Recipe: Potato Bake

Cooking in my oven today is a potato bake.  This is going to be taken to a Bring ‘n Braai at my good friend’s house tonight.  She just moved into a new place and this is the first time she is hosting anything for friends.  So I am taking around this dish to help out, it is a Bring ‘n Braai after all.

Ingredients:

• 5 large potatoes, boiled in their jackets until nearly cooked (increase the number of potatoes if the potatoes are small)
• 250ml ( 1 cup ) cream
• 250ml ( 1 cup ) milk
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 packet of white onion soup
• 250ml ( 1 cup ) grated cheese (cheddar works the best)

Instructions:

1. Peel the potatoes and slice into an ovenproof dish
2. Mix remaining ingredients together, except the cheese
3. Pour over potatoes and sprinkle with cheese
4. Bake at 180C for about 1 hour – the cream will have set and potato bake will be golden brown.

Serve with meat cooked on an outside grill and salads OR with a roast chicken and vegetables.

Godly Blessings and Thank You Cards

Dear Readers,

How are all of you doing this wonderful day that the Lord has made?  Are you enjoying the Christmas left-overs still?  Have you cleaned up the gift wrapping supplies?  Have you found time to put away Christmas gifts and find them homes?

Today I spent the whole day thoroughly cleaning my house.  It was a public holiday in South Africa.  Under normal circumstances the 25th of December and the 26th of December are public holidays but our wonderful nation decided to make the 27th a public holiday this year too because Christmas day fell on a Sunday.  It has been such a blessing to get a 4-day weekend.  Not only that, my boss has told all of us that we only need to be at work for 2 hours a day on the 28th to the 30th of December. So I'll be working from 8am to 10am each day and after that I am free to spend the day however I want.

Other than cleaning house today, I have been doing some research on etiquette.  Today I was reading up about Visiting Cards (aka Calling Cards).  I typed out a long post about them, and then I realised something else, so I put that post in a folder for another day to rather talk about thank you cards and letters.

When was the last time you wrote “Thank You” cards or letters for any Christmas gifts you received?  I haven’t done this for a long time.  I usually write one to my elderly aunt, but there are not many other people who I give the traditional Thank You card.

Why don’t many people do this anymore?  In some way’s it may be because they feel that it is no longer expected, but I think it is laziness more than anything else.

I have a challenge for you.  Write Thank You cards for every gift you received this year… including the one you received from your spouse.  For an added touch, perhaps send the thank you cards through the local postal service.  Wouldn’t you appreciate a thank you card in your post box rather than a hand-delivered one?

If you want the bonus challenge, get your children to write thank you note’s for their gifts too, and if you are a family that does the “Santa” thing, encourage your children to write a thank you note to Santa too.  It is a sign of great breeding (in my opinion), to send thank you notes.

May God bless each of you!

Ashleigh

Star Studded Hake

I have no idea why it is called Star Studded Hake, but it is absolutely delicious.  I made it for supper last night (Mark was with me for supper) and he claims that it is the best he has ever tasted and the Number 1 meal I have made for him.  So here it is:



You need:

• Hake fillets (or other fish fillets common to your area)
• Mayonnaise
• Mustard (in a bottle - like you put on hot dogs)
• Salt and Pepper
• Grated Cheddar Cheese

The quantities vary upon how many people you are cooking for and the size of the hake fillets, so just read the method below to get an idea of the quantities you will need:

1) Grease a Baking tray and preheat the oven to 180ºC (360ºF)
2) Put Hake fillets on the baking tray

3) Sprinkle Hake fillets with salt and pepper (amounts at your preference)

4) Spread mayonnaise and mustard over the hake fillet (like you would make a peanut-butter sandwich)

5) Sprinkle grated cheese over hake

6) Bake in the oven for 30 minutes

I served this meal with steamed baby potatoes, carrots and peas.

The latest relationship news

Remeber I said that I couldn't say anything about some relationship developments previously? Well, now I can since it happened over a month ago.  Mark (the home church host) and I are courting/dating.  We are very serious about each other, but not in an ungodly way.

My heart was won by a '57 Chevrolet Bel Air.  Just like this one, but in green:

At 11:11:11pm on the 11/11/11 - Mark asked me if I would "be his girl".  I said yes I would.  After that he handed me a box, the size of a shoe box - all nicely wrapped in a plastic shopping bag.  Inside was a model 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

1957 Chevrolet's hold a special place in my heart.  One night while sitting out at a children's play park, eating ice-cream with Mark, we were talking about how cool it would be if there was still a drive-in movie theatre in our city, but he said "We would need a nice old car with a single seat right across the front for it to be worthwhile." I replied "Like a '57 Chevrolet?" He agreed 100%.  So a '57 Chevrolet became our car that night.

See? I told you I would give the whole story when I was able to.

Unfortunately there were some casualties in Mark and myself seeing each other.  2 people got badly hurt (emotionally) in the process, and it made the situation among our friends a little awkward, but the situation has begun to stabilize now (and hence the reason for my ability to post this now).

Some of the other information is a bit more private, and I cannot imagine the people involved would be willing to let me post it online.  What I can say is that I am a lot happier than I have been in many months.

Mark and I have known each other as friends since 2008 (always having a liking for each other), but neither of us were emotionally ready for a relationship in 2008.  And in 2009 when he left the city to pursue a dream in another city, we lost touch and I thought I would never see him again... God appeared to have other plans though.  He refined both of us into the people we are today, and in my humble opinion, the people we are today are best friends and more.

Been a while…

It has been quite some time since my last blog post.  Goes to show how life can get carried away with you.  So much has happened, so here is an update:

 

Work

My work is going amazingly well.  I still love my job and all it entails.  I am challenged every day.  Like always, it is top secret (considering I am in the Research and Development Department) so I cannot say much more than what I have just said, but I feel so blessed to be working amongst so many amazing Christian people.  I adore my job and will stick it out as long as God wants me to, and when he says it is time to move on I’ll do so gracefully.

 

Relationships

Big news here, and I am going to keep it simple since there are a lot of details that the parties involved wouldn’t want me to post online.  William and I have ended our engagement.  It was mostly my decision.  I feel as though we were not as compatible on a moral and spiritual level as I once thought we were.  It officially ended on the 28th of October 2011.

 

In the past week there have been some other developments on the relationship front which I am also not at liberty to discuss right now.  However, when / if the situation stabilizes and I receive permission from the involved parties, I’ll be sure to give the entire story…

 

Spiritual

God has been blessing my socks off.  I’m still going to the Home Cell group, some weeks our numbers are fewer than others, but it is such a blessing to be around like-minded Christians.  I have also started attending a church with our Home Cell host, Mark.  He’s a guitarist and worship leader for the church band at the Student Church on the university campus, so I have been joining him there on Sunday mornings.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the few services I have been to, and I even went to both the morning and the evening service this past Sunday.

 

I have been growing so much in God’s word and God has really been speaking to me in so many little ways.  I am so blessed and I am in such an amazing place right now I cannot imagine ever wanting to live my life otherwise.

 

What God has really been speaking to me about though, is to prepare myself to be the helpmeet of my future husband, whoever that may be.  I know that God has an absolutely amazing man planned for me, and God will write my perfect love story in his time, I just need to be patient and keep my life centred on God.  I know that my future husband and I will definitely have a relationship centred on God.

 

Building Sandcastles

A very good friend of mine gave me a perfect metaphor for describing the dreams and images we build in our minds, and that is to build sandcastles.  Sometimes we get a bully that breaks down our sandcastle, sometimes our sandcastle doesn’t turn out exactly like we planned, but sometimes, if it is in line with God’s dreams for our lives, the sandcastle turns out exactly like we planned it.

 

I know what dreams I have for my life.  I dream of a relationship with my husband where we go to church together on a Sunday.  A relationship where we start and end the day in prayer.  A relationship where I can support, challenge and encourage my husband on his walk with God.  A relationship where I can be a keeper of our home and create a refuge for my husband to come to after a long day.  A relationship where I can support my husband in building his sandcastles.  The only way I could do all these things though, is if God wishes me to do them.   With God’s help I can do this, but without God at the centre of all of it, I will stumble and fall.

 

In Closing:

Hopefully I’ll be able to spend more time online and really get back to blogging again, especially now that my body has got used to the stress of working an 8am to 5pm job.

Sunday News:

Work:

It’s been an interesting week with the new work.  I’ve been leaving my house at 7am and only arriving home at 5:30pm.  I absolutely love the work I’m doing.  Sometimes I am a little scared because they expect so much of me and I am not 100% convinced that it is within my abilities to do everything that is required of me, but I will give the work my very best.  I may not actually talk about my work, due to confidentiality agreements, but just know that I have learned so much in this short time, and I am going to continue learning more and more as time progresses.

Home:

I on Friday I officially had the laundry basket empty for the first time since I moved into this townhouse.  It isn’t empty anymore, but at least it was, so I know that I am succeeding with keeping the laundry under control.  Due to being out of the house from 7am until 5:30pm, there is only one way that I have been able to keep up with the housework and that is getting up at 5:30am and only going to bed at 10pm or later.  I fill the washing machine the night before so that in the morning I just need to turn it on as soon as I wake up.  I hang out the laundry before heading to work.  As soon as I get home in the evenings I change into sneakers and then bring the laundry in, I fold and put away immediately.  If anything needs to be ironed, then I do it the night before I plan to wear it.  This routine has allowed me to keep the laundry under control while working outside the home.

Home Church:

Our home church group has really grown.  We had 8 people there last Thursday, and 5 regular attendee’s were not there!  I have met a few new people and they are all wonderful.  This past week we discussed how the church has changed in the last 100 years (more or less) and that also moved onto how our actions are impacting the current teenagers and their belief.  A few of the changes we noticed included:

• Women covering their heads and men removing their caps/hats
• The way we dress for church (become more casual)
• The style of worship music being played
• How we pray and read God’s word at home – are we showing God the respect he deserves?
• Involvement in charity

Those are the main themes we covered during our Home Church.

Movies:

On Friday night I went to watch Cars 2 with William and 3 of our friends.  Needless to say, William did not enjoy it at all, he thought it was a horrible movie and was bored the whole way through.  On the other hand, 2 of our friends and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it wasn’t the best movie we have ever watched, but it was great entertainment for an evening and there were so many subtle references to various makes of cars.  I enjoyed it enough to buy the DVD for my collection. The 3rd friend didn’t give a comment.  After the movie we went to a coffee shop for drinks. 

It was a moment of temptation for me since William ordered whisky and my female friend ordered a Cosmopolitan cocktail, but I stuck to my ground and ordered a hot drink that was a mixture of Hot chocolate and Espresso.  I was backed up by the host of our home church group since he ordered a Chocolate milkshake directly after I placed my order, so I wasn’t the only one not drinking.  The third friend just had a glass of water.

Braai:

Last night (Saturday) William and I had a Braai at my house.  My friend Theresa (female friend) joined us, and so did Mark (Home Church host), Hannes and Michelle.  Hannes introduced us to Michelle, since we haven’t met her before.  It was nice having her here.

William and Theresa were at the braai until the meat was ready.  Mark and I sat inside and played Band Hero on the Nintendo Wii – it was a bit too cold outside for us.  Hannes and Michelle joined us when they got here, although Hannes spent his time between the two groups.

We all had so much fun though.  After supper Mark and I continued playing Band Hero, Hannes and Michelle said goodbye and William and Theresa sat talking about the fish tanks.

I only got to bed after midnight, but spending time with friends like that is worth it.

The Sims 3 Ambitions: Large house fire walk-around

This is completely off topic for my regular blog, but it took me almost an hour to find any posts online that would help me overcome this bug and I feel like I should share the solution and post on how to walk around the problem.

 

Problem:

My fireman Sim is at the top of the fireman career path.  When he gets to a large house fire, he manages to put out all the fires on the windows and in the yard, but he is unable to enter the house to save the panicking sims.  All the walls of the house are raised and his only option when clicking on the front door (after breaking it down) is to visit the household.  The household won’t respond due to panicking because of the fire.  He cannot enter the house to save the sims.

 

Solution:

Make your fireman/woman leave the lot of the large house fire and go to the neighbours lot.  Then make your sim return to the lot containing the large house fire.  (S)he should now be able to break down the door and enter the house.

 

This worked for me.  I hope that it works for anyone reading this.

Home Church and Growth

A quick praise report, the host of the former home church I went to has moved back to town and he has started up the home church group again.  It was such a blessing being with all my old friends. 

 

I missed the first two meetings because I only found out about it last week.  When the host saw me he apologized and told me that he was telling people as he saw them and hadn’t seen any of the [insert name of bar here] crowd yet since he had not gone there in a long time.  I replied that he should worry because I hadn’t been to [insert name of bar here] in almost 2 years either.  He was rather surprised and asked what happened.  I told him that I outgrew it – which wasn’t the complete truth…

 

The complete truth is that since I started studying God’s word for myself, almost everyday, I didn’t feel right going to [insert name of bar here] anymore.  It started off that I would rather stay at home and have a beer or glass of wine while watching a movie.  Then I stopped drinking beer and it became a glass of wine with dinner.  Then it became a glass of port or sherry when I had guests over.  Now I only have half a glass of port or sherry occasionally when I have guests – and only if they are drinking already.  I few times I haven’t felt like any type of alcohol and have stuck to tea or soda.  Perhaps in a few more months I’ll be off completely.

 

Recently I committed to reading the Bible and/or praying for 1 hour a day, everyday.  I am amazed at how I have grown in only a month of this.

 

Even though I tend to talk big, I have always had difficulty keeping my focus on God throughout my daily life.  I so easily find myself getting carried away.  Just last week I noticed that I think of God much more often during the day.  In everything I do I have found myself asking if God would approve of it.

 

The other area where I noticed a change in the past month is during conversation and also in what I watch.  I had friends over the other night and the conversation moved towards age-restriction 16 topics.  It got to the point where I excused myself and went to wash the coffee mugs.  I was not enjoying it at all – 6 months ago it wouldn’t have bothered me as much as it did that night.  The same goes for movies and TV shows.  In fact, the closer I am getting to God, the less I have in common with my friends – even the Christian ones!

 

And this is why I was so thrilled to find out the home church group was starting again.  It brings me to a place where once a week I’ll be able to talk about God, and also all these experiences I am having during my growth.  It brings me to a place where I can watch the growth in others too.

 

God is definitely blessing my socks off!

God’s hand in everything

Remember that a while ago I told everyone I had a secret that I couldn’t share yet? I have got to the point where I can share the secret.  On Tuesday, I got a job as a Junior Programmer.  Looking back at the whole process I am amazed at how God seemed to move everything into place at the perfect time.

Firstly, I wasn't even looking for a new job, but out of the blue I got a phone call from a recruitment agency (I still have no idea how they got my number) to tell me about the job and ask if I would be interested in going for an interview.  I went with the thought in mind that God must be involved in this because I wasn't even looking for a job.

I was then called for a second and a third interview.  Next I was called to work for the company for 2 days as a trail period.  As of Tuesday I was offered the job.  I am utterly amazed. 

Not only this, but the timing is perfect too.  I recently moved into a larger home and while I didn't overspend and I could afford it, I knew it would be a little tighter on cash than previously.  I need to work because I am supporting myself (my father passed away last year).  My salary has effectively doubled with this new job, so I'll be earning more than enough to meet my needs - God provides!

The timing was perfect in another way, at my current job the easiest time of year to make a switch in career is June/July or December/January.  This is because the University holidays happen at this time of year so the campus is very quiet and my work is at it's end until the next semester starts.  My new work wants me to start on the 1st of July!  The timing was absolutely perfect!

One more thing happened that I saw God's hand in.  There is one student who is really struggling financially.  He is working every odd job that he can to get through university and guess what?  He is the most qualified person to take over my job from me!  He knows more about how I run the course than anybody else (excluding my boss).  It hasn't been confirmed that he will get my old job yet, but I know he needs it - so this is perfect for him too!

Even though I want to be a stay-at-home wife and mother someday, it cannot be denied that God's hand has been in this change of jobs for me.  It seems as though this is where he wants me to be for now because with every interview I prayed that he would stop the process if it wasn't his plan for me for the moment.

Praise be to God!

Our pet babies

No photo’s since they are too small to photograph, but two of our mommy guppies gave birth.  The one yesterday and the other one today.  The first gave birth to about 17 young ones and the second gave birth to about 41 babies.  They are currently in a separate tank so that they can all grow up together and be safe from the hungry mommies (and other fish).

 

This is the first set of babies that have ever been born under my roof.  None of our pets ever fell pregnant while I was a child so this is very exciting for me.  All I want to do is sit at the fish tank and watch all the little babies swimming around.

 

On top of that two of my budgies (Lee and Stitch) have been very friendly towards each other recently and today Lee was climbing into and out of the nesting box.  He is probably just being curious, but I am hoping that I’ll have baby budgies someday too.

Plunging on into the weekend

It’s Friday morning right now, and I am siting at the computer with a cup of lemon tea while writing this post.  I am way behind on reading emails - 751 in my inbox from various forums and groups I am part of.  I’m going to to a quick read / delete this morning and see how far I get with it.

On the bright side I have been able to get parts of my morning routine back on track.  Yesterday and today I woke up, turned the kettle on, turned the washing machine on and packed away the clean dishes.  I’m waiting for the washing machine to finish so I can hang out the laundry before work today.

Today is going to be a busy day.  I need to get to:

• check the post office box,
• pay an account,
• go to a hardware store to buy a door handle for the bathroom door
• Send the assistants a reminder to fill in their claim forms so they will be paid
• Go to the nursery to buy a gift for my previous landlady and return the keys for my previous home.
• Water the garden

And that is just what I can think of on the top of my head.

I must say that I do enjoy busy days because at the end of them I actually feel like I got something done.  The quiet days I seem to mess around doing a little bit of everything and not actually getting anything finished.

God’s Will vs. Relentless Prayer

One of the things which has been happening in my life is that I have found myself in a situation where I need/want direct guidance from God.  The people who know me best (family) advise me to pray and wait for God’s guidance.  The absolutely wonderful Christian people I have met and I have told about my situation in private have either pointed to Bible passages to advise me, or have encouraged me to continue praying and waiting for guidance, and have agreed to pray with/for me too.  Personally, I tend to follow the advice of the people who know me and my situation the best (my mother for example).  However, I also know that God’s timing is perfect and if I were to make a move now then it would be a disaster. 

 

But this got me thinking there is more to prayer than we want to believe, especially prayer requests.

 

I know from past experience that persistent prayer results in God giving me direct guidance (or moving the figurative chess piece for me) at exactly the right moment and in exactly the right way, and it isn’t just my life experiences that say that persistent prayer results in God’s answer to that prayer, it is also written in the Bible in Luke 11:5-9, Luke 18:1-8, John 16:23-24, Philippians 4:6 and Matthew 15:21-28. 

 

I have been reading a book written by Leslie Ludy.  It is called “Set-Apart Feminity”.  I could never put it as eloquently as she does, so I am going to present you with a short excerpt from the book:

When I spent time in Christ’s presence, I had learned how to worship Him, study His Word, let Him speak to me through stories of great Christians, and journal my thoughts, fears, and praises as prayers to Him.  But the idea of wrestling, importunate, persistent prayer was completely foreign to me.  Whenever I had a specific request, concern, or need, I brought it to Christ – once or twice.  Instead of praying with confidence and boldness, I prayed, “Lord, if it is your will, then please do this or that.”  And if no answer came after one or two times of praying, usually I assumed that it wasn’t “His will” to answer, and I let it go.  It even seemed unspiritual to keep pressing the issue with God.  I felt that it was better to just cheerfully accept the lack of response from heaven, rather than act like a pesky child and go back to Him again and again.

But then I started studying what Scripture says about prayer.  And what I found was somewhat shocking…….

…….Instead of assuming that Christ doesn’t desire to answer our prayers when we don’t receive an immediate response, we are to press in with even more persistence, not letting go until our request is granted.

~ Set-Apart Feminity, by Leslie Ludy (excerpt from pages 152, 153 and 155).

I could never have said it any better than this.  It was also mentioned in the book (and this part I am paraphrasing) that if a prayer is not coming from a Christ-centred heart then eventually the person will give up on the prayer request -  that person is not praying according to God’s will.  However, if the prayer is coming from a Christ-centred heart then the person will never give up praying until their request is granted – that person is praying according to God’s will.

 

As Leslie mentioned, many times we give up and assume it wasn’t God’s will.  Or as I have experienced, start looking for the answers ourselves instead of watching, waiting and listening.  It is important to read your Bible to know God’s character, but a person can also read their Bible in such a way that they see the answers they want to see.  We need to rely on God to show us what he wants us to see, and when he wants us to see it.

 

I don’t know about everyone else, but I have decided that I am going to be bold in prayer and silent while listening for God’s response because I know he will show me where he wants me to go as long as I stay focused on him first.

News: Been a while

It’s been some time since I last wrote a post here.  I have finally finished moving everything from my old home to my new home.  Today was the last load.  Now I need to do the final unpacking and it will all be over.

 

There has been a lot going on in my life, but most of it I cannot post about just yet.  Typical isn’t it?

 

There is something very important happening tomorrow, and I am absolutely dying to tell everyone what it is, but my lips have to remain sealed until I inform all the parties concerned.  I have spent the afternoon and evening preparing for it.

 

William and his brother made me a late lunch or early supper today so that I didn’t need to cook and could focus on the preparations for tomorrow.  They made a fire and cooked Boerewors and lamb chops on it.  I am so grateful to have such caring people in my life. 

 

William’s brother even helped me wash dishes and clean the living room this morning.  That really cut the time it would have taken me in half.  And William washed the Mercedes while we were doing this!

 

Our neighbour’s child, Gareth, came to visit us this afternoon.  I have a Nintendo Wii, so we played games on it.  Unfortunately, I had to cut the games short so that I could get to work for tomorrow.

 

Oh, I think I should mentioned that the Spider I mentioned in the previous post is dead.  It took a bit of skill to catch it, even with the vacuum cleaner.

 

William went to see one of the Major’s at the army base on Friday.  It sounds like there is a very good chance that he will be accepted for training.  Which means we won’t have any contact with each other while he does his Basic Training.  He has to go for a second interview and then we will know for sure.

 

That’s the news from me.

 

May God Bless Each of you!

Fell of the horse

I totally fell off the cleaning horse sometime just before Easter break, but today I climbed back onto it.

I was up at 6:10am, 40 minutes later than I wanted to be up by, but at least I was awake and out of bed.  The weather is icy here.  It was -3°C this morning and the weather forecast said we would see a maximum of 13°C - and we are still a month and a half away from the middle of winter.  I think this is going to be one of our coldest winters in years.

I did manage to get a load of laundry washed and hung up (indoors) to dry.  I also packed away the dishes I washed yesterday and made the bed before heading off to work.

During my lunch break I went home and packed up 1 box of stuff from the kitchen cupboards.  For those of you who don't know, I'm moving from my 1 bedroom home into a 2 bedroom home.  I got the keys today so I also went to take a look during my lunch break.  These are the joys of living in a city where it takes 20-30 minutes to travel from one side to the other.  It's a 5-10 minute drive to and from work, and my new home is only a few blocks away from my current home.  I'm so excited, I have such big plans for the place - the first one is to take a bubble bath... a nice long bubble bath!

 

However, I got a nasty surprise while looking in the cupboard - a spider, about 10cm big, with lots of hairs on it’s legs.  I left it alone for now, but it is going to be sucked up by my vacuum cleaner eventually.

 

So this coming weekend is move weekend I hope to take some photograph’s before I officially start the move.  Maybe I’ll post them up here when I have the opportunity.

Challenge: Recharging the batteries

Yesterday morning I slept in and only got out of bed at 7:20am.  I had 30 minutes to shower, dress, feed the pets, pack for work and get to work.  At 8:50am I headed out the door ready to start my day.  I needed the extra time to sleep this morning. BUT…

When I turn the key in the ignition of my car, the engine made a Woo-Woo sound, the gages went crazy, the mileage reset itself and I got nothing.  I try again and the same story happens.  So I phone William – he gives me a long detailed explanation on what is wrong, but doesn’t tell me what I should do to fix it.  So I pretend to listen and eventually say goodbye with instructions to send him the dealership’s phone-number. 

Second round of dumb luck, I haven’t driven the scooter for a couple of day’s and the battery of the scooter is also dead.

I phone my mom to get the dealership’s phone-number from her (since she kept the invoice) and she decides I should rather phone my uncle first.  I get hold of my uncle and he phones the place who installed my alarm.  Long story of phoning back and forth, but the end result is that the people who installed the alarm come to fetch my Ford and drop me off at work.  They replaced the battery and now I have a working car.

So this got me thinking about recharging our personal batteries.  Why is it that we usually end up waiting until we are on the brink of going crazy before we recharge our batteries?  While our endurance may be higher than that of machines, we also need our batteries recharged from time to time and occasionally we also need to go in for repairs.

There are many simple ways throughout the day that we can recharge our batteries.  Some of my favourites are to:

~ Lie flat on my back on the floor in a quiet room for 10 – 15 minutes.
~ Sit quietly in a chair with a cup of tea and not do anything except sit and drink my tea.
~ Read a book in a warm comfy bed in the evenings (or occasionally for a whole Saturday afternoon)
~ Take a warm candle-lit bubble bath.

Unfortunately, my current home doesn’t have a bath tub (only a shower), so I only get to have a bubble bath when I visit my mother.  Luckily, my future home (from the 1st of May) does have a bath tub – so you can guess what will be the first thing I do in my new home!

Question – leave a comment:
What do you do to recharge your batteries?

Challenge:
Do something this week to recharge your batteries!

Pot Challenge

William bought me a set of 3 pots.  I love them!  When William wanted to make supper a few nights ago he accidentally burnt the Tomato Soup - badly!  He didn't want to even think about cleaning up the mess, and it took me 2 days to convince him to just throw out what he could and I would clean the rest of the pot.  That burnt mess was standing on my stove for 2 days!  William behaved like a 10 year old being told to clean his room and I was the mom in the scenario.  Looking back it was quiet funny.

So, after finally throwing out the mess together (he held the packet and I scooped the mess into the packet) he left me to wash the pot.  I soaked it with boiling soapy water for 3 days (adding new boiling water once a day) dreading trying to get the layer of black off the bottom. 

When I washed the dishes today I decided that I would just see how much I could get off in 5 minutes then let it soak over night again.  To my surprise, as I started scrubbing the black stuff started moving in one big mass, and I literally was able to pick the entire chunk of black up in my hand and throw it into the dustbin.  Then the pot washed as though the soup had never been burnt!

This got me thinking about the rest of life.  Sometimes we buck God/world/other, or we dread doing things we have to do, or we are scared of change, or we want to wait for the perfect moment, or we come up with other excuses, but what we really need is to just get our hands dirty for 5 minutes.  We need to face our fears head-on, even if it is in small pieces, and usually we'll find that it wasn't so bad.

Challenge:

Do something today that you have been dreading doing – even if it is only for 5 minutes.

Budgie Stitch

Here is a picture of the new addition to my budgie family.  Her name is Stitch.

 

Beautiful Kitchen & other

It’s been a gorgeous day so far, I woke up to a clean kitchen for the first time in months.  The reason is that I actually took the 15 minutes to wash up after making supper last night instead of leaving it until this morning.  I had forgotten what a joy it is to wake up to a clean counter ready for making my morning coffee.  I even had a cup of filter coffee today instead of instant coffee.

 

I’ve been recreating my daily routines list.  I am attempting to get my life back into order after being so sick (on and off) for the past 2 months.  I want to get organized again (even if it is marginally).  I also want to discover peace of heart and mind in my home.  To be a proper homemaker, and not somebody who ambles from one moment to the next. 

 

At the moment the washing machine is buzzing away with a load of laundry that I’ll hang up to dry when it is done.  The new townhouse has an outdoor washing line.  I’m so excited about moving there so I can hang my laundry outdoors! 31 days until moving day!

 

My coffee is almost finished and I am ready to start my day with a shower and getting ready for work. 

 

I have 5 things on my To Do List for today, they are:

~ Spend some time dusting the bookcase in the living room

~ Email copy of the deposit slip to owners of the townhouse

~ Get a new bank card

~ Send a work email

~ Fetch my scooter from William’s grandparents house.

 

I think I should be able to get those 5 things done.

 

Yesterday was a pleasant day.  I dressed up smart (all business-like), then William and I went to pay the deposit on the Townhouse at the bank.  Smooth sailing.  Since we were at the bank in the shopping mall we went to Wimpy for breakfast.  I just had White Hot Chocolate and a muffin, William had a full breakfast (Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast etc.) and coffee.

 

We took our time in the shopping mall.  I bought The Sims Medieval from CNA, and William bought a book called “Aquariums and Aquarium Fish” from Exclusive Books.

 

I took the day off work, and we came home.  I spent time playing my new The Sims game (I’m slightly disappointed, I was hoping that there would be more free-play), and William fiddled with my fish-tank, which is now his fish tank.  He wanted tropical fish, so I handed the tank over to him.

 

There is also a new budgie addition to my home.  She is bright blue and I have named her Stitch (from Lilo & Stitch).  I’ll put a photo up when I get one.

 

Now I must continue with my day. May God bless you as you have blessed others.

Moving Plans & other news

It is official, William and I have signed the rental contract for the two-bedroom townhouse.  We can start moving my stuff in from the 1st of May.  This means that my current home is going to be “On Show” soon (for the new tenants).

 

Yesterday I spent part of the day cleaning the bedroom.  William helped me move my bed from the centre of the room to the wall.  It is more convenient for me to have my bed in the centre of the room, but the room looks larger when the bed is against the wall, and that will come in handy when trying to find a new tenant for the house.

 

We also managed to find a larger bird cage for my two budgies, now I won’t be letting them free all day every day anymore.  The new home will have a lot more windows than my current home, so it won’t be safe to let them roam free all day while I am not there.

 

Today is going to be a busy day.  William has a job interview which is currently on the go.  I’m keeping him in my thoughts and prayers since he really needs this job.  Other than that, I also need to stop by the bank and pay the deposit for the townhouse today.  Finally I need to get the license disk for my scooter and fetch it from William’s grandparents house.  I’m looking forward to driving it again.

 

As far as housework, I plan to make sure the kitchen is spotless by the end of today too.  I want to finish getting my home ready for people to look at it.

 

May God Bless you as you have blessed others =)

Recipe: Macaroni Cheese

This is a really easy recipe and because it serves so few people it is easy to double or triple the recipe to serve as many as you need it to serve.  I’ve been using this recipe for Macaroni and Cheese since I moved out of my parents house and I have never needed to try another one.

 

Serves 2 – 3 people my size.

Ingredients:

• 250ml (1 cup) macaroni (uncooked)
• 1ml salt (1/5th teaspoon)
• 25ml Margarine (2 tablespoons)
• 25ml flour (2 tablespoons)
• 250ml Milk (1 cup)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 250ml grated cheddar cheese (1 cup)
• 1 tomato, sliced

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (360­°F). Grease an ovenproof dish
2. Cook macaroni in fast boiling, salt water until tender and drain in a colander (approx. 15 minutes).
3. Place Margarine, flour, milk, salt and pepper into a microwavable container (a glass measuring jug works well) and cook for a minute on high. Stir and cook again. Repeat until the mixture is thick but still runny.
4. Mix half the grated cheese into the milk mixture.
5. Mix macaroni and cheese sauce, pour into a greased ovenproof dish.
6. Place sliced tomato on top and sprinkle grated cheese over tomato.
7. Place in the oven for 10 minutes. Brown under the top element for 2 minutes. Garnish with parsley.

Budgie Photo’s

Here are some pictures of my 2 budgies:

 

 

The green/yellow budgie is Luke.  He was bought as a companion of the yellow budgie.  The yellow budgie’s name was Leia, until I found out she was a he, now his name is Lee.

 

The budgies love sitting on the blinds rail in the living room.  Occasionally Lee will fly to the bathroom and sit on the shower rail, but they mostly stick to the Living-room area.

Here is a picture of their cage, which I feel is way to small for them, so they only use it to eat and sleep in.  During the day they are free to roam my home as they please.

 

Another one of Lee.  Lee is the most tame out of the two.  He will sit on my shoulder, or hair, or hand and actively tries to get my attention when I am busy cleaning or doing other work.  However, he hates to be forced to do anything he doesn’t want to do.  He will not come to my hand when I want him to, but rather waits until I am busy to decide he wants attention from me.

 

And those are my pets!

Recipe: South African Pancakes

Makes: 12 – 20 (depends on the size of your frying pan)

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs (beaten)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons margarine (melted)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl
2. Add the wet ingredients and mix together until lump free. Leave to stand for 20-30 minutes.
3. Heat a frying pan on a medium heat. Use a non-stick spray if needed, or heat a little oil in the pan and pour it out between pancakes.
4. Pour enough batter so that there is a thin layer (1mm – 2mm thick) of batter over the bottom of the pan.  These pancakes won’t rise like the American style pancakes.
5. Leave batter in pan until air bubbles start to form.  Then use an egg-lifter to turn the pancake over.  If the pan is properly coated with non-stick spray or oil and the pancake is ready to turn this should be easy.  Sometimes it will take 1 or 2 attempts to grow accustomed to when to turn the pancake.
6. Once turned, leave the pancake to cook on the other side. Once the second side is ready there should be some brown spots on the second side of the pancake. Once cooked the pancake should still be soft and easy to roll up (like one would roll a newspaper).
7. For savoury pancakes, turn the pancake onto a plate and put cooked minced  meat(with tomato and onion sauce) in the middle, sprinkle with cheese. You can use Chicken and Mayonnaise. Have fun experimenting with different fillings.
8. For classic South African sweet pancakes, mix cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl and sprinkle over the whole pancake.  A dash of lemon juice can also be added if wished (some people like it, others don’t).
9. Roll the pancake like a newspaper and serve.  Some shops serve the pancakes with a spoon of cream or ice-cream. Below are the rolled versions of the Minced Meat pancake and the Sweet Cinnamon pancake.

The batter can be stored in a fridge overnight.  I have also heard it can be frozen, but I have never tried this.

The sweet pancakes are so cheap and easy to make, they are often sold at church/charity/school fund-raising events here in South Africa.  4 outdoor gas stoves, 4 pans, and 2 cooks can make a lot of pancakes quickly.  Wrap them up in grease proof paper for eating with ones hands while walking around a flea-market.  They are normally sold for R3,50 (US$0.50) each over here in South Africa.

The Ring

Here is the photographs of the engagement ring.  I am so sorry I don't have a better camera, this is the best I could get with mine.

This was the best photo I could get of it.

Bible Monday’s: Galatians 5:16-26

The other day I was sitting in my bed having some me-time with God.  I was just flipping through the index of my New Testament NLT Bible.  For some unknown reason I just felt like using that version on that specific night, normally I read an NIV Bible, but I have various versions in my home since some translations explain certain passages better than others, so if I get stuck on the meaning of a passage I try a different version.

 

So anyway, I was flipping through the index of my New Testament NLT Bible and stopped on the entry for “Alcohol”.  I read down the list. I’m not 100% sure why I read that list but it might have something to do with the bar fight over the previous weekend that I wasn’t present to see but heard all about the next day and had flashes of previous sins in my life which resulted in me making the decision to never touch alcohol again unless it is in medicine or is a glass of champagne/wine at a wedding/other celebration.

 

I read down the list:

Romans 13:13-14.  Becoming drunk is sinful. – yip, I know that already.

Galatians 5:19-21.  God hates drunkenness. – huh? it really says that? *page to Galatians 5:19-21*, and end up reading the whole section from Galatians 5:16-26.

 

Now I strongly recommend going to this website and comparing the NLT version to the NIV version.  I’ll even include links here to make it easy for you:

 

NLT version:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205:16-26&version=NLT

 

NIV version:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205:16-26&version=NIV

 

In essence they are the same, but the NLT version is written in a way that a teenager (or young Christian) can understand it.  The NIV version is (in my opinion) a little more advanced… I don’t know if I want to even try and look at the KJV, but for the sake of completeness here it is with a link:

 

KJV version:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205:16-26&version=KJV

 

Now remember at this stage I had only read the NLT version, and it took my breath away.  Who would have thought the words “wild parties” would be in the Bible?

 

I compared the list of the desires of sinful nature to myself – I can count 2 things that I have recently been able to overcome with God’s help.  One or two others are going to be ongoing battles for a while (remember, I am not perfect).

 

I am proud to say that the night before reading this passage God had confronted me (well I think it was confronted because I was in prayer and I just got an unmistakable urge to do this) about the alcoholic drinks that had been sitting on the shelf untouched for over a year.  I hadn’t thrown them away because I don’t like to waste.

 

Something in my brain clicked that I was never going to drink it, and I was never going to offer it to guests so I might as well throw it down the kitchen sink, and that is what I did.

 

I think that Galatians 5:16-26 (in the NLT) gives a nice well-rounded list of “Do’s and Don’ts” for new and old Christians.  So often I have just asked God “Why couldn’t you have given us a list of basic everyday life things that you like and don’t like us doing, in black and white?”  Well, guess what, he did give it to us, just some of us haven’t found it yet.

 

Then we go onto the next part, the Fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  I think that overall, a lot of us can say “Yes, 60% of the time I am those things, some of them I am 80-90% of the time.” But there is always room for improvement. 

 

For example, I am extremely patience while waiting in lines, but I am impatient while waiting for God to answer prayer – I need practice in that one.

 

There was a saying: “Never pray for patience because God will make you practice it!”, but I say we have to look at our weaknesses and pray that God will give us opportunities to practice our weaknesses.  I know that my weakness is self-control and I have a friend whose weakness is peace.  He is so eager for arguments, he’ll take the opposing view just to have a good argument with someone (whether he believes the opposing view or not)!

 

Then the next question is what is your biggest strength?  Mine is peace, I try to maintain the peace in all situation, I strongly dislike arguing and would rather say “Well, we can agree that we disagree” and end the discussion there.  My not-so-little-anymore cousin’s biggest strength (in my opinion) is self-control, but with him it is difficult to pinpoint his strength because he just seems to be overflowing with love, joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  I don’t know if he is patient, but I’ve never seen him impatient.

 

The point is to cultivate your strengths and improve your weaknesses.  Think of the school situation.  If you discover in Grade 4 that you are above average in Maths, but below average in reading, the teachers recommend extra lessons to improve your reading skill.  And a good teacher will acknowledge your strength in Maths and recommend you enter mathematics tournaments to encourage you to build on your skill.  In the same way we need to focus on both our strengths and our weaknesses.  Pray for opportunities to practice our weaknesses and pray for situations to use our strengths.  I’m going to.

 

This has turned out rather long, so I would like to congratulate you if you read the whole thing.  I intended just to write a few paragraphs and it just flowed into an essay.  Each time I finished off one section, it flowed into a new one – but that is how my train of thought works.

 

May God Bless each of you!

Recipe Friday: Farmhouse Omelette

This is great for both breakfast and supper! The recipe says it serves 4, and it would probably serve 4 people my size, or 4 children, but William’s 17 year old brother would most likely finish it all by himself.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 25ml (25g) Margarine
• 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
• Half a green pepper, de-seeded and chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 4 eggs
• 25ml cold water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 50ml grated cheese

Method:

1. Prepare all ingredients (chopping etc.) Beat together eggs, water, salt and pepper.
2. Heat margarine in a frying pan
3. Add onion and green pepper and fry, stirring all the time with a spatula for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add tomato and fry for another 2 minutes
5. Pour egg mixture over vegetable mix in the pan. Cook until egg sets around the sides of the pan.
6. Switch on the top element of the oven. Sprinkle grated cheese over egg mixture, place pan under the top element and cook till omelette is golden brown and cheese has melted. (Leave the door open and any plastic outside the oven.
7. Divide the omelette and serve with warm toast.

Bible Monday's: Psalm 48:14

"God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end." ~ Psalm 48:14

This afternoon, while thinking about what to write in this blog post, I opened a little box called "101 favourite Bible verses for women." I drew out a card and read the verse on it.  It was Psalm 48:14.  I still had no idea what to write about in this post.  So I started reading the Bible.  I decided I was going to read today's Bible reading and just continue with tomorrow's and the next day's and so on until God made something stand out to me.

I read 2 Samuel 3-4.  Then I went onto the next day's reading (which is actually Wednesday's reading because I am a bit ahead of schedule), it is Psalms 48-50.  After reading Psalm 48 it occurred to me how strange it was that I not only drew the above verse out of my little box, but it was also the next Psalm I was to read in the Bible.  This may be a coincidence, but it allowed me to really think about Psalm 48:14 again, especially the part "He will be our guide even to the end."

Lately I have had a lot on my mind and a heavy weight on my heart concerning a private matter, something which should only be discussed with close family and friends, so please forgive me for not disclosing it here.  What you need to know is that I have prayed for a certain miracle to happen in 2011, and when God grants my request, I'll definitely post disclosing all.

On Saturday, God guided me (very obviously) on the matter mentioned in the previous paragraph.  The matter is far from resolved, but I now know what I need to do during this upcoming year.

I want to encourage everyone reading this to share your troubles with God.  He will give you guidance.  Just like it is written:

"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you.  He will not rebuke you for asking." ~ James 1:5

Just remember, once God gives you the wisdom you need to follow through on it.

Sunday News: The Holidays (Part 1)

I had such a wonderful holiday with William.  We left for my hometown the Monday before Christmas.  My 2 budgies came with us in the car.  The trip was mostly uneventful.  Here are some pictures:

 

 The view out my window while we travelled.

 

William driving the car with my budgie (Leya) on his head.

We stayed over at my mother’s house for the night.  It was a 4 hour drive and we had only left at midday.  My mom spoilt me rotten by cooking for us.  Nothing is better than a mom-cooked meal.  The next day we were on the road again to visit William’s family at the coast.

 We stopped for tea and lunch at Buddaford farm stall.  It can be found 10km outside Fort Beauford on the road to Whittlesea.

William enjoying a nice cup of coffee.

The best toasted sandwich and salad in the world (or so I’m told)

Roosterkoek – The bread is baked on an open flame.  Served with Strawberry Jam and Cheese in this case.  It is one of my favourite light meals and I very seldom get to enjoy it.  It was delicious.

And this is where I shall close for today.  God is great and I am so grateful he allowed us a safe trip this holiday season.

Saturday Fitness: New year

Today is the start of a new year, and like everybody else, I have a few fitness and health goals for the year ahead of me.  These are not really New Years Resolutions since my official New Years Resolution is:

 

“To grow closer to God in the coming year by prayer, reading his word and living a set-apart life for him.”

But I still have other things I would like to get into the habit of doing this year.  The first is that I want to get into the habit of exercising every morning for 20-30 minutes.  Then going for a walk or other exercise in the evenings for 30 minutes too.

 

The next habit I want to get into is eating healthy meals, mostly focussing on fresh fruit and vegetables.

 

On another note, I also want to get into the habit of posting more regularly on my blog.  I really slacked off over the past few weeks.

 

I hope that everyone has a great year, and I’m praying that God helps everyone I know stick to their New Year Goals.