Sparkle

In exactly seven days the husband and I will be celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary. That's right TWENTY years. Where has the time gone? It definitely does not feel like twenty years!


We have talked for several months now about what we were going to do mark this momentous occasion. 


There have been suggestions of a special trip for just the two of us. There was also the suggestion of a party. While both of these ideas sounded good, the timing is not so good. Easter is just around the corner, so a trip or party would have to happen well after our anniversary. It would also be a struggle to find someone to watch the girls while we were away. And we didn't think a trip or a party would provide the lasting memento of twenty years of marriage that we really wanted.


We finally decided to replace our wedding rings. There were several reasons for this decision: The original rings were yellow gold. I still don't know why I chose yellow gold, I never especially liked yellow gold on me. I think it was the norm twenty years ago. The husband's ring had an intricate pattern that, after twenty years, had become very worn and could not be buffed out without loosing the original look. And new rings would be a lasting reminder of our celebration of twenty years of marriage.


So without further ado...the new rings!

Now, I originally had not planned to blog about the new rings, but the husband has been teasing me since we got them because he seems to think I spend too much time looking at mine. 


I don't!


But would you blame me? 


My original wedding ring did not have any diamonds. This is all very new to me. They are very sparkly!


I really like it! 


Fine! Maybe I have been looking at it frequently. Like when I work on my blog...ooooo sparkly!

Or when I carry my Starbucks Mocha...oooo sparkly!

Or when I pick up my Target bags...oooo sparkly!

Alright I admit it. I do look at it often. It is beautiful and sparkly. I realize though, that under all of that sparkle those diamonds are flawed. No diamond, no matter how lovely it is, will be perfect. Yet I appreciate their beauty and I don't look for or think about their flaws.


Isn't that exactly how I should look at my spouse? 


After twenty years of marriage our flaws and our spouse's flaws can become blatantly obvious. It is difficult in the day to day to hide our imperfections from the people we spend most of our time with. Yet if I continue to look for the "sparkle" in my spouse, his imperfections will fade to the background. And that is absolutely how I would prefer he see me! Oh, how I would prefer he not see my many flaws...many...many flaws!


Now, I'm not saying that marriages don't sometimes have big problems that may need outside help to overcome. Every one of us needs to recognize the areas in our lives that need work. But wouldn't that process be made easier if the person, who promised to love us through everything, good and bad, chose to continue to see the "sparkle" they saw in us the day we met, twenty years later? 


That my friends is my goal for the rest of my life with my husband...to focus on the "sparkle"!

oooo...sparkly!


Christine

Puzzled

The cube has sat benignly on the bookshelf for months.

Which was more than one seventh grader could take. No, she could not leave well enough alone! 


Much to my dismay, my beloved seventh grader had to grab one of the blocks on the cube and pull.

Thus instantly transforming the benign cube into a mind bending, head pounding, never to be solved puzzle.


I begged her not to do it!


She promised she could handle it! 


She began with a twinkle in her eye and determination on her face.

She persevered for several minutes...

...before agitation set in.

Agitation quickly became frustration.

Frustration then turned into all out aggravation!

Aggravation then turned into resignation. My dear, darling girl gave up. Which of course left me with the tangled mess of a puzzle.


What was I to do with that?


It couldn't go back on the bookshelf a tangled mess!


So, I solved it, and put the cube away where it belonged...where it should have been left...where it sat benignly for months, not bothering a soul.

Poor girl. 


I told her. 


All I have to say is that I am smarter than a seventh grader! Oh yeah!


And I will brag about that every chance I get...until she asks me to help her with her advanced math. Then I will have complete amnesia about the bragging!


Christine

30 minutes

My girls have no problem sitting for 30 minutes or longer so I can cover their heads with braids.

It isn't the braids they're after.

And it isn't some new funky cool fad. Whew!

For the girls it's all about the waves in their hair when the braids are taken out the next morning.

For me it's all about 30 minutes of time with each girl, who can't run off to do something else, chatting about their hopes, their friends, and their lives that are no longer completely tethered to Mom. 


I hope they want wavy hair every day for the rest of their lives!


Christine

Hello/Goodbye

The weather has been warm and sunny this week! Finally it feels like spring has sprung in Minnesota! Yippee!


The girls and I pulled the flip flops out of hibernation.

"Hello flip flops!"

And I packed away my lovely purple infinity scarf..."see ya!"

I said goodbye to fun winter hats..."wouldn't want to be ya!"

I bid farewell to my big warm mittens as I placed them in storage. "You're outta here!"

And it's good riddance to my girls well used and apparently abused mittens. How does this happen?

Goodbye winter! We'll see ya later alligator! After a looong while crocodile! Me and my flip flops are leaving the building!


Christine


P.S. Hurray, photo problem solved! Thank you for returning today. You are the best!

Who knew

Apparently one can use up all of one's allotted space for photo files on their blog. Apparently one needs to be aware of how large one's photo files are and one should reduce the size of one's photo files before posting one's photos on one's blog. Can you guess who that one would be?

(insert photo of me looking sheepish)

Now that one is aware of the need to reduce the size of one's photos, one will have to reduce the size of all of the previously posted photos before further posting may occur.

One is working feverishly to remedy the problem and regular posting should resume tomorrow!

(insert photo of me sweating from feverish efforts to remedy problem...not ugly sweating mind you, with the face all red and blotchy, only the glistening kind, like in the movies)

One thanks you for your patience and for understanding that one is a techno illiterate!

Please come back tomorrow! PLEASE and thank you!

Christine

He said/She said

Sunday


Husband says: Do we have any more hand soap?
Wife says: Isn't there a refill bottle of soap in the linen closet?
Husband says: No. We must be out. And all of the soap dispensers are nearly empty.
Wife says: That can't be! I was sure we had some in the linen closet. Darn! I must have missed that on my Target list the other day. I'll run back to the store tomorrow to get hand soap.


The wife was completely distressed that she had let the family run out of hand soap and began to fret about all of the possible nasty germs her family would catch if she did not get to the store before the last of the hand soap ran out!

Monday


The wife runs to Target to purchase much needed hand soap and she also buys Reese's pieces. Wife realizes she should not have bought Reese's pieces because they are so super yummy she wants to eat them all. She did NOT! But she wanted to.


Wife says: Sorry about that husband. I don't know what happened. I thought we still had hand soap.
Husband says: It's OK, no big deal.


Wife thinks husband is a good and patient man! Wife is relieved family is safe from germs!

Tuesday


Wife pulls out cleaning supplies to clean bathrooms. 

The wife is surprised to find 1/3 full refill bottle of hand soap with cleaning supplies.

Wife says: Honey, do you remember placing the hand soap refill in the bucket with the cleaning supplies after you cleaned the bathrooms last week?
Husband says: Ummm...I...have...no comment. Maybe?!


The family will not run out of hand soap any time soon!

The important point of this story (and the wife knows it) is that the husband had cleaned bathrooms! 


Thank you Husband!


Christine

  P.S. The wife also got Reese's pieces out of the deal! Bonus!


This post was husband approved.

Jerk

It was back to the recipe file yesterday.

It's been a couple of weeks, I know. I want to try a new recipe every week, but I have to face it, some weeks it's just not gonna happen. And really it's not my fault that it's been awhile. I had planned to make parmesan straws last week, but by mistake I placed the puff pastry in the freezer when I was supposed to put it in the fridge and then it wasn't thawed out to use. OK, it was my fault. Anyway, I still haven't made the parmesan straws, but I'm gonna. Sometime.


Back to yesterday.


I found a recipe, out of the Midwest Living magazine, for Jerk chicken wings with mango salsa in the file.  I have never used Jerk seasoning before and for some reason I imagine Jerk anything must be good, add in mango salsa— Yum, mango salsa—and it must be fabulous!


Finding Jerk seasoning was not an easy task. My local grocery store does not carry Jerk seasoning. Cajun—yes,  5 different types of bbq seasoning—yes, actually, they had every seasoning but Jerk. On a whim, I checked Target...found Jerk seasoning! I should have known. Target has everything! Hurray for Target!


With Jerk seasoning in hand, I whipped up the marinade of Jerk seasoning, cider vinegar, orange juice, lime juice, olive oil, and soy sauce. Doesn't that sound good?

I cut the chicken wings into 3 pieces, tossed out the wing tips, and placed all of the remaining wing sections into a gallon size Ziploc bag with the marinade. The baggie then went into the fridge to soak the wings in all of that Jerky goodness for several hours.

With that done I moved on to making the mango salsa. It's a simple combination of diced mango, finely chopped sweet pepper, fresh jalapeno pepper, basil, lime juice, red wine vinegar, and a little sugar. That went into the fridge too. How yummy does that look?

I love a meal that I can prep early in the day, because when it comes time to make dinner the meal seems so easy. It's like early prep amnesia! All that was left to do was broil the wings...

...and serve them up with the salsa. We also had some fresh veggies and dip.

There you have it my friends...Jerk chicken wings with mango salsa. I thought it was delicious. 


The family however, gave it two thumbs down and one ehh. I was the only thumbs up. Then they asked if we could order pizza for dinner tomorrow, if their lips were no longer burning. Did I mention that Jerk seasoning has a bit of a kick to it?


Well, it was worth a try, but this is what happens to recipes the family doesn't like.

Would anyone like a practically full bottle of Jerk seasoning?


Christine