{Vow of Sparkles}

almond butter

2012-01-29T22:14:00.005-06:00

I had never heard of almond butter until last week. Wow...had I been missing out! I wanted to make some protein bars for Ryan for after his workouts and it called for 1 cup of nut butter (almond, cashew, sunflower seed, or peanut). I was almost out of peanut butter, so I thought I'd try something new.

So glad I did!

It is so good and super easy to make!

Toast 2 cups of almonds in the oven at 350F for 10-15 minutes. Then I put them into the food processor for about 10-15 minutes more.

About halfway through it will look like this. At this point I added 1 tsp salt and 2 tbsp honey.

Then I ran it until it was smooth and creamy. If it seems too dry just run it for longer and the natural oil in the almonds will break down a little more and make the almond butter creamier. 2 cups of almonds makes about 1 cup of almond butter. Jar and store in the fridge for 1 week.

Enjoy it on toast with some honey...so so so good!

Love, K

the best mac & cheese

2012-01-21T14:53:00.001-06:00

I usually don't like restaurant and/or homemade mac & cheese. It's hardly ever actually cheesy and usually is more rubbery than creamy. However...about a month ago, our family went to Tartine and Eliza got the mac & cheese and it was A-mazing! So (of course) I've been trying to make up the recipe for it and I think I'm pretty close!

Warning: This recipe is SUPER delicious...but not so healthy! Please make it in moderation!

Entertain your child. (Hint: This is the most essential step!)

Boil enough noodles for 4 people.

When you begin to boil your noodles, in a large skillet, melt 6tbsp butter, 3/4cup heavy cream, 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, and 1/4 cup gruyere cheese. You can add about 1/4tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp salt if you'd like.

It should take about as long as it takes the noodles to cook to melt everything. Let the sauce thicken until it starts to bubble then remove it from heat. If you cook it for too long the sauce gets grainy and starts separating.

Mix cheesy sauce with the drained noodles and enjoy! Doesn't it look so good?!

Eliza thinks it's wonderful!

Love, K

kachumber

2012-01-21T14:17:00.006-06:00

Before Kim & I went to India, way back when, our roommate at the time, Meggan, introduced us to a lot of delicious Indian recipes. She had been to India twice and spent a lot of time getting recipes when she came back. One of the first foods she made for us was chucumber, or Indian salsa. Now, apparently we'd been saying it wrong for the past 6 years, because it's really called kachumber. Oh well.

Super delicious! It's basically diced veggies + lime juice and salt with amazing spiced peanuts on top. My friends and I can't get enough of it! After making it a few hundred times, I decided I should probably share the secret. Hope you enjoy it!

Chop about 2 cups of raw Spanish peanuts using a food chopper.
I like to put them in a colander or fine mesh strainer after I chop them to get rid of
some of the peanut dust. (See how much dust I got rid of this time?!)

Peel, seed and dice 2 large cucumbers. Pick cucumbers that are firm and still have some bumps on them, that way the seeds won't be too big. To seed, I like to quarter the cucumbers, stand them on their ends, and slice all of the seeds off with one cut.
Seed (or de-gut, as I like to say) 3 large roma tomatoes and dice.

Dice 1/2 a red onion (I forgot to buy one, so I used a yellow onion)
Chop 1/3 cup cilantro
Optional: You may seed and dice a green chili if you want some spice (I never do because I'm a weenie)

Mix veggies and cilantro in a large bowl.
Add juice of 1 lime (~4tbsp) and 1 tsp kosher salt and mix well.
Refrigerate until ready to eat, up to 24 hours.

Heat 1tsp peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet and add chopped peanuts.
Fry peanuts until warm, about 5 minutes.
Add 3tbsp chat masala (Indian spice blend) and 1.5tsp kosher salt, stir well.
Remove from heat and place peanuts in a bowl.

Plate a scoop of veggies and top with a scoop of peanuts. Serve when peanuts are warm.
Enjoy with an outrageous amount of tortilla chips.

Love, K

kale chips

2012-01-18T22:16:00.007-06:00

Kale?

So my friend Chrissy has been trying all sorts of new foods and I'm very proud of her for it. Recently she made kale chips and said they were irresistible. So...copycat that I am...I decided that it would be a good snack for Eliza and I to make.

Wash and dry your kale

Cut/tear the kale from the thick stem and tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces.

Put the kale into a bag, drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp salt over the top

Close the bag and shake it all up!

Put parchment paper into a cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 5-15 min.
(Mine took 12 min.) Until the edges are browned and the leaves are crispy.

Mmm...looks good!

Enjoy. And eat them all at once...they don't store well.

Eliza approves. :)

It was a lot of fun making them. My only three disclaimers:
1. You should use the whole batch of kale if you're going to use the whole tbsp of oil and tsp of salt. I didn't use the whole thing and they were pretty salty. Still good, but I had to drink a lot of water with them.
2. I would like the call them kale crisps instead of kale chips. I had envisioned myself replacing tortilla chips with veggie chips for my salsa, but that, sadly will not be the case. The kale "crisps" are pretty delicate once their cooked. Enjoy it like you would enjoy popcorn.
3. Leave them uncovered and eat them all the same day. I tried to put them in a plastic bag and they lost the crispiness.

And...apparently kale is one of the healthiest veggies you can eat, so I'll be buying it more frequently in the future! Enjoy!

Love, K

smoothies

2012-01-08T19:56:00.002-06:00

Well hello there! Don't worry, I'm still alive! Just been very busy with life and work and baby Eliza for the past year and a half!

Brief life updates:

1. I went PRN (as needed) at work and am now working 4 hours every Monday night so I can stay home with Eliza!

2. Ryan is now working for Zirous and loving it! He's working on his PhD after he gets home from work at night. Hopefully another year (or so) and it will be completed!

3. Eliza is 19.5 months old now! She's such a funny little thing and I really enjoy being able to stay home with her!

4. I have been crafting in my spare time and have decided to open my own Etsy shop! My shop is called Vow of Sparkles and I sell things that I sew, knit, crochet, etc! Stop by and check it out!

And that's about it!

Ok, so maybe this is a silly reason to blog after 1.5 years, but I was pretty impressed with myself for thinking of this and had to share my idea!

We really love smoothies in our house. And I also am a horrible judge at how much to put into the smoothie to make 2-3 cups. So I usually end up with about 8 cups of smoothie by the time I'm done.

Not that this is a problem...but I have never thought of a good way to save the leftovers before. In the fridge it all starts to separate and looks too nasty to eat the next morning. In the freezer, I usually put it in a tupperware and it was hard to blend back up when I wanted some again.

So as I looked at the remaining 6 cups of smoothie that I'd made the other day, a brilliant idea suddenly came to me...individual frozen smoothie portions! Let me show you what I mean...

I did it again...made WAY too much smootie!

Stuff a freezer bag into a cup.

Pour the smoothie into the "cupped" bag.

Now you can freeze your smoothie for later! (Am I a genius, or what?!)

Stack them in your freezer and blend whenever you want a delicious smoothie! Enjoy!

Love, K

life updates

2010-08-11T15:12:00.000-05:00

So it has been a while (again), but much has happened! Ryan and I just celebrated our first anniversary yesterday! We spent the day at the zoo with Joe, Ruth Ann, Tony, and the boys. It was a really fun day! It feels good to say that we are no longer newlyweds. It means that we are now marriage experts. So if you have marital questions...ask away!

Other exciting news this summer; we were so happy to welcome baby Eliza into our lives on May 21^st! She weighed in at 6 lb 14.6 oz and was 20” long. I took 12 weeks for maternity leave, which is up next Monday. :( But I suppose I have to go back to work sometime.

Life with Eliza has been really fun! She has been smiling since 5 weeks and is now on the verge of laughing. She loves to read and play and listen to us sing at her. I can’t believe that I’m a mommy now!

Also in my spare time I’ve gotten a bit creative. Eliza was born with a good head of hair, which of course means that she needs to wear hair bows every day! My hope is that when she is old enough to realize that hair bows are not a natural part of her, she will be so used to them that they will stay in. We’ll see.

Anyways, I had been spending all of my money at the hair bow store, when I realized that I could easily make these things, rather than pay $5+ for them. So of course now I am making hair bows like crazy! I also really want to start sewing. There are so many creative things you can do if you know how to sew! And anytime we have $1200 to spare, I want to get a GO! cutter.

Maybe I should start with getting my sewing machine cord back from my aunt…

babymoon days 6 & 7

2010-03-03T00:57:00.000-06:00

Our last full day in Florida was another beautiful day, so we spent the morning sunbathing again. In the afternoon we went to the Everglades Wonder Gardens. It is a zoo/animal rehabilitation center where people donate pets they can no longer take care of and animals that have been injured can come live. If they get better, they are released back into the wild. If not, they can live at the zoo.

It was really fun. We saw turtles, deer, geese, alligators, crocodiles, snakes, raccoons, squirrels, birds, flamingos, fish, etc. Lot of fun pictures, but I am only putting a few up.

My favorite parts were feeding the turtles, watching a cute little otter named Molly being fed and sliding down a slide, feeding the big alligators, and petting the baby alligators.

After the zoo we went back to the hotel for some more time in the sun before packing and heading to sleep.

The next morning we woke up at 5am for our flight home. We finished up our trip with another meal at Waffle House. A perfect way to cap off a very fun and relaxing vacation!

babymoon day 5

2010-02-28T17:23:00.000-06:00

Day 5 was a beautiful, sunny 69F day, so we spent the first part of it at the hotel's pool soaking up some rays and swimming.

After a quick sandwich lunch, we drove to Ft. Myers to go to the Southwest Florida Museum of History. It was really fun and interesting. They had a train car from an early 1900s passenger train. The whole thing was made of mahogany and each of the sleeper rooms had a bed, a desk, and a chair that doubled as a toilet. The train also had a kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and sitting room.

There was a section dedicated to prehistoric Florida. I loved the megalodon jaw and the giant sloth the best. But there were also other dinosaur fish and shark and whale bones as well as a sabertooth cat and woolly mammoth.

The museum went through SW Florida history through WWII and then there was a special exhibit with artifacts and replicas of artifacts from King Tut's tomb. It was pretty interesting. We each got a wand that you could dial a number into and it would explain what you were looking at. Each explanation lasted about 1-2 minutes, but Ryan walked around with the wand up to his ear all day because he would forget to take it down when it was done. :)

After that, I wanted to go to Sanibel to find sand dollars. We drove there and walked along the beach, but didn't find any sand dollars. We did get to witness the beautiful sunset, however, which was a wonderful ending to a fun day.

babymoon day 4

2010-02-27T15:20:00.000-06:00

Day 4 was rainy, so we stayed indoors reading and napped for a bit. By the afternoon, however, it was sunny and beautiful outside. We drove to a local church for confession and Mass. I was so impressed with the priests there. The priest I had for confession was young and had really good advice for me. I loved the penance he gave me. The priest who said Mass gave a really good homily as well. It was wonderful to see the church so crowded with people! We had 6 people in our row that was clearly only meant to hold 4 people.

After Mass Ryan found a crab shack, so we went out for dinner. It was really fun. We had gator bites with swamp sauce for an appetizer. It was deep fried meat from alligator tail. It was kind of chewy and tasted like chicken boiled in seawater.

Then I got to teach Ryan how to crack crabs and get the meat out! He was a natural! The Balches would be very proud, I think. It took us 1.5 hours to eat all of the crabs and I think we were hungrier when we left than when we got there! Apparently 6 Chesapeake Blue Crabs are not enough for 2 people for dinner.

Then we explored a little boardwalk shopping center called "Tin City" and headed back to our hotel to eat some more grocery store food.

babymoon day 3

2010-02-26T15:02:00.000-06:00

Our 3rd day in Florida, we went to Corkscrew Swamp which had a 2.2 mile long boardwalk about 2 feet above the water. It was really neat to see all of the nature and birds. We ended up getting to the swamp later than we'd expected to (3:30pm), so the ticket taker told us we would have to take the shortcut, which was only about a mile long.

After finishing the shortcut, it was only 4:15, so we figured we'd have plenty of time to see the rest of the swamp before closing time at 5:30. The man had told us to start heading back at 5pm so we would be back before they locked the gates at 5:30.

We walked around, admiring trees, plants, squirrels, and birds and looking for alligators (we didn't see any). Buy 5:10 or so we started walking back to the entrance, thinking we couldn't be that far off. Then by 5:15, a man came by on a bicycle telling us that we'd have to have a brisk walk to make it back in time. That was when we saw the sign saying that we'd walked 1.5 miles. So we had to walk 0.7 miles in the next 15 minutes.

We booked it back to the park entrance, getting more and more scared at each turn when we couldn't find any sign of the entrance. We speculated on if they'd actually lock us in or if they made another round on bicycles to get stragglers out. Finally at 5:29 we made it back to the entrance. The person who'd been on bicycle said "Good, you've made it. Thank you." It was a close call!

After that we found a local church that was having a fish bake, since it was Friday. We entered the parish hall and realized that everyone there was at least 75 except for us and 2 other 20-something guys. It was fun and delicious, but there was a lot of talk about the weather. :)

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel for the night.

babymoon day 2

2010-02-25T14:48:00.000-06:00

The second day of our babymoon, we decided to go to the beach. After getting our bag all packed with swimming suits, towels, and sunscreen, we explored Naples until we found a public beach entrance. Unfortunately, it was very cold. The air was probably around 50F, while the water was maybe only 60-70F. We waded a little until we decided to go to a park since we were freezing!

In the park, it was sunny and the temp was in the mid 60s, much nicer. So we laid on the grass for an hour or so until our parking pass expired for the lot. Then we went to the grocery store to buy food for the week. There we met an old man named Frank who told us all about the birth of his "enormous 9lb 14oz son!"

That night we drove to Ft. Myers to go mini golfing at a place that promised a chance to feed the baby alligators! Of course Ryan beat me at mini golf, which gave me the opportunity to demonstrate my poor loser side. It was all better, however, when we fed the baby alligators. They ate dog treats that were bobby pinned to the ends of fishing poles. It was probably one of my favorite memories of the trip!

babymoon day 1

2010-02-24T14:33:00.000-06:00

We spent the first day of our babymoon in airports. The day was going well at first, but in Chicago, our flight was delayed 1.5 hours from a snowstorm that just "popped up" while we were on the runway. So we had to taxi back to the gate and get de-iced.

When we arrived in Florida at 1am, we went to pick up our "economy sized" rental car, but they were out. The man told me that they only had mini-vans left and gave us one of those. He also wouldn't take our voucher for the car insurance we'd already paid for, so I didn't know what I was going to do if we got into an accident. Unfortunately, probably due to hormones, I burst into tears once we were inside of the huge minivan. I was just not ready to start that phase in my life yet.

So back inside we went, since we saw Jeeps on the lot as well and traded for a nice orange Jeep Patriot. While it looked a little bit cooler, it was definitely more inconvenient. There was no button to open the door locks, and no automatic door unlock button inside of the car either! So we had to manually open each others' doors every day. There were no automatic windows or side mirrors as well. But at least it wasn't a mini van!

We flew into Ft. Myers and drove to Naples, where our hotel was. After getting checked in at 3am, we decided to go to Waffle House for a little snack. It was (mercifully) right next to the hotel.

I love waffles. A lot. And it was a wonderful ending to a busy and semi-stressful day.

it's a girl!

2010-01-17T22:57:00.000-06:00

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Friday and found out that we're going to have a baby girl! She was being pretty funny because she had her arms and legs over her head the entire time, making it difficult to get the right pictures. I had to keep coughing and rolling over to try to encourage her to move...but she stayed put where she was comfortable. Maybe she'll be a gymnast!

We are both super excited! As soon as we were done with the ultrasound, we went to the mall to get a frilly dress. :) Of course I had to go to about 10 stores before I found the right one (since I'd promised to only buy one...).

But that promise apparently didn't mean today too. After destroying my favorite winter hat in the washing machine, we took a trip to Kohl's to get a new one. After finding a cute little hat with a knitted flower on the side, I asked Ryan if we could look at dresses. He said ok, as long as I was just looking. Yeah right....$60 later we walked out of Kohls with my $6 hat and $54 worth of little girlie outfits for our baby. The funny thing is that Ryan picked out all of them! It's a little ridiculous. I will have to stop going to stores for a long time.

We hadn't really thought about names at all, but almost as soon as we found out she's a girl, we picked out the name Eliza. We haven't officially decided on it yet, but we've been calling her that for the past 3 days, so it will probably stick.

So we have a lot of things to think about coming up in the next four months!

Jesus, thank you for our little daughter! Please keep her safe and healthy as she grows and help her come to us safely in May!

snow day

2009-12-10T01:04:00.000-06:00

I know, it's true...I am a terrible slacker! Here's the update:

I've been married 4 months and Ryan has turned out to be more wonderful every day. I am truly grateful for all that he is to me, in the ways he challenges me and makes me smile. You can see some wedding pictures at Chris & Sarah's Blog. They did a fantastic job!

Our honeymoon to St. Lucia was fantastic! You can see photos on facebook. We enjoyed scuba diving, snorkling, sailing, mountain biking, learning about the island, dolphin watching, relaxing on the beach, having free drinks, and trying new fruits.

We are also expecting a little baby! Baby is due May 29th and we are super excited! Unfortunately, I have been feeling extremely nauseated the whole time. :( Sadly I no longer have "cake dreams" because the idea of eating cake makes me feel very sick. It has been starting to get better for the past week, off and on, so hopefully the good times are coming soon! You can also follow baby pictures and belly pictures on facebook!

Other than that, not much has changed. We got our Christmas tree up. Actually by we I mean my sister and me, with considerable assist from Ryan. Each time I yelled "Ryan, can you come spot me?" he ran from the other room to make sure his pregnant wife did not become impaled on a 7.5' fir.

We had our first big snow of the year. It's snowed a couple of other times but hadn't really stuck yet. In the past two or three days, it's snowed 17" and last night the 40mph winds created 4-5' snowdrifts! Poor Ryan has been very good about shoveling, a task at which I am fairly useless. I tried to help, but he laughed at me so much that he decided he should just do it all himself. Apparently the 3' that I got in the 5 minutes of trying wasn't very fast.

Hope you all are having happy and safe Christmas preparations!

in sickness

2009-09-09T01:55:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since the creepers...and a lot has happened. Ryan and I have gotten married, gone on our honeymoon, and begun our life together as husband and wife! :)

Today is our first "monthiversary" since our wedding and guess how we spent it...

That's right! I cut my finger open while chopping onions...right down to the bone! (I knew I didn't like onions for a reason!)

I will definitely need stitches, but MyNurse said that I can wait until an urgent care clinic opens...which I'm going to do. I am not going to the ER to get 4 stitches in my finger!

Other than some throbbing from a very tight bandaid, I feel ok...and Ryan finished chopping the onion.

What a good husband I have!

creepers

2009-06-16T15:44:00.000-05:00

I am excited to live with someone again...more specifically to live with a boy. Living by myself has been ok, but it gets really lonely and I get freaked out easily...especially since I know Kim and Andrew no longer live across the hall. I never felt unsafe living with Kim, Meggan, and Chelle, but I do now because this world is full of creepers, and unfortunately, they all seem to congregate around the places I frequent...

1. Yesterday I was leaving Staples and heard someone whistle in the parking lot. When I looked up, a middle-aged man was taking my picture with his camera phone. When I looked at him, he rushed over to his car and drove off. Creepy.

Then there's my creeper neighbors...

2. The first time I met my neighbor to the right, I was leaving for work and he pops out of his apartment, asks my name and then asks, "So are you single or what?" To which I replied that I was practically engaged. And he left.

Then a couple weeks ago, I hear someone knocking on my door at 1am and am totally freaked out. So I peer through the peephole and it's my neighbor to the right. He talks to me for a while, asking if I like to party, to which I reply that I don't. Then he sees my ring, asks if I'm engaged, and when I say yes, he left quickly.

3. Now for creepy neighbor #2. He lives to the left of me. The first time I met him, I was walking to the gym and he introduced himself and asked me to come to the bar he owns sometime. Seemed normal enough. I've seen him a couple times and he's always been very friendly to me.

Then last night I saw him at the gas station at midnight as I was buying milk after work. He was very drunk and very insistent that if I heard loud music from his place that I should come over and party with him. He kept trying to get me to walk home with him. Luckily I was driving. So I drove home as quickly as possible, but he was there practically at the same time as me. He remembered my name wrong and I could hear him yelling "Hi Kristen!" as he approached the apartment. I rushed inside and ran to my apartment, locking myself in.

Then I immediately started packing boxes. I'm getting out of here ASAP! At 4am, I had to mail a letter and figured it would be safe to venture out of my apartment. I find a note on my door with his name and phone number and a request that I text him if he's too loud. Don't think so!

4. And I don't know which is more disconcerting: that people follow me around being creepers, or that my fiance always laughs, tells me to take all of this as a compliment, and cannot fathom why it would freak me out.

return to me

2009-06-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to a youth Mass. Granted, I had no idea that's what it would be until I was there, but I'm glad that I accidentally stumbled upon it. It's always nice seeing "young people" participating and taking leading roles in music, reading, etc. (Saying that made me feel a little bit old.) I'm just glad we didn't have to do hand motions...never liked that, even when I was "young."

During communion, we sang "Sweet Redeemer" by Steve Angrisano and Sarah Hart. The refrain...

Sweet Redeemer, I surrender
All I am to You.

As I struggled to pay attention during Mass, that song jumped out at me and made me reflect on the past. It reminded me of the good old days when I was totally head over heels in love with Jesus. ...And of course I got a little sad.

Back in the day, Jesus was all I could think about. I was freely, totally, faithfully, and fruitfully in love with Him. I have many memories of high school marching band and calculus where I'd pray the rosary rather than pay attention to what I was supposed to be learning. I would go to daily Mass and daily Adoration, weekly confession, and Jesus was all that my mind cared to ponder.

I loved Him. I wanted to marry Him. I thought I would...

But it was so easy back then. It felt good and I had so much consolation in prayer. My life was so free and I had no responsibilities beyond caring for my soul and nurturing my relationship with God.

After NET, things got harder. I began school, working, dating. Life was more complicated and there was so much more to think about besides Jesus. I had no consolation in prayer and struggled with complacency of heart. But I still try to be faithful, and honestly I kind of suck at it.

But I try...hopefully that's worth something. I was told once that faithfulness in dryness is worth more than when it's easy. And I pray it's true! I just want to love Jesus and be faithful to Him!

I often think of this song (I think it's by Jim Cowan but I'm not sure) when I get in these moods.
Return to me that first love That I had when I gave my life to You

diving

2009-06-02T12:34:00.001-05:00

I have some irrational fears. One of them is that I'll drop my keys into the dumpster when I'm throwing my trash bags into it. Now this has never happened to me. And it actually hasn't even come close to happening. Still, I'm petrified of it.

Today I was daydreaming, trying to fall back to sleep after waking up early, and I imagined that it happened. I couldn't get back into my locked entrance apartment and my phone was inside, otherwise I would have called my dad.

So I had to buzz the only other person I've met in the apartment, my neighbor who tries a little too hard to talk to me. (One of the first things he ever asked me was if I was single.) But together we climbed into that dumpster and retrieved my keys. Then I baked him cookies and made a thank you card.

Crazy irrational fears! At least now I have a backup plan!

& guest

2009-05-30T16:35:00.000-05:00

My poor dad. He wanted to look over the guest list before I start making wedding invitations and just about had a heart attack. Originally, the wedding guest list I had comprised of 825 people. Ridiculous.

But after 4 months of painstaking, heartbreaking slashing, I've gotten the "number invited" down to 538 people. The reception hall doesn't really hold more than 375 comfortably, and I'm pretty sure fire code allows 400. So hopefully not everyone comes. (That's kind of an awful thing to say!)

But everyone involved has gone through the list and said who they think will and will not show up. The "number expected" currently sits at 380 people. So still iffy. I know some of those people won't be able to make it either.

If worse comes to worse, I hope we can do banquet seating or something. I don't know what we'll do if all 538 people decide that August 8th is a nice day to go to a wedding. :)

So needless to say, as my dad is reacting to the list I showed him (which was 559 at the time), I was glad I had never showed him the list of 825 people.

The way I was able to cut 21 people off of the list? I cut out a lot of & Guests. Every time my dad saw one of those he exclaimed "What are you trying to say by adding '& Guest'?! This person is single and it's insulting to put that on there. They'll probably feel pressured to go out and get a hooker as their date!"

That's my dad...the classic over-reactor.

So I'm sorry in advance if you either aren't invited, or there is no "& guest" on your invitation. Apparently both Ryan and I have huge families.

duplex

2009-05-29T22:22:00.000-05:00

Ryan and I have been doing some planning this week. It feels like we haven't done anything for quite a while! But this week we bought our wedding rings, put a deposit down on a duplex, are working on getting all of the addresses we need for the guest list, and bought all of the paper to make the invitations!

I'm pretty excited about the duplex. There is a strawberry patch, herb garden, and vegetable garden growing along the side of the house! Also there's a duck nest in the strawberries and a bunny nest in one of the flower beds! Yay nature!

This Sunday Joyce is throwing me a bridal shower and I'm super excited! Apparently there will be games...I know one is a questionnaire type game with consequences if I get the answer wrong...so hopefully I've got enough Ryan trivia stored away. I was trying to ask him questions on our way to Virginia last week for my cousin's wedding...but he found me out right away!

C'est la vie!

furry friends

2009-05-27T14:15:00.001-05:00

It's been 3 months since Heidi died. It's funny how I miss her in ways I never imagined. Every time I eat steak, I think about saving the "grizzle" for her. I am still careful not to kick her water bowl over when I run into the kitchen. When I go to my parents' house, I'm surprised not to see her running up to the door to greet me and wonder if she's shut up in the basement or office.

My dad adopted a new little friend. It's a squinty (Des Moines terms for a chipmunk) that has been living in our front yard. Everyday my dad leaves a little stash of peanuts right by his front door. One day my dad was moving the lawn as I came over for dinner. He stopped mowing and proudly showed me the front and back door of the little squinty home and told me not to get into his peanuts.

Last night Ryan and I rented "Marley and Me." I had read the book about a year ago and I loved every minute of it! The book is so hillarious! I was laughing out loud every other paragraph at work! The movie isn't quite as good, but still worth seeing. Of course I knew the ending and thought I would be ok, but I broke into hysterical sobbing by the end of the movie. Poor Ryan just held me as I cried myself to sleep.

...I still miss my poor little puppy.

eighty-six

2009-05-14T22:58:00.001-05:00

Again, laziness (or busyness) is the way with me. Sorry to anyone who has been frantically checking for updates! Your patience has paid off.

So what's new with life? There are 86 days left until Ryan and I get married. I have a wedding checklist, courtesy of theknot.com that says I have 86 items complted. (And only 184 more to do.) By my own calculations, I have nine or so...

1. Finalize food/alcohol plans
2. Find a place to live after August 8
3. Make and send invitations
4. Decide on accessories for bridal party
5. Decide on decorations for the wedding
6. Plan the wedding ceremony
7. Buy gifts for everyone involved
8. Figure out banking/insurance/etc. for marriage
9. Make the cake

I am probably underestimating how long this will take.

Recently Sarah and Chris took our engagement pictures! I love them and look at them several times a day! Here's a sneak preview...

Other than that, I've been trying to work on invitations. I'll post some sample pictures when I have a clearer idea of what's going on.

So this is really random. I need to get on the computer more often.

cupcakes!

2009-04-24T02:14:00.000-05:00

Christina's bridal shower is this Sunday and I am going to bring cupcakes. So, I decided to break into Ryan's dowry a little early so I could use the wonderful cupcake carrier that Joyce gave to us!

So Chrissy wanted champagne cake and Andrew gave me a bunch of awesome chocolate frosting that Kim had left over (hope that was ok with Kim!). Sadly, I only have enough chocolate frosting for 12 cupcakes so the others got white and blue frosting and had to go in the round cake carrier.

Joyce has the same carrier and so does Kim, so to avoid confusion, I decided to write my name on it. I was about to put "K. Balch" when it occured to me that in 3.5 months, that will no longer be my name! So I wrote "K. Babbitt" instead!

It's a wedding present, after all...that's kosher, isn't it?

make me babies

2009-04-09T04:02:00.000-05:00

At Kim's baby shower, I overheard Kim and Allie discussing a website called Make Me Babies.com. You can upload photos of you and your lover and see what your children will look like. So, naturally, I wanted to see if Ryan and I would have cute little ones.

The photos I used of our faces might have had something to do with the creepiness of the babies that the computer decided to make. I think it's the full set of teeth on an infant that does it for Margaret. Donald actually doesn't look too bad, even though his little face is a bit pudgy. I knew we'd have red-heads! I specified "caucasian" for Margaret but didn't specify for Donald or the last baby! The last one I made (which happens to be the cutest) definitely got the race wrong so I named it "milkman's baby."

Little Margaret Babbitt

Little Donald Babbitt

Milkman's Baby

ryan's dowry

2009-04-08T03:08:00.000-05:00

I love Joyce Babbitt! She is an amazing mom, a loving wife, a faithful Catholic, and an excellent role model. I hope to be like her someday because she is very thoughtful and puts others before herself.

Here's a great example...

At Christmastime Mike told me that if I ever needed Christmas lights, all I had to do was go in their basement and take some of the boxes that had been purchased over the years in after Christmas sales. Then he said something about "all of the wedding presents."

Joyce started to blush a bit as she told me this story: As a homeschooling mom, she noticed that many of the homeschoolers got married when they were 18, 19, 20 years old. So, once her boys had graduated high school, she figured they would be getting married soon too and began to buy them wedding presents when she found good deals.

Once Ryan and I got engaged, she began looking through the presents, which she affectionately referred to as "Ryan's Dowry" and said "What was I thinking?!" (I on the other hand, was pretty excited to get 10 years worth of presents in one day).

So the dowry got sent down to my apartment in 4 big boxes and Ryan and I spent a good 1-2 hours going through all of its delights! Lots of great stuff! Thanks Mike and Joyce! :)

My favorite gifts were (of course) the box full of baking goodies, the tools (I had asked my dad for tools for Christmas but he never got them), and a tupperwear with some NFP things in it including a due date predictor wheel and a little note that said "May you be blessed with many loaves in the oven!"

Again, I love Joyce Babbitt! I'm so excited for her to be my mom! (And that's not just because she gives me presents.)

wedding ideas

2009-04-08T00:17:00.000-05:00

I have been making wedding plans lately: looking at cakes, dresses, shoes, and tuxedos trying to pick styles that would suit my wedding. Here is what I've come up with so far.

Wedding Dresses

I appreciate this dress because I come from a Navy family. It would be a good way to honor their influence in my life. I also think modesty is an important virtue. I don't want to have a dress that would show off what my husband alone is supposed to see. Therefore, my dress shouldn't show off anything above the elbows or below the neckline.

This dress is an amazing combination of modern and modest. I like the mermaid style of dresses, but worried about how it would show off my butt. Now I don't have to worry about it! I'm thinking about getting this dress but I'll probably put a dickie under it to hide my cleavage.

Bridesmaid Dresses

As I'm sure everyone knows, I love things that are pink and foo-foo. This dress is both! Look at the lovely details in the bows and frills! And the sleeves are so poofy and wonderful! The girls will love it!

Motherhood is a beautiful thing. With three of my bridesmaids having just had babies (and who knows, maybe others will be pregnant at that point!), I think my wedding should honor their choice to bring life into the world. This dress would definitely do the trick!

Have you ever seen any old musicals? When I was little I really loved the movie "The King and I." I was thinking of having the groomsmen escort the bridesmaids up the isle to the song "Shall We Dance?" or "Hello, Young Lovers." The beautiful thing about this dress is that it has the ability to hide whatever sort of junk you've packed in your trunk!

Another childhood memory was playing with my Barbie dolls. I loved the pink, frilly outfits that I used to put them in. I loved the giant butt bows and the laciness and the matching gloves. The beading was awesome and the tiaras were so fun! I was thinking I could dress each bridesmaid in a different childhood Barbie dress! (Only bigger.)

Shoes

These shoes are both comfortable and economical. Everyone has some old maxi pads lying around, right? This would be a good way to save some money after my recent purchases. Of course I would put something like sparkles or silk flowers on the top of the shoes...I wouldn't want to look tacky.

I really hope these shoes come in pink! A dream of mine as a middle schooler was to be over 6' tall and now that dream can be fulfilled! This would also be a kind choice for my shorter bridesmaids to wear (i.e. Emily and Kim Taylor).

Tuxedos

Remember the 1970s and early 1980s? It was the time when most of our parents were married, so you probably don't. I think if my parents hadn't gotten married in their living room, they might have had a nice wedding and my dad might have worn something like this. I wonder if it comes in a pink to match the Barbie dresses...

Ryan and I saw this tuxedo style at the shop where we went for tux rentals. I have never been hunting, but this inspires me to go! The only thing that would make it better is having bright orange plastic flowers to go with it. That would be necessary. Ryan and the guys are going to look so good!

Mothers' Dresses

I don't want to forget my mom and Joyce on this special day! They have put a lot of hard work into raising Ryan and I and the wedding should be a day that they can sit back, relax, and look spectacular! Moms are so flexible and they bend over backwards for their children. Kind of like a Slinky...

Another thing I love about moms is that they are multi-taskers. I think this dress really emphasizes that quality. What's a better way to say "Thanks for all of your help with the wedding?" than buying them a dress that shows the many ways they've been there for you?

Cakes

Making my own cake will be really fun. I think I'm going to be pretty proud of myself in the end. I just hope it doesn't look homemade. Perhaps I should model it after this cake. Clearly someone with great talent put this thing together!

If making the cake turns out to be a bad idea and I get too far behind or too stressed, this is a wonderful alternative! Everyone loves Twinkies, right? Plus they will last for a long time. I won't even have to cover them up from the time we decorate the hall until the reception! Super convenient!

Photo Credits

www.uglydress.com
Ugly Dress is a bit crude but had me laughing at full capacity for a good two hours.
http://uglyweddingdress.wordpress.com/
Ugly Wedding Dress of the Day is also a good place to get some good laughs.
www.jimsformalwear.com
Jim's Formal Wear actually, seriously sells camo tuxes in case you're interested.

my "seacret"

2009-04-03T02:10:00.001-05:00

Anyone who has been shopping with me (or around chocolate, ice cream, waffles, or anything else I like, for that matter) will testify that I have no self control. I used to have Dana with me anytime I went to the mall to tell me that I didn't need something (what a friend)! It was always a big argument, and she usually only succeed in getting me to buy fewer of the $2 off item...but it was a big help.

Now that I'm a grown up, I think it's safe to go to the mall by myself. Wrong.

I decided to get Ryan a new shirt to wear since Vow of Silence got chosen to play at VIESHEA with Trapt and RED. (Congrats boys! You rock!) So of course I end up buying two shirts and a hat. But it was worth it because it's for my lover.

Then I am leaving the store and the Seacret nail kiosk lady, who is conveniently situated outside of Heritage, asks me if I want to try some hand lotion. "No thanks!" Nice job, Kathleen! That was a close call!

"Are you a nurse?"

I stopped...oh no! "Yes..."

The saleswoman grabs my hand and starts polishing my left thumbnail...oh no! "I am in the medical field too! I'm in med school. We have to keep our fingernails so short and cannot wear any nailpolish..."

Don't buy anything, Kathleen! Don't buy anything!

So... of course 10 minutes and two shiny nails later I leave the kiosk with not one, but TWO nail polishing kits. Awesome. So much for the hopeful, naive, positive self talk! Dana! Where were you?!

And the worst part is I paid $60 for it all! She told me that they had been $80 for one box, so $20 off was a great deal! I had to do it! Then at work someone said that they charge whatever someone will pay for it. Their friend had gotten two boxes for $30. And the website charges only $50.

Hmmm...

She told me it would make my nails stronger, but then I realized that I was just sraping off the top layer of nails....so how does that make them stronger?

So, ladies and gentlemen...learn from my mistakes! Just say no! You can do it!

more wedding party

2009-03-30T00:58:00.000-05:00

I had wanted to create a post about the guy half of the wedding party, but was waiting for Ryan to ask one of the groomsmen. Now that it's done, I can let the big secret out!

I obviously don't know these men as well as Ryan does, but I will try to capture a bit of why we love them based on my impressions....

Adam Babbitt: Best Man
I have never had a brother before, and I don't think I could ever have asked for a better brother than Adam! He is at the same time one of the most fun and most conscientious people that I've ever met. He remembers birthdays and always has the right thing to say to cheer me up, but he is never afraid to sass me as if I've been his sister forever!

Joe Pometto
Joe is like a brother to Ryan and I'm excited to be unofficially related to him as well! He met Ryan at a Steubenville summer conference and their friendship soon grew into one of the best bands I've ever heard! Joe is a talented drummer and a great friend! I also love the (often humorous) marital advice he gives Ryan, as he and Ruth Ann have been married the longest in our group. He's such a great guy!

Tony Pometto
Tony is the newest edition to Vow of Silence. (And what a genius decision!) He is one of the funniest people I've ever met. I don't know how he comes up with some of his crazy ideas, but they are always good. Not only is Tony funny, but he is a devoted friend and a great guy by whom I always feel very honored.

Sean Stanek
Sean! I must admit I am pretty fascinated by Sean...mostly because he leads such a mysterious life. Not only is he Ryan's cousin and roommate, but he is also a thoughtful, caring, loyal man. I really enjoy talking with him and smelling the delicious food me makes! I am also especially impressed by Sean's family values in the ways he looks out for and visits his family, especially his Grandma.

Steve Shaner
Steve and Ryan met in the very beginning of their journey at Iowa State University and are now both working on PhD's in computer science. I always enjoy hanging out with Steve because he is interesting, fun, knowledgeable, and has lots of good game ideas.

Dave Niedergeses
Dave was one of Ryan's roommates until he got married to Jordan last year. Dave is a genuinely nice and caring person and I've enjoyed getting to know him. He is getting his PhD in English at Iowa State, but if that falls through I know he has a guaranteed no-fail idea for a delicious eating establishment. But I'm sworn to secrecy so please don't pry.

Nate Sanderson
Nate is another one of Ryan's former roommates and probably one of Vow of Silence's biggest fans. I love it when Nate is able to make it to shows because his enthusiasm for the band makes the crowd rock even harder! He is a really devoted friend and I am always really touched by his heart-felt comments and compliments.

Ken Hiveley
Ken has recently left Ames to go to seminary in Minnesota, but Ryan and I are left with fun memories of our time together here. Ryan and Ken enjoy spending time having deep philosophical and theological discussions. One of my favorite memories of Ken is when he introduced Ryan and me to Stephen K. Ray and "The Footprints of God Pilgrimages" videos. Priceless.

John DeWyze: Personal Attendant
Sadly, John also left the Ames crowd this year for grad school at Dayton. I can't think of anyone better to be Ryan's personal attendant! John is a really thoughtful and caring guy who has a real desire to serve others and brighten their day. I am always impressed by his sense of chivalry and compassion for others. I wish he could be my brother as well, but sadly it's not to be!

Roman Pometto: Ring Bearer
The following sentence is a lie: Roman was an addition to the wedding party because we wanted to see how many Pomettos we could have in one wedding! Now for the truth: Roman is Ryan's Godson and the smartest little boy you will ever meet! I have really loved watching him grow under the guidance of his excellent parents. He is so much fun and brings smiles and laughs to everyone around him. I see so much wonderful potential in little Ro and am praying for his extremely bright future!

_______

So there you have it! The XY side of the wedding party! These men are all amazing and I am so blessed to know each of them. I am honored to have them witness my marriage to Ryan and know that we will all be friends for many years to come!

wedding party

2009-03-24T21:05:00.001-05:00

Our wedding party is rather large...

When people ask you who your closest friends are, it isn't usual to have 10 people to pick from, but I am blessed to be a part of such an awesome group of girls! I feel so blessed to know each of them and to have each of them witness my marriage to Ryan!

Unfortunately, Ryan could only think of 8 men to chose as groomsmen, so I had to narrow down the list. Worst decisions ever! So I now have 8 bridesmaids and 2 personal attendants. :)

And they are....

Emily Balch: Maid of Honor
Emily and I have been sisters and friends for 22 years. We are complete opposites in many ways, but that never stops us from having a great time together! Emily is going to be starting Law School next year, which is very exciting!

Dana Morris
Dana and I went to high school together. She is now a band teacher in Mount Ayr, Iowa and we sadly only see each other every once and a while, but we always pick up where we left off. In more embarrassing memories, we used to be in a "band" called the Pink Cheetos. So cool!

Kimberly Kem
Kim and I lived together for 2.5 years. We went through nursing school together (but at separate schools) and traveled to India together, where I could not save her from being bitten by a monkey. She has inspired me in many ways but especially to make my own wedding cake after I watched her make and decorate 400 cupcakes for her own wedding!

Ruth Ann Pometto
Ruth Ann is my inspiration for life (besides my Grandma). She is an amazing friend, wife, mother, and Christian. I was touched by her generous spirit and kindness to strangers when we first met. Hopefully I can be a good wife to Ryan by following her example!

Christina Fath (soon to be Weber!)
Christina is another inspiration to me. I would have made some pretty bad decisions in life without her influence. She has such a generous heart for her friends. I remember Christina told us once that she felt like she needed to be single until we were all with the person we were going to marry. And true to her word, she met Jon after we all met our future spouses and they will be married July 4, 2009!

Kimberley Taylor
Kim is the girlfriend of Ryan's brother Adam (and hopefully my future sister!). She always surprises me by her sauciness and whit, definitely a good match for Adam. Kim and I have been able to spend a lot of time together at the boys' house or at their shows and I have really treasured our friendship!

Michelle Wirth (soon to be Werner!)
Chelle came to live with Kim K and I after Meggan moved out. She works as the DRE in Elkart, Iowa and is getting married to Brian in November! Chelle is an artist and an athlete. I have fond memories of visiting her family's sheep farm and bike riding around Ames last year!

Meggan Young
Meggan lived with Kim K and I until she married James in December 2008. She was a big part of my learning to become an adult and would patiently listen to me for hours as she was trying to get ready for bed. She was very helpful as Kim and I prepared to go to India, as she had been there twice.

Monica Clinesmith: Personal Attendant
Dr. Monica is a wealth of knowledge and fun. One thing I love about her is that she loves to invite people to go on walks or go out to eat, which are some of my favorite past times. She is great at keeping us on task in Bible study and as making Roman laugh, which entertains us all! Some fond memories with Monica are the ice cream social we had when the power went out, her Jamaican birthday, and of course the many walks we've taken together.

Suzee Stone: Personal Attendant
Suzee is a kind and wonderful friend. I met her in high school and was instantly drawn to her. We used to pray together at retreats and I always looked forward to seeing her every summer. A fun fact about Suzee and I is that she married my prom date, Phil, and I am going to marry her prom date! Suzee has a long history in dance, which came in useful when I needed help trying on so many dresses!

Cecilia Smith: Flower Girl
Cecie is my Goddaughter. She will be 5 years old in October. I have been babysitting for their family since I was 11 years old and their 13-year old was an infant. Cecie is the 5th of their 6 children. I love to babysit for the Smiths, it is so much fun because they are all such good kids. Cecie's parents are also our sponsor couple for marriage prep!

________

Kim K got married last year (see old posts) with 9 bridesmaids. I love what she would say when people would question her having so many bridesmaids:

"When people only have 1 bridesmaid, no one says 'So I see you have no friends!' So why does everyone find it strange that I have so many friends!"

It's remarks like that that make me love these girls even more!

cupcakes

2009-03-24T20:50:00.000-05:00

I made these cupcakes for one of my patients. I got the idea out of a book that Ryan got me for Christmas! Aren't they cute?!

slacker...

2009-03-18T16:27:00.000-05:00

Life has been busy lately, but the real reason for me being a blogging slacker is that they blocked this website at work. :( What am I supposed to do with myself now?

Wedding plans have been slowing down, which is good. Flowers, caterer, photographer, church, my dress, and [almost] tuxes have been figured out. It took about 4 weeks before I found a reception site that was open and in my price range, that was the most frustrating part.

Actually the most frustrating part may have been picking out bridesmaid dresses. I had been to every bridesmaid shop in town, tried on most of the dresses in each store, and hated everything. Finally, Kim and I (who was 5 or 6 months pregnant at the time) went to the store where I got my wedding dress (again) and tried on about 1/2 of the dresses. We found 2 that we liked.

But not everyone was a big fan of those...so back to square one.

I got an email from Kim one night with a picture of a dress from David's Bridal that she liked, so we went there that week and everyone loved it and they are now all bought and ordered!

In the meantime, I have been working on invitations and making practice cakes. I take them to work because you can't leave me alone with a cake...even if it is Lent!

Next on the list is booking the honeymoon and rehearsal dinner location!

What do you think of the cakes?

you are dust

2009-02-26T05:06:00.000-06:00

"Remember, you are dust and unto dust you shall return"

Given the recent loss of Heidi, this just made me cry all through Mass. All of the songs about ashes seemed pretty cruel the day after losing my little friend. But at the same time, I am reminded of the Cross of Christ. I must pick up my Cross and follow Him, no matter where He leads or how hard it might be.

And that, actually, gives me hope.

adult decisions

2009-02-25T02:10:00.000-06:00

A good way to avoid hurt and sadness in life are to stay away from a few signs. #1: when Facebook says Single, looking for a relationship. #2: when a sign says House-broken dog $60. But then again, It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

My poor little puppy, Heidi, died today. We had to put her to sleep after she fell last night. She had fallen down a flight of stairs this past summer and injured her hip. It had taken her several weeks to be able to stand up on her own and she had deteriorated a lot. The entire 12 years that she was with our family, she acted like a puppy...so full of life. But the last 6 months she was struggling to get off of the floor from a lying position, she walked really slowly, she was getting cataracts, and she was not hearing as well.

So last night she was jumping up and down (forgetting that she wasn't a puppy anymore) and fell down, injuring her other hip. She laid on the ground, unable to get up, panting heavily and crying. She was unable to go to the bathroom since 6pm the night before and had thrown up twice.

I found out about it on my way to Ames last night and was hysterical. I was going to drive home, but decided that I was too tired and too upset to be driving. So I slept (or tried to sleep) for about 5 hours and then drove back home in the morning. My sister arrived later in the afternoon. We just held Heidi and cried, brushed her, and lavished her with attention. She calmed down a lot when Emily arrived. (I think Heidi always thought Emily was one of her puppies.) She licked up in the face when we cried and just rested in our laps.

It was so hard to see my dad's reaction to her being so hurt. He obviously loved Heidi very much and felt helpless. He would support her belly and help her to limp around the yard. He carried her to and from the house. Eventually he just sat with her on the kitchen floor for 2 hours, petting her, staring at the wall.

He had to make an adult decision today. These decisions are not easy because you have to make them based on what is best, not on what you want. I admire my dad's bravery so much.

After Emily arrived and had spent some time with her, my dad's friend Dave came over to help my dad take her to the vet. We walked Heidi around the yard one last time with a towel under her belly for support. We were all relieved when she was finally able to go to the bathroom with the towel support. After Emily and I hugged Heidi for the last time and she gave us each a good lick in the face, my dad carried her to the back of the van where he had prepared a little bed for her. Dave sat back there with her to comfort her. Emily and I stayed home to talk about Heidi and the good times we'd had with her.

An hour later my dad returned. Alone.

The vet had given her a full exam. Apparently Heidi had dislocated her good hip. Both of her hip muscles had atrophied to the point that they were almost useless and would be unable to regenerate, so she wouldn't be able to walk again. She had fatty tumors in her abdomen pressing her hip joints back, making it harder to walk. She also had severe osteoarthritis in her joints, making walking very painful for her.

At age 12, surgery would be too much, and their wasn't really a surgical option anyway. The only thing we would have been able to do was to have a doggie wheelchair made that she would have to sit in and use her front paws to propel. This would not solve the pain of her dislocated hip or her osteoarthritis, however. So, we had Heidi put to sleep.

I've never seen my dad cry. I've seen him tear up twice: today and when Emily left for Europe for 6 months. I only know about him crying twice: with each time we had to put a dog to sleep. He said he cried like a baby and they had to bring him a box of Kleenex. But it was a peaceful death for her and she went about 10 seconds after the injection.

I don't think I've every cried so much in my life. I pretty much cried all last night and all day today. Heidi wasn't just a dog to us, she was truly a member of our family. I feel as if I have lost a sister.

She was such a good dog. She had her naughty moments, but they were all pretty funny to look back on. Like the time she stole our pot roast from the counter top and dragged it under the kitchen table. Knowing she wasn't supposed to have it, though, she just licked it for a little bit. When we discovered her with it, she sent herself to the basement before we could send her there ourselves. :)

There's a lot of good memories that we shared and laughed about together. As much as it hurts to have her gone, I am so glad that she was with us for the past 12 years. She has showed me so much about what unconditional love is. I will miss her so much.

Jesus, thank you for Heidi and for the time you gave us with her. Please heal our hearts and help her memory to live on.

practice #1

2009-02-20T02:41:00.001-06:00

I decided (against the advice of many) that I am going to make my own wedding cake. I know that I can make a nice one, (contrary to the example above) but I want to make some practice cakes to see just how much effort it takes to make a layered cake. After all, I want to be good at it so my wedding cake doesn't fall apart.

So last night I was at they boy's house with nothing to do. After cleaning their kitchen out of boredom (a 2 hour job) I decided to make a cake. So I whipped this thing up in about 4 hours.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring any of my circle cake pans and had to make the cake using some lasagna dishes. It is a bit lopsided because the drive back to Des Moines from Ames was a bit rough on it. I also decided that making a square cake is kind of out of the question because all of the crumbs from me having to cut the rounded edges off got caught in the frosting. I was pretty upset about it at first until I decided to make it look like it was on purpose and turned it into a cookies and cream cake. So cute!

I'm going to take my practice cakes to work (where they will be highly under-appreciated but quickly consumed) unless anyone has any special occasions coming up and would like a practice wedding cake to be there. I'm making one for Kim's baby shower in March, but that's it!

Some tips to remember:
-Buy more frosting than you think you'll need to make a couple of layers to hide crumbs.
-Don't use lasagna pans...just don't do it.
-Mistakes can be ok if you're creative.
-Don't drive a cake 45 miles in the sun with no one to keep it level!

why i love groundhog's day

2009-02-06T12:14:00.000-06:00

So it's almost been a weeks since I've gotten engaged and I probably should tell you all how it happened!

Ryan is sneaky. I'll start off by saying that. We have been seriously talking about getting married at the end of the summer since October or so. With the required 6-months engagement period in the Des Moines Diocese, that meant that by February we would have to be engaged. (No pressure, Ryan! I am horrible at being patient.)

It didn't look like it was going to happen by then, so I was trying my best to be patient and supportive of Ryan as he worked on lots of school stuff, band stuff, church stuff, etc. We did go to look at engagement rings in January and decided on two options that I really liked. I had asked that we look at rings when he wasn't ready to propose. That way he would know my preferences and then I wouldn't become neurotic after two weeks when I knew the ring would be done and ready to be picked up.

I went to the March for life the week after we looked at rings. While I was gone, Ryan showed up at my parent's house (Thursday). He was so nervous as he stood in the living room making small talk with my dad about his work. After about 15 minutes, he announced that he had come to ask my father's permission to propose to me. My dad was so pleased and told Ryan how happy he was about him, how good we were together, and how welcomed he would be into our family. Then he called my mom downstairs and informed her that Ryan had asked for my hand. :)

So that Saturday (I was driving back from the MFL), Ryan took his brother Adam and Adam's girlfriend Kimberley to Des Moines to order the ring. The ring came in a week later and he picked it up last weekend.

Then he asked me if I'd want to come up on Monday (2/2) to celebrate Valentine's day early. With it being Groundhog's day and all, I found it hilarious. Even better was that he had blurted out that he had gotten me chocolates (from Stam) even though it was supposed to be a surprise. But that was good because I bought him beer, which is equivalent to him buying me chocolate. I also got really dressed up in a little red dress, did my hair, put on my foo-foo shoes, and even wore lipstick!

I was a little suspicious that he wanted to propose to me, but thought that he wasn't ready to do that yet. So the whole way up to Ames I was praying to God for patience, trying to find my worth in Him, and to surrender my desires to His will.

When I got to Ames, we had to leave immediately to go to St. Thomas where Ryan had a 2 hour meeting. Luckily I got to hang out with Kimberley, which was fun.

After the meeting we went to pray in front of the tabernacle. We put our chairs right next to each other, sitting hand in hand and head to head. He was so fidgety! He kept looking up at me then looking back down. He would look up again seconds later, kiss my forehead, and look back down. This repeated for several minutes until he said "Are you ready?" and then we left.

The whole time I had been praying and the whole way home, I was trying so hard not to think about getting engaged. I kept singing I surrender over and over and over again. I was trying so hard to find my joy in the Lord rather than in anything else. I was trying so hard and was almost on the verge of tears at one point.

Back at his house he brought the chocolates out, which I thanked him for. Then he said "Oh wait, I have something else!" Is it a ring? I wondered... And he pulled out a bottle a wine.

K: "Oh...Thank you so much, that's very nice."

R: "And I have one more thing..."

He pulled out a little grey box... That had better not be a necklace!

K: "Are you serious!!?!?!"

R: Nodding, gets down on one knee. He was shaking so badly and couldn't even open the box at first!

K: "Are you serious!?!?!?!?!"

R: Nods vigorously. "Kathleen Balch, will you marry me?"

K: "Yes! ... Are you serious!!?!"

He put the ring on my finger and jumped up and hugged me. I kept saying "Are you serious?!?!" I was so happy and couldn't believe it. The next 30 minutes we just spent staring at each other.

And then we told EVERYONE. :)

And now I'm telling you! The wedding is going to be August 8th of this year! So I have a lot of work to do in the next 6 months! But it is the good and happy kind of work that I've always wanted to do!

Jesus, thank You for having better plans for me than I could have planned or imagined for myself! I love You and I trust in You!

letting go

2009-02-02T05:36:00.000-06:00

I have been struck recenly by the idea that to begin to get what you want, you often have to let go first. This is especially applicable to me as I seem to really enjoy pressuring Ryan in a certain area.

I was listening to music yesterday and was struck by this line from Coldplay's Fix You...

And high up above or down below

When you're too in love to let it go

But if you never try you'll never know

Just what you're worth

I tend to place my worth is what others think of me. Yet, I need to truly let go and place myself in the arms of God, finding my worth in Him! (Not as easy to do as you'd think, but I'm getting better.)

The priest at confession cautioned me that if I kept pressuring Ryan and did get what I wanted, I would forever wonder if the gift was sincere. That was sobering enough for me to make an attitude adjustment.

Here are some more good quotes as well, though mostly unrelated.

Initial enthusiasm is easy. Afterward, though, it is time to stand firm, even along the monotonous desert paths that we are called upon to traverse in this life--with the patience it takes to tread evenly, a patience in which the romanticism of the initial awakening subsides, so that only the deep, pure Yes of faith remains.
Pope Benedict XVI (from Jesus of Nazareth pg 262)

God doesn't require us to succeed, He only requires us to try.
Mother Teresa

Stupidity is also a gift from God, but one mustn't misuse it.
Pope John Paul II

yes please

2009-02-02T04:57:00.000-06:00

I always need confession, but sometimes I have an acute realization of that need.

I went to confession on Saturday and was amazed at how present Jesus really was to me during he sacrament. After I confessed my sins, the priest paused for a few moments and then reached deep into my soul, touching a place that I didn't even know was hurting!

I cried for the next 15 minutes, snotty nose and all!

How amazing is that?

Jesus, thank You for holy priests and for the sacrament of confession!

little me

2009-01-30T02:01:00.000-06:00

I was reading through some old posts (4.5 years old already?) and it made me laugh. I remember being 19-20 years old. I really thought that I was a full-fledged adult. I was all ready to be on my own, get married, start a little family, and live happily ever after.

Being 19 is a dangerous age.

It's funny being 24 now and in a similar place in life...as far as getting married goes anyway. I have been on my own for over 3 years, financially independent of my parents (I think that was the proudest moment of my dad's life). I have learned a lot about life and am glad that I didn't get tied down at 19.

19 is definitely dangerous.

I don't really know how to put it any other way. I see a lot of 19 year olds go through similar situations, all the while thinking themselves very grown up. I think that 23-24 have been big years of growth for me. I am learning a lot about myself and others as well as how to get along nicely with my fellow humans.

Not to say that I have it all figured out. (That is a 19 year old attitude.) But I feel like I'm definitely in a better place in life. I'm sure in another 4.5 years I'll be posting again saying how glad I am not to be 24 anymore. C'est la vie!

Praise God that I'm done being 19!

life is beautiful

2009-01-27T04:30:00.001-06:00

This past week I went to the March for Life in Washington, D.C. I joined over 300,000 other pro-lifers as we marched from the mall to the Supreme Court on the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. We were there to march against abortion and to stand up for life from conception to natural death.

This was my second time going and it was very different from the first. I went with Mary and Jon this year rather than Iowans for Life. Mary works for KWKY, the Catholic radio station in Des Moines, and Jon volunteers to do a show called Martyrs of the Third Millennium which he was taping interviews for. M3M was inspired by a quote from JPII that I can't find right now. :)

I was amazed to hear the profound things that so many people said. How wonderful to see people inspired by the Spirit. The person who probably gave me the most hope, however was Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. He spoke of hope within the pro-life movement. The hope is not from how many people come to the MFL or how hard we pray or protest against abortion. Our hope and our help is from God. He alone can make it happen. And with a pro-choice president, we are tempted to let our hope fade. This is silly, however, when we realize that God is in charge. He can overcome this desipite what Obama does to unravel our work and regardless of how hard we work.

Being at the MFL has inspired me. I see the universality of the Church as well as the goodness of humanity. I am relieved to remember that God's triumph is not about me. :) What a good deal!

At the vigil Mass (where ever 16,000 people crammed into the National Shrine and the opening song took 30 minutes because there were so many priests there), Cardinal Justin Rigali of Washington State had something inspiring to say:

"Are we prepared to say yes to His will without counting the cost? [....] Do not be afraid of Christ. He takes nothing away and gives you everything."

Amen!

Jesus, fill us with hope and help us to say YES to You!

bravery

2009-01-17T04:29:00.000-06:00

I just finished watching The Scarlet and the Black, a 1983 film starring Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer. It is a true story, based on the book The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, about a Msgr. O'Flaherty who helps Allied POW's hide from the Nazis during their occupancy of Rome during WWII. It's almost a 3 hour film, but very inspiring and very worth watching.

The first time I watched it was right before I left for India. I was so nervous and really didn't want to go anymore. I questioned why I thought it was a good idea in the first place. Now, watching it again after 2.5 years, I am at the same crossroads on the eve before I leave for the March for Life. I don't know why I am so nervous about this. Maybe it has something to do with the sentiments of our new president, maybe it has something to do with not being there with the group I usually go with, I don't know.

But as I watched The Scarlet and the Black, I was so inspired by the bravery of Msgr. O'Flaherty. He was truly an example for all of us to follow when it comes to standing up for what we believe in and supporting the dignity of life.

God give me courage.

cookies

2009-01-14T21:42:00.000-06:00

I made cookies today! That's right...a nice change from cake. :) I had gotten [myself] some cake decorating books for Christmas, and one of the books dedicates a nice section to cookie decorating. It looked super easy, just pipe royal icing to outline to cookie and fill with thinner royal icing.

Well, the whole process took me 4.5 hours. No wonder most sugar cookies are little blobs with some sprinkles on top! It was crazy! I also now understand why Starbucks can charge $5 for those cookies. With what I get paid as an RN, I would be able to buy a lot of $5 cookies for the 4.5 hours it took me to make these 20!

The book I got also showed how to make pretty flowers with royal icing! So I tried with the leftover...

As you can see, my flowers need a little work! But all in all it was a fun way to spend some time that I didn't know what else to do with!

I was going to make the cookies for work, but after the time and effort I put into them, I decided against it. I knew they would be quickly devoured by nurses who weren't necessarily hungry or appreciative of how hard I had worked.

Instead I decided to make them as little gifts to a select few. :)

idolatry

2009-01-14T04:33:00.001-06:00

I've been trying my best to get back in touch with God after a lot of complacency and He is really welcoming me back!

I am starting off by improving in my prayer life, which is going well. Ryan and I are also praying more together and spending less time doing "other things"...which has been really fruitful.

I find myself realizing more and more how I idolize marriage. Well, not relly marriage persay as much as rings, weddings, planning, taking control, etc... It's a big distraction. :)

So I've been praying about that recently and God is showing me a lot. Today I was a Adoration with Ryan and felt God telling me to read pg 376 of the Bible, which was 2 Kings 23. It was about King Josiah destroying the idols that Isreal had turned to.

Before him there had been no king who turned to the LORD as he did, with his whole heart, his whole soul, and his whole strength, in accord with the entire law of Moses; nor could any after him compare with him. 2 Kings 23: 25

So it's been good! I've felt really inspired to turn back to God with my whole heart, whole soul, and whole strength! God is faithful! I find myself trusting Ryan's judgement more as I let go of control more and trust in God. Life is good.

Praised be Jesus!

sickest ever

2009-01-12T01:19:00.000-06:00

Let me begin by stating that I am horribly afraid of bugs.

I'm fairly convinced that bugs are teaming up as we speak to plot out my demise.

That being said, contrary to popular belief, I am fine with bugs when they are in their natural environment. Their natural environment, however, is not my food.

So today I decided to eat some pasta for dinner. I measured out one cup of rotini noodles and noticed there was only a small amount left and decided to make the rest. As I was pouring it out, though, I noticed some dead bugs in the bottom of the box, which was disgusting. Even more disgusting was the fact that they actually weren't dead. I noticed that when I freaked out, spilled the rest of the pasta on the counter and all of the bugs were squirming around.

The little bug were everywhere! The were in the little nooks of the pasta, in the box, around my counter tops...everywhere.

So I tore apart my cupboards and searched through all of my food looking for parasitic invaders. I put everything that I thought a bug would like to eat in ziplock bags or mason jars. I threw away anything that I couldn't search through (cereal, bread, etc.). Then I took out the trash and cholroxed my entire kitchen. (This does nothing good for my OCD cleaning tendancies!)

I didn't see anymore bugs, but I'm not convinced they're gone. I read some advice online and it seems like I did the right thing.

And what makes it ever worse is that I ate those noodles a week ago and didn't notice a thing.

Sick.

crash

2009-01-05T16:15:00.000-06:00

I was on the phone today when I heard a loud crashing sound right outside of my apartment door. Then I saw a lot of smoke. When I ran out on my deck, I saw a car completely on it's side. I quickly got off of the phone and ran outside. Several people were either running to help or were just standing staring. I was so scared that I'd find a bunch of bloodied bodies in the car and that I'd single-handedly have to pull them out of the car and perform CPR.

Luckily everyone was ok. Four teenagers had hit an icy curb and flipped their car, but had all managed to crawl out of the car unhurt. I walked up to them and asked if everyone was ok. They said they were. I asked if anyone had hit their heads, which they replied "Yeah, kind of, but it's mostly my hip." Their pupils seemed ok as I stared into their eyes, and no one was acting very strangely. One girl was on the phone with the police and the rest were just laughing about what had happened.

Seeing that everyone was ok and realizing more professional help was on the way, I went back inside. I was so freaked out! What a potentially fatal accident! It is amazing that no one was seriously hurt. Just to show you all, I snapped this picture from my deck, I didn't want to be creepy, but it was kind of amazing.

Thank you Jesus for protecting all involved!

exciting gifts

2009-01-05T16:07:00.000-06:00

This year I gave the Smiths the movie Horton Hears a Who. It was a very exciting gift. As soon as they opened it, I was serenaded for several minutes by their favorite lines of the movie! It was nice. :)

Veronica, the youngest, hasn't seen me for a while, so she clung to her mom while she cautiously stared at me. After all of the excitement died down, she decided I was ok and began chattering away!

What a lovely family!

baker's delight

2009-01-05T14:54:00.000-06:00

Almost every present I got from my family this year had to do with baking cakes. It was delightful! I think they picked up on my little hobby!

My sister gave me a checkerboard cake pan set and a cake carrier. I guess she heard of the several times I made cakes and carried them on my old cake platter in one hand while driving with the other. Not so safe.

I decided to break out the new cake pan for the sweater party and made a lovely little ugly sweater cake! Anna said it tasted like eating Christmas. :)

ugly christmas

2009-01-05T14:09:00.000-06:00

Last year Kim, Chelle, and I hosted our first annual "Ugly Christmas Sweater Party" which was so awesome! This year it was held at Pometto Estates and was full of even more Christmas cheer! We actually had prizes this year. The winners are...

Ugliest Ugliest

Ugliest Couple

Ugliest Accessory (the shoes)

Most Likely to be Worn in Public (Anna)

Ugliest Actually Worn by Your Parents (Andrew)

I was going to vote for Kim Taylor before I saw Jon's little number, but I figured that the person who everyone at the party had to take their picture with should be the winner of the whole thing!

For next year we decided to name our party "Ugly Christmas." And (I think) Ruth Ann came up with the idea that our next party should be called "Ugly Wedding." There's a lot of good stuff out there! Any more ugly ideas?

God bless the ugliness!

ring pop proposal

2008-12-16T19:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I wasn't feeling well as I have had a cold for the past few days. But I decided to brave the illness and drive up to Ames to visit Ryan. He asked if I had any grocery requests, so I asked for beef and vegetable soup, bananas, and cherry juice.

After going to the store he called to let me know that he had purchased a few extra prizes for me.

When I got there he presented me with two cans of soup, two cartons of juice, bananas, beautiful yellow roses, and a ring pop.

It was so cute. I exclaimed, "You bought be a ring!" And he said yes. Then I said that he had to get down on one knee and ask me a very special question. So he gets down on one knee, holds the ring pop up to me and asks,

"Would you do me the honor of consuming this ring pop for me?"

To which I replied with an enthusiastic "You know I will!"

Best proposal ever!

engaging

2008-12-16T14:18:00.000-06:00

This was probably the 3rd most embarrassing moment of my life...

The most embarrassing moment is too shocking, even for the internet.

The second most is when I happened to pass gas (really bad) during my chair placement audition for the All-State Honor Band in high school in front of my three 20-something year old male judges.

And now for #3...

This past Friday Ryan and I attended a Christmas dinner with my dad's antique car club. My dad has been the president for the past two years and is one of the youngest members. (Everyone else is at least 70). When we walked in, one of the first comments made was "Well this room just got a whole lot better looking!" And an older gentleman began to chat with us for the next 30 minutes. After meeting several of the car club members (there were about 100 people there), it was time for dinner.

As I was returning to my seat with dessert, I was stopped by Dean, the man who was going to be the next president of the car club, starting that night, and his new fiance, Linda. I talked with them for about 10 minutes, they were very nice, and one of the couples that was still under 60.

Then Dean said, "So, I hear that you are getting married!"

Me: "Well, I'm not engaged..." I didn't want to gush about Ryan to them because I knew they would regurgitate everything I said to my father.

Linda: "Oh...but are you close to it?"

Me: "We've talked about it but I think it will be a few months until we are."

Linda: "Have you looked at rings?"

Me: "We haven't gone yet..." Then my dad began giving a speech, so I sat down, glad that I'd clarified that I wasn't engaged before things got back to my dad.

My dad introduced Ryan and me to the crowd and told a little bit about each of us. So everyone knew where we were sitting and who we were. Then my dad introduced Dean as the new president. Dean gets up to give his speech and the first thing out of his mouth was:

"So Mike, I hear your daughter is getting married soon!"

One hundred 70+ year old faces turn my direction, each with an anticipatory grin. I could feel myself turning bright red, the kind of red where your face feels like pins and needles and you want to crawl under the table. I didn't dare look at Ryan, but my dad's face was a combination of shock and annoyance with Dean as he stammered "Well, I think they're still working on it."

I hid my hands under the table because all of the prying eyes were looking for my non-existent ring.

When my dad got back to the table I sheepishly giggled "Surprise!"

It was pretty embarrassing. The woodwind trio that played Christmas carols for us after the speeches informed us that they also play for weddings. And as everyone was leaving, Ryan and I got several congratulations on our engagement from well meaning 70 year old women.

So apparently I'm engaged! Just what I've always wanted!

binary

2008-12-06T21:54:00.000-06:00

I had one of my favorite text-message conversations ever today with Ryan's cousin Sean. Sean is a PhD sudent in computer science at Iowa State University. He lives with Ryan and I get so excited every time I get to chat with Sean!

Here's our conversation:

Kathleen: Can you write in binary?

Sean: 01111001 01100101 01110011 00100001 (yes!)

Kathleen: Does that mean yes? You are so cool!

Sean: That's a deinite yes, but hex is way more efficient than binary! 79 65 73 21

Kathleen (after consulting Ryan to find out what "hex" was): I can see that! Is that because hex is base 16?

Sean: Yes it's 1000 times better (1000 in binary of course)

Kathleen: You're a genius! I'm so excited to be your cousin!

Sean: Is it official then? Did you set the date?!

Kathleen: I wish! I'll be sure to tell you when it's official! Hopefully sometime next year.

best ever

2008-11-21T16:10:00.000-06:00

This is probably the coolest thing I've ever made! It's a birthday cake for Christina's dad, Jim, on his birthday! She asked me to make a dachshund cake because they have two of them: Otis and Shatzi!

I'm not going to lie...I'm pretty proud of myself!

Happy Birthday Jim! Also happy November birthdays to Adam, Meggan, Dawn, and Jon!

poor ryan

2008-11-17T21:30:00.000-06:00

Every time I cook for Ryan I always forget to make meat! I have been so used to eating a diet that consists of fruits, veggies, and cereal that I forget that normal people eat meat.

Don't get me wrong...I love meat...I just never buy it because 1. raw meat is gross and I don't like to touch it and 2. when I cook for just me a whole package of meat seems overwhelming.

So tonight I made Ryan some delicious spaghetti squash. It was really good. Of course after I bought all of the ingredients Ryan informs me that he doesn't like spaghetti squash, but I made it anyway and he liked it!

Halfway through making the dinner, however, I realized that, once again, we would be eating entirely vegetables for dinner. Oh well. It was delicious and healthy! Next I need to work on some meat recipes!

french

2008-11-11T14:19:00.001-06:00

Here's a sample of what I've learned in French class so far. Basically if you want to have a conversation (in French) about names, clothes, descriptions of people, classes, family members, or what you like to do ... I'm your girl.

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Kathleen. Je suis americaine. J'ai 24 ans. Je suis brune, grande, mince, et jolie. J'ai les yeux bleus et les cheveux longs et frises. Dans ma famille, nous sommes quatre personnes. Il y a mon pere, ma mere, ma soeur, et moi. Aussi nous avons un chien. Elle s'appelle Heidi. J'ai un cours de francais cette semestre. J'aime etudier le francais. Aussi parle l'espagnol et l'anglais. J'adore cuisiner, inviter des amis, voyager, et rigoler. Mon petit ami s'appelle Ryan. Nous aimons passer la soiree ensemble.

There you go! That's about the extent of my French 101 converstaional abilities!

for women only

2008-11-10T16:46:00.000-06:00

So it's been a while. I think between the trip to Wisconsin and working days again (aka no free time in my life ever) life has been busy!

Just a quick update...Life has been good. Pretty much the same as before.

Really I just wanted to say that a dad and his little daughter just walked by me and it made me smile. He was really attentive to her and she was not paying attention to anything - very distracted. He kept having to re-direct her.

Today I finished reading a book called For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men. Such a good book! I really opened my eyes to how men think and how I can best honor them through my actions. I definitely recommend it!

Have a great day!

senior choir

2008-10-23T16:11:00.000-05:00

Grandma's nursing home has delightful entertainment each day. Today they had a Senior Choir come sing for the residents. Enjoy!

last day

2008-10-23T16:08:00.001-05:00

Today is my last full day here in Wisconsin. Tuesday was probably the worst day ever. Grandma only had about 3 or 4 hours total during the day where she was not having shaking/pain spells. Joyce and I spent hours at her bedside talking with her, trying to distract her, trying to calm her, and working with the nurses to figure out how to best help her.

Yesterday, she had one episode that lasted 1.5 hours, finally fell asleep, and woke up 5 minutes later totally fine. We also got to go on a car ride to a neurology appointment. It was neat for her to be able to see the outside world. She had a really good day.

Today has been good so far. She hasn’t had PT yet, which seems to be when she gets shaky and painful and anxious. Hopefully she’ll do better as they are trying a new anxiety medication.
It’s crazy that I’m leaving tomorrow. I feel like I just got here. Hopefully Grandma will get better and better…she’s had such a rough time!

Keep up the good prayers!

ruth

2008-10-21T16:01:00.000-05:00

Last Monday I decided that if Joyce needed help this week, I would take time off to go to Wisconsin to help her. Tuesday I cleared this with my French teacher and Wednesday I asked about the possibility of taking a week off of work. We have been kind of slow lately. Last Friday they had 4 people stay home on call, which is very unusual for this time of year. Wednesday night I talked to Joyce and asked her if she would want me to come, and Thursday night she decided that it would be helpful. So, I spent all day Friday (thankfully I’d been called off from work because of low census) calling my fellow employees trying to cover 36 hours of work. I’d gotten all but one 4 hour shift covered, and my manager said that she would just take me off of that shift and they should be fine.

I feel kind of like Ruth to Naomi. Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! for wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God. I am not a part of their family, but I feel like I am. I hope that I can be helpful. All I want to do is lighten the burden for Joyce, even if it’s only in a small way.

So I made the 6 hour trip up to Mosinee, Wisconsin on Sunday with Mike and Adam. We met Joyce and Ryan at La Crosse, WI for lunch. It was so good to see Ryan. I had almost forgotten what it was like to hold someone’s hand! After switching passengers, Joyce and I drove back to Mosinee and visited her mom at the nursing home before heading back home to sleep.

Yesterday was a difficult day. Grandma has been having tremoring episodes but no one is too sure what they are related to. It is so difficult because she cries and asks God to please take her when she is having one (and she had three of them yesterday). Poor Joyce and I were crying right along with Grandma. It seems to be related to her being tired (whether medicated or not) in connection with physical activity. Ryan gave me the idea to keep her talking about something else during these spells, which I tried and it seemed to work pretty well.

So Grandma seemed out of it all morning and early afternoon, but when she woke up from her nap before dinner, she was totally herself. We did transfers with her and arm exercises and hand exercises and she didn’t shake once. We had long discussions where she would crack jokes and be very lucid. It’s crazy what a change not being medicated makes in her.

Keep up your prayers for the Babbitt/Stanek/Polka family. They need lots of spiritual support right now!

foo-foo cake

2008-10-18T15:49:00.000-05:00

My Goddaughter is turning 4 years old on Monday! I can't believe it! I babysit for her family (6 amazing kids) and the last time I was there, Cecie and I discussed her birthday plans. She informed me that she would like a pink and purple Barbie cake!

So, being the cake-making lover that I am, I decided to make her wish come true! I got a doll cake pan at Michael's, baked the cake, and decorated it with fondant frosting. (Making the dress boddice was the hardest part!)

...Probably the coolest cake I've ever made! I thought Cecie's mom was going to cry when I showed it to her. All of the kids really liked to too. Libbie (Cecie's older sister) is already thinking about the cake she wants for her February birthday. What good fun!

God bless my little Goddaughter as she grows! Keep her safe and healthy. May she grow to love and know You intimately. Jesus I trust in You!

stupid ovaries

2008-10-17T15:33:00.000-05:00

So tonight while I was making a birthday cake for my Goddaughter, one of my ovaries decided to explode. Not literally, of course, but in an awful and painful way.

Last May I had an ovarian cyst rupture that was 1/2 the size of my right ovary. It was so painful that I fell to the ground screaming. 2 trips to the ER and over $1000 in medical bills (out of pocket) later, they decided that there was nothing they could do about it.

And of course it happened again tonight. When it happened I knew right away what it was. But the cake for Cecie was almost finished, so I had to hobble around my apartment bent in half checking on the cake every 5 mintes. I eventually called my mom crying and she came over in time to take the cake out of the oven.

As long as I kept myself in a motionless fetal position, the pain would begin to subside, but as soon as I moved, it would shoot right back. But the pain was only severe for about 45 minutes and was pretty much gone by 2 hours.

God bless my crazy ovaries!

busy weekend

2008-10-13T22:38:00.000-05:00

On Friday I was supposed to work 7am - 7pm. Around 1pm a co-worker told me that she had gotten a message for me two hours before and had forgotten about it. She said that Ryan had called, his grandmother was in the emergency room again, and that he wanted me to call him back. So I called Ryan over my lunch break and he said that they would be leaving for Wisconsin again. Apparently she had been sitting up in a chair and had become unresponsive/barely responsive after breakfast. Back to the ER.

I felt strongly compelled to go to Wisconsin with the boys but didn't want anyone to think I was a stalker. I just wanted to be there to support the family...plus I love them all and wanted to see everyone again. So I asked my team leader if there was any way I could get off work early. She said that I would be able to leave at 3pm. After giving report, I rushed home, packed about 12 days worth of clothes in a bag (Wisconsin is cold, right? but what if it's warm?), and headed to Ames.

On my way to Ames Ryan called and said that the doctors thought Grandma had just passed out and that they may not go anymore. But I decided to keep driving up anyways. When I was almost there, he called back and said they were going. So we all loaded up Jason's van (a cousin) and made the 6-7 hour drive to Mosinee, WI. We finally arrived around 12:30am.

The weekend was full of mixed emotions. It was really good to see Grandma. She was alert and seemed mostly comfortable when we first arrived on Saturday, but by Saturday evening she was having pain/anxiety attacks. Finally she was able to go to sleep Saturday night, but it took a while for her to feel comfortable. Sunday everyone except Joyce was going to leave for home. When we went to the hospital to say goodbye, Grandma was in pain again. It was really difficult to see her like that for me, and even harder for her family.

At the end of the weekend, Ryan decided to stay there for the week to help Joyce. I was so impressed by his generosity. I know he will be a big help!

God bless Grandma Stanek! Continue to help her recover!

new tv

2008-10-09T09:16:00.001-05:00

Last night my dad agreed to go TV shopping with me. I have been trying to get ahold of a TV since I moved into my new apartment, but haven't had success yet. So, we went to Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy. Best Buy's TVs were a bit more expensive, but they had a really good exteneded warrenty, so I bought one of theirs.

Now I can watch HDTV! It is a 36" flat screen 16:9 TV. The screen is matte so I don't have a nasty glare from a light or window while trying to watch a movie (it's always been my least favorite thing about watching TV).

I began my TV career by watching an HD channel of Iowa Public Television. It is a travel/food channel that spurred my interest in traveling again! (As if it was ever gone.) I called Ryan with the request that we go to Tokyo soon!

So I'm creating a places to go list:
Tokyo
Australia/New Zeland,
somewhere in Africa
the desert
pyramids
the jungle

Any other ideas?

My dad also spent our WalMart and Sam's Club time looking at sports sunglasses that can hold a prescription. I suggested the above goggles inspired by middle school chemistry. He suggested I try on the little red ones. What do you think?

interview

2008-10-09T09:09:00.001-05:00

One of the funniest and most amazing people I know is Christina. She and her sister Caroline have a blog and wanted to interview their readers. So Ruth Ann volunteered and so did I!

You can read about me on their blog! Also be sure to read about their adventures! Very good!

bump on the head

2008-10-07T06:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I found myself at Ryan's house debating whether or not to go home and use my gym or to use Adam's Malibu Pilates chair and videos. I thought about it for quite some time. The pilates chair was in the basement. Pros: I don't have to leave yet. Cons: There are bugs in the basement, I don't know how to hook up the DVD to the downstairs TV, and I was afraid Ryan would laugh at me if I brought the chair upstairs.

Finally I decided to do some pilates, so Ryan helped me bring the chair upstairs and promised not to make fun of me.

It was a nice workout. At the end, being the good citizen that I am, I made the executive decision to carry the pilates chair to the basement by myself so that Ryan could continue to work. He even asked me if I needed help and I said that I didn't. I picked up the pilates chair, took about 2 steps downstairs, and the footpedal flew up and hit me in the forhead.

Unfortunately, the first word out of my mouth was one I don't care to repeat. Ryan rushed over and grabbed the chair from me, returning it to its place as I sat on the steps crying. He got me an ice pack and sat with me until I realized how rediculous it was and then we laughed for a long time. I now have a lovely bump right smack in the middle of my forhead with some beautiful purple tinting.

I made Ryan promise not to tell Adam...yet.

My head hurts.

laundry symbols

2008-10-04T13:37:00.000-05:00

I was looking at the bathroom towels today reading the labels and trying to figure out what symbol correlated to which word. I thought I had a pretty good idea, but then thought that if I had to guess I would probably ruin my clothes.

So...here is a guide to laundry symbols in case anyone has ever wondered!

autumn treats

2008-10-02T15:01:00.001-05:00

I am really happy right now. First of all, praise God, Ryan's Grandma is doing well. They are going to move her to a rehab center tomorrow where she'll get 3 hours of therapy (physical, occupational, and speech) a day. She has amazed everyone with her progress! Keep up the prayers!

Secondly, I'm happy because I made myself a delicious fruit smoothie. I've been on a smoothie kick lately but haven't quite perfected it. The first one I made was a total disaster. I don't know if you've even seen the "Magic Bullet" infomercial, but I definitely have seen it one too many times. Very cheesy. Veeeeeeeeeeery cheesy. Anyway...they claim that you can create a smoothie for your kids made up of entirely veggies with a banana or apple in it and the vegetable flavor will be hidden. LIARS! I put in about 1/2 frozen fruit and 1/2 frozen vegetable mix (I think it was asparagus stir fry) and it tasted like onion. It was the nastiest thing I'd ever drank, but I made it, so I choked it down.

The subsequent veggie-free smoothies have been better, but I usually just throw all of the ingredients into the blender and then get frustrated when I have to keep stirring and adding juice so everything will blend.

Today, however, being the genius that I am, I first put fresh grapes in and then added the frozen fruits one at a time. Strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry. It worked so well and I only had to stir once or twice!

What a delicious afternoon snack!

dating

2008-10-01T22:06:00.000-05:00

It's amazing what a little break for a date will do for you! Ryan and I have been dating 6 months now and have probably only been on 3-4 official dates. (And I think I'm being generous here.) Usually we are both so busy with school or work or friends that we don't get a chance to take time out for just the two of us.

This past weekend we were going to go on a double date with Adam and Kimberley, but they bailed at the last minute. So Ryan and I spent Saturday night together having fun.

First we went on a walk around the ISU campus. Ryan had several places that he had always wanted to show a girlfriend, so we got a coffee/smoothie and trekked around campus for an hour or two. It was exciting; I felt like I was going back in time to when Ryan was in undergrad. I saw his old dorms and where he ate and played hacky sac with friends.

After our walk we ate dinner a The Cafe. So delicious! I got fish tacos, which I hadn't had in at least 5 years. We were both a little nervous for dinner. I'm not really sure why because we spend at least 3-4 whole days together each week, but I think we felt nervous to have "forced" conversation. Of course there were no problems at all and we had both a lovely meal and lovely talks.

After dinner we went bowling. I had purchased bowling shoes for myself about 4 years ago and have had them in the trunk of my car for 2 years hoping someone would eventually want to go bowling with me. The last game I played (2 years ago) I think I bowled a 67. This time, however, I got 101, 109, and 126! I was pretty excited! The above picutres are Ryan's and my efforts at making intimidating bowling faces...I fail.

After bowling we tried to go to Cold Stone Creamery for some delicious ice cream, but there was some sort of sports team in line so we went to Target in stead and got two boxes of movie theater candy and headed to the dollar theater to see Hancock.

The next day after church we went to Center Grove Orchard with Joe, Ruth Ann, and Roman. It was so much fun! I have always wanted to go to a pumpkin patch/corn maze and was glad to have an excuse to go. (Roman would have fun...) They had a petting zoo, corn maze, pumpkin patch, apple orchard, three little pig houses, hay rack ride (minus the hay), and a lot more that we didn't get to.

Roman liked the three little pigs' houses, but wouldn't got inside unless Ryan and I went in there with him. The corn maze was "4 acres of fun and frustration" that had 10 farmyard friends hidden inside. Ryan and I ran around the maze and found all of them (in about 30-45 minutes, I might add). I also picked out a little pumpkin that I plan to make a delicious pie out of! It was so fun. I felt like a little kid, probably because everyone there either was a little kid or had a little kid.

Here's some fun photos for you to enjoy!

So it was a really good weekend. It pays to take time out of your busy life sometimes to just relax and have some fun with your love.

update

2008-09-30T22:04:00.001-05:00

I heard from Ryan today. Apparently his grandma had a stroke in addition to the cerebral hemorrhage and the heart attack. She's lost some of the function on the right side of her body, but is doing pretty well in spite of everything.

Today she was able to eat a little bit and talk to everyone. I'm amazed at how she's doing! God is good.

Thanks for your prayers! Please keep up the prayer warrior work!

family

2008-09-29T22:45:00.000-05:00

Today I was at Ryan's house when we got the new that his grandma had been found unconscious in her home. She was taken to the hospital where it was discovered that she had a major cerebral hemorrhage. Apparently she also had a heart attack while in the hospital, so things aren't looking too good. She did regain consciousness, though and was able to speak.

So Ryan, Adam, and his cousins Sean and Jason decided to make the several hour drive from Ames, Iowa to Mosinee, Wisconsin to see their grandma.

When I heard the news I began to cry. She is an amazing woman and I am grateful for having met her. I just kept thinking about her family and how wonderful everyone is. I was able to go to her 90th birthday party in April and felt so welcomed by the entire Polka/Stanek family. I felt as if I had been part of the family for years.

As I watch the boys scramble around the house trying to pack for an unexpected week, I wondered how I could help. When Adam told Ryan that he planned to leave in an hour, Ryan's first response was that he had no clean underwear. I saw my opportunity!

So I headed to Wal-Mart, picked up some underwear, cards, and flowers. In the checkout line the cashier joked "Are those for you?" I was not in the mood for this. "No...they're for my husband." I know it was a lie, but I didn't think it would look appropriate for me to be buying underwear for my boyfriend, and I don't want to promote a negative lifestyle.

"Well, once my ex asked me to buy her some feminine products...I said no..." and he continued to tell me about not wanting people to think the tampons were for him.

Once back at the boys house Adam was home. They were mostly packed and looked like they were getting ready to leave. Then I found out Adam hadn't eaten all day. So I headed back out to Subway with Sean.

"I would like 4 foot longs with..." 15 minutes later we left with the delicious meals. At the boy's house everyone was ready to leave. Jason had arrived, the van was packed, and everyone had made their final potty breaks. I handed each boy a sandwich and watched as they drove off.

Times like this make me really re-prioritize my life. I'm sure everyone had their weeks all scheduled out, having a good idea of what would happen each day. But then something like this happens and we gladly drop all of those plans to be with our family. I had been planning to spend the afternoon at the gym before work but instead spent it at Wal Mart, Subway, and adoration. And I was glad to do so...hoping to be helpful and make the trip easier, even in the smallest ways.

Joyce (Ryan's mom) has written a lot about her family and the amazing lives they've led. I am awed when I read or hear them recounted. It makes me grateful for the struggles that life brings and helps me to see how the difficult times can shape me into a better woman, Christian, daughter, sister, friend.

Please keep Ryan's grandma and his family in your prayers!

Jesus I trust in You!

catechetical sunday

2008-09-22T14:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Catechetical Sunday, a day to remember and appreciate those people who dedicate their lives to improving our understanding of the Faith!

So many people have been influential in my faith life. These people have come in many forms: in high school youth group, people from the many retreats I've been to, priests, sisters, parish members, other bloggers, or random people I've met in life. I want to reflect on the person who has made the biggest impact on me, the woman I call my hero, and the reason that I developed a bigger interest in my faith: Margaret Boesen.

My parents were "hippies" as I like to call them. My dad was raised Catholic and my mom was some branch of Evangelical Christian. In college (60's and 70's) they both let their faith fall by the wayside. Eventually they met each other in a bar in Omaha, NE and dated 3 years. My dad's work took them to Des Moines, Iowa but when my dad's job was going to transfer him to Minneapolis, MN, my mom put her foot down and they decided to get married. During the week of parent teacher conferences, they looked up a minister in the phone book, called their immediate family, and got married in their living room. That summer after school was out, they went camping in Yellowstone for their honeymoon.

Two years later, I was born but it wasn't until I was 6 years old that they decided that it would be important to raise their children as Christians. So my mom became Catholic and my sister and I were baptized. My parents, of course, have had a bigger impact in my faith life than Margaret, but she really challenged me to go deeper in my faith. My parents, from the time I was 6 years old, have taken their faith seriously and have encouraged my sister and I to do the same.

I always knew that being Catholic was very important. I took Sunday school and religious education very seriously, but kept it separate from the rest of my life. After 8th grade confirmation my dad gave me the ultimatum to go to the Catholic high school or join youth group. I figured that once a week with people I didn't know was better than five days a week, so I chose to join youth group.

After a few months in youth group, a new youth minister took over. At first I didn't think very highly of her. She took us on a mission trip to El Centro Del Muchacho Trabajador in Quito, Ecuador. I was 14 years old, and there were a lot of cute boys there from Colorado. Of course, all I wanted to do was chase them around. They liked to go to the bars, but (imagine this), Margaret didn't think too keenly on that, so she said I shouldn't go. After that I complained (loudly) about Margaret, making fun of her and being extremely disrespectful with one of the girls in our youth group. Unfortunately, Margaret overheard everything I said. She had been taking a nap on the top bunk in the room we were in. She just prayed for me the whole time and God told her not to confront me about it at that time. (She told me about the incident right before I graduated from high school as a testimony to how God can change people's hearts.)

Two months later, Margaret took our youth group to a retreat in Steubenville, Ohio. There my life was completely changed as I encountered the love of God in a powerful way. Margaret was there for me, prayed with me, and listened as I sorted everything out in my life. From that summer on, Margaret was my hero, and I wanted to be just like her as an adult.

She was there for me all through high school. So many of the decisions I made were influenced by her and her prayers. After high school I traveled around the country with the National Evangelization Teams "challenging young Catholics to love Christ and embrace the life of the Church." I heard about NET because Margaret had given me a promotional video about it. After that, I started nursing school after an inspiration in prayer to be more like Mother Teresa. I also helped Margaret with youth group at St. Augustin's.

I had many friends from high school retreats, but the ones who lived in Des Moines had all gone to college by the time I returned from NET. Through helping with Margaret's youth group, however, I met and became an intimate part of the group of friends I now have. They had all gone to the summer conferences at Steubenville as well, but we had been on different buses (6 buses from Iowa went every year), so I hadn't gotten to know them very well.

Christina was helping another youth minister in Des Moines, so we met at a retreat one day and began to be friends. She invited me to join her girl's Bible study and soon I was an active member of the group. Ryan was one of the people on the other Steubenville buses and in Christina's group of friends as well.

In 2005, Margaret married Charles Statsny and moved to South Dakota. I am so happy for her. She always wanted to be married and have children, but had not found the right man. In January of 2007 she and Charles had a baby, Mary Elizabeth.

God has been so good to me, and I am so grateful to Margaret for saying yes to God in His call for her to be a youth minister. My life is completely different for having met her and I cannot express how happy I am to have had her as my catechetical influence.

God calls people to this ministry everyday and uses them in profound ways. Take the time today to thank those people who have been influential in your faith life. Their lives are not easy and your gratitude will mean so much to them.

Jesus, thank you for Margaret. I pray that you will bless her abundantly for her yes to you. Bless her family as well, may they continue to be an example of Your love to those around them.

God in the middle

2008-09-14T13:20:00.000-05:00

Today Ryan was a Eucharistic Minister at Mass. So when I went up to receive the Blood of Christ he was the one who served me. It was a beautiful moment where I realized just how beautiful it is to have God in the center of your life and your relationship!

Love love love!

getting to know you

2008-09-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

I took a nap at Ryan's house yesterday and had an awful dream that my parents got divorced. I woke up to myself hyperventilating and then began to cry. I was really upset. Poor Ryan was trying his best to comfort me but really didn't know what to do. He held me and stroked my hair. Then he got me a glass of water with a straw and kleenex.

All I really wanted was for him to ask me what the dream was about so I could talk about it but was feeling too proud to tell him about it on my own. Finally he asked if there was anything else he could do for me and I replied "Ask me what my dream was about." So he did.

I told him and then I cried ever harder. He said a few comforting things and then said "I really don't know what else to say." I replied that he didn't have to say anything, just listen.

So he continued to hold me and was saying "Shh..." in a comforting manner. Finally I said "Please don't shh me. It just seems like you're trying to make me be quiet." He seemed suprized because he thought that I would want to stop crying.

Evenually I calmed down and he brought me a popsicle. We just sat there and he said "I really learned a lot today. I learned that sometimes you don't have to say anything and that crying can be good." It was cute. He seemed genuinely excited to be getting to know how I work. I am happy to. I have such a great guy!

Jesus, thank you for Ryan and all of his goodness!

reminders

2008-09-04T11:37:00.001-05:00

I just found this blog from when I was a baby nursing student. What a good reminder of the attitude I should have now that I'm a nurse!

Thanks for the reminder, Jesus!

prosperity gospel

2008-09-04T11:09:00.000-05:00

Ruth Ann had this on her blog. I also do not know very much about John Piper, but what he says in this video is amazing and so true.

The prosperity gospel has become embedded within our culture. Being Christian is well accepted, but it is not well understood. We hold onto the American dream, that we can be wealthy and prosperous just by living in America. Yet, rather than having a good work ethic, we want everything to be easy. So we pray to Jesus that we may be rich. And this richness, rather than being the beauty of following Him, must be in monetary form.

Being a Christian has become part of the American dream, right along with the white picket fence, 2 dogs that we treat as children, 2 cars, and 1.2 children (if that is convenient for us at the time). The perfect little family goes to church on Sundays and goes to work during the week, bringing home oversized paychecks that we don't need to share with anyone because it's our gift from Jesus.

As John Piper says in this video, "That's idolatry, that's not gospel. That's elevating gifts above giver."

What ever happened to Christianity being about following the example of Jesus, picking up our daily crosses and following Him? What ever happened to suffering being an opportunity for us to rely on God? Our culture today wants everything to be easy, so why would our view of Christianity stay true? It is not easy by any means. Our complacent tendencies should remind us to rely on God's grace...not to conform His goodness to our laziness.

Jesus, help us to hear Your Gospel with open ears and hearts. May we not distort what You are teaching us when it sounds too hard. Give us the Grace to rise to the challenge of Your Word and to follow the example You have given us.

Jesus I trust in You.

aa ab laut chalen

2008-09-02T05:07:00.000-05:00

...or "Let's Go Back" in English.

Last night (or rather from 1:30am to 5:30am last morning) I watched a movie that Hakim had sent me for my birthday last year. Knowing that Hindi movies last forever, I had waited until I knew I had a good 3-4 hour chunk of time to spare. I had decided to stay up to call and wish Chrissy fairwell before she left her apartment at 4:30am, so "Aa Ab Laut Chalen" finally got played. Read the synopsis here.

It was an intersting movie...the initial portrayal of America was as I imagine many people trying to come to America for work would hold. And when Rohan initially arrived in America, it was an ideal place to be. Life was good. Throughout the movie, however, he began to appreciate the way life had been in India. The more he missed India, the more corrupt America and the American lifestyle was portrayed.

Just an interesting view of America through the eyes of another culture.

God bless Baliwood!

goodbye chrissy

2008-09-01T04:51:00.001-05:00

At this very moment my wonderful and generous friend Christina is on her way to Chaclacayo, Peru to work at la Villa Paz Clinic for a month! Words cannot express both how proud I am of her as well as how much I'll miss her. She has been so in touch with God and has a great desire to do His will in all things. Such an inspiration to us all!

I am so grateful to have Christina as a friend. I met her in 2003 and she adopted me into her group. Without this divine intervention, I would probably have no friends and be miserable! I certainly wouldn't be dating Ryan, either, since he's in the group she adopted me in to. She has been a true friend throughout the past 5 years, holding me accountable as well as helping me to enjoy life. I will truly miss her!

God bless Christina on her journey. Keep her safe from harm and help her to touch the hearts of many in Peru, just as she had done here in Iowa. Thank you for the gift of her friendship. I pray that you would bless her work and help her to discover the plans You have for her while she is gone.

Jesus I trust in You!

well hello again

2008-08-28T04:44:00.000-05:00

Remember my blog "the case for settling" about the article "Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough" by Lori Gottleib? Well, I was reading an article called "The Vindication of Humanae Vitae" by Mary Eberstadt and the article was mentioned again.

Eberstadt's article is a very good one about the impact contraception has made in our society. I would recommend it! I just thought it was interesting that Gottleib's article showed up in it as well!

Perhaps the most compelling case made for traditional marriage lately was not on the cover of, say, Catholic World Report but in the devoutly secular Atlantic. The 2008 article “Marry Him!” by Lori Gottlieb—a single mother who conceived her only child with donor sperm rather than miss out on motherhood as she has on marriage—is a frank and excruciatingly personal look into some of the sexual revolution’s lonelier venues, including the creation of children by anonymous or absent sperm donors, the utter corrosiveness of taking a consumerist approach to romance, and the miserable effects of advancing age on one’s sexual marketability.

Gottlieb writes as one who played by all the feminist rules, only to realize too late that she’d been had. Beneath the zippy language, the article runs on an engine of mourning. Admitting how much she covets the husbands of her friends, if only for the wistful relief of having someone else help with the childcare, Gottlieb advises: “Those of us who choose not to settle in hopes of finding a soul mate later are almost like teenagers who believe they’re invulnerable to dying in a drunk-driving accident. We lose sight of our mortality. We forget that we, too, will age and become less alluring. And even if some men do find us engaging, and they’re ready to have a family, they’ll likely decide to marry someone younger with whom they can have their own biological children. Which is all the more reason to settle before settling is no longer an option.”

Eberstadt makes the point that younger Catholics are the generally ones who are more orthodox, wanting to follow the Church's teaching on contraception. She called us the "generation to grow up under divorce, widespread contraception, fatherless households, and all the other emancipatory fallout".

We have grown up with the effects of contraception. We have seen the hurt and pain caused in the lives of family and friends because of it. Unfortunately, because using contraception has been the norm, people my age also expect that it is good to use it. I have been asked more times than I care to remember if I am going to move in with Ryan or if we have sex. People are shocked when I say no. To use Christopher West's analogy, it is as if we have been driving around on flat tires, thinking that this is normal. Yet, when we realize the beautiful plan God has for us and begin to live life on full tires, we can't imagine how we ever thought flat tires were good and normal. Only in retrospect can we see the pain and damage caused by flat tires.

People that I have shared NFP with are generally very receptive. Of course I usually only talk about it when I hear people complain about how messed up the pill is making them. I thought that people would not want to hear about alternatives, but they do. Maybe deep down we realize that contraception is not the way God intended things to be.

It is a problem that we've really worked ourselves into. God is the only one who can change our hardened hearts.

God bless America! Show us the way.

a useful woman

2008-08-27T03:03:00.000-05:00

The previous blog is a quote from Pride and Prejudice, one of my favorite books/movies. I often remember this quote in my quest to become what I have termed a "useful woman."

Far from only painting tables or covering screens, a useful woman has many enviable skills and talents. She is warm and winsome (to quote Kimbery Hahn's Chosen and Cherished), she can cook, sew, clean, host parties, make friends easily, and adds a creative touch to everything she does.

There are several different types of women. You have the career woman, of which my sister is an excellent example. Then there is the studious woman, who is a lifelong learner. And the all-famous high maintenance woman cannot be forgotten. Being a useful woman is much like Austen's accomplished woman.

Having just finished the RN-BSN program I was bored and began to solidify my idea of what it means to be a useful woman. The first weekend that I didn't have school I made some delicious banana bread muffins. Then I decided to learn to cook Indian food. I did that twice. After that I cleaned my entire house, including scrubbing the bathroom floor on my hands and knees. Then I organized the spare room of my apartment as well as the storage unit.

I am trying. Still haven't mastered anything yet. Maybe I'll be bored with it tomorrow...who knows. But at least I'm tyring.

God bless the useful woman!

an accomplished woman

2008-08-27T02:54:00.000-05:00

An exerpt from Pride and Prejudice Chapter 8

"It is amazing to me," said Bingley, "how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are."

"All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?"

"Yes, all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover screens, and net purses. I scarcely know anyone who cannot do all this, and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished."

"Your list of the common extent of accomplishments," said Darcy, "has too much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no otherwise than by netting a purse or covering a screen. But I am very far from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I cannot boast of knowing more than half-a-dozen, in the whole range of my acquaintance, that are really accomplished."

"Nor I, I am sure," said Miss Bingley.

"Then," observed Elizabeth, "you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished woman."

"Yes, I do comprehend a great deal in it."

"Oh! certainly," cried his faithful assistant, "no one can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half-deserved."

"All this she must possess," added Darcy, "and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading."

"I am no longer surprised at your knowing ONLY six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing ANY."

"Are you so severe upon your own sex as to doubt the possibility of all this?"

"I never saw such a woman. I never saw such capacity, and taste, and application, and elegance, as you describe united."

booster seats

2008-08-22T02:24:00.000-05:00

I just saw a commercial for child booster seats. Apparently 4'9" is the magic number. Our Iowa native Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson is somewhere between 4'8" and 4'9". I wonder if she's allowed to ride without a booster...

Points to ponder.

never fail novena

2008-08-22T00:27:00.000-05:00

On June 29th, the amazing Michelle Hillaker came up to me and asked me how things were going with Ryan. I said everything was great and she asked if we were going to get married, to which I gave an enthusiastic "Yes!"

She said she knew it and asked how he felt. When I replied that he was a bit more hesitant, she said that she would begin her "never fail novena" for me that day. 54 days of praying the rosary for your intention. I decided I would pray it as well. Michelle, I'm sure was praying that Ryan would feel more confident. I decided to pray for discernment for Ryan and I, especially for courage for him and patients for me.

Michelle even came up to Ryan once and announced that he had 27 more days to get his act together!

So I've been praying the rosary daily for quite some time, not really sure how long. Tonight I decided to count and today was day 54! Good timing! It is amazing because, although we are not engaged, or really close to it, I feel much more confident and comfortable with where things are. I am more patient and happy to take things at our current pace, and I feel as if Ryan is feeling more confident that our relationship will indeed end in marriage.

God is faithful!

stop to smell the flowers

2008-08-13T21:55:00.001-05:00

Today Ryan and I were on our way to Thai Kitchen for a delicious lunch when he suddenly stopped and got so excited about a lily blooming nearby. It was super cute.

God bless my boyfriend! Thank you for the spontaneous moments of joy and appreciation throughout each day!

i'm a bsn!

2008-08-13T21:34:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I finally finished at Grand View! After a year and a half I can't believe it's all done! The last thing our instructor had us do on Tuesday was to write our names on the board with our new credentials! So fun!

I had gotten my Associate Degree in Nursing from DMACC, which was a 5 semester program. I took state boards, the NCLEX, and became an RN, working at Blank Children's Hospital. Then I decided to get my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing degree from Grand View. There's no pay difference or anything (in Des Moines, at least), but I wanted to continue my education. Perhaps someday I'll return to get my Master's of Science in Nursing. I would like to teach eventually and you need your MSN to do so.

I am pretty proud of myself. I had been working full-time and going to school mostly full-time. Classes were busy and fast-paced as the program was for working adults. I went to school every Tuesday for 18 months from 12:30pm to 10:25pm and had at least one paper due every week the entire time! Classes were eight weeks long, so I really had to be on top of all of my work!

But now I'm done! I thought I would take a little break, but apparently I changed my mind because I now find myself signed up for a French class! Let the learning continue!

Jesus, thank You for the Grace and perseverance to continue to the and and get my BSN!

let's be real

2008-08-12T09:50:00.000-05:00

Apparently my mind only remembers the fun things about events. This past weekend there was a lot of drama that went on and I remember everyone being in a strange mood on Saturday night.

I feel as if I have gotten far from God recently and the group members I've talked to have been feeling the same recently. I used to go to Confession weekly and Adoration and Mass daily. Now it's been at least two months for confession and probably even longer for adoration. Luckily Mass is a weekly obligation!

Thankfully Christina and Monica are less willing to sit in complacency than some of us. I just had a long talk with Chrissy about the past weekend and agree that we need to get back on track. So we're going to Adoration as a group tonight.

All I want in life is to be good and holy and totally wrapped up in love for God. Yet I find myself being petty and easily distracted from Him. I know that my friends want to live in Him as well. Of course Satan is going to attack a group of people who love God and want to do his will.

Jesus...we need You. Help us to remember that and seek You at each moment!!!

babbitt campout

2008-08-11T21:39:00.000-05:00

I have now officially been to a Babbitt campout! The past few years I've had to work when Adam and Ryan invited everyone up to their parent's house to sleep in tents in their yard. I didn't really take priority then for some reason. :)

This year, however, I was able to go! It was great. There were three baby kitties there that I got to play with. We had a bonfire and played bocce ball and went swimming at the lake. We also got to see a meteor shower! Even the rain on Saturday night couldn't spoil the fun! Such a great weekend!

Jesus thank you for the Babbitts and for their generosity to let so many people stay at their house!

iowa state fair

2008-08-11T20:44:00.000-05:00

I went to the Iowa State Fair with Ryan and Monica this past Friday. Apparently, Iowa natives though they are, neither of them had been to the fair before. That would not do.

Although I've been to the fair every year, I don't know much more to do there than eat and try to find the biggest animals. We were going to ride some rides at the midway until I discovered that they were at least $5 each! Crazy.

My parents must have spent a fortune on my sister and I when we went to the fair as children! (Although things were cheaper back in my day.)

We ate several foods on sticks; saw the biggest bull, boar, and sheep; watched baby pigs being born; and waited in line a lot. Ryan wasn't too happy about that fact, especially on the drive to the fair. It took us at least 20 minutes to go 2 blocks. Just part of the delights of the fair!

All in all, a very good day. Although I don't know how impressed Ryan and Monica were. I guess you just would have had to have grown up going. Plus they are both rather hard to impress. I remember taking my friend Chris for the first time. He had just moved from Texas and was running around like a small child because he was so excited. Apparently after Las Vegas, the Iowa State Fair is the #2 thing to do in the country.

God bless the fair!

the office

2008-08-05T02:38:00.000-05:00

We had an Office party in celebration of Ruth Ann and Monica's birthdays. It was so fun! Everyone had to dress up as a character from NBC's The Office and act like them. We spent the night watching, quoting, and laughing at the office for several hours. Sarah and Chris couldn't make it, so as promised, here are the pictures!

Adam as Michael Scott

Kimberley as Pam Beasley

Roman as Jim-Dwight

Sarah as Katy

Monica as Angela Martin

Chrissy and Jon as Phyllis and Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration

Kathleen as Kelly Kapoor

Mary as Meredith Palmer

Ryan as Toby Flenderson

Ruth Ann as Jan Levinson

wedding cakes

2008-07-31T02:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went to my dear friend Angel's house to help her decorate her wedding cakes! It was a lot of fun, but it was a bit hot with the oven and no A/C. When we started frosting the cakes I got a bit nervous because they started to crumble a bit.

It all turned out well in the end, though. We covered them with fondant frosting and put strings of pearls on them. She will also put red ribbon around the bottom of the cakes. We ran out of time, otherwise I would have gotten to help with this as well.

Her kitty even helped us decorate. Actually, he was just curious about what was going on but in the end decided sleeping was more fun.

It was good to see her. Angel and I were in high school youth group together, but haven't seen her much since we started college. She is marrying Greg on Saturday. They are such fun people and I know they will have a wonderful life together!

Jesus, please bless Angel and Greg as they prepare to spend the rest of their lives together! (And help the cakes be yummy!)

happy birthday mon!

2008-07-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

My dear friend Monica's birthday was today. For short we call her "Mon," so of course we had to have a Jamaican birthday party for her. :) We were instructed to wear island attire and bring something tropical and delicios to eat. Of course Adam (who has been planning this party ever since he discovered that we could call Monica "Mon") went all out with a grass skirt, coconut bra, and rasta wig. So hillarious! Ryan was dressed in his swimming suit, sun glasses, and water shoes and played a tropical guitar song while Adam serenaded anyone who walked through the door.

I love my friends!

See Ruth Ann's blog for another fun account of the party!

birthday prize

2008-07-25T22:08:00.000-05:00

I love my birthday!!! I got so many fun prizes, but Ryan gave me roller blades. I have always wanted to roller blade, but never got any because I thought they were like $500. So I was super pleased to get them from my dear love!

He wants to be able to run with me, but I can't breathe and run at the same time. So roller blades were the next best option.

I knew that he was giving me roller blades because he told me and then asked me to try them on at the store. So I tried them on, he bought them, and then left them in my room. This was on the 17th. So for the next week Ryan asked me everyday if I'd tried on my roller blades yet, which I hadn't since I'd already done it at the store.

So on Tueday, the 22nd, I went to his house to "run" with Ryan. I felt awful because as soon as I opened the box, I found a very sweet card from Ryan! We laughed a lot because of it. Better late than never, I suppose!

Jesus, thank you for my dear boyfriend and his generosity!

waltersized

2008-07-25T03:04:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to the Walter Trout concert (as part of Nitefall on the River) at People's on Court with the Babbitts. It was a lot of fun. Mike was super excited and kept counting down the minutes until Walter Trout played. (Example: I got a phone call at 8pm the night before saying "Kathleen, this is Mike Babbitt. I just wanted to inform you that in less than 24 hours you are going to be Waltersized." It totally made my night.)

What a fun concert! His three sons played two songs before he did. They were called "Sibling Rivalry" and they were pretty good!

It was a fun evening. And then I went to work and cleaned up vomit and diarrhea all night. :( I wish I was back getting Waltersized.

C'est la vie. Jesus, thank you for good times and times that help us appreciate the good times.

on being a roadie

2008-07-21T16:58:00.000-05:00

The boys (Vow of Silence) have been playing a lot of shows lately, which is so fun! I used to go to their shows all of the time before Ryan and I were dating, but for the past two years they hadn't had many shows due to Adam working on their CD. The CD was finally finished this past winter, and it's amazing! So now they're back into the public arena.

Wednesday they played at Vadueville Mews in downtown Des Moines. There weren't very many people there, but the boys that were there formed a mosh pit in the front row, and the girls watching had fun laughing at how excited the boys were.

Then they had another show on Friday at Papa's Corner in Ames that went really well! They have wireless sets and kept running outside playing.

Last night, they were on the local Ames radio station 105.1. Joe has really been doing a lot to get their name back out there. Lots of promotional stuff.

I am just so proud of these boys! I love their music and have so much fun going to their concerts. It's pretty awesome to be a rockstar's girlfriend, I have to admit!

Jesus, thank you for music and for all of the fun that comes along with it!

new baby catholic!

2008-07-21T16:50:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the Davis family and adding another Catholic to this beautiful earth!

Little Clare Elizabeth Davis was baptized yesterday! She looked like she was praying the whole time because her little hands were folded. Super cute! And she had cute little ruffly shoes too!

it's my birthday!

2008-07-20T16:27:00.000-05:00

Whew! What a busy week! It was my birthday on Thursday, July 17 and the weekend flew by from there. My actual birthday was not so great. I had to work and it was busy and stressful. After work, however, I went to Bible Study and was able to have food and cake with my friends, which was great.

Then Matt and Alissa got married on Saturday. It's just crazy how many people are getting married this year! Since the beginning of June I've had at least one wedding almost every weekend! It's lots of fun dancing practice, though. ;) Ryan and I got to Polka dance. I didn't have any idea that it involved so much being tossed about, but I loved it.

Now it's back to work. Nice.

fun reportings

2008-07-11T11:05:00.000-05:00

The 4th of July weekend was fun. On Friday the 4th I made a birthday cake for Veronica, my Goddaughter's little sister. It was her first birthday! What fun! I was informed while dropping off the cake that it only had 40 stars and 9 stripes. Twice. :) Now I know.

For dinner, my sister, her boyfriend, and Ryan and I went to a park to have a picnic and play croquet. Ryan snuck up and beat me at the last minute. Poor Emily lost horribly. Actually, she never finished because everyone else was done and she still had two more rings to go. I think it was due to the "Emily Swing". [This unique swing involves locking your arms and violently swinging your entire torso and arms in one swooping motion. Usually, unfortunately, the Emily Swing does not hit the ball very far, despite its fierce momentum.]

The next day (on the 5th) we all went to Christina's parent's house for our traditional 4th of July party. Always a good time. And I got to meet Chrissy's new boyfriend Jon! (Not pictured, sadly.) Quality guy and a great couple! So happy for you Chrissy!

This past Wednesday, Emily, Grant, Ryan and I went on our second double date to the Zoo Brew at Blank Park Zoo. Before that, however, we ate at Spaghetti Works.

Ryan ordered the sampler platter of all the pasta sauces. It was a serving platter and he ate it all! He was so proud of himself that the waitress wrote "All Gone!" with a smiley face on his receipt! So funny!

More fun Spaghetti Works moments: There is a "Love Strength Tester" machine there. As we were walking by on our way out, Grant challenged Emily "I bet you can't get past 'clammy.'" Never challenge a Balch woman. She got "Hot Stuff" and Grant got "Clammy."

I hadn't been to the Des Moines Zoo since I was probably 6 years old. It was a lot smaller than I remembered, but still fun. My favorite thing to do (then and now) was play in the prairie dog crawl space.

Jesus, Thank you for good times!

another one...

2008-07-09T17:12:00.000-05:00

This is a crazy time in life! It seems like everyone is getting married! I have had a wedding (or two) almost ever weekend from June to the middle of August! And people are getting engaged all over the place! Most recently, my dear sister Nikki from NET got engaged! I am so happy for her!

This is a new phase in life, to be sure!

we all need a little prize

2008-07-01T15:42:00.000-05:00

So about a month ago I was at Kohl's buying a baby gift for my cousin when I found an adorable little dress that I know my Goddaughter Cecilia would love. For the past month I have had is carefully wrapped in the trunk of my car waiting for an opportunity to give it to her.

Of course, with five siblings, I also had to buy presents for the other kids. So I found gummy lunchables at HyVee for the five oldest kids and some little finger food cereals for the baby.

I love brining boxes of joy to that family! The kids are so great and appreciate whatever you do for them. Libbie (the one who cut Cecie's hair) was a little upset, however that she didn't get a dress. Her mom had to explain to her that her Godmother had given Libbie a present for her preschool graduation and Cecilia didn't get one. Godmothers have a special obligation to their Godchildren and we don't always get presents from other people's Godparents.

But she cheered up a little when I made a special hair ribbon for her out of the bow from the present.

Then Sue (the mom) asked me to bake and decorate a 4th of July cake for the baby's first birthday, so I'm excited about that! I think I'll make sparkler candles for it!

Have a great day!

newest little catholic

2008-07-01T15:40:00.000-05:00

Sunday Suzee and Phillip Stone's son Joseph was baptized! It was so cute to see how excited Suzee and Phil were. They just kept looking at their son with beaming smiles. Very happy day.

It made me so happy! I can hardly wait for when I have a child of my own to celebrate their baptism!

i get by with a little help from my friends

2008-06-28T23:24:00.000-05:00

Today was cleaning day at the old apartment. I was dreading this day since the day I moved in, but three of my wonderful friends (Meggan, James, and Phil) came over to help me. I wiped the smudges off walls, cleaned cobwebs, and was the general organizer. Meggan cleaned my entire bathroom and wiped down the kitchen cupboards. Phil cleaned all of the windows, vacuumed, and cleaned on top of the cupboards and behind the fridge. James ran to the store for supplies, cleaned smudges off walls, and packed all of Kim's remaining things into boxes.

So here's the nasty part...

Behind the fridge had not been cleaned for at least a year before we moved in. I know this because when we pulled the fridge out, we found old dog food on top of the fridge (we don't have a dog). There was about 3" of dust bunnies plastered to the floor. In the dust we found old cigarettes (we don't smoke and none of our friends do either), a mardi gras baby, a broken fly swatter, and a magnet and potholder that I had lost. There was a 1.5" gap between the wall and floor. Now I know where all the bugs came from!

I will be forever indebted to Phillip because he got right in there and tackled the mess! It was immaculate when he was done (minus the walls that already were missing chunks of paint). Not only should they return my entire deposit, but they should pay me for leaving the apartment in better condition than I'd found it!

I also have to thank Joe and Tony for helping me move my "beast" of a sleeper sofa (as they termed it), my futon frame, my bed's box spring, and my bed frame to my new apartment! I don't know what I would have done without their help and Joe's trailer! It took us about 5-10 minutes just to get the sofa out of the old apartment's door and I had to remover the door from the wall before it would even work at all! Not to mention the bed kept falling out as we were taking it down the stairs!

Of course I have the amazing Ryan Babbitt to thank as well. He came last Monday and spent 10+ hours helping me move most of my stuff to my new apartment. It as a good experience as a couple because it showed us how we react (and react to each other) in a potentially frustrating situation. It was fun, though. We laughed a lot of the day despite my ineptitude at moving large furniture. Good thing Ryan is a big strong man!

My friends are so amazing! I'm glad to have their help!

Jesus! Thank you for giving me such wonderful friends! I feel so blessed to be surrounded be these awesome people!

kim's wedding!

2008-06-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

For the past two and a half years Kim and Andrew have been two of the best friends ever! I have loved living with Kim for the years, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

Their wedding was so amazing! They are obviously so in love and were so excited to get married!

I loved being a bridesmaid and joining in on the fun! I have never been one before and I loved it! She had nine bridesmaids, which the deacon thought was hilarious! He kept making comments about "the parade." Kim's comment was "So when someone has only one bridesmaid, people don't say 'I see you have no friends.'"

What an amazing day! Here's a sample! Also see pictures on Sarah's blog.

rockstar

2008-06-23T00:47:00.000-05:00

Just saying! He's amazing! Photo credits go to Mary Pometto complements of Facebook!

Ryan is in a band called Vow of Silence and they are really good! They had a concert on Friday and I had so much fun!