Home, Food & Goals

HOME

This past week we've been focusing on settling into our home! Every moment we have seems to have been filled with cleaning, organizing, setting up services, etc.

It was so, so helpful to have family help us get settled. My family helped clean & get all of our stuff into the house and Jeremy's family flew up to see the house and help deep clean & organize.

We are BLESSED & THANKFUL.

It was great timing for me to have this week off of work. I've been able to relax, cook and continue making our house a home!

I had no idea how much this house would mean to me. I thought it would be like getting a car- fun, exciting and useful- but it really has been meaningful to me. And I love it.

FOOD

Last night was our first date night in the house and I made Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili. It was flavorful, healthy, delicious, and easy to make. Like, actually easy to make.

I made Jeremy a burrito and I ate mine, as you can see, in a bowl.

Click here for the recipe.

GOALS

My senior year of high school suddenly it mattered a lot what I ate in relation to how my body looked. I have been figuring out over the past 6 years how it looks for me to be healthy. I have realized it doesn't mean dieting, exercising daily, or anything extreme. Being healthy for me means a balance.

And today I am the same weight I was about 6 years ago as a junior in high school, which has been my goal weight. Yey!

One of the biggest things I've learned is "It's not worth it."

It's not worth feeling sick to have extra sugar.

It's not worth eating milk products and not feeling well.

It's not worth being bloated and overweight to have extra snacks or desserts.

And going with that, I've learned "It IS worth it."

It is worth it to eat real food.

It is worth it to take extra time and cook meals at home.

It is worth having delicious chocolate daily in small portions.

It is worth eating small portions throughout the day because that's what my body is asking for.

Some of the rules I've followed (sometimes not so well) to get me here:

- Don't eat when I'm not hungry

- Don't overeat/stuff myself

- Don't drink soda on weekdays

- Only 1 soda a day on weekends

- No sweets before lunch or after dinner

- Lots of fruits and veggies when possible

- Always have water or tea in my hand

Now to start exercising. I kind of suck at that...

With love from Roseville,

Paige

Prayers for the Black Cat

Yesterday evening I approached a busy intersection where I can almost always bet a homeless person will be standing with a sign.

To my surprise, a black cat was sitting attentively at the spot where a person usually stands.

Now I don't have a love, or even a like for cats, but I felt bad for the dang thing. It was sitting there in the cold, probably minutes away from dashing out in traffic and become roadkill.

I found myself wondering who's cat it was... We're they looking for it? Was it lost? Hungry?

Then I thought, "I should probably say a prayer for the cat."

And I stopped suddenly in one of those moments of clarity and realization.

The homeless people on that corner have become a lawn ornament to me. They're always there, and most likely always will be. And I've stopped thinking about them.

Are they cold?

Are they hungry?

Are they lost?

Is someone looking for them?

And why don't I say a prayer for them? Ask God for their protection?

Why do I experience the 45 seconds of awkward-not-making-eye-contact-and-looking-at-my-phone and not exchange that for what I would give for the black cat?

With love from Sacramento,

Paige

Our First Home

Welp, we've GOT IT! :) Our first house.

I wrote a blog a few weeks ago that I never posted. I was imagining how it would feel when we got our house... ready to press "publish post" when we got the keys. It was filled with lots of exclamation points and bolded words. Descriptions of the rooms and sharing our hopes and dreams for the house.

And I do feel so excited. I do feel like using exclamation points and bolded words... but I also feel quiet. I feel like being still. I feel thankful.

I will be updating Facebook with pictures as we continue to renovate and decorate each room.

In the mean time, I'll give a little synopsis. It was built in 1977 in the city of Roseville, outside of Sacramento. It's along a greenbelt- so the backyard is open to a creek/green park area. It's a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath, 2 story house with the rooms and 2 baths upstairs.

And I'm not sure what it is about the house- but I love it. I love the windows and the smell of the pine trees and that I can see living there forever- a feeling I never thought possible.

So that's all for now :)

With love and THANKS from Sacramento (because we don't have internet yet in our house ;)),

Paige

Pioneer Woman's Marlboro Man Sandwich

If you haven't heard of this food blog, The Pioneer Woman, you really should check it out :)

She cooks delicious, filling, (sometimes not-so-healthy but oh-so-yummy) meals. And she's a funny writer.

For tonight's dinner I decided to try this steak sandwich. Yum! The meat is very full of flavor.

(Photo Credit: The Pioneer Woman Blog)

Changes I made to her recipe:

- I wouldn't use butter on the onions but some olive oil so it's not so fatty

- Substitute 1/2 large onion or 1 small onion (instead of 1 large one)

- Add 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced to add to the onions

- I did not/would not add 2 tbs butter on Step 4

- Top with pepper jack (or your favorite) cheese

:) Let me know if you make it too and what changes you made!

With love from Sacramento,

Paige

Full of Thanks

This week I officially started my new job as an instructional aid at a charter school in Sacramento.

I am so thankful for it. So thankful.

The staff, the parents, the fellow aids, the students... they have gone out of their way to be so welcoming.

I have 3 main jobs at the school:

1) help the kids in K-3 grades who are struggling academically

2) help the kids in 2-6 grades who are ahead in class academically with challenging lessons

3) help the teachers grade, make copies, lunch duty, tying shoes, zipping jackets, etc.

I laugh a little inside every time I say phrases like the ones below, all of which I said today:

"I need you to make good choices right now."

"We need to persevere."

"That's not a nice word. We don't say mean words to each other. Please say 'I'm sorry'"

"I don't care who started it, it needs to stop."

"What do you think it means?"

I'm thankful for work, especially work I enjoy! I'm looking forward to getting my credential (I'm looking into programs) and continuing to teach and be around little ones. I truly enjoy my days around such wonderful kids.

With love from Sacramento,

Paige

Confession

Philippians 4:6-8, 9b

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

7 And the PEACE of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hears & your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.

9b ...and the God of Peace will be with you.

Confession:

I've failed miserably at becoming a Christ-like woman since... well, a long time.

I have not pursued the Lord on my own.

You know, like, opening my Bible outside of church to see what's inside? To hear from the Lord?

I have worked on becoming a better person, but not a woman of Christ. And those two look deceivingly similar- but one is empty, full of thinking good thoughts and becoming a good person... and the other is full, lathered with joy from Jesus and peace in all circumstances.

After a week of anxious dreams, months of fighting unwarranted bitterness & anger bubbling inside, and a few days of intense frustration, I desperately needed my Bible like a glass of water on a hot day. There was nothing else that could possibly fill that void.

First, I had to find my Bible. And once it was in my hands I read multiple passages regarding anxiety/anxious/anxiousness. This one from Philippians hit home.

Hopeful it will be a drink of water on a hot day for you too.

Philippians 4:6-8, 9b

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

7 And the PEACE of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hears & your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.

9b ...and the God of Peace will be with you.

So here's to a new year full of pursuing the Lord on our own and becoming more like him. Not just a thinner, stronger version of ourselves. Although that's not too bad either ;)

With love from Sacramento,

Paige

Easy Slow Cooker Jambalaya

I found a recipe on Pinterest that was a hit tonight!

(It's a thick soup- pictured above it doesn't look like soup)

It tastes a lot like this soup below, which happens to be my favorite!

Here's a link to the original recipe, but I thought I'd show my version since I made some modifications and the website has a million pop up ads that are annoying!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 pound hot sausage (unless you don't like spicy, then other saussage)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon Cajun or Creole spice mix (I used Creole and it turned out great!)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• some parsley chopped to taste
• sprinkle ground cayenne red pepper to taste, if you like spice!
• 1 3/4 cup long-grain rice (I used brown long-grain rice)

Directions

• Chop up chicken into large bite sized pieces.
• Combine chicken, onion, green & red peppers, celery, tomatoes, garlic, chicken broth and all spices (minus the parsley) in a large (5-quart) slow cooker. Cook on low for 5 hours.
• Slice sausage into bite size slices (mine were about 1/4 inch thick) and fry on the stove. Or you can grill it then slice them into pieces. Put aside in fridge.
• After 5 hours, add in the rice, sausage and parsley and turn to high for as long as it says to cook the rice.
• Serve with crackers, or whatever you like. :)

With love from Sacramento,

Paige