College degree. (WBC graduate at that!)I'm not sure if he graduated from seminary or not. He stood at the pulpit and preached ... an amazing one at that.

Anyway. The point is. He has chosen day after day to follow Christ. To pick up his cross and have a continuous relationship with Jesus.

I don't want my degree to just be a degree.. (Because I will never be paid for what I went to school for-- but thats a whole other thing)...

Its easy. Bible college acts like a crutch to get you through your Christian walk. We go to Bible classes. Have chapel. We are surrounded by other believers. It's a bubble . ...

Well in 6 days my bubble will burst. And I'll be out in the real world.

I want to "live" past Bible College.......I want to run with endurance.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and wsin which clings so closely, and xlet us runywith endurance the race that is zset before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, awho for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising bthe shame, and cis seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Gets me every time.

Thats all for now.

j

Almost done

I thought I'd share what our house looks like. However I'm not ok with showing you the pile of dishes or clean clothes that are everywhere. But this has been our lives for the last couple days. Happy finals, it's almost over.

Somebody stole november!

Hello People.

Somebody stole my november, somebody is also stealing my december but I thought I'd try and write anyway. I'm waiting for monkey bread to finish in the oven so I can go to class. Dont you wish you went to Bible college? She's feeding us and we are watching a movie in her house. I'm as of now 13 minutes late because I forgot to wake up and the monkey bread didn't get cooked... I think B was about to kill me.

ANYWAY

September was filled with.. Birthday's and Baby showers and my last days of work (WHOO HOO) and school and everything else you can think of. Leading worship, childrens play-- yes i was in the children's play. I just need to learn to say no.

Anyways with one week exactly (hopefully) left in my undergrad career I am here to say

I'm BACCCKKKKKK.

See my Rudolf nose? My husband has one too I think he gave this to me, although I'm not entirely sure how you give somebody a GIANT PIMPLE! I thought these things were suppose to go away after you graduated high school.

Anyways, Pray for me. I HAVE to pass all my classes, take an interview with my Department Head (which its Earl -- AWESOME!) and take a test about what I know about the Bible. All between now and next week. OH and Field Education. (Stupidest thing EVER!)

Have a good weekend. IF you're looking for something to do, bring some chili and come watch our kids play flag football!

Okay my mokeybread is done. Officailly 22 minutes late to class. oops.

_thats all for now

-j

An Excellent Wife, who can find?

Hey Everyone, Sorry there was no weekend roll out. Currently, I am sick and I want to die. However Brian and I did get to spend time with his family. Some much needed colligan family time.

ANYWAY

I am a very blessed girl. My engagement right is BEAUTIFUL. It is the exact type of ring I've always wanted...

Our culture has made weddings into a Billion Dollar Industry. Girls care more about the look of their wedding then they do anything else. We have theknot davidsbridal brides.com etsy. You can have two wedding dresses, you can have two cakes. You can have a wedding registry at target, khols, and bed bath and beyond. You can have you own personal website. You get engagement photos taken. You send out save the dates. You have to make sure those who come to your reception do not sit next to people they dont get a long with.

There is so much excitement and stress that go into preparing for a wedding. But why is it that we "prepare for weddings"? Shouldn'twe be training up our "brides to be" to be wives, not brides?

Think about it. I see SO many photos on facebook that girls post of their 'dream wedding'. We want this dress, this ring, this cake, these flowers and the list infinitely goes on. How many girls do you see studying the word of God to find out with HE says about marriage.

I did not realize the importance of this until a few months before the wedding. (If you know brian and I you're probably laughing because our engagement was just a couple months.)

The Bible doesn't say how to arrange the flowers for center pieces, it gives no advice on hair styles. It also does not say "Thou shall marry Brian on July 24". ( I don't believe in soul mates or "one person" but thats not important here)

Those of you who are married, we need to speak up! While yes, a wedding should be fun and exciting - If you are putting more thought into bouquets than you are your duties as a wife, than something is wrong.

We see Proverbs 30:31 plastered on every christian coffee mug. However, we totally end up missing the rest of the proverb. A mother is telling her son exactly what to look for in a woman. I could go into it, but this post would never get done. Maybe I'll save it for next time.

The Bible has this "cuss" word in it "Submission" 1 Peter 3. We as women ( or at least I do) tend to think of that word with negative connotations. However, I believe (just my false doctrine feel free to test this) that it's not JUST obedience it's obedience WITHOUT an ATTITUDE! !!

My friends, if you know somebody who is getting married soon, or plans to ever in their life. Encourage them. Encourage them to pick up the Bible and read through Scripture. If you are married, you know that marriage is hard, and is rough and you know that (maybe this was just me) you felt a little over whelmed at first.

Tell them to prepare their heart for marriage. Tell them to guard their hearts from the lies and misconceptions of marriage.

I was blessed to have the wedding of my dreams.

I was also blessed by the fact that I started praying for my MARRIAGE.

I pray you take this to heart all of you. Share with those unmarried.

Thats all for now

-J

Weekend Roll Out.

This weekend I will hang out with her

and other people. but mostly her. She is my bestie, or well one of them.

I will do nothing but hang out with her and look cute.

thats all for now

-j

Spa?

My bathroom looks like this

actually at the moment it looks worse because he's worked out a lot this week. There isn't anything I can do about it. I rather have a messy bath room than a smelly closet full of sweaty clothes.

However, I have this.

I know it doesn't look like much. But this is a Yankee candle in the sent of Pumpkin Spice. It's in a repurposed spaghetti jar. And it turns my bathroom into this

Sometimes you need to find the little things to get through.

Thats all for now

-j