last days of April.

can you believe it's almost May? crazy. this month has flown by. not so much b/c we've been having fun..but just been really busy with life. hopefully after this weekend after we move, things will start to settle down.
WE ARE MOVING! crazy. it's going to be so weird not living in the manor anymore. but it will be great. Jeremy and I are SO excited. SO here's the deal..if you feel like helping us move-we would love it. Our new friend Chris Cable is helping us Saturday at 10 in the a.m. with a moving truck... we'll be moving all the big stuff, so we could use some big guns. So if you want to help-let us know, show up, whatever. I'll be moving just boxes over on Friday and starting to clean the old place if you're bored:)
anyway. . .
a couple of rants for the day. (ah the beauty of retail).....
1) get off your phone or your bluetooth earpiece and treat me like a real person.
2) yes our prices have gone up. and no-there is nothing we can do about it. one lady said this to me this morning, "Well, can't you just keep your prices the same? How do you expect your customers to afford groceries?" sheesh lady, don't you understand how grocery stores make their money.

anyway. i have more to say. but I've lost my train of thought....... school has worn my brain out this week. I'm looking forward to being at our new home... especially b/c my kitchen has been a mess of boxes, newspaper, and trash... it feels weird to not cook every night. Jeremy and i are excited about coverdale family dinner. will you be there?
loves-a.

saturday. april 26.

hey friends. it's been a while. so much going on these days. so much to write about. just not really feeling it tonight... so instead, I'll leave with yes, another cute kitty picture:) jeremy hates that I love these. it's great. anyway. i hope everyone is well. how's my family doing? ...... loves-a.

oh. ps. thanks to candaceandbobby for offering us you're dryer! *i love this communal friendship we have* and candace, your mention of a worm composter has got me all excited! i'm totally going to go buy 1000 red worms! :) well maybe not 1000....but you know what I mean.

last p.s. wanted to give a shout out to my new friend Christian-it was nice to finally meet you.

pss. any ladies interested in growing some veggies this summer? as soon as I move I'm going to do lettuce on the window sill and tomatoes and bell peppers on the front porch. we could all grow stuff and then shop at each other's houses!:)

k. bye for real.

you know me, i have to put up atleast one kitty picture a week. this is an example of family to me. don't worry, we got you.
it's been a long couple of days. writing papers, packing, staying up too late makes amy a sleeping girl. so much that I opted for Chicken Alfredo tonight made w/a jar of sauce, spaghetti, and pre-cooked and sliced chicken :) who says you gotta be gourmet every night! Besides, jeremy loves anything alfredo... he's incredible. i love him so much. we've almost been married a year-crazy. seems like just yesterday we were standing there in front of family and friends, committing our lives together.
love and respect was amazing for us. we're kind of sorry that it's over-but mainly because of the awesome friends we made over the last 10 weeks. of course, i'm pretty sure that bond will remain and we'll all still hang out. *i hope so*
my sister and erich were gone this weekend so I was in charge of watering all of their outdoor plants. let me tell you something- i LOVE watering. is that weird? It is completely therapeutic for me. something about it-connecting with the earth. speaking of the earth-tomorrow is EARTH DAY! c'mon people, do your part. turn off the TV, take your own bag to the grocery store, take a nalgene bottle of water instead of buying a bottle of water, go buy some CFL's.... recycle! do it! :)
okay friends, i'm sleeping. late night at bombay's last night. why jeremy's band has to play on sunday nights? i'm not sure but atleast they're not playing wednesday nights with the R.A.D. crew...b/c well, that'd be awkward.
oh...quick note-next week, i'm taking volunteers for helping leah w/dinner and babysitting. it's been amazing seeing the response from the stirring. i love it. i love what's going on with us. family. iz got you.

headaches, bloodblisters, and sleeplessness....

that's been the down side of my week. I really think that Satan is trying his damnedest to get to me. I've been SO excited about this dream God has blessed me with to help the community that I think I got Satan's attention. Whatever Devil... get the hell out. This is God's dream.
pray for me as I've been having bad headaches again. not sure if it's allergies.. Kind of think its birth control related. *bleh* it's just not fun going through your day with a constant head ache. and i've been SO sleepy this week. i'll come home from work at 2pm and just be so exhausted that I take an hour nap..then sleep time comes later and I suck at it. . . . the bloodblister. it's not really a big deal; but it's the first time i've had one on the palm of my hand due to a hole punch. *ouch*
anyway, God is good. and I'm going to over come all the *ish* of this week because I've been able to help a sister out this week and meet some amazing members of my family. . . I haven't cooked hardly at all this week. weird. I have a dream of having this HUGE kitchen table.... and it's always going to be full-but I want a table that's actually a part of the kitchen-not a dining room. my family always ends up migrating to the kitchen to hang out. sitting on the floor, hopping up on the counters, laughing, crying, drinking lots of coffee.... good memories.
my incredible grandpa has a biopsy tomorrow. he's been battling bladder cancer for like the last 5 or 6 years. every time he has a surgery it get's serious again for me, realizing he might not make it. and then I realize how long its been since i've seen him and grandma. Why is that we get older and we don't see our blood family as much? i hate that. anyway, keep him and my grandma in your prayers if you think about it. so far the cancer has stayed in his bladder but this time it's stronger than before.
on a lighter note................. we're going out to whiskeytown tomorrow night with some friends for work for a bonfire. i'm excited-it has been TOO long since the last bonfire. summer is coming my friends. and oh, it shall be grand.

update on Leah Cadwell

Thanks to the girls that have been able to help Leah so far-it's been amazing to get emails from people I do not know that are just totally open to helping. Anyway-I have some great news... Leah is not leaving for Texas until May 2nd, I thought it was next friday April 25th.. So this means we have a whole extra week to help out the Cadwell family! Incredible! Jeremy and I are going to go over tuesday evening to hang out with her and the boys for dinner time. Leah said this is a huge help to have an extra person in the room for Caleb to talk to:) Also-another thing she brought up today as a need if anyone could help..... it would help her out immensely if anyone could pick Caleb up from school on Tuesdays. he goes to Redding Christian and gets out at 1pm. You'd just have to take him over to their place in Park West. Anyway-................ any one of you up to hanging with Leah and the boys a few nights? Or taking them dinner? Let me know. thanks everyone. a_money137@yahoo.com

what are you doing with your time?

here's a need for my community. Leah Cadwell. I need someone to go over this Thursday in the a.m. and watch Liam and Evan so Leah can run some errands... just for a few hours. Just imagine trying to go dress shopping w/2 little boys-ish. Then on monday-monday is her laundry day, so anyone able to go over and help fold laundry? once again imagine the laundry that piles up with 3 boys in the house! then lastly-next thursday which is may 1st, Leah needs someone to come over and just help her watch the boys so she can get everything together and packed for their trip to Texas. ... These are the needs Leah expressed; but I think we can meet them and more, can't we? Let me know if you're up to it. Seriously-you've got an hour of free time to maybe take them dinner, drop off some ice cream, watch the boys so Leah can take a shower in peace, whatever.
consider this your first challenge. email me a_money137@yahoo.com. do it.

contribute. it's how we roll.

tonight Dan's message rocked me. as I hope it rocked the rest of the stirring. everything he said was SO right on with everything that God has been speaking into my life. we are family. that means A TON, PEOPLE!! it means when our brother or sister is in need, we help. regardless. I'm sure that t.v. show is real important and all; but C'MON! we've got so much time. I've got so much time. if my sister called me up and needed anything, I'd be there. no matter what show was on. even if she called tonight and i had to miss Extreme Home Makeover.

as Dan said "everything changes when you become family."

we come to church every week. we worship. we listen to good words. we go home. we feel good about ourselves. why? if we're going to be part of the stirring-WE ARE FAMILY. all it takes is a little time. *insert DC talk in the back ground singing "time is ticking away..tick tick tickin away"* don't laugh-you know you were totally just singing along.

anyway. I'm serious, family.

"all the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared EVERYTHING they had." Acts4:32

so God has put this Stirring Help Wanted on my heart-but I'm going to need help from my family. (no pun intended:).... The Coverdales though want to help out in a personal way. I was thinking for a while about how God wanted me to use my talents and everything God has blessed Jeremy and I with...then on the way home from Love and Respect this week..it totally hit me. Jeremy and I want to commit to the community in saying we'll have one open night a week where anyone can come over for dinner. now granted, we probably can't have like 20 people in our house at once, but 4 would be nice. I love to cook and think I'm pretty good at it...Jeremy gets blessed with it every night-but I want to share my talents...further the kingdom. So as soon as we're in our new place, it's on. I'll post our open night and then whoever is hungry..c'mon over. or don't...but I just want Jeremy and I's house to be a place where people in the stirring feel comfortable coming over to... just hanging, eating, watching a movie, playing cards, .... whatever! okay..enough of that... I just pulled some banana walnut muffins out of the oven... going to bless my co-workers tomorrow with some homemade loveliness :) .... look good don't they.

i love you all-family. it was so cute tonight at church.. as we were closing in prayer, meg grabbed my hand and kristena's and I grabbed Emily's. it felt good. it felt like family.

Help Wanted #1

hey community.. I just got this email from Erica. Can you help? I'm thinking can someone take dinner over this week? Someone go over and babysit? Someone go over and help her with whatever? the Cadwells have been very important in our community-let's help them out! Email me if you're free and want to help (a_money137@yahoo.com)!! Thanks!

oh and PS... just b/c the email says ladies and girls don't think you can disregard this men of the stirring!! We need fathers and brothers on this one too!! :)

"Hello Ladies I have talked to most of you about Leah Caldwell. She has about a week or two before she leaves for Texas. She will be in Texas for two weeks and then she will be here for another two to three months. I think most of you know that Josh went to get a job in Texas . Leah has been here for three weeks with absolutely no help with her three boys. She is exhausted. If you girls could talk to your ladies small groups about maybe helping her out. She really needs it. They don't have money and so they would not be able to pay. She says the nights are the hardest so even a little help while she makes dinner and then helping her get the boys in bed would be amazing. She would probably love to go out of the house some nights after the kids are in bed. Whatever you can do would be amazing. The next two weeks she will really need the help."

The Stirring, who's got Talent?

Sounds like the next reality game show doesn't it? A little catchy title a came up with. No this does not have to do with Erase the Dark (although everyone should go-Friday night at the Stirring-you don't want to miss this.)..... this has to do with a dream that God has blessed me with.

We are Family.

we.are.family.

I looked up family in the dictionary..not that I don't know what it means; but sometimes.... do we really understand these common everyday words. Anyway..check one of the definitions.....

"Two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place."

that's us Stirring. that's who we are. Family takes care of each other-have long-term commitments to one another.... and while we don't reside in the same dwelling.... we live in the same town-we drive on the same streets-we drink the same coffee-we breathe the same air. we share the same goals and values.

do we? Family takes care of each other. Family is committed. Family is there when needed. Here's my point.

God has blessed us as a community with SO much. Truly, we live in abundance people. God has given each of us a talent-which can look different for all of us.. This is great! There are so many needs in a community-and so many of us with the talent to meet those needs.

I want to start the first ever Stirring Help Wanted. yes. the SHW. ssssssssshhhhhhhhhwwwwwwhhhh. say it with me people. anyway, here's this passion God has placed on my little heart. I want to help meet the needs of people in our community-whether it be someone needing money for groceries one week, a need for a moving truck one week (thank you Chris), a need for a babysitter one night, a plumber at 4o'clock in the morning. But here's the thing community.... I can't do this by myself.

This is where family comes in. We are committed to each other. When one of our family members is in need-we are to be there to meet that need in whatever way possible. Here's the other thing community.... we must lay down our pride and ask for help when we need help.

We have to find the "middle way" as Mr. Aaron Hayes put it the other night. . . . .

so who's with me? Let me know what kind of talent God has blessed you with. I want to call you out on it. We need to start using our talents-increasing them-not just burying them in the ground and keeping them safe. Do you have a need? let me know-whatever it may be. we are family. let's start acting like it. so email me, grab me at the stirring, talk to me. let's really become a family.

i have a ton to blog about tonight but am completely exhausted. tomorrow dear friends. just wanted to give a shout out to my Life Group..you guys are INCREDIBLE. God totally speaks to me through each and every one of you. thank you for being my support and encouragement. and a shout out to my stirring community. you make my life worth living-a whole community seeking after God's heart. and I'm a part of it. amazing. I have some exciting stuff I really want to blog about...*ish* I also have only read 10 out of 93 pages I need to read for class tomorrow. *bleh*..tomorrow dear friends.
until then. how are you using your talents? (props to Mr. borgic for bringing this up tonight!)

Rachael ray letdown...

I made french bread pizzas from the new issue of Rachael ray(who so happens to be my favorite cook on the Food Network)... (those ... are for you Nathan...) Anyway, they sounded delicious-you make a white sauce out of mustard, flour, butter, milk, salt, and pepper...then you dice up some black forest ham and grate some Gruyere cheese and chop up some thyme (I love thyme-so delicious!) ... so anyways, you put all of this on a halved baguette-yum. sounds good right? yea, the cheese would NOT melt. i even turned it on broil and that just made everything crunchy. not so much in a good way. . . they weren't that bad-Jeremy and I each ate 2 pieces. probably a 1 1/2 stars in my book- I didn't even ask Jeremy what his rating was. Oh well, I've had probably a month or 2 of success meals every night-so I can't complain. The rest of the week promises some good meals.. Orange Beef & Broccoli, Tortilla Turkey Casserole, Tex-Mex Crustless Meatloaf (you use roasted red peppers for the crust!-yum), and my favorite standby- 3 Pepper Turkey Burritos.
My husband is incredible. I just have to share this little story of how cute he is.... I leave for work this morning at 5:10 in the a.m. (yes, I know most of you think I'm crazy.) but that's besides the point.. I always go in and give a kiss, tell him I love him and that I'll see him soon. As I'm getting up he says "you look beautiful." I kind of laughed at him and said "You're half asleep..:)-I love you..." Later this morning I got a text from him saying, you were wearing your grey zip up hoodie and you looked BEAUTIFUL...... ah, he is so sweet. He truly makes me feel beautiful, even on my non-feeling-beautiful days.
so i am SO excited about our new place. God was and is totally in the works with this place. I think this is one step closer to having the healthy lifestyle I've always desired-we'll be able to feasibly ride our bikes to friends houses, to the grocery store, to Marketfest, to Carnegies (well, beer isn't quite healthy-but at least we'll get exercise!:) anyway-I've always wanted to live somewhere that facilitated this dream of mine to live w/in walking or riding distance. I would love for us to have 1 car and not have it be an issue. I'll live within a mile of some of my greatest friends-Andrew and Rosetta & Jeremy and Meghan. a beautiful thing.
Gross. I'm watching My Dad is Better Than Your Dad (b/c there's no good shows on Monday-except Deal or No Deal...) and the dad's are having to dunk their heads into a tank of garter snakes and "bob" for tomatoes. gross. all they can use is their mouth and they just have goggles on. gross. I don't mind garter snakes, I used to play with them as a child..but gross.
some good television new. NEW OFFICE THIS WEEK! about damn time don't you think? sheesh. and Hell's Kitchen is back on... If you haven't watched Hell's... do it, Gordon Ramsey is great and crazy at the same time.
Jeremy's leaving for LA this weekend. the boys are playing at Azusa at some benefit show I guess. I'll be alone Saturday-Tuesday. *ish* I hated that first week after he left on tour last summer... I'm sure I'll miss him but at least this time I can work on packing up our place..before I didn't have anything to do so I joined Extreme Fitness. speaking of that... I need to start going again. BIG time. I feel the married fat coming on ... :) you laugh but you know what I mean.
Did I mention yet that I got to give my bike away to a cute little guy? yea.. a girl from my work-he's stoked too. he's 9 and think he is just hot stuff now..well he is-that bike was hot stuff.. kind of like Kit from Knight Rider... Knight Rider would not have been the same if it weren't for the car.
tomorrow is day 10 of another bout of Amish Friendship Bread starter.. Erica-I'll try to bring you one on Wednesday, any of you lovely ladies want one?... or since Nathan seems to be such an aspiring cook, maybe I should give you one.. think you could handle the responsibility? Oh yes, the blog war. its still on.
loves you all.

writer's block.

i have a paper due tonight by midnight in my General Psychology class. *bleh* it's supposed to be on the major school's of thought and the biological foundations of psychology. *bleh* I've been working on it since 11 this a.m. and still haven't finished. 1100 words i believe is what I'm shooting for. ish. I have had THE hardest time concentrating today. maybe because its freaking GORGEOUS outside today..and here I am, typing away on my husband's Mac...would you believe that I took a break to curl my hair? yea, that's how NOT into this paper I am..:) oh well. it's about time to get ready for church..and then to WinCo I go.... must have food to feed my darling husband:) .... so then I'll be home in time for Extreme Home Makeover....and somewhere in the mix finish typing my paper up...and go to bed at a decent hour so I can get up and be at work at 5:30 tomorrow... bleh. oh well.. could be worse right? yes. it could be. time for a funny picture (i need something to make me laugh right now:) this one is for you nathan and erica and your little chihuahuas :) or is this a hairless cat? hhmm..i dunno.

relocating!!!

SO jeremy and I just found out that we'll be moving into our new duplex on Willis street (yes, downtown!! Whoohoo!!) as of May 1sth!! Crazy. we just went over to drop our app off with George, the funny European man that owns the place and we were approved on the spot! God is SO good. George seems super nice and lives pretty much next door-which is always nice. He was telling me there's one lady that has lived in one of his places for over 20 years!! He must be a good landlord. Anyway, I'm SUPER stoked. We'll even be saving 80 bucks a month and the place is a heck-of-a-lot cooler than the Manor. Well, the manor has been my home for 4+ years now..but it's time to move on. Especially before spider season (just ask Jeremy.) Maybe we'll have a little housewarming shindig once we get all settled. yes. that will be fun. but in the mean time..time to sort through boxes and get packing! Love it!! (well, the moving part is not SO much fun; but the end result is great!:)
Thanks to Chris Cable for the offer to help move-what a great community I'm a part of. seriously. we're so freakin' blessed. what a great family.

bring it pastor nate. bring it.

so apparently there's some blog Olympics going on. lame. haha.. just kidding Nathan. but seriously, don't you have something better to do with your time like write sermons? c'mon. i blog for myself. not for some Olympics... will there be an award ceremony? medals?... :)
it's been a busy week. again. seems to be the thing for us lately. one of these weekends we're going to get away. maybe. it might not be till June but it'll happen. June-that's going to be a fun month.. one year anniversary. crazy. one year. this has been an incredible year for me. learning what it means to be a wife. learning what it means to be one in Christ. learning how amazing Jeremy and I are together. Being married is incredible. Love and Respect is incredible-every married couple should go through it.. I don't care if you're newlyweds or if you just celebrated your 5oth anniversary. Learn how to respect your husband in a whole new way, learn how to love your wife in a whole new way. .... anyway, back to June, I think we've decided that we're going to go up to Portland for a few days to "celebrate." we like it up there. I think maybe someday we'd like to live there. I know I want to live somewhere that's non-car friendly. I'm in love with the idea of walking to work. walking to the store. walking to get coffee. if only it didn't rain quite so much up there. but Oregon is beautiful because of the rain. I have a love affair with Oregon. yes i do. anyway, after Portland we'll continue on up to Seattle. Jeremy's little brother, Kevin, graduates high school in June. How exciting! I remember graduating....quite a big deal. actually, I don't remember much of it, except I was sitting next to Jared and he'd brought a little lizard/gecko on to the stage to hand to the guy giving us our diploma. I remembered we chuckled the whole time together. I miss Jared-I wrote about him in my Psychology post tonight. I'm thankful that he's with my sweet Jesus right now.
so back to June... it'll be fun to see Patty and Kevin, the Tetzels, Mike and Carolyn..and all the other family that'll be there. it'll be nice to have some time off from work too.. it's been almost a year since my last vacation.. too long. way too long.
so in my last post i mentioned how I was going to make brownies...they were called Ooey-gooey peanut butter chocolate brownies..but I've renamed them Death Brownies. After you eat one..you pretty much think you've died and gone to heaven. Just check out the picture and you'll be drooling.

seriously. i know. tonight's dinner was delish too. I made nacho spuds... real simple. check it out. all you need... 2 baking potatoes. 2tbs evoo. s & p. 1/2 lb ground turkey (or beef but turkey is better for you). 2 tbs. taco seasoning. 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained, 1 cup grape tomatoes quartered. 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded. toppers: green onions, lettuce, avocado, salsa-whatever sounds good to you:)..
so... slice your potatoes about 1/2 inch thick and toss with the evoo. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a 400 oven for about 20 minutes till potatoes are nice and golden brown (you want them to be crispy but not like potato chip crispy... so in the meantime, you want to brown your turkey in a skillet over medium high heat... after the meat is no long pink, add your beans, taco seasoning, and 1/2 cup water. Heat through and simmer until potatoes are done. Pull your taters out of the oven and transfer them to an oven proof platter (what you'll serve them on)... sprinkle on 1/2 of the cheese, then the turkey mixture, tomatoes, and the rest of the cheese. Place in oven and turn off oven-you really are just melting the cheese for a few minutes. Then you can top the nachos with whatever you'd like. This is a super easy and quick meal... pretty much a 30 minute meal.yes, a Rachael ray recipe. she's my favorite. Just got my new one in the mail today:) *happy day*


i got a card in the mail from my mom today too. she's so sweet. sent me 40 dollars to "get my hair cut." She knows how much I hate taking money from her so she's always coming up with sneaky ways to send me a little cash:) I'm so blessed with my family.
okay..this blog has gone on for a while but I just have one more story to share... its one of my kitchen stories.
I found out first hand what happens when a hot glass dish touches cold water. a loud pop and the glass everywhere. I'm pretty sure I cussed. Scared the crap out of me. I'd heated up a burner to make some coffee...except the burner I turned on just so happened to have the brownie pan sitting on top of it *yikes*... So i walk into the kitchen, see the pan smoking and just out of instinct pick it up and put in the sink... which just so happened had a bowl of water in it. *wow* what a mess. so I'm down a 9x13 pyrex. lame.
anyway friends. i think I'm done. this wasn't a real creative blog... but Benji is over getting his pictures done so I'm having a hard time focusing... hope you all are well. loves you.