The Lewis Family Blog

Moves I never imagined.

2011-07-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

The last time I wrote in our family blog was over 6 months ago. As you know from my previous post, Anthony and I were putting a time line of 6 months on our stay in California and if nothing in our lives changed, we were choosing to move to a more financially appropriate location. Well, here we are and we have news....As of the last week of August, Anthony and I will no longer reside in California. Before you all ask, why in the world would you move away from California? I will give you the run down.

When I, personally, moved here almost 9 years ago, it was with the intention to complete my Bachelor's degree. When I finished my Bachelor's Degree, I prayed that if God wanted me to stay in California, he would get me an incredible job and I would stay and complete my Masters Degree as well. Before I even graduated, I was offered a job as a Nanny in Newport Beach and it was a deluxe job. I had free room and board in a gorgeous house and neighborhood and got paid on top of that and it was only about 7 miles from the school I wanted to go to for my Graduate work. Needless to say, I stayed!

I met Anthony in the summer of 2006 and started Graduate School in the fall of 2006. Thank God I stayed! Grad School was three years and I worked as a nanny for 4 years so in 2009 I graduated with my Masters and Anthony and I got married in 2008. At that point, I just assumed I would live in California the rest of my life since I married a California native and we had gotten a place.

Many of you know that Anthony and I have had a very difficult couple of years with losing our first child and Anthony losing his job at AT&T in February of 2010. We had to move out of our apartment in February of 2011 due to the expenses of the unemployment of the previous year if we wanted any hope of getting back on our feet. We moved into a guesthouse of a friend's and have been living there since. Now onto when things changed.

Anthony has been working for Starbucks for almost a year and really likes the job but as you can imagine, it is not really a great paying job when you start and in California you need a pretty great paying job to survive, much less thrive. I have been working anywhere from 2-5 jobs since Anthony lost his and I am worn out. We really do want a child someday and with me working this hard just to survive, it doesn't look likely. Although I have no problem helping out and working (as that is why I got an education) working 3 jobs is really difficult on my health and well being and certainly doesn't support me getting in good health for conception.

Since these things are all true, Anthony and I have been praying so hard about our decision to move. We visited Indiana in May of this year to see our nephew Shawn turn two. Anthony has been to Indiana various times and has always enjoyed himself and just a few years ago we tossed out the idea of possibly living in Indiana someday. The kids really made that a possibility for us since I do want to watch my nieces and nephew grow up. This visit seemed to be of a different caliber. Anthony and I both came back to California with the mindset that it was completely the right thing to move to Indiana.

When we got back, we made the decision that we would just throw lines out for jobs, apartments, etc... and if things began to work out that we would know that our decision was sound. Anthony called the Bedford, Indiana Starbucks first and it turned out that they had a position opening in September for a full time spot. Anthony would definitely need a full time spot. Within just a few weeks of managers speaking on the phone and Anthony following up, he was offered this position sight unseen and will start on September 5th.

We are still waiting to hear back on the apartment we have applied for and we are still trying to figure out how to afford moving all of our belongings, hence Anthony is painting houses to try to gather that money up but it is official. We will be living in Indiana by the end of August. We would really appreciate your prayers as we move and adjust to a new place, climate, and lifestyle and if you could pray for me to be able to get into the mental health field out there fairly easy that would be fantastic. Our main prayer requests are these:

1. That we would be approved for the apartment we have applied for

2. Provision for our deposit and first months rent as we close up bills here and move there.

3. Provision for the moving truck, gas, food, and lodging for the trip across the United States

4. Adjusting to our new home in Indiana

5. Job for me

6. Overall, that Indiana helps us get back on our feet, pay down debts from the unemployment, and eventually have a baby and buy a home!

Thank you so much everyone and feel free to email me with any questions. For those of you who are my California friends, you will be missed. For those of my Indiana friends, can't wait to pick up where we left off.

Love,

The Lewis'

Moving out and hopefully moving on

2010-12-31T17:04:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone, I thought that New Years Eve was a great time to update the Lewis Family Blog. 2011 is certainly going to look different for us and hopefully look a lot better.

Anthony and I are moving out of our apartment this month. We are going to be living somewhere else by Feb. 1st. We have been offered the opportunity to rent a guest house from a friend for a much cheaper price than we are paying and it will include rent/utilities/cable/internet so it's going to be better for our budget. We are going to miss our apartment a lot as it was our first married place and we have lived here for over 3 years.

We are also looking at it as an opportunity to get on our feet and try to figure out the next step. As of right now, Anthony is the only one making any REAL money since I am doing tutoring, a few clients, and a new business venture which I will talk about later in the post. Since this is true, we are saying that in six months, if nothing has changed we are going to be moving out of the state of California and to somewhere more affordable. We realize that this opens up a whole new host of issues like finding a home and jobs somewhere else but almost anywhere is cheaper than here.

It has been a very discouraging and difficult year and we are just hoping for some new things on the horizon.

As for my business venture, I have recently started selling Avon. I grew up around Avon products and really like them so this was an obvious choice for me to do something to bring in a little extra cash. I just started so I don't know how I will do at it yet but we shall see.

If you want to check out products, go to my

Avon Website.

and you can buy directly online and it will ship wherever you are. If you are more local and want me to deliver products, give me a call and we will do that! I am looking to build a customer base and do well so this can supplement me trying to build my career.

Anthony is still at Starbucks and really continues to like it and grow. We are hoping he will grow in the company and climb the ranks or find something more financially profitable if nothing else.

Please keep us in your prayers for the new year and we will be praying for you as well

Love from our family to yours,

Anthony & Erica Lewis

Venti with whip please!

2010-11-21T07:30:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone, I hope this post finds you doing well and that all of your Thanksgiving plans are coming together. I figured it was time to update the Lewis Family Blog. Anthony and I are doing well although our circumstances have stayed pretty much the same. Anthony has been working at Starbucks ™ for two months now and really loves working there. He started out Part time at about 20 hours a week and now is up to 30 so that is certainly an improvement. He is really good at it and has learned quickly. It is a vast difference in income than AT&T as you might have guessed but to be honest, the happiness and lack of stress in his face is worth the change to me.

As for me, I am finishing up my first semester as an Adjunct Professor. I have really loved teaching Grad Psych and it really helped cement my knowledge of Cognitive Behavioral therapy. I am really lucky to have had really great students and we will be finishing up the last few weeks of classes after Thanksgiving. I will really miss teaching them! I am looking for more teaching jobs because I really enjoyed doing that. I am still working in Private Practice therapy, however, it is a pretty slow progression to full time right now. I am working on my marketing plan and trying to get my name into places that may help me build clients. I am also doing some tutoring of students on the side to make some extra money. It has really been a life saver to us lately. I really love tutoring/teaching so I always feel very fulfilled doing this.

Since things have been so difficult lately financially I have started looking around for full time jobs and have applied to about 30 in the mental health field. It is very difficult to get a job right now but I will forge ahead to help pay our bills. We have really had a hard time for about a year and half but God has been good and provided through it all. We have amazing friends/family praying for us and helping us through so we are incredibly grateful.

As we come closer to Christmas, that means that we have had our kitty cat Nika for a year on December 26th. We have really enjoyed her and appreciate that we have such a good natured, sweet pet. She is doing well and we have found that she loves house guests so we are looking forward to having my family out next summer possibly.

Anthony and I have a niece and a nephew and are really enjoying seeing them grow up. Shawn turned 1 year old on May 12th and Kaylea turned a year old on October 2nd. They are such a joy and are both doing well. We also have been named God parents for Anthony's friend Wolf's little girl Jasmine. She is also pretty darn precious. We are incredibly lucky to have such beautiful babies in our lives.

Speaking of babies, we are NOT pregnant and are not going to tell people when we are "trying" again and probably won't tell anyone we are pregnant until we get to a safe place where we know a gender. We are doing this for obvious reasons and very much appreciate everyone's understanding and support in that. We are doing well considering though and working on health concerns in the mean time.

Overall, we are incredibly blessed and doing well. We appreciate all of your prayers and concerns over the last several months. Please keep us in prayer as we are making a very huge decision in February of 2011 and we will keep you posted.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Lewis Family to your Family!

Anthony & Erica :)

The roller coaster of jobs.

2010-09-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Everything has been very interesting in our house for the last, oh let's say, 6-7 months. The last few months of AT&T were absolutely grueling and once Anthony got let go it was more about the journey with unemployment. He took a job with ADT and it ended up that the company he worked for was incredibly shady and wasn't paying him for his commissions and we found out that the unemployment would not honor it due to it being an "independent contractor" job as opposed to a W-2 job. Needless to say it was very frustrating to have to go back on the Unemployment docket and for Anthony to not be employed.

Due to this happening, I took it upon myself to begin searching for another way to bring income into the house. I started teaching on August 31st with Vanguard and have really been enjoying that. The journey has already been very interesting and I have grown to appreciate my professors far more than I already did. I love teaching and found that I really excel at things that are administrative or organizational. Either way, I really love the students and love teaching Cog B.

I also started tutoring in my spare time. I almost laughed as I typed "Spare time." I also really enjoy this job as it is minimal work for me and maximum benefits. It pays well for the time it requires and I get to help kids understand things and find their way in school. Currently I have one client that is consistent and I am tutoring him in Math/English. I love the teaching aspect and that it doesn't require a whole lot of my time.

I am still taking clients in private practice but that is slow going. I find that it is really hard to get out there and get noticed so recently I have started to amp up my marketing. I need to get hours and get going on licensure so it would be good to get a full case load. There is also the aspect of really needing the money.

Anthony was recently hired to work part time for Starbucks in Stanton, California and he really likes it thus far. He has been there about 3 weeks and is starting to learn the coffee biz. Ideally we would love for him to move to full time and begin to climb the ladder because we are just not sure what God is doing. It has been very frustrating to go from AT&T with good pay and benefits to Starbucks which is a good company to work for but really low pay and they do have benefits for Part time which is a huge plus.

Please keep us in your prayers for knowing God's will in all of this and standing through it and being patient for what is supposed to happen.

We love you all and are praying for your journeys in life as well.

The Lewis Family

Lewis Family Update July 2010

2010-07-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I hope this blog finds you doing well and enjoying health, happiness, and love! We are doing well although the last five months have been brutal. Anthony was let go from AT&T in February and until this last week, he has been unemployed. We are so blessed because we had three months of expenses in the bank, it happened near tax time, and we have people who have really helped us out over the months. We really appreciate all of you who have been praying, helping, and offering to help. It has been tremendous to know how loved and supported we are.

Thursday of last week Anthony started his new job with ADT security systems. It is a sales job so we are certainly concerned about the stability of paychecks and the possibility of it not being a fit for Anthony. So far, he seems to really like it and feel confident about his abilities. He just finished the training part and is now on his own daily to do the job. I am very proud of Anthony on how diligent he was in finding a job over the months and how gracefully he got through it. No one feels good unemployed for five months and my husband was a trooper over all. I am also very proud of him for working so hard for us everyday no matter the circumstances.

Things with me are going well. My client caseload is picking up lately and I am beginning to really specialize in Depression/Grief which is something I am pretty passionate about. I start teaching in a Masters Program for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in the Fall (specifically August 30th) and I am super excited to start that out. I have always wanted to teach on the college level as well as do therapy so this is a dream coming to fruition. Also, another dream has taken shape as I have been encouraged to write a book. I have been working on that and I am really anxious to see how that turns out. It seems like such a huge dream but steady work on it will make it a reality I am sure.

I went to Indiana in May for a week to see my nephew turn 1 year old. It was absolutely fantastic to be there for his birthday and get to spend time with both he and my niece Kaylea (who is 9 months old.) Here they are because a really good aunt always brags....

Here is my precious nephew Shawn Christopher (14 months)

And my beautiful niece Kaylea (9 months)

Aren't they absolutely precious. Kaylea will turn a year old in October and we are praying that finances allow me to see her on her birthday as well. It's so hard to be so far away from them. Anthony has not even gotten the chance to meet them in person yet so we are praying he will get that chance soon!

Please keep us in prayer for the next few weeks of adjustment to the new job and that Anthony will be successful and God's will overall will be done!

Thanks for stopping in and checking on us!

Love,

The Lewis Family (written by Erica)

Cheap dates

2010-02-01T11:25:00.000-08:00

So, as promised I am updating how Anthony and I are living below our means and still enjoying life. I am maybe the biggest dork in the world when it comes to saving money. I subscribe to every saving money blog there is. I also subscribe to tons of newsletters for various products, restraurants, companies, etc... This has proven very beneficial for us. We have done various things with these things that we could not have done otherwise. Last night was no exception.

As mentioned a number of times, I love overpriced coffee drinks. Starbucks is my beverage of choice but I only get to go there about once/twice a week on giftcards that I have accumulated and I seriously budget for times when I am not using a giftcard. Well...because my nerdiness/thriftiness I had a coupon yesterday for buy one get one free drinks at Peet's Coffee and Tea and we went last night and got coffee for $1.95 for both us and then browsed the book store (one of my favorite pasttimes). We looked through a book that interested us both and read passages to each other. A few hours of wonderful time with my awesome husband and for the bargain price of $1.95 and we got to as Anthony stated "join the living!" Priceless!

We have gotten to do so many other things due to my constant upkeep on newsletters, coupons, blogs etc... like free dinner at Chick-Fil-A for various promotions, free breakfast at Ikea, Free admission to museums on certain promotion days, etc... I am glad that I keep my eyes open. Here are a few of my favorites so that you can enjoy the benefits of them as well.

"Money Saving Mom

"Coupon Geek

Have a lovely day and enjoy a "cheap date" with your honey!

Meet the parents

2010-01-30T22:27:00.000-08:00

So this blog might come as a shock to some of you. I wanted to write about a topic that is hot in our house right now and that is "Meeting the parents." Now, Anthony met my mom, dad, and siblings long ago when we were dating for about a year. That is pretty normal considering my family is about 2,500 miles away from us. I met Anthony's mom and brothers in Novebmer of 2006 just 5 months into us dating..however..I have never met Anthony's dad.

To say that Anthony and his dad have issues would be an understatement. They haven't spoken consistently for years and it seems they are both a bit stubborn about it. I have wanted to meet Alford (Anthony's dad) for the whole duration of our dating/married life. Finally that is going to happen. Next Friday we are going to have dinner up in North Hollywood with his dad and stepmom Kaye. I am really looking forward/feeling awkward about meeting his father. In one way I am so excited to finally put the pieces together and meet the entire DNA that is my husband. The other part of me is really feeling awkward since me and this man already share a last name and he has never seen my face.

We have spoken on the phone twice and it was very brief but overall he has been very pleasant and kind to me and has been really pressing to meet me. I am feeling a bit nervous because I know that Anthony has unresolved issues with him and he with Anthony so therefore there might be a little stickiness in the situation. I am just hoping for a really nice dinner with his dad and step mom and hopefully there will be some fences mended in the mean time. I am looking forward to finally having a father in law. Anthony's mom is married and her husband is really nice to me as well so I have sort of had a Father in Law all along but there is no substitute for meeting the man who gave my husband his beautiful smile and sparkly brown eyes. Anthony is an exact replica of his dad (I have seen pictures) and I am really excited to see them together.

This is the next big piece of news for the Lewis family and it seems like it's so long overdue. I'll keep the blog posted on how it goes and maybe I'll post a picture of the twins (Anthony and his dad) too so you can see what I mean! Keep your fingers crossed, pray for us, etc... that it all goes well and isn't too awkward.

--E&A--

Keep us in your prayers

2010-01-29T14:37:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to write on the blog and ask that those of you who have a prayer life...say a few prayers for Anthony and I as we approach Jamie's due date. Our first little one would have been due February 15th and it is really a tender subject right now. We are working through it but it is especially hard as we would be meeting our sweet baby and now we are just empty. I thank you all for your support through this struggle and just ask for your prayers in these next few weeks.

Thanks,

E&A

Fixing our car and getting out of storage!

2010-01-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

So the last time I wrote getting rid of the storage unit was an idea. It has now become a success. Last weekend Anthony and I rented a U-Haul truck for the day and emptied out the storage unit within a few hours. We brought a number of things to our apartment (which is now a different project altogether) and took some of the bigger items that aren't used normally to his mother's garage. I am so grateful that she let us store that stuff there because to be honest, we are running out of room.

Another cool thing that happened with this shift in money-saving is that Anthony and I fixed my car this last weekend by ourselves. My car has been acting kind of crazy for a few months and we knew it needed routine things like an oil change, new windshield wipers, and a few light bulbs and things but something more serious was going on with the car. I feared that it was the car slowly dying since I have had it 10 years in May (I bought it new) and it has over 170,000 miles. Well it turns out it was nothing serious..it just needed new spark plugs and wires. I learned how to install new spark plugs and wires on E-how.com
and Anthony and I did it with success and now the car is running perfectly.

Let me just take a few minutes to absolutely praise my little Cavalier. I bought it on May 25,2000 and it was brand new. I put all but 8 miles on my car. I drove it off the lot with 8 miles on it and it was mine after that. I have done all of the routine maintenance on time on the car and all I have ever replaced on the car came from normal wear and tear. It has been a gem to me over the years and continues to be even in its twilight years! :)

Anyway, the car is fixed and we feel great about ourselves. We checked into what money we saved by doing this simple repair ourselves and found that we would have paid our normal mechanic about $300 to replace the plugs and wires including parts and labor. We did it for about $30 total. It is crazy to me that it made that much difference.

Another thing that we did this week was check out a new grocery store that I heard about called The Grocery Outlet It is a lower cost grocery store that sells overstock of name brand items for 40%-60% off of regular store prices. We ended up supplying our house for Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner and household items for 1 month for the bargain price of $140.00. I mean really??? That is crazy.

God has really been helping us figure all of this out and I am actually having fun learning how to be more frugal and a better steward of what he has trusted me with. The next goal is to get that cable/internet bill down and start paying significantly on the debt. Wish us luck!

Slimming it down

2010-01-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

For once this post is not about losing weight in the Lewis Family. Today Anthony and I had a "family meeting" of sorts and came to the conclusion that we have to really work on our financial health this year. When I went into my last year of Graduate School Anthony decided that he would ask me to stop working and focus on school and he would take care of the bills. That was all well and good except that we didn't make any changes to our spending. We kept spending the same amount and we quickly got into debt. We used Credit cards when we couldn't afford things, were late on our bills, got behind and now we are just in a really bad place.

We both knew it was time to stop doing the things that we had before and start being financially mature. The first steps we took were to stop spending money on things like dining out and starbucks. We have been pretty good about this for the past several months. We still were hesistant to cut out any more of our lives as we were very selfish. Now we have decided that we need to cut down our monthly expenses considerably and start paying on debt more seriously. It has been hard since my caseload is taking a while to build and since we only have one car working, a full time job for me is hard to do.

Today I started this process by immediately cutting down our cell phone plan by $100 per month. This alone will save us $1200 this year. That is amazing. The second thing I did was to cut down our netflix account. I got that bill lowered by $15 per month equaling $180 this year. The third thing we are working on is our cable/internet plan which we currently pay about $100 per month for. I would like to lower that by at least 50%. Another course of action that we want to do is get rid of our storage unit. We got the storage unit when Anthony moved out of LA and we have paid about $160 a month for it for 2 years. It was such wasted money because if Anthony actually loved and needed those things why are they sitting and collecting dust? We are going down next week on Anthony's day off and emptying out what we can with the car and then following up with a truck and brining my bike to our house. That will save us $1920 this year!!!!!

All of that to say we are also planning to lower our utility bills by being wiser with energy, lowering our grocery bill even more (although we are very good about this), and reducing our use of gas by taking walks to Wal-mart & Target instead of driving when we need only a few items...we get exercise that way and save Gas. We live very close to so many places that this would be great. We are right next door to CVS so sometimes we are literally steps away from the things we need.

I am going to use our family blog to show you the savings each and every day that something changes. I am going to use it as a place to show how I manage our grocery budget, free things that are out there, ideas for reducing debt, etc... I figure if we need this makeover, many do. I am excited yet very nervous for my self-discipline and financial maturity to begin. God is doing big things with my 30th year!

Our new family member

2009-12-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I hope you are coming to 2010 with a renewed strength and focus. Things have changed in the last couple of days in our house for the better. On December 26th Anthony and I adopted a rescue kitty named Niakara. She is absolutely adorable as you can see from her photo above. She goes by Nika and so her full name is now Niakara Bigglesworth Lewis. :) We are having so much fun being pet owners now and every day she adjusts more and gets more affectionate. Sleeping is still pretty hard due to her lack of understanding of "bed time" but we are utterly enjoying her either way. From our family to yours, Happy New Year and we pray God's blessings over every day of 2010 for you and yours!

--Anthony, Erica, & Nika Lewis--

Update on the Lewis' at the close of 2009

2009-12-23T18:07:00.001-08:00

This year has proved to a be a tough year in the Lewis house but one in which we praise God for also. We began 2009 by continuing to try to have a baby and I was finishing up my last semester at Vanguard in the Graduate Psychology Program. In february we had our amazing first family photos and found a photographer that we will keep as long as we live in California. He is absolutely amazing. To view his work or look into getting your own photos done by him go to Kassel Photography
and check him out.

In February we also headed to Las Vegas for a weekend to celebrate our one year anniversary and shortly thereafter headed to Indiana to celebrate Hilliary's (my older sister) baby shower. Later in March on Spring break we took a road trip all around the state of California making sure to stop in locations such as The Hearst Castle, The Winchester Mystery House, San Francisco where we toured Alcatraz,Our State Capital, Reno Nevada, and even the Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Factory as well as much more. It was a blast. We spent a whole week on the road and enjoyed it so much.

In April, I was named Outstanding student in my graduate program and was asked to speak at my master's hooding ceremony. That was such an honor for me and absolutely changed the way I think about myself. It was such a blessing to know that not only my colleagues but my professors respect me in my field. How wonderful is that??!!! My wonderful friends were able to come out for my hooding as well as my Mother in Law, Step Father in Law, past boss, and many others who love and support me. It was a great night and really brought a finality to all of the work that God had done with me through Grad School.

In early May, I graduated with my Masters Degree and was given a much needed break after all of those years of school and we went for a little married retreat at my favorite San Deigo get away (Rancho Relaxo). While on that retreat, Anthony and I made our first child together. Little Jamie was conceived on that trip and in early June near our 3 year anniversary of dating, I found out I was pregnant. We had been trying for about 7 months when we found out. It was the most amazing moment of my life to realize I was holding life within my body. Anthony could not have been more excited. Right around the same time I got pregnant, my nephew Shawn was born. This was such a joyous event for us as we lost our first nephew in a car accident in 2007. Shawn is such a joy to both of us and we are lucky to have him!

This is where our whirlwind of a year started to be even more chaotic. I was admitted to the hospital pretty immediately after finding out I was pregnant due to diabetic issues. They monitored the pregnancy very closely as I had ultra sounds every week of my pregnancy. I carried my precious little one for only 11 weeks before I had to let go and Jesus took my little one home. This was probably the roughest thing I have ever endured in my life and for me, that's saying a lot. We lost our little one on July 16th.

On August 9th, Anthony and I celebrated one year married and my 29th Birthday. We weren't much in the mood for celebrating so we kind of went low key this year. Just a few gifts and a romantic dinner was enough for us. I also applied for my Board of Behavioral Sciences Marriage and Family Therapist Intern # this month and started working for my professor in a organizational/clerical position before starting in private practice.

In September, my little sister turned 23 and was getting ready to have my neice so I decided to surprise my family by coming home the day after her birthday and being there for my neice's arrival. I got to Indiana on September 28th and wonderful little Kaylea came into the world on October 2nd via C-Section. I also was able to meet my nephew Shawn on this trip and to be honest, it healed my heart after losing Jamie. They both bring me such joy and fill my heart with gladness so I could feel God's healing hands working through their sweet faces and cuddly little bodies. Isn't God good?!!!

Shortly after coming home, Britt was admitted to the hospital and needed to have her gall bladder out due to some complications connected to the birth. Through the kindness of my boss and the willingness of my husband I headed back to Indiana at the end of October/first of November to help out with Kaylea while Britt started to get better. I am happy to say now that Britt and Kaylea are completely healthy and God healed so much in that situation. While I was home I was able to see friends, hang out with family, and celebrate my older sisters/mom's birthday on November 11th before heading back on the 12th.

When I got home my awesome Intern # was waiting on me and God was so good to give me a client right away so I could start doing what I love and what I went to school for. I now have a second client and possibly a third starting at the beginning of 2010. Anthony and I spent Thanksgiving at home enjoying a delicious turkey together in the romantic quietness of our home. We are doing the same for Christmas and celebrating with Anthony's family after Christmas. On December 17th, Anthony turned 29 and we celebrated by spending the weekend at a very nice hotel in Laguna Woods enjoying some married time. This included tv in bed, romantic walks, Nice dinners, and champagne toasts. Our New year will most likely be spent alone as well. We are establishing our own family traditions each day. We are healing through this year but sometimes that requires that you get closer as a couple and spend time recouping your losses.

Our plans for 2010 include a vacation, seeing the neice and nephew as many times as possible, having britt and Kaylea out in the summer, possibly having Tasha and Mike out in the Spring, and getting our life together financially and working on our careers. Overall, we want to love better, live happier, and delight in our 2 year anniversary, our 30th birthdays and our 3rd married year together. God is soooo amazing and all is well on the Lewis' home front.

Still no news to report on having children. We will update you all when we feel like WE know what we are going to do.

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and we pray the Lord blessings on your home in 2010!

--Anthony & Erica Lewis--

hard times but trusting HIM

2009-07-24T08:36:00.001-07:00

Lately Anthony and I have been going through some very difficult times. We not only lost our first child to a miscarriage but have recently stumbled into some very hard financial times. We are having a hard time right now just getting through each day. Every 24 hours seems like it brings a new set of problems and worries and we are faced with making difficult decisions. We are trying our hardest to depend on Jesus through this and just ask Him to lead our steps.

It is very difficult at times to keep your marriage first when it's so difficult to not get worried and overwhelmed with life's problems. We have been trying to have time each night to just sit together and hold hands or snuggle up so that we are getting our time and remembering what the most important thing is; to stick together. Things are probably going to be hard for awhile but we are pressing on and trying our best to stay focused on God. If you could say a prayer for our little family that would be great. To answer the question that everyone seems to be asking, we are not sure when or if we are going to try to have children again. Right now my body needs to heal and my diabetes is the most important thing to get under control.

I pray that you are all doing well and we would love to know if you are praying for us. Thank you!

Pain and healing

2009-07-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't written on our family blog for some time but I thought tonight might be a good time to update it. Anthony and I have just experienced our first pregnancy and a miscarriage. We are going through so much right now and just really need prayers from family and loved ones. I will be getting back to posting on here regularly soon and hopefully starting some new posts of things that interest Anthony and myself and getting back to our daily topics. I pray all of you are doing well and let us know how you are.

Check out an awesome blog for Mama's

2009-06-18T08:37:00.001-07:00

Enjoy!

Thrifty Thursday

2009-06-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to share a few of my favorite finds on the internet to save money and enjoy some of my favorite things.

First of all, I love to read and buying books can get expensive. I also love to cook so cookbooks are some of my favorite books to have. Well, those can be extra expensive. I just started an account at a really cool site. I suggest you check it out. It's called Paper Back Swap and it's pretty great. If you have some books laying around that you have already read and don't mind getting rid of you can just input their ISBN numbers onto the site and make them available for other people to order. Once you load 10 books onto the site that you don't mind getting rid of you get 2 credits on the site to get 2 books that someone else has loaded up. I just ordered Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals and 30 minute meals 2 which retail for $22.00 on Amazon.com (total) all for free. I just loaded up 10 books that I was done with and that was it.

You can continue to load books up, purchase book credits (for much cheaper than the book) and you can swap your life away with other readers. When someone orders one of your books, you just mail it to them (usually only $2.00-5.00) and you get more book credits. It's a great way to collect books that you really want or just read and pass on to others. I am keeping my cookbooks but there were plenty little reads I could just read and put back on the site. Also, if you are like me, I pick up a lot of my books at Borders or Barnes & Noble on the Bargain book table and they cost so little it would be worth it to read and them load them up on Paper Back Swap. I will let you know when I receive my first book so I can kind of review the site!

Another thing I recently came across was a site called SwagBucks where you use the site for a search engine and earn points to get great things like music, giftcards, etc... Please check it out and if you join use this link so that I can receive points for referring you....

So far it's been pretty easy to earn points since I normally use Google all the time. This site uses Ask.com and Google to make their search engine and you don't have to download anything. I really like it so far and also, I will update you on it when I receive a reward for using it. I like to make sure and report on how these sites actually operate.

Another place that you can sign up to receive points and get emails is My Points All you do is sign up for an account and receive emails. Each email is worth 5 points and you just click on get points in the email and as you collect points, again...you can cash them in for gift cards. I have been using this service for over 8 years and I have received a lot of gift cards for clothing, restaurants, starbucks, etc... You can also go from the mypoints home site and shop for things you already buy like ink for your printer, groceries, etc... by shopping online and you earn so many points on the dollar. I have used this for books at Borders.com, Clothes that I have ordered online, shoes, etc... and it makes your points add up much faster. Nowdays, I don't have a lot of extra shopping money so all I do is read my emails and click and I still stockpile tons of points. I would suggest that if you don't like a lot of email in your email box, open up a seperate email account for things like this (for example on gmail or hotmail) that way you can go there once every couple of days and deal with these issues. I now use my points to cash in for gift cards for Anthony and I to go out to nice dinners and have date nights. It's nice for neither of us to have to pay. :)

Those are my thrifty tips for today but I promise, I'll keep them coming! Happy Money Saving!!!

Witty Wednesday

2009-06-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

I love Family Circus so I put one on today!

Tasty Tuesday

2009-06-09T11:09:00.001-07:00

This one is for you Terra....

Creamy Cheddar Soup

This is literally one of my favorite recipes now. I tried this the other night and Anthony and I both were moaning with every bite. It is completely delicious. I hope you'll try it. I served it with crusty french bread and an iceberg wedge blue cheese salad. Delicious.

Ingredients:

1 small onion, diced
2 large pimentos, diced
3 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
1/2 cup green onions
Salt and black pepper, to taste
dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions:

In a saucepan, saute onion and pimentos in butter for 5 to 7 minutes. Blend in flour. Add stock and cream. Cook until thick. Add cheese and stir until melted. Add 1/4 cup green onions, salt and pepper to taste, and cayenne if desired. Garnish with remaining green onions.

This recipe was originally taken from Paula Deen however, I did make a few changes by adding 1/4 up more cheese and making it heavy cream as opposed to just cream. I hope you try and enjoy this delicious soup!

P.S. Pictures are coming..Anthony took picture of my actual soup so when you see a picture..it's my soup! :)

Movie Monday

2009-06-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

Today's movie is an oldie. I thought I would stick to that this week. Anthony and I curled up the other night and watched old Marilyn Monroe movies and this one was so fun. I think everyone should enjoy it. It's a great one.

Movie: The Seven Year Itch
Made in: 1955

We give it 10 out of 5 stars! HA HA

Here is a picture of everyone's favorite scene...

Scrapbook Sunday

2009-06-07T02:02:00.000-07:00

Today's guitarist has to be mentioned because I was born in 1980 and love my hair bands. This is one of my favorite's for sure....

Saul Hudson was born on July 23, 1965 in West Hampstead, London, England [5] Slash's African-American mother, Ola Hudson, worked as a costume designer for David Bowie among many other actors and musicians, and his British father, Anthony Hudson, was an artist who contributed live ensembles for famous musicians including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.[6]

Slash was raised in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, until the age of 11, when his parents relocated the family to Los Angeles, California. His parents separated and he lived primarily with his mother. He was given the nickname "Slash" by family friend Seymour Cassel because he "was always in a hurry, zipping around from one thing to another."[7][8]

As a young boy, Slash was influenced by a musical school teacher:

“ Tangerine from Led Zeppelin III was the very first song I mastered. I had a teacher at school who had a Les Paul and he was always playing Cream and [Led] Zeppelin licks and whatever. And when I heard him do that I said "That's what I want to do".[9] ”

After deciding to form a band with friend Steven Adler, Slash decided to pick up the bass guitar. This is due to the fact that Steven had declared himself lead guitarist. Slash stopped in at Fairfax Music School and told the receptionist he wanted to play the bass, and at that time met his teacher Robert Wolin. Robert told him to learn he would need a bass of his own. Slash went home and asked his grandmother and was given a worn-out, single stringed flamenco guitar. After hearing Robert play "Brown Sugar" by ear Slash realized that the guitar was his calling. He subsequently dropped out of high school to focus on music.

Singer/Song Saturday

2009-06-06T01:56:00.000-07:00

Today's Singer/Song Saturday is an oldie. I love this song and I wanted to give it a little play today. The words are below...enjoy

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long anytime she goes away.

Wonder this time where she's gone,
Wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know

Hey, I ought to leave the young thing alone,
But ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness everyday.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.

Faith Friday

2009-06-05T01:52:00.000-07:00

Yet another reason to meditate on scripture...

Psalms 119:11 "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."

Thrifty Thursday

2009-06-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Today I decided to share with you one of my favorite finds on the internet that helps me get a good deal on groceries, dining out, services, and items needed around the house. I swear by this blog and have printed a number of coupons off of it that have gotten me free products and services. I recommend that you go there now and check out this awesome blog.

Money Saving Mom!

Another site I always use for my money saving tips and hints is...

The Thrifty Mama!

I hope you check out these two links and enjoy the money you save. It helps if you have a printer to print coupons but really, it's worth the money to print!

Witty Wednesday

2009-06-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

Psychiatric Hot-line.
If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press 1 repeatedly.
If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 4.
If you have multiple personalities, please press 1, 4, 5, and 6.
If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line so we can trace the call.
If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.
If you are depressed, it doesn't matter which number you press. No one will answer.
If you are delusional and occasionally hallucinate, please be aware that the thing you are holding on the side of your head is alive and about to bite off your ear.

Tasty Tuesday

2009-06-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

Today's Recipe is taken from the Kraft archives since I use a lot of Kraft products I also subscribe to their recipes. They are delicious. I recommend going to their web-site and signing up if you are wanting some new dishes. Today's recipe is...

Spaghetti with Zesty Bolognese

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 cup KRAFT Light Zesty Italian Dressing

1 lb. extra lean ground beef

1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce

1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

2 Tbsp. PHILADELPHIA 1/3 Less Fat than Cream Cheese

12 oz. spaghetti, uncooked

1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

COOK onions in dressing in large skillet on medium heat. Increase heat to medium-high. Add meat; cook, stirring frequently, until browned. Stir in tomato sauce and tomatoes. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 15 min. Remove from heat. Stir in cream cheese until well blended.

MEANWHILE, cook pasta as directed on package.

SPOON sauce over pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Pretty easy and quick and tastes delicious!

Movie Monday

2009-06-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I should start by saying that not only do I love Disney but I love C.S. Lewis as a writer and really enjoyed the Chronicles of Narnia. Last night Anthony and I decided to watch a movie and chose Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian. We have the first movie in our collection but have been pretty behind in watching the new one. We loved it. It kept me captivated from beginning to end and really reminded me of the majesty of Jesus Christ which is always good to be reminded of. I recommend you read the books first if you are interested and then see these movies! They are great! 5 out of 5 stars from the Lewis Household!

Scrapbook Sunday

2009-05-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Again today I will be covering great guitarists and please remember that this is entirely my opinion, however, they have had successful careers in guitar as well. Today's pick is Eric Clapton. I enjoy Clapton's music so much and many of his songs have personal places in my heart. Here is a video of Clapton performing Layla and then some info about his career.

IN the late 1960s, one of the most prominent pieces of graffiti seen in London and New York was "Clapton is God." Thirty years later, the stalwart guitarist and singer continues to hold the initiated enthralled, and a fair share of his present-day fans weren't even born when those words of worship were emblazoned on public edifices. Clapton's meandering and groundbreaking musical career has been punctuated by extreme personal hardship and tragedy. Through the emotional truth of his music, he has sought refuge and release from the suffering of drug and alcohol addiction, personal relationships gone awry, and the deaths of several loved ones.

Eric Patrick Clapton was born on March 30, 1945, in his grandparent's house at 1, The Green, Ripley, Surrey, England. He was the illegitimate son of Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Fryer, a Canadian soldier stationed in England. After W.W.II Fryer returned to his wife in Canada, Patricia left Eric in the custody of his grandparents, Rose and Jack Clapp. (The surname Clapton is from Rose's first husband, Reginald Cecil Clapton.) Patricia moved to Germany where she eventually married another Canadian soldier, Frank McDonald.

Young Ricky (that's what his grandparent's called him) was a quiet and polite child, an above average student with an aptitude for art. He was raised believing that his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister, to shield him the stigma that illegitimacy carried with it. The truth was eventually revealed to him, at the age of nine by his grandmother. Later, when Eric would visit his mother, they would still pretend to be brother and sister.

As an adolescent, Clapton glimpsed the future when he tuned in to a Jerry Lee Lewis appearance on British television. Lewis's explosive performance, coupled with young Eric's emerging love of the blues and American R&B, was powerful enough to ignite a desire to learn to play guitar. He commenced studies at the Kingston College of Art, but his intended career path in stained-glass design ended permanently when the blues-obsessed Clapton was expelled at seventeen for playing guitar in class. He took a job as a manual laborer and spent most of his free time playing the electric guitar he persuaded his grandparents to purchase for him. In time, Clapton joined a number of British blues bands, including the Roosters and Casey Jones, and eventually rose to prominence as a member of the Yardbirds, whose lineup would eventually include all three British guitar heroes of the sixties: Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. The group became a sensation for their blues-tinged rock, as did the budding guitar virtuoso Clapton, who earned the nickname "Slowhand" because his forceful string-bending often resulted in broken guitar strings, which he would replace onstage while the crowd engaged in a slow hand-clapping.

Despite the popularity of the band's first two albums, Five Live Yardbirds and For Your Love, Clapton left in 1965, because he felt the band was veering away from its bluesy bent in favor of a more commercially viable pop focus. He joined John Mayell's Bluesbreakers almost immediately, and in the ferment of that band's purist blues sensibilities, his talent blossomed at an accelerated rate--he quickly became the defining musical force of the group. "Clapton is God" was the hue and cry of a fanatic following that propelled the band's Bluesbreakers album to No. 6 on the English pop charts. Clapton parted company with the Bluesbreakers in mid-1966 to form his own band, Cream, with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. With this lineup, Clapton sought "to start a revolution in musical thought . . . to change the world, to upset people, and to shock them." His vision was more than met as Cream quickly became the preeminent rock trio of the late sixties. On the strength of their first three albums (Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, and Wheels of Fire) and extensive touring, the band achieved a level of international fame approaching that of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, and Clapton became even more almighty in the minds of his fans. In fact, the "Clapton is God" gospel contributed largely to Cream's disintegration--the band had always been a three-headed beast of warring egos, and their intense chemistry, exacerbated by the drug abuse of all three, inevitably led to a farewell tour in 1968 and the release of the Goodbye album in 1969. Early in 1969, Clapton united with Baker, bassist Rick Grech, and Traffic's Steve Winwood to record one album as Blind Faith, rock's first "supergroup." In support of their self-titled album, Blind Faith commenced a sold-out, twenty-four-city American tour, the stress of which resulted in the demise of the band less than a year after its inception.

Clapton kept busy for a time as an occasional guest player with Delaney & Bonnie, the husband-and-wife team that had been Blind Faith's opening act during their tour. A disappointing live album from that collaboration was released in 1970, as was Clapton's self-titled solo debut. That album featured three other musicians--bassist Carl Radle, keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, and drummer Jim Gordon--from Delaney's band, and yielded a modest pop hit with Clapton's version of J.J. Cale's "After Midnight." The collective proceeded to baptize themselves Derek and the Dominos, and commenced recording Clapton's landmark double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, with the added contribution of slide guitarist Duane Allman. An anguished lament of unrequited love, "Layla" was inspired by a difficult love triangle between Clapton, his close friend George Harrison, and Harrison's wife Pattie (she and Clapton eventually married in 1979 and divorced in 1988). Unfortunately, personal struggles and career pressure on the guitarist led to a major heroin addiction. Derek and the Dominos crumbled during the course of an American tour and an aborted attempt to record a second album.

Clapton withdrew from the spotlight in the early seventies, wallowing in his addiction and then struggling to conquer it. Following the advice of the Who's Pete Townsend, he underwent a controversial but effective electro-acupuncture treatment and was fully rehabilitated. He rebounded creatively with a role in the film version of Townsend's rock opera, Tommy, and with a string of albums, including the reggae-influenced 461 Ocean Boulevard, which yielded a chart-topping single cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." Some critics and fans were disappointed by Clapton's post-rehab efforts, feeling that he had abandoned his former guitar-heavy approach in favor of a more laid-back and vocal-conscious one.

Just One Night, Clapton's galvanizing 1980 live album, reminded devotees just exactly who their guitar hero was, but unfortunately, this period marked Clapton's critical slide into a serious drinking problem that eventually hospitalized him for a time in 1981. He experienced a creative resurgence after reining in his alcoholism, releasing a string of consistently successful albums--Another Ticket (1981), Money and Cigarettes (1983), Behind the Sun (1985), August (1986), Journeyman (1989)--and turning his personal life around. Though some say Clapton never regained the musical heights of his heroin days, his legend nevertheless continued to grow. That he was a paragon of rock became more than apparent when Polygram released a rich four-CD retrospective of his career, Crossroads, in 1988; the set scored Grammy awards for Best Historical Album and Best Liner Notes.

In late 1990, the fates delivered Clapton a terrible blow when guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Clapton road crew members Colin Smythe and Nigel Browne--all close friends of Clapton's--were killed in a helicopter crash. A few months later, he was dealt another cruel blow when Conor, his son by Italian model Lori Del Santo, fell forty-nine stories from Del Santo's Manhattan high-rise apartment to his death. Clapton channeled his shattering grief into writing the heart-wrenching 1992 Grammy-winning tribute to his son, "Tears in Heaven." (Clapton received a total of six Grammys that year for the single and for the album Unplugged.)

In 1994, he began once again to play traditional blues; the album, From the Cradle, marked a return to raw blues standards, and it hit with critics and fans. The fifty-one-year-old Clapton shows no signs of slowing down: in February of 1997 he picked up Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammys for "Change the World," from the soundtrack of the John Travolta movie Phenomenon.

Already a double inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream, a third nod as a solo artist is an inevitable honor for the legendary guitarist. Until Clapton springs his next album on a waiting world, fans can content themselves with his latest side project, TDF. The band's techno-pedigreed 1997 release, Retail Therapy, represents a marked musical departure from Clapton's blues-rock roots, and he appears on the album with the correspondingly off-the-wall pseudonym "X-Sample."

Next came the acclaimed Pilgrim, which captured the Grammy nomination for Best Pop Album in ‘98. In 1999 he won a Grammy for his performance on “The Calling” from Santana’s Supernatural. Clapton revisited the blues with friend and musical legend BB King in 2000’s Riding With The King, garnering the artist more platinum and a Grammy nomination in a career full of chartbusters and precious metal.

The only triple inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of both The Yardbirds and Cream and as a solo artist), Eric Clapton continues to astonish and delight a vast spectrum of music lovers. It’s a legacy that continues with the release of Reptile, the latest journey in the lifelong musical odyssey of an authentic musical genius.

(original biography done by http://www.eric-clapton.co.uk/biography/index.htm

Sorry if this is a bit long but his career is interesting if you ask me!

Singer/Song Saturday

2009-05-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Today's song is a remake of a song orginally done by Don Henley. It is a great song and when I heard this remake I was even more pleased. Enjoy

Song: Heart of the Matter

Singer: India. Arie

Here is the video of her performing it live, she also performs Rhianna's Umbrella on here so if you are not a fan of that song, it's in the latter part of the video. I like it better by her though! :)

Here are the lyrics as well...

I got the call today, I didn't wanna hear
But I knew that it would come
An old true friend of ours was talkin' on the phone
She said you found someone
And I thought of all the bad luck,
And all the struggles we went through
How I lost me and you lost you
What are these voices outside love's open door
Make us throw off our contentment
And beg for something more?

I've been learning to live without you now
But I miss you sometimes
The more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning them again
I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

These times are so uncertain
There's a yearning undefined
And people filled with rage
We all need a little tenderness
How can love survive in such a graceless age
And the trust and self-assurance that lead to happiness
They're the very things we kill, I guess
Pride and competition cannot fill these empty arms
And the work they put between us,
You know it doesn't keep us warm

I've been trying to live without you now
But I miss you, baby
The more I know, the less I understand
And all the things I thought I figured out, I have to learn again
I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak
And my heart is so shattered
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

All the people in your life who've come and gone
They let you down, you know they hurt your pride
Better put it all behind you; cause life goes on
You keep carryin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside

I want a happily everafter
And my heart is so shattered
But I know it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter
Because the flesh gets weak
And the ashes will scatter
So I'm thinkin' about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if you don't love me anymore
Even if you don't love me anymore

Faith Friday

2009-05-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

Meditation Continued...

Preparing to Meditate.

As I had mentioned in my post last week, I have been reading a really good book about the spiritual disciplines and the first one covered is meditation. I am learning this discipline from the book as it is something I have never really mastered in my walk with Christ. I have always had "prayer time" but the silence and listening time was always my struggle. I decided today to put in a few things I learned in the section on preparing to meditate. It was very clear upon reading that is hard to tell someone how to meditate since it is a very personal experience.

The first thing mentioned was that it was "ok" to use your imagination and picture Jesus there with you. God gave us an imagination and although our imagination can lead us to very scary and dark places, it can also be used by God and lead us to a place where we can truly BE with him

The second thing that I noted was that the posture of meditation is mostly about finding a place that is comfortable for you but not distracting from your agenda of being with the Lord. For me, this includes sitting on my comfortable couch and just talking to God.

Another thing was discussed was what time we should meditate. Since I can't say it any better...I will quote the book on this one. It says:

" We must come to see, therefore, how central our whole day is in preparing us for specific times of meditation. If we are constantly being swept off our feet with frantic activity, we will be unable to be attentive at the moment of inward silence. A mind that is harassed and fragmented by external affairs is hardly prepared for meditation." -- Richard J. Foster

I thought that was very well said and my heart was certainly pinched as I considered how often I am frantic with activity and don't give God my ultimate in attention and time. This book is really helping me as a person learning how to Serve God more faithfully and directly.

Have a great Weekend!

Thrifty Thursday

2009-05-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

At our house, we are always trying to find ways to be green while making a little extra cash. We drink a LOT of water and Anthony drinks a lot of canned beverages so we started recycling a long time ago. I decided to talk about recycling today and how you can make a little extra spending cash if you have a lot of plastic, aluminum, or glass hanging out at your house.

We first made steps of taking our reusable bottles out with us filled up with our water cooler water to cut down on the bottles but sometimes, you are in a bind and have to buy that bottled water at starbucks that gives back to clean water programs in a third world country.

First of I suggest you visit Earth 911 to find a recyling center near you. You just put in what you would like to recylce and your zip code and it shows you where to go!

This covers magazines, newspapers, cans, bottles, electronics....whatever you have to get rid of that could be reused.

If you have old computer parts that you want to get rid of for pay, you can go to this site and check out ways to get rid of that stuff.

And we all know we can recycle our old stuff like furniture by selling it on Craigslist!

Anthony and I mostly do our glass, alumininum, magazines, newspapers, and plastic and go to a local recycling centers and it's paid for many married dates! Good luck helping the Earth while adding to your pocket book!

Witty Wednesday

2009-05-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

Today's funny is in honor of my hatred and fear of clowns...

I liked this one!!

Tasty Tuesday

2009-05-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Today's recipe is Ground Sausage with Campanelle Pasta and Herb Butter. It sounds fancy but it's way easy and really good. Enjoy...to lighten you could try turkey sausage and trade the butter in for a low fat margarine.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened
7 large basil leaves, minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1 package (16 oz) Campanelle Pasta (or any pasta that you like)
1 package of Italian all natural ground sausage (I use Johnsonville)
1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes
6 oz fresh mozerella cheese, cubed (make sure it's fresh mozerella)

Directions:

In a bowl, combine butter, basil, garlic, and pepper; set aside

Cook pasta according to package directions

Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook and crumble sausage until no longer pink; drain fat off and set aside

Drain pasta, transfer to a large bowl

Add sausage and half of the herb butter, stir gently

Add 2/3 of the tomatoes and cheese; toss until coated

Top with remaining tomatoes and cheese. Top with additional herb butter and serve immediately.

You can also use the remaining herb butter as a spread for bread if you do not want to add it to the mixture.

This should serve 6.

Happy Birthday Papa!

2009-05-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

Today would have been my grandpa's 80th Birthday and I miss him so much. He has been gone a little over 9 years now and it feels like he died yesterday. I miss his smile, his love, and his support in everything I was and did! I miss him even more this year as I spend my first year married and have graduated with my Masters....

A note to my Grandpa!

Papa,

I love you more every day and I miss you even more than that. I wanted to wish you a Happy 80th Birthday and wish you could spend it with me! You are my inspiration for all that I do and I thank you for all that you did for me and the girls. You were a father when noone else was at times. You are precious to me and I will never forget your love and sacrifice.

Your Kiddo,

Erica

Movie Monday

2009-05-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

Today's Movie Monday is based on a movie I had ordered from Netflix because I was curious if it was any good. Anthony and I totally love Disney movies. We love the music, the animation, and especially the witty characters. Today's movie is Brother Bear. I absolutely loved it and I am even looking forward to watching the sequel. The Characters were great and the story (although sad and troubling at times) was extremely real and would teach great life lessons. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars for our love of the movie! I hope you choose to enjoy it with age appropriate kids if you have them!

Scrapbook Sunday

2009-05-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

So today I decided to talk about one of my newer hobbies of playing guitar. Anthony got me my first guitar for Christmas last year and I just adore it. Can I play it yet? No! But, I love it and I am trying. I am not sure anyone will care but I have taken some time to begin researching guitarists. I have decided to enlighten you on some top guitarists over the next couple of Sunday posts. (By the way...the guitar that is pictured at the top of this blog, is my guitar!!! I love it)

Today's top guitarists is Jimi Hendrix. Here is a little Jimi Hendrix data and a nice picture of him doing his thing!

Jimi Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Hendrix is considered one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in rock music history. After initial success in England, he achieved worldwide fame following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival. Jimi Hendrix helped pioneer the technique of guitar feedback with overdriven amplifiers, incorporating into his music what was previously an undesirable sound. Hendrix is also widely thought to be influenced by Pete Townshend of The Who, who performed in London when Hendrix started his career there in 1966.

Fender 60s Reverse Headstock Stratocaster is Jimi's signature guitar.

Singer/Song Saturday

2009-05-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

Today I chose one of my favorite female vocalists for the Singer/Song Saturday. I love Kelly Clarkson and have since she won the first American Idol Competition. She just seems a little deeper than most female vocalists that I have heard lately plus she doesn't look like she doesn't. That is a bonus! Here is the info on today's song.

Singer: Kelly Clarkson

Song: Because of You

Here are the lyrics to follow along...

I will not make the same mistakes that you did
I will not let myself cause my heart so much misery
I will not break the way you did
You fell so hard
I've learned the hard way, to never let it get that far

Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side
So I don't get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust
Not only me, but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid

I lose my way
And it's not too long before you point it out
I cannot cry
Because I know that's weakness in your eyes
I'm forced to fake, a smile, a laugh
Every day of my life
My heart can't possibly break
When it wasn't even whole to start with

Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side
So I don't get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust
Not only me, but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid

I watched you die
I heard you cry
Every night in your sleep
I was so young
You should have known better than to lean on me
You never thought of anyone else
You just saw your pain
And now I cry
In the middle of the night
For the same damn thing

Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side
So I don't get hurt
Because of you
I tried my hardest just to forget everything
Because of you
I don't know how to let anyone else in
Because of you
I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty
Because of you
I am afraid

Because of you
Because of you

Faith Friday

2009-05-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to put on a few verses to meditate on as God is taking me through the disciplines of meditation. I pray that you find something in these verses for yourself. If you do, share it.

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,
and the one who gets understanding,
for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
and her profit better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.

—Proverbs 3:13-17

Thrifty Thursday

2009-05-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

Today I have a few tips that I have gathered together for those of us trying to save a few pennies...

To Save Candles

-- Go ahead and pop your candles in the freezer for an hour before burning them, cold candles last longer and don't drip as much.

Think before you buy

-- Before you buy anything (except for necessities) allow yourself time to think as long as it would take to make the money to buy the item. For example, if you are going to buy a new pair of shoes for $60.00 and you make $20.00 an hour...think on that for 3 hours before you buy it.

For your garden

-- A lot of people do not know that Starbucks gives away free coffee grounds as compost for your garden. Ask your local Starbucks for details.

Don't feel deprived

-- If you are cutting back on expenses (which most of us around American are), don't feel deprived, just make a list of 5-10 things that you love to do that cost no money and then do one of those every day so you remember that the best things in life really are free. (Mine are listening to new music, blogging, reading a great book, watching things on my DVR, and organizing around the house)

Those are my thrifty tips for the day. I hope that you use one of them and have a great day!

Witty Wednesday

2009-05-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a great thing to enjoy on Witty Wednesday...

101 Ways To Annoy People

1. Sing the Batman theme incessantly.

2. In the memo field of all your checks, write "for sensual massage."

3. Specify that your drive-through order is "to go."

4. Learn Morse code, and have conversations with friends in public consisting entirely of "Beeeep Bip Bip Beeep Bip..."

5. If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.

6. Amuse yourself for endless hours by hooking a camcorder to your TV and then pointing it at the screen. <

7. Speak only in a "robot" voice.

8. Push all the flat Lego pieces together tightly.

9. Start each meal by conspicuously licking all your food, and announce that this is so no one will "swipe your grub".

10. Leave the copy machine set to reduce 200%, extra dark, 17 inch paper, 98 copies.

11. Stomp on little plastic ketchup packets.

12. Sniffle incessantly.

13. Leave your turn signal on for fifty miles.

14. Name your dog "Dog." 15. Insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions "to keep them tuned up."

16. Reply to everything someone says with "that's what YOU think."

17. Claim that you must always wear a bicycle helmet as part of your "astronaut training."

18. Declare your apartment an independent nation, and sue your neighbors upstairs for "violating your airspace".

19. Forget the punchline to a long joke, but assure the listener it was a "real hoot."

20. Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with Lysol.

21. Practice making fax and modem noises.

22. Highlight irrelevant information in scientific papers and "cc:" them to your boss.

23. Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.

24. Invent nonsense computer jargon in conversations, and see if people play along to avoid the appearance of ignorance.

25. Erect an elaborate network of ropes in your backyard, and tell the neighbors you are a "spider person."

26. Finish all your sentences with the words "in accordance with the prophesy."

27. Wear a special hip holster for your
remote control.

28. Do not add any inflection to the end of your sentences, producing awkward silences with the impression that you'll be saying more any moment.

29. Signal that a conversation is over by clamping your hands over your ears.

30. Disassemble your pen and "accidentally" flip the ink cartridge across the room.

31. Give a play-by-play account of a persons every action in a nasal Howard Cosell voice.

32. Holler random numbers while someone is counting.

33. Adjust the tint on your TV so that all the people are green, and insist to others that you "like it that way."

34. Drum on every available surface.

35. Staple papers in the middle of the page.

36. Ask 1-800 operators for dates.

37. Produce a rental video consisting entirely of dire FBI copyright warnings.

38. Sew anti-theft detector strips
into peoples backpacks.

39. Hide dairy products in inaccessible places.

40. Write the surprise ending to a novel on its first page.

41. Set alarms for random times.

42. Order a side of pork rinds with your filet mignon.

43. Instead of Gallo, serve Night Train next Thanksgiving.

44. Publicly investigate just how slowly you can make a "croaking" noise.

45. Honk and wave to strangers.

46. Dress only in clothes colored Hunters Orange.

47. Change channels five minutes before the end of every show.

48. Tape pieces of "Sweating to the Oldies" over climactic parts of rental movies.

49. Wear your pants backwards.

50. Decline to be seated at a restaurant, and simply eat their complimentary mints by the cash register.

51. Begin all your sentences with "ooh la la!"

52. ONLY TYPE IN UPPERCASE.

53. only type in lowercase.

54. dont use any punctuation either

55. Buy a large quantity of orange traffic cones and reroute whole streets.

56. Pay for your dinner with pennies.

57. Tie jingle bells to all your clothes.

58. Repeat everything someone says, as a question.

59. Write "X - BURIED TREASURE" in random spots on all of someone's roadmaps.

60. Inform everyone you meet of your personal Kennedy assassination/UFO/ O.J Simpson conspiracy theories.

61. Repeat the following conversation a dozen times: "Do you hear that?" "What?" "Never mind, its gone now."

62. Light road flares on a birthday cake.

63. Wander around a restaurant, asking other diners for their parsley.

64. Leave tips in Bolivian currency.

65. Demand that everyone address you as "Conquistador."

66. At the laundromat, use one dryer for each of your socks.

67. When Christmas caroling, sing "Jingle Bells, Batman smells" until physically restrained.

68. Wear a cape that says "Magnificent One."

69. As much as possible, skip rather than walk.

70. Stand over someone's shoulder, mumbling, as they read.

71. Pretend your computer's mouse is a CB radio, and talk to it.

72. Try playing the William Tell Overture by tapping on the bottom of your chin. When nearly done, announce "no, wait, I messed it up," and repeat.

73. Drive half a block.

74. Inform others that they exist only in your imagination.

75. Ask people what gender they are.

76. Lick the filling out of all the Oreos, and place the cookie parts back.

77. Cultivate a Norwegian accent. If Norwegian, affect a Southern drawl.

78. Routinely handcuff yourself to furniture, informing the curious that you don't want to fall off "in case the big one comes".

79. Deliberately hum songs that will remain lodged in co-workers brains, such as "Feliz Navidad", the Archies "Sugar" or the Mr. Rogers theme song.

80. While making presentations, occasionally bob your head. like a parakeet.

81. Lie obviously about trivial things such as the time of day.

82. Leave your Christmas lights up and lit until September.

83. Change your name to "AaJohn Aaaaasmith" for the great glory of being first in the phone book. Claim it's a Hawaiian name, and demand that people pronounce each "a."

84. Sit in your front yard pointing a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.

85. Chew on pens that you've borrowed.

86. Wear a LOT of cologne.

87. Listen to 33rpm records at 45rpm speed, and claim the faster speed is necessary because of your "superior mental processing."

88. Sing along at the opera.

89. Mow your lawn with scissors.

90. At a golf tournament, chant "swing-batabatabata-suhWING-batter!"

91. Ask the waitress for an extra seat for your "imaginary friend."

92. Go to a poetry recital and ask why each poem doesn't rhyme.

93. Ask your co-workers mysterious questions, and then scribble their answers in a notebook. Mutter something
about "psychological profiles."

94. Stare at static on the TV and claim you can see a "magic picture."

95. Select the same song on the jukebox fifty times.

96. Never make eye contact.

97. Never break eye contact.

98. Construct elaborate "crop circles" in your front lawn.

99. Construct your own pretend "tricorder," and "scan" people with it, announcing the results.

100. Make appointments for the 31st of September.

101. Invite lots of people to other people's parties.

Tasty Tuesday

2009-05-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

This recipe is one that I use as an avid supporter of SPLENDA. I have been diagnosed as a diabetic for 12 years and Splenda is the one thing I can really say tastes like sugar. Here is a great recipe for your enjoyment!

Very Berry Blueberry Muffins (By Splenda)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light margarine, softened
1 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Directions:

Place oven rack in top 1/3 of oven.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Lightly spray liners with nonstick cooking spray.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

Beat margarine at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

Gradually add SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener and honey beating until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time beating until blended after each addition.

Stir in vanilla.

Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Fold in berries.

Spoon batter evenly into paper lined muffin cups.

Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until golden.

Remove from pan immediately, and cool on wire rack.
Note

Serving Size: 1 muffin

To freeze muffins, wrap in heavy-duty aluminum foil or place in a zip-top plastic freezer bag. Freeze up to 3 months.

Here is the nutrition info as well...

Nutrition Info
Servings Per Recipe: 12
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 160
Calories from Fat: 45
Total Fat: 5g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 35mg
Sodium: 280mg
Total Carbs: 26g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 8g
Protein: 4g

Movie Monday

2009-05-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

This Monday's movie is "Roxanne" with Steve Martin. This is not a new film in any way shape or form, however, it is one that Anthony and I cuddled up to watch this week and I realized as an adult how funny it really was. There is a lot of inappropriate comedy in it but again, as an adult, it's ok. It has a lot of big names including, Steve Martin, Darryl Hannah and quite a few others. I also found out while researching this that Steve Martin actually wrote the screenplay for this movie which is why it's so great!

It is based on the play "Cyrano De Bergerac" which is a fantastic play to begin with and then it is made more modern and was created in 1986 so as modern as that is! I give it absolutely 5 out of 5 stars and recommend if you haven't seen it that you see it now and if you have, try it again...great movie!

Scrapbook Sunday

2009-05-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to talk about one of my favorite hobbies and that is organzing. I have added a few organization tips as well as some sites you can check out to see what I use around my house and my tasks!

Here are some tips to organize any room

1. Set goals -- make a list of what you would like to accomplish in the room:

Example: Bathroom

-- Repaint
-- Organize bathroom supplies
-- Overhaul Towels/wash clothes
etc...

2. Start Small -- DO smaller rooms, areas, and projects first to get yourself started and then move to bigger projects as you gain momentum and motivation. Some areas to start with would be a bathroom, linen closet, pantry, book case, etc...

3. Determine where to donate -- this one is important in our house because there are clothes that are past their prime or do not fit, items that do not fit in our house, or simply we got new things and need to give our gently used items to charity. We use a goodwill down the street from our house that is in a great area of our neighborhood to serve our community.

4. Toss old medicine -- organizing is a great time to get rid of medicines that are past their shelf life. This task often gets ignored if not done on a regular basis.

5. Consider creative containers -- if you have things that need to be well...contained think about getting things that are decorative that might serve as a piece in your living room as well as holding all of your un-read magazines. The possibilities are endless.

Here are a few links I use to organize my home and life:

The Container Store!!

HGTV a great pleace to learn to organize

All About Home

Singer/Song Saturday

2009-05-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today's Singer/Song is a song that makes me think about the marriage of two of my friends as it was their song at their wedding. It is the most beautiful description of a man's love for his wife! I completely suggest you check out this singer and namely this song!

Singer: Tyrone Wells

Song: Seabreeze

Here are the lyrics so you can follow along...

Did I really need her, was it just a sweet dream
That lingers in the morning, like a melody
Over and over, all through the day,
I can't stop thinkin' 'bout how I'm feeling this way

She moves like sea breeze, swirling around me
The fragrance that she leaves hangs in the air
Soft like a whisper, she's calling me to her,
These eyes have seen the most beautiful dream

We found each other, staring at the waves
We started talking and I couldn't break away
I made plans to meet tonight down by the pier
And when midnight strikes I'm gonna hold that dream near

She moves like sea breeze, swirling around me
The fragrance that she leaves hangs in the air
Soft like a whisper, she's calling me to her
These eyes have seen the most beautiful dream

To my surprise, oh,
She took my heart with one look in her eye
To a place that feels like home

She moves like sea breeze, swirling around me
The fragrance that she leaves hangs in the air
Soft like a whisper, she's calling me to her
These eyes have seen the most beautiful dream
Repeat 2X
These eyes have seen the most beautiful dream, oh, oh

Faith Friday

2009-05-20T17:03:00.001-07:00

Anthony and I went on a marriage/spiritual retreat which is why I am trying to catch up the blog today. In saying that, I am gong to start covering spiritual disciplines for our Faith Fridays. I am reading a book called "Celebration of Discpline" by Richard J. Foster. I picked it up a few weeks before school ended as a means to me really gaining serious spiritual focus and I have been reading it since I have been out and it's really helping me focus not only in my spiritual life but in other goals I have had for myself.

The first discipline that I will be focusing on for our Faith Fridays is Meditation. I do not mean meditation the way the new age movement means it but rather as a means of really looking at scripture and allowing it to get deep inside of you. Over our spiritual retreat, one of the things I really took the time to do was to sit in nature and look around and allow God's word to become real to me. I was looking around to see all that he created and how it completely captures his character and love for us.

Over the next several Faith Fridays I will be writing about meditation as I learn about and it giving scripture to begin to meditate on if you are intersted. God has really been giving me peace, opening my eyes, and working on my character through this time and I pray he does the same for you through meditation on scripture.

For today a thought...

The purpose of meditation is ....a familiar friendship with Jesus -- as quoted by Richard Foster in the text.

Thrifty Thursday

2009-05-20T16:36:00.001-07:00

Today I have a great tip for you if you are around a Regency theater. Anthony and I are on a very limited budget! That is saying it nicely. We are BROKE most of the time. We have started to use the Regency theater as a close friend. In our area, they show movies for the bargain price of $3.00/ticket. That is a great deal considering our local theater charges about $11.00/ticket. Concessions are also considerably cheaper at these low cost theaters.

They also have a weekly deal at our theater where you can get two tickets, 2 small sodas, and 2 small popcorns on Wednesday nights so that has become our Wednesday night date night and we just throw a few candies in my purse and the night is set. They show most movies about 2 weeks after they are in major theaters so we are seeing brand new movies also.

There are also a vast amount of theaters that will show older movies for less price on the big screen as well. I recommend going to see a great cheap movie!!! :)

Witty Wednesday

2009-05-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

In honor of my Nephew's birth, here is a video of some funny babies! :)

Tasty Tuesday

2009-05-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest tools in my kitchen are my Ziploc Zip N Steam bags. If you haven't used these I totally recommend them as they make healthy cooking really easy. I found the idea on The Biggest Loser and started experimenting with them in my own kitchen. I am trying to eat healthier and include incredibly lean sources of protein into our diets so I have made today's Tasty Tuesday one of my ziploc recipes of...

Garlic Lemon Cod:

In a small bowl, prepare rub of 1 teaspoon Olive Oil, 3/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder, and 1/4 teaspoon season salt

Use 1 cod fillet; 8-12 oz, about 1/2 inch thick, cut in half. Spoon Rub on top of cod, spreading evenly

Put prepared cod in Medium or Large Zip and Steam bag, placing thicker parts toward outer edge of bag, seal bag and place in microwave

Cook on full power for 3 and 1/2 - 4 minutes or until cod is cooked through or flakes easily. Use 30 second intervals if cod is not cooked at first until it is thoroughly cooked.

Allow to stand one minute before handling. Put fresh lemon juice onto fish once removed from the bag. Serve with Parsley and Butter if desired.

This is a great way to get good protein really fast and not make a mess making fish! :)

Movie Monday

2009-05-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I apologize for being a bit behind on the blog but we have been in baby world for the last 48 hours or so.

Before he was on his way, Anthony and I sat down to watch a movie on our netflix queue. It was Mad Money with Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes. It was really great. Not only was the plot and concept really smart but it had great funny moments as well. I really like Diane Keaton so I try to watch everything she makes.

The whole story is about three women who work at a Federal bank and find a way to start pilfering money out. It was really enjoyable and I encourage you all to see it. On our charts, it gets a **** out of 5 stars!

Have a great Day!

We have a new nephew!

2009-05-12T06:19:00.001-07:00

Please help me welcome to the world....

Shawn Christopher Lee

Born May 12, 2009 @ 6:49 A.M.

6 lbs, 15 oz; 20 and 1/2 inches long! :)

Thanks Heavens for little boys! If you know Hill, congratulate her!

A creation of mine

2009-05-11T22:43:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Scrapbook Sunday

2009-05-10T21:16:00.001-07:00

So today is pretty much the first day of the rest of my life since I graduated yesterday. My hobbies will be returning which is nice. One of my favorite hobbies is scrapbooking which is why I labeled this scrapbook Sunday. I thought I would let you know about a business that I love...creative memories. They have amazing products and they are absolutely the best place to get ideas on what books to create. I have a digital program where you can make a book in a night with digital photos and digital layouts. I thought I would give you some links to check out!

Creative Memories Main Page

Their New Products

Project Center

Find a consultant in your area!

Singer/Song Saturday

2009-05-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is late, yesterday I was busy getting my Master's Degree!!!!!! YAY!

Today's Singer/Song is something that makes me think of my accomplishment and God's place in all of that. This song makes me think of the incredible calling that God gave me to be a therapist and how every breath needs to be rooted in Jesus and what he has me to do and say! I have included the lyrics so you can follow along. The following video is from a live performance of his so some of the lyrics are changed to honor the place he is singing! :)

Singer: Shaun Groves

Song: Should I tell them

Walking with you is not without hazards
Trippings this traveler's curse
Price paid for falling is more than my stumble
In a world that is watching and waiting for words

But I listened when You said to go
And I set out in spite of my fears
About truth mixed with my imperfection
And the question of what to say when I got here

And now that I'm here
Should I tell them that
You are the one who has made me
And saved me and set up a home there inside
Should I tell them that I am a perfect example
Of all You can do with a life.
What should I say to them?
What if I'm failing them?
What should i tell the tonight?

Now don't get me wrong
I'm thankful to be here
With this song to sing and a spotlight on me,
But lately I'm wondering if you are mistaken,
If you're seeing all of me there is to see.

Cause on every face I detect
The same questions I've posed to you
Like do you speak through the imperfect
Are we too dirty for your light to get through?
I want your light to get through.

Chorus:

What should I tell them when
They're thirsty Lord
My cup is empty Lord
Come and lead me here in this place
Cuz I'm unashamed, yeah, but I'm unprepared
And I'm just plain afraid

Song:

Faith Friday

2009-05-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

1 Corinthians 2:9

However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who loved Him (NIV)

Today's post is going to be about the above verse because I am reminded of this concept every single day in my walk with God. Last night is a great example. I gave my speech last night for the Hooding Ceremony for my Masters Degree. It was amazing. The whole ceremony was very good and my speech went well. The thing that amazed me was how God was truly there through the whole thing for me. My professor gave me a little matchbox Mustang after I spoke in honor of my grandpa and that filled my heart and reminded me of how proud he would have been.

The overall thoughts in my head last night were that God has done such amazing things in my life through pain and suffering and I could never have forseen any of them. Even as I prepare for my commencement this Saturday, I realize how special these times are. As I saw my boss show up to hooding last night and enjoy my speech on God (when he is not a believer) really showed me that I can not conceive what God has prepared for me.

I am going in to a time of complete trust with the Lord and I am actually really excited to see what God has prepared for me. I know that things are not happening the way that I forsaw them happening and sometimes if I am not careful this can cause me anxiety and disappointment as opposed to excitement of how God is going to show his character and provision for me. As I read this verse I realized that he has amazing things planned and it's not for me to know or figure out but to just rest and trust him through it.

Isn't that an exciting truth that we cannot even begin to conceive what he has planned for those that love Him! :) Thank you Jesus for your love and plan for my life!

Thrifty Thursday

2009-05-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

Today's thrifty post is about making everything go the extra mile. Here is an idea that I have been using for some time. At the store, the larger cuts of meat like whole chickens, beef roasts, and turkeys are less expensive per lb due to bones, convenience etc... What I do is buy those cuts of meat and make them go two to three days in our two person home. Now I realize if you have a larger family, this might not work.

I'll use the chicken as an example. A chicken at our house can survive about 3 days. First I make a whole chicken in the crock pot by doing the following:

-- Clean chicken thoroughly

-- Put in bottom of crock pot with a few potatoes, lemon juice, spices to your taste and about a cup of low sodium chicken stock.

-- Cook on high for about 5 hours

-- When chicken is done it is amazing...serve is up beside the nice tender potatoes and a vegetable and you have round # 1

The next day in our house we always have left over chicken. I usually just get as much as I can out of the crock pot and put it into a storage container.

The next day I make chicken and dumplings and this is how

--- Store bought cresent rolls

--- left over chicken

--- One can of cream of chicken soup

--- 1 cup of low sodium chicken stock

--- Vegetables if you choose (peas, corn, carrots, etc...)

I take a 9 X 13 baking dish and lightly spray with olive oil spray so nothing sticks

Next I take the cresents and unroll them. In each cresent I put a generous portion of the leftover chicken and roll them up into dumplings

I place these in the bottom of the baking pan. I then cover with stock, soup, and vegetables.

I bake this in the oven for about 1/2 an hour at 350 degrees or until the cresents are nice and brown as everything else will be heated and your chicken is fully cooked.

I serve this besides some mashed potatoes or rice and of course your veggies are in the dumplings if you used them, if not serve up with some veggies.

These two days of meals are the following:

Whole chicken: as low as $2.00-4.00 when they are on sale

Produce: about $2.00 for everything

Stock: about $2.00 (you can use broth also if it is cheaper)

Soup: $1.00

Cresents: $2.00

At most this is about $11.00 for two days of dinner. More likely it is less as I rounded up for every item.

I use these tips for things like Turkey also and make Turkey salads, open face sandwiches, etc... with leftovers

With Roasts, I cut up the extra roast and create a vegetable stew. Two days of dinner for the price of one dinner! :)

I hope that you find ways to make leftovers into whole new experiences!

Also, if you haven't already done so, make sure and print your free coupon for a two piece grilled chicken dinner at KFC that Oprah made available. You do have to install a coupon printer application so be aware of that and use your security measures to make sure all is safe. Mine did not find any problems with it. Here is the link.

Free KFC from Oprah!

Witty Wednesday

2009-05-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

-- Baked goods and Ladies of the night-- *Warning, inappropriate in nature*

When Anthony and I first moved in to our apartment there was something strange that we noticed almost immediately. There is a donut shop on the corner across the street from our complex and it is literally busy all hours of the night. It is open 24 hours and it always seems to have business. We thought, "wow, they must have good donuts." Eventually we started to notice women dressed a little bit scandalous around that shop and started to wonder if they were selling more than donuts over there.

We were driving home from work one day when I saw what had to be a shall we say....lady of the night. I started to laugh to myself and said to Anthony "I know they are prostitutes babe, I just know it" and I continued to laugh hysterically and Anthony finally said "what is so funny?" and I said with a big cheesy grin on my face..."They are donut hoes"

We lived on that joke right there for several weeks. Then one morning we were headed to take Anthony to work bright and early at 6:30 am and we saw one of the "ladies of the night" walking back to the donut shop. She was probably around 60-65 years old and had on a shiny shirt, a short skirt, fish net stockings, and house slippers. Yes, I said it...house slippers.

So, I then got yet another grin on my face and said "I bet she is going back to the donut shop to get her a long john"

They never stop coming! Anyway, I thought I would share one of Anthony and my favorite funny stories to make you laugh. We are constantly watching out for the "donut hoes" and "long johns" by our house so if we have anymore funny stories...prepare to hear them.

I apologize if anyone is offended by the inappropriate nature of this story. Have a lovely Wednesday!

Tasty Tuesday

2009-05-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today I thought it would be nice to share a recipe that I absolutely love which is cheesy potatoes. Now, I want to warn you that this is NOT a healthy item and there is probably a way to make it healthy but I do not do that. This was passed down to me from a professor so make sure if you make it to let me know so I can tell her you loved it.

Here is the recipe: (Serves 15)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. (1bag) frozen hash brown potatoes

¼ - ½ cup frozen chopped onions

1 ¼ lbs. shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups sour cream 1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

salt

pepper

Directions:

Mix thoroughly all ingredients and bake, covered with foil, for 90 minutes at 325 ' in a 9 X 13 pan that has been well sprayed with Pam.

Topping: Corn Flake Crumbs, crushed

After baking for 90 minutes, top potatoes with a layer of crushed corn flake crumbs. Return to the oven, uncovered, for an additional 30 - 45 min or until potatoes are thoroughly heated.

These potatoes are amazing. Anthony literally asks for them every week so I hope you all enjoy!

Movie Monday

2009-05-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone! I got up bright and early this morning and decided to get some things out of the way for the day. Last night before heading to the gym Anthony and I ate dinner and watched a movie which I decided to cover for today's blog. We watched "A Bee Movie" and although Anthony had already seen it, I really had wanted to see this one. It was as good as I imagined. It had great wit and humor, good innovative ideas, and a great plot. I loved Jerry Seinfield's character Barry Benson, he was really funny and a great hero of the movie. I also noticed the voices of Matthew Broderick, John Goodman (Hilarious), & Renee Zellweger. They were all great and the characters were well developed.

I thought the movie was absolutely great and I would recommend it highly. On Anthony & Erica's movie ratings, this movie gets ***** out of 5 stars! It's clean, family friendly, and even has a few good Jew jokes which I of course enjoy with my Heeb self! Awesome! :)

Scrapbook Sunday

2009-05-03T23:35:00.000-07:00

Anthony and I are back to one of our old passions and loves. (I am laughing a little as I type that) We have started to go back to the gym. That is the reporting on your "hobbies" this week. Maybe I should have written this on witty wednesday. Keep us in your prayers as its only day two and we are both limping to bed! Goodnight everyone!

The baby journey....as of now.

2009-05-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

I have hesitated to write about this on our blog just due to the personal nature of it but I really try to be genuine and transparent on my blog because it is so therapetuic for me. Anthony and I decided in October that we wanted to start "trying" to have a baby. When I came home after much deliberation in my own therapy, hours and hours of personal thought and prayer, and much brainstorming and said "ok Anthony, let's start trying" I thought that the decision was going to work a little differently. I have always had really good female health as in you could set the calendar by me. I thought that once we decided to stop taking precautions that I would not see another period for 9 months. I seriously thought it would be that easy.

I set an appointment very quickly after deciding to talk about getting pregnant with my doctor. My doctor was extremely enthusiastic and said that I was ready to start trying and told me to start prenatal vitamins and to understand that it would probably take between 6 and 12 months to get pregnant for a healthy woman my age. I then went to diabetic education and start taking classes about being diabetic and pregnant. The staff at the diabetic education center were not nearly as enthusiastic and wanted to warn me (and rightly so) that I needed to have good control of diabetes in every way in order to have a baby. I took their advice seriously and started eating according to their plan, taking prenatals, and treating my body like the little house it was going to be.

The first month was interesting and I thought for sure I probably got pregnant right away until the monthly visitor showed up and taught me something new. The facts are, I didn't get pregnant right away. I got onto the computer and looked at "What to expect when you're expecting" and did an ovulation calculator for the next month and planned my attack. Sure enough the next month came around and it wasn't long before I found out in November that once again, I wasn't pregnant. I started to wonder whether I was calculating right so I looked in my calendar and figured out that I do not have a cycle every 28 days but have one every 31 days so I had to recalculate for December.

I recalculated properly and went back to the drawing board only to see December come and go with not pregnant all through it. I felt like that was probably ok since it was the first month I really knew the facts but resolved that January would come and it would happen. I would get pregnant. We did what we had to do and then I started to get really sad. I started to have doubts about my femininity and started to feel inadequate about my abilities to bear children. I have no idea what convinced me that to not have a baby right away made me tainted or not good enough but I sure felt that way. Then about middle January to late January my little sister called and said "I am pregnant" and she didn't mean to get pregnant. Now, I love Britt so much and think she will be a great mama so my heart was full of happiness and then there was this little nagging pain in my heart that said "Maybe you aren't good enough to be a mama Erica."

So then the time comes for the monthly visitor and nothing came...for 2 weeks. I went on the two week mark to the doctor because all of the at home pregnancy tests were coming negative and I figured maybe I was like those women that test negative at home but just don't come out on a pregnancy test and have to do blood tests. Note here that I had never been late in 18 years of being "a woman." I was sure this one had stuck. I went to the doctor and took blood tests not only to determine if I was pregnant but also if there was something unbalanced about my hormones. It turned out I was not pregnant and nothing was wrong with my hormones. I ended up completely skipping my period in February and that was really hard on me to start to have hope and then to find out that it wasn't pregnancy at all.

Anthony and I went on vacation in March and really tried to shake off our disappointment by enjoying ourselves being married and having a road trip. We did not talk about making babies or family but just enjoyed being married and got back to where we "connected" not to create a child but to create intimacy. It was a nice trip back. We basically laid down our cares and concerns for having children on our road trip and promised God that we would allow Him to decide.

So here we sit at the beginning of May and we are not pregnant that we know of. I should note here that I am indeed two weeks late again but I know how that doesn't mean anything. We have not tested at home just because again, we are giving God the time to do this. If I am over a month late again I will test at home but it will take me 2 months of being late to go to the doctor. I feel like this is pretty safe as I am already eating like I am pregnant, taking care of my diabetes like I'm pregnant, and taking prenatals. This is the way that I have to sit with it to be emotionally not stressed or disappointed.

If you all could keep us in your prayers for God's perfect timing, that would be lovely.

Thanks,

Mr & Mrs.

Singer/Song Saturday

2009-05-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today's Singer is Brett Dennen and the song is called "Ain't gonna lose you." It's a really honest presentation of how we feel when we love someone. I have attached the song in a youtube video but there is really just one picture as it plays. I saw Brett in concert in March in Reno, Nevada and it was magnificent. When he sang this song, I literally wept through the entire song. It seemed so raw and emotional. Let me know what you think about Brett and this song. If you like Brett, he has three cds, has been featured on Grey's Anatomy and just now getting his start in being popular. I have loved him for some time! Enjoy the song....I have added the lyrics so you can follow along.

Ain't Gonna Lose you -- Performed by Brett Dennen

You can put a stick in my spokes

I can be the butt of your jokes

I can be the laughing stock

I can be your hoax

But I ain't gonna lose you

They can come and tear my house down

They can run me out of town

They can tie me up, call me a clown

But I ain't gonna lose you

No I ain't gonna lose you

I can't stand the thought of another man

No I ain't gonna lose you

They can make me turn my back on my friends

Send me away to San Quentin

Put me in the hole

A thousand times again

Oh I ain't gonna lose you

No I ain't gonna lose you

Throw me in a hurricane

Tell the world I've gone insane

Run an electric shock to my brain

But I ain't gonna lose you

No I ain't gonna lose you

I can't stand, the thought of another man

No I ain't gonna lose you

No I ain't gonna lose, ain't gonna lose, ain't gonna lose

Ain't gonna lose, Ain't gonna lose

And I sing it from my rooftops

Sing it from the bus stop

Sing it on the street, drunk to a cop

Oh I ain't gonna lose you

No I ain't gonna lose

Ain't gonna lose you, Ain't gonna lose you, Ain't gonna lose, Ain't gonna lose you, Not gonna lose

Faith Friday

2009-05-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

We were watching American Idol on DVR last night as we had not gotten time to watch it during the week. Jaimie Foxx was the mentor this week and as I am a big fan of his, I listened to every word he had to say. There was a part of the show where he said to the audience that he asked each contestant if they wanted to be a singer or an artist and that was an important question for each of them to answer. I was thinking about how this fits so well with our Christian walk. Often times, we end up just being a singer and not an artist.

This is how I connect singer and artist to our walks. A singer is a person who takes a song and sings the lyrics but never puts their own personality, strengths, or emotion into the song. An artist is someone who not only sings the song but brings themselves into it, changes it to reflect their personality, and fills it with appropriate emotion. Webster Defines both as such:

Singer: One that sings (no kidding, it was this short)

Artist: 1. One skilled or versed in learning arts. 2. One who professes and practices an imaginative art. 3. A skilled performer 4. One who is adept at something.

This really tugged at my spirit because we can just be "singers" who say we are Christians and do all the movements (like singing) or we can be an "artist" who not only professes but practices our Christian walk. I think it's important for all of us to look at whether we are just "singers" or are we "artists" in practicing God's love to this world. American Idol taught me something this week, okay, well Jaimie did!

Thrifty Thursday

2009-05-01T00:16:00.000-07:00

I found a really awesome site recently to help me find all kinds of deals so I thought since tonight was my last night at school and I got home late, I would pass on this site so you can check it out for lots of deals and coupons

Retail me Not!

Enjoy and I promise next week there will be more to Thrifty Thursday! Next Thursday I am speaking at my commencement so say a prayer for me if you think about it!

Witty Wednesday

2009-04-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

Today I thought it would be fun to make the post about great movie lines that make you laugh. I will be adding our top 10 favorite funny movie lines. I would love it if you would all share with me your favorite funny movie lines as well. This could inspire people to see your favorite movies and bring back some memories of funny moments. Enjoy mine and Anthony's top 10!

Anthony & Erica's Top Ten:

1. What? You pooped in the refrigerator? And you ate the whole... wheel of cheese? How'd you do that? Heck, I'm not even mad; that's amazing. How 'bout we get you in your p.j.'s and we hit the hay. -- Anchorman

2.No, not really. Usually I follow the Judao-Christian ethic of "Thou shalt not kill". But, that's just me. -- So I married an Axe Murderer

3. Gimbel's Manager: Why are you smiling like that?
Buddy: I just like to smile. Smiling is my favorite. -- Elf

4. Name's Barf. I'm a Mog, half man half dog. I'm my own best friend.
Spaceballs

5. Rumack: Can you fly this plane, and land it?
Ted Striker: Surely you can't be serious.
Rumack: I am serious... and don't call me Shirley. --- Airplane

6. Louie brought his new girlfriend over, and the nicest thing I can say about her is all her tattoos are spelled correctly. -- Steel Magnolias

7. Fat Man at Bench: It was a bullet, wasn't it?
Forrest Gump: A bullet?
Fat Man at Bench: That jumped up and bit you.
Forrest Gump: Oh, yes sir. Bit me right in the buttocks. They said it was a million dollar wound, but the army must keep that money 'cause I still haven't seen a nickel of that million dollars. -- Forrest Gump

8. SNOOP! SNOOP-A-LOOP -- No it's cool man, bring your green hat -- Old School

9. Lois: How would you like me to make your life a living hell?
Ace Ventura: Well, I'm not really ready for a relationship, Lois, but thank you for asking. Hey, maybe I'll give you a call sometime. Your number's still 911? All righty then. -- Ace Ventura Pet Detective

10. "Evil will always prevail, because good is dumb." -- Spaceballs

Tasty Tuesday

2009-04-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today's Tasty Tuesday is based around a dish I would probably pay more money for than I have but have since found a way to pay less money for it than I pay normally. If any of that didn't make sense, I apologize. I am a huge fan of the Old Spaghetti Factory and I love their dish, "Spaghetti with Browned Butter and Mizithra" It is just as easy as it sounds as it is simply spaghetti pasta tossed in Browned butter and sprinkled with Mizithra Cheese. In the restaurant, this retails for $9.99 which is a steal may I add.

I, however, have decided to start making it at home more often when I want it and only pay about $2.00 for the dish and I get more by doing it at home. I basically just decided to start buying Mizithra Cheese from the Spaghetti Factory, thereby still supporting one of my favorite restraurants. The cheese comes in a pretty considerable amount for about $6.00 and you need about 1/6 of the bag for one serving of the Spaghetti. Since that is true the cheese only runs you about $1.00 per serving. A considerable amount of Spaghetti at the grocery store can cost you anywhere from 30 cents to 50 cents if you buy a generic brand. Add that to the small amount of butter you use on the pasta to get the cheese to stick and it only runs about $2.00 to make this dish at home.

There are also ways to make it healthier which I have also tried and have been successful at but let's be honest, the full fat version always tastes the best. A couple other (more healthy) ways to prepare this dish are to use whole wheat pasta or even use spaghetti squash which is even better for you. Today, I encourage you to find your own special dishes in restaurants and try to make them. You'll love it!

Daily Posts

2009-04-28T16:50:00.001-07:00

For some time I have had an idea for the blog, which I got from a friend's blog to have themed days of the week to cover different kinds of topics. Hers are more suited to children with special needs, cancer, etc... as she is an amazing mother of 4 beautiful children and things of that nature are in the rolodex of her life. On our blog, I have wanted to gear my daily posts on things that make Anthony & Myself tick. So since today I finished exit and don't have a lot of school stuff to take my time anymore, I will unveil the list I have been working on and will begin posting on these things. I am excited to see how this goes.

Movie Mondays: Anthony is incredibly passionate about movies and I have started to delve into watching more of them also. I have a tendency to pick them apart for their psychological components or explain why they aren't appropriate for children or could make you grow personally. Anthony will tell you about the graphics, the amazing shots that were taken, the characters, etc.. We will be adding a bit of all of that to Mondays on the blog.

Tasty Tuesday: Tuesdays will be dedicated to my quest to try new recipes and ideas in the kitchen. I will be posting actual recipes, new foods that Anthony and I have tried and how we have cooked them up, nutrition information that I have recently learned and the like. We are passionate about food around here.

Witty Wednesday: This is a place for me to just post funny stories, anecdotes, funny things that have happened in our lives, jokes that may be appropriate, etc... I think this will be a fun day.

Thrifty Thursday: Thursdays will be dedicated to posting tips on how to run a budget in your house, how to recycle or reuse common household items, amazing thrift store or bargain finds, and maybe even eye opening offers out there on the net that aren't being shared.

Faith Fridays: Since Jesus is something that we are really passinate about in my house, we decided Friday would be dedicated to a word from God. Sometimes this will come from me and the devotionals I have written or am writing that God leads me through. This could also come from a guest blogger as I have very spiritual and intuitive friends. This could also just be a verse that struck a chord with us or even a portion of a book we are reading that God is speaking through. Either way, it will be a great day!

Singer/Song Saturdays: This is the day where we bring up new talent, great songs, lyrics to oldies but goodies, or just talk about some of the trash out there that people call music. Anthony and I are incredibly into music and have quite a collection and are continuing to add to that daily. We are always looking for new artists or songs to talk about or listen to. This, as all of the days will be open for feedback as well.

Scrapbook Sunday: As Scrapbooking is one of my major hobbies I named this day after scrapbooking, however this is a day where I will be posting about my many hobbies such as scrapbooking, guitar, learning spanish, nature, traveling, etc... This could cover a multitude of topics.

I just thought I would make a post about these so you will know what's coming and what days to check in regarding your own interests. Also, I will continue to post about our family updates and things that are going on in the Lewis' household.

If you think this idea is great....you should go over and check out my friend's blog at My Special K's (Because she does an amazing job at it)

Healthy food of the day!

2009-04-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight I made a recipe from Rachael Ray using a great substitute if you are a pasta lover. I love Pasta and Anthony loves it too. There is nothing better than pasta with Cheese so tonight we had "Cheese & Pepper Spaghetti Squash" I made this as a side dish to Turkey Burgers on whole wheat buns tonight. I am trying to feed us a little better these days and that means trying new things that are healthy that will supplement our unhealthy habits. We love Mac & Cheese so much so this was a great experience. Here is the awesome recipe from Rachael Ray

Continued frugality and economic choices

2009-04-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Here are a few ways that the Lewis' household has adopted to save money and the enviornment. Feel free to use tips if they are something that you would consider.

1. Walk where you can

This one is huge if you live here in California. We have WAY too many cars on the road, constantly. I live in Anaheim near several important locations like the pharmacy, my diabetic doctor, pretty close to my bank, and it goes on. I will be saving money on gasoline, emissions from the air, and most importantly, doing my body good by taking a walk. This one has so many benefits.

2. Drive your car until it's old.

This one has been unchallenging for me as I have not been able to buy a new car with being in graduate school. My car is almost 9 years old (I got it on May 25, 2000 and it was brand new. I have put 155,000 miles on it and it's still doing great. The key was getting timely oil changes, tire rotations, and taking it somewhere to get repairs where they would be honest with me and do the proper repairs. Out here in California, I use Midas of Costa Mesa.

3. Open windows and use fans instead of using the central air conditioning.

Anthony and I do this because the wonderful summer breeze of California is much more pleasant than canned air coming from the air conditioner. Also, it really makes a difference in our energy bill.

4. Reuse plastic grocery bags or get earth-friendly ones.

I just started picking up the reusable earth friendly bags at my local stores; Wal-mart, Target, Stater Bros, Albertsons etc... They can be purchased for about $1.00 each at any store. I usually pick them up when I am only going in for a few items like bread and cheese or something and then I started stockpiling at home for my big monthly shopping trips. I also have a giagantic stash of the plastic bags that they usually give you in a drawer in my kitchen. I use these for all sorts of things. I use them to line trash cans underneath the sink in the kitchen and the bathroom. This saves money on little trashcans and keeps your cans from having anything stuck at the bottom. I also use them to keep in the car to toss the recyling in if Anthony has a Monster or Soda. There are multiple uses for these wastes of plastic so use, use, use them until they can't be use anymore and try to get the reusable bags at your neighborhood stores.

5. Mypoints.com --DO IT!

This is my own personal secret and I love it. I use Mypoints.com where they give you points to read emails. Basically you make a profile with them choosing all of your interests (Pick all interests to get the maximum points) Then they send you emails every day with advertisements from companies relating to those interests. Your only required job to get points is to click on the box that says "get points." This gives you 5 points for each email you read. There are also point options where you can do surveys, buy products and services you already buy (for example, shopping on ebay can give you points per dollar). You compile points and then you can cash in your points like money for rewards. I use mine for dates with Anthony. We do not have a lot of extra money to have dinner out so I wait until I have 3,000 + points (which doesn't take long) and I cash them in for gift cards at popular steakhouses, italian restaurants, seafood places, etc... We usually get $25 gift cards because I don't wait long enough for the $50 and we end up paying a little bit out of pocket but $25 of our meal is free so you can't beat that!

These are my thrifty tips for today and keep trying to save our Earth, your body, and our hard earned dollars!

Vacation photo of the day

2009-04-15T10:32:00.001-07:00

"The Coast in Monterey" -- any other words would ruin this one.

Vacation photo of the day

2009-04-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I thought I would also add a vacation photo of the day today since I had a few moments to spend on my blogs! This photo is of my lovely husband standing in front of the Palace of Fine Arts in San Fran. I love this site for a number of reasons. First of all, it's absolutely gorgeous in terms of the building itself but also, one of my favorite movies has a scene here...yes you guessed it "So I married an Axe Murderer" with my main man Mike Meyers. Good movie, great location. The whole movie is filmed in San Fran so we had fun thinking about that on our trip.

I have really good memories of going here with Heather's mom as well which makes me a little sad and makes me smile a lot! :) Overall, I really loved this vacation and doing a vacation shot of the day when I get on lets me live it longer. We can't wait until our next road trip which will either be Colorado (keep your fingers crossed Josh) or Oregon and Washington State. Either way, we are excited.

Keep checking in for new photos and read the post below about frugality in the economic downturn.

The Lewis'

Recession for the Lewis House = Frugality makeover

2009-04-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

This recession has us Lewis' thinking. We have been thinking this for a while now that we would like to be less wasteful in our home. We were thinking this due to the environment and how poorly it is treated every day but also the economy and how noone uses anything up or wears anything out anymore. I (Erica) grew up with a mother who did not buy a new pair of shoes until her pair was worn out completely. She might have a pair of atheletic shoes, a pair of heels, a pair of flats, and a pair of sandals but nothing got purchased until the last pair was absolutely past it's prime and going straight toward its demise. I will absolutely admit that I don't live that way. My closet floor is absolutely mounded up with shoes that belong to me and some of them have been worn maybe once.

Anthony grew up with a mom who saved ziploc bags and washed them out to reuse them, never purchased a chip clip because she would use the binder clips that you get at stationary and office supply stores. This is going a bit further than my own family went. I grew up with quite a bit of money to speak of where as Anthony grew up in a single parent home with 2 younger brothers so when you have 3 teenage boys, extra is hard to come by. His mother did a great job and provided well for them but there was not a whole lot of extra to be wasteful. Anthony has such great stories of being young and all three of the boys going into the store for their mom individually to get $5.00 turkeys on sale because you could only purchase 2 turkey's each so that meant they all went in to get a total of 8 turkeys for the bargain price of $40.00 and they had every dish that turkey could make for a few months. He also tells me stories of his mom making a great deal of spaghetti and they had spaghetti every day until every bite was eaten and then she would make a different meal that could span several days. My husband now still is so good about eating leftovers and never complaining if we don't have something new every single night.

All of this to say, we have somewhat deviated from our roots. I grew up in the midwest where noone would spend even half of what they spend out here for a cup of drip coffee. I have become one of these yuppy starbucks fanatics who pays upwards of $3.00 for a cup of drip coffee when I could make it at home for pocket change. I am sad to say I am contributing to the economic and environmental crises and it's time to make some changes. Since graduation is right around the corner for me (4 weeks actually) I have some more time to manage my home. I have decided that our goal for 2009-2011 is to become debt free and to become more frugal and less wasteful. I am going to start from the beginning in things that are in our daily lives. Here are a few starting goals so that we can start to make a difference:

1. Plan meals according to what is on sale

I already do this one pretty naturally because I don't like to pay more for things I could pay less for. I already clip coupons religiously and really plan out our monthly meals. I usually make a menu for a full month using our Stater Bros. ads or other places that might have good deals. I then take those ads and add them to our coupons and end up paying pocket change sometimes for full meals. I sometimes even get things free by using manufacturer coupons added to store sales. For example, Anthony loves Lemon cake and I noticed that Stater Bros. had cake for $1.00 a box. I had a 50 cent coupon for them so I paid 50 cents for a box of lemon cake and then got the icing for $1.00 as well so $1.50 and we had lemon cupcakes! That's a deal! Our grocery budget runs about $200.00 a month with me doing this. This includes our household supplies like toliet paper, cleaning supplies, paper towels, etc...

2. Make bigger meals and eat leftovers

This is good for a couple of reasons. Sometimes I will make a big dish in my slow cooker and this is good for energy saving as well as money. I also feel it really helps with time management because I am a busy wife so throwing dinner in the crock pot and coming home to it cooked and having one dish to wash is always a plus. Also, it means that I don't have to cook the next day as we just heat up leftovers. Recently I made a dish called crock pot lasagna and Anthony ate it both nights that I was in class which made me feel less guilty since he wasn't eating microwave burritos or sandwiches but was having a warm homecooked meal. This is also beneficial because bulk packed meat is often cheaper and if you make it all at once like a large roast, you can cut up the roast the next day and make beef stew. This is very helpful to make your grocery dollars go a long way and save on your energy bill with only cooking every couple of days.

3. Don't drink soda, drink water and when you do, use a refillable bottle.

This one is essential. We drink water at our house. We have an account with Arrowhead water where we have a water cooler and get 5 gallon bottles delivered to our home every month. We get 4 bottles which lasts us exactly a month and they recycle their large bottles. This runs us around $30 a month. We then have refillable plastic bottles (make sure these are safe kinds of plastic) and we refill them and take water with us where we go. We do not buy soda which can be high priced and when we do have a soda or bottled juice out we always recycle the packaging! Soda is also REALLY bad for your health so in that respect we save on medical bills from declining health. Drinking tons of water keeps us from getting the virus' that go around sometimes and keeps our bodies working the way they should. This is the biggest tip in our house is that water is our main beverage of choice. We sometimes make a pot of coffee or a jug of sweet tea made with splenda but for the most part, our house never sees soda!

Here are our starter tips that are already working. We are going to be working on paying down debt, making our house more frugal and considering purchases much more before making them. We hope that you will be with us on this journey and start to make changes in your own home!

Love from the Lewis'

Vacation photo of the day

2009-03-30T12:38:00.000-07:00

These beautiful flowers were located at none other than Alcatraz Island. Most people associate Alcatraz with ugliness, crime, and mystery but there is a lot of really beautiful foliage there and awesome birds. I thought I would feature something beautiful there rather than start with the inside of the prison. Hope you enjoy!

Hey everyone. Anthony and I have been back over a week from vacation and I think we are finally caught up with our lives. We had such a great time on vacation and did the following things.

-- Drove the coast and took magnificent photos
-- Visited Hearst Castle and took a tour
-- Stayed in San Jose and toured the Winchester Mystery House
-- Went to San Francisco and stayed there for 2 days
-- Went to Palace of Fine Arts
-- Golden Gate Park
-- Drove across both the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate
-- Drove down Lombard Street
-- Spent a day at Fisherman's Wharf
-- Toured Alcatraz for several hours
-- Ate wonderful meals of fresh seafood
-- Went to Sacramento and toured the Capital building
-- Went to Lake Tahoe and saw beautiful sights
-- Went to Reno for 2 days and had so much fun
-- Saw the amazing Brett Dennen in concert which was AWESOME
-- Visited the Jelly Belly Factory and bought way too many jelly beans
-- Bought amazing fresh produce at a roadside stand

and various other roadside stops and fun times. I thought I would feature one of our photos every day and tell you a little about it.

I am in a very busy time in my semester called the END so I will only have time to post smaller posts until GRADUATION! Yes, in 5 weeks I will be done with my Masters degree!! Can you believe it? Enjoy the photos and keep in touch!

--e--

Hearst Castle and San Jose

2009-03-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

So Anthony and I are now at our first of three hotels over the span of our vacation. We decided since we did not get to go on an official honeymoon that we would take a road trip over spring break. We started out at 2:00 am this morning and headed toward San Simeon to see Hearst castle. We took the route up the coast and enjoyed the beautiful view this afternoon. We arrived at Hearst castle at about 7 this morning and had a quick nap in the parking lot before our 8:20 am tour. The tour was absolutely amazing and I have included my favorite picture from it on this post. It was fabulous. The castle was originally owned by William Randolph Hearst and it has a lot of rich history, amazing pieces of art, gorgeous antiques, and just an atmosphere that was fun to take in.

At about 11 am we were all finished up there and headed to Santa Cruz to go to the mystery spot. If you have never heard of this, google it and learn all about it. We were really excited about this and even bought tickets for their 4:00 tour. Well, becuase of some traffic issues, we did not make our tour time so we didn't get to see the mystery spot this time around. We decided just to head to our hotel and get settled for the evening since we neither one had slept except in brief periods of the car ride. We got here just to discover that there was a problem with travelocity and their booking of our reservation. The outcome was that the employee that was running the front desk at our hotel was incredibly rude and did not solve the problem in a timely or professional manner so we have had a bit of a rough start here.

To make matters better we went out and got a nice italian dinner here in San Jose and then came back to relax. I got into a jacuzzi bubble bath and Anthony layed across the bed and snored. Now, I am blogging as he is showering and we are planning to turn in early for our big plans tomorrow. We are headed early in the morning over to the Winchester Mystery House. Again, google this if you haven't heard of it. Totally a cool place! After that we are heading up to San Francisco to check into our hotel and go sight see. Anthony has never been so it will be fun for him and I both. I will probably blog in a few days as our next hotel does not have free wireless and I don't want to pay. The third one in RENO does! :) We'll check in then. Have a lovely day and I pray that your week is as relaxing as I plan for mine to be!

Time for trips

2009-02-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

Anthony and I have been moving around quite a bit lately with some trips we have had planned. We just got back on Monday morning from our weekend trip to Vegas to celebrate 6 months married. We had a good time and just hung out at our hotel and ate good meals and relaxed. We love Vegas and always enjoy our time there.

Tomorrow we are headed to Indiana for 4 days to visit friends and family. I am so excited to see my friends and hang out and see my sisters and parents! It's been about 4 months or so since I have seen anyone from back home and I am looking forward to just hanging out. It also doesn't hurt to just get away for a few days from my last semester of my masters and get a breather.

Anthony and I are also leaving in less than a month on our vacation road trip. We are planning to go up to San Fran and then enjoy a scenic route back home visiting a few spots. This will be our first ACTUAL vacation that isn't to Vegas or Indiana. I am excited to just get away. Our get aways have always been for 2-3 days to somewhere near by or Indiana. We went away to San Deigo last year and it was a lot of fun but only for a weekend. This is a whole week with the love of my life enjoying married life without Grad School breathing down my neck since it is Spring Break!

Anyway, all that to say, I am excited to be in Indiana tomorrow and see all of my peeps and once again, Anthony gets to experience the lovliness of farm land! I am excited!

Our First Married Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow is that day on the calendar that makes you think of school valentines parties, candy hearts, and flowers. It's Valentine's Day!!! This year is special since Anthony and I are married for this one. We have always had very special Valentine's Days but this one is so incredibly powerful. The weird thing is that we are not really able to afford the things we used to for Valentines Day. The years past we have bought each other expensive gifts and things but this year it is all about spending time together and enjoying where we are in life. Anthony is making me a special dinner tomorrow night and that is so incredibly important to me.

I have gotten him a few special gifts and am planning some extra special surprises but the coolest thing is...we are forever and that is something I really want to reflect on this year.

It's raining babies!

2009-02-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

Anthony and I are coming up on some very exciting times in babyland. Hilliary my oldest sister is due in May with my nephew Shawn and as of this last week it came to my awareness that my youngest sister, Brittany is pregnant with her first baby as well. We are very excited about our nephew and our new neice or nephew. This is all added to the fact that Anthony and are trying to have our first child. It's all babies around here right now. :)

That is a happy topic of course but there are some days that I think that my mom might go crazy with three kids all going toward being parents. All of this to say, I am really feeling lucky right now and although I do not know officially that I am pregnant, it's nice to know there will be two beautiful little ones coming into my life soon! :)

I love being an aunt and it has been good so far so I have faith that God has a plan and I am so thankful!

Love Dare

2009-02-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

Anthony and I are doing a book I heard about in class the other day called "Love Dare." It is really powerful to read about how we need to treat each other as spouses and the dares that it gives us are really difficult yet learning experiences. The past two days we have been comitted to this idea and these are the things it has asked us to do...

Dare 1: Do not say anything negative to your spouse the entire day.

This is way harder than it sounds. I didn't realize how many negative things I said to Anthony until I was more aware of myself. Also, it is right then that several things happened that were mistakes Anthony had made and it really drew my attention to the fact that I tend to harp on him and "beat a dead horse" when he does not do something or forgets something. It really helped me love him better to take time to calm down and not be negative towards him. Anthony also did it and did a great job of not being negative. He also said it was quite a challenge to keep everything positive and be able to speak in gentle tones and be mindful of your words at all times.

Dare 2: While continuing to not be negative, do one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.

This one is my dare for today and I have decided to whip Anthony up a snack to take over to his job and surprise him. I think he will see how much I love him and that I think about him when we are apart. I am grateful for his kindness everyday and it is time i start to give that back daily!

I am excited about our Love Dares and would challenge you to pick up the book and get daring!

Looking Forward

2009-02-03T14:03:00.000-08:00

Anthony and I are really looking forward to some things that are coming up in our lives. We are headed to Las Vegas on February 21st to celebrate 6 months married. We will be married 6 months on February 9th, however, we won't get a chance to head out there until later in the month. We are excited since we said our vows underneath the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign and we are going to make that a tradition to head back and remind ourselves what we promised that day. We love that city, not for the reasons that most love it. We don't really drink, gamble, or anything but it's special for us there.

Another thing that we are looking forward to is heading to Indiana for a few days at the tail end of February. I am really missing my little sister, mom, dad and friends and it will be nice to see everyone. I haven't gotten to hold Carrie's little guy Jacob yet and there are other people that I am yearning to hang out with. It will be nice just to have a slower life for a couple of days.

The third and most exciting thing we are looking forward to is our vacation road trip. Anthony and I are taking a week in March and just taking a road trip up to San Francisco for a few days, over to Reno, and then back down through Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. We are really excited since Anthony has never been to San Fran and neither of us have been to Reno, or the parks. We are just taking an opportunity to adventure together and enjoy where we live. We are so excited for couple time and just relaxing!

We hope that you find things to look forward to soon as well.

Work work work

2009-01-10T19:42:00.001-08:00

So lately every night has been the same for Anthony and I. I don't want to complain because we DO get nights together. He has Thursdays and Sundays off in January and it's nice to know that is constant. The only thing is, on the other nights, he works for hours and hours. His job is supposed to be from 7:30 am until 4:00 pm which would be a dream. Often times he is more likely home by 8:00-9:00 pm so that means I see him a few hours before he has to be back asleep for the next day.

Anthony works for At&t and puts in their new television service (U-verse) It's a great job and we are really lucky to be blessed with it so I can go to school and not have to work. I hate complaining but to be honest today I am lonely without him. He has been at work all day and isn't home and it's almost 8 pm already. I know he is tired and worn out and he even called today to tell me he was really missing me so I know it's getting to both of us. We hardly ever go to bed seperately and last night he just could not stay awake. I am sad that I do not get to see Anthony as much as I would like but I want to praise God for that awesome job. I guess I am just venting my lonliness a bit.

January 10, 2009 Thankfulness:

I am thankful that Anthony has a great job that provides us enough money for a comfortable life. I am also thankful that it gives us medical benefits, vision, dental, and life insurance. I am thankful that we can give to ministries that we believe in and that we are able to have two days a week together.

January 10, 2009 Growth/Learning:

It's important to be thankful for things that challenge you in your marriage. We are having to be very creative on what to do when we are together as well as how to make ends meet and I am thankful for this time in our life as we cling to our time together and really enjoy everything we do as a couple. These years are going to be so precious and I do not want to take them for granted!

5 month Anniversary

2009-01-09T14:25:00.000-08:00

Today Anthony and I have been married for 5 months. I can't believe how quickly 5 months has passed. We are having such a good time together and are enjoying the learning and growth that comes with marriage as well as all of the fun times. We have been together for 2 and 1/2 years and through that it has been so much fun and to be honest, we have both grown as people as well as in our relationship. We are really excited for each anniversary that happens and we give every one of them a large amount of attention.

Also, this morning at 7:56 AM (Indiana Time) my best girl friend Carrie from Indiana had her 3rd child, a little boy, Jacob Logan Ritchison. I love being a "pseudo aunt" to her kids and I love her little girls so much. I very much look forward to meeting little Jacob in late February! I could not be happier for my friends who are excellent parents and they inspire me every day! It's been a great day so far and I thought these big events were worth reporting on our blog.

In other news, Anthony and I are headed to Indiana from Feb 26th-Mar 1st to throw my sister's baby shower. My little nephew Shawn Christopher Lee is due May 10th so we are throwing the shower in February in order to prepare for his arrival! I am really happy to be going home and doing this for Hilliary as well as seeing friends and family! Today has been an exciting day!

Happy 5 months to my gorgeous husband, Happy new mommyhood to Carrie, and Indiana peeps, get ready I am coming home to hang out! :)

January 9, 2009 Thankfulness:

I am thankful for so much today. I am thankful for 5 wonderful months married to the love of my life. I am thankful for my new "nephew" Jacob being born healthy and strong and his mama is safe and healthy also. I am thankful for my biological nephew Shawn Christopher being healthy and developing well. I am thankful that I get to come home in February and Anthony is coming with me this time. I am thankful that I get to see friends and family. I am thankful for a friendship that has been growing back to what it used to be. I am thankful for my husband networking for me on the job. I am thankful for "The Office" because it makes me laugh!

January 9, 2009 Learning/Growth

We have learned lately how important it is to celebrate every single moment in life. Everything that is exciting and happy and fun should be celebrated and we are learning that. Every new baby, every surprising blessing, every friendship, every engagement, every day we are married, every time we are able to be together is an opportunity to celebrate. Joy and thankfulness are the most important things in our marriage!!

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without

2009-01-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

Anthony and I have really worked hard to learn how to decrease waste in our home not just for the environment but for our household economy. Today was our monthly visit to the recyling center. It is amazing to me that our trash becomes cash. Anthony and I use our recyling money to go on dates and you would be surprised how much it brings in. Also, we do everything we can to give things to goodwill when we get new items. For example, when we moved into our apartment we were given quite a few items from people who wanted to help us start out. We got 2 sets of dishes, silverware, appliances, etc... Every time we buy something that we really want or get a gift of a new item, we take our gently used items to goodwill, salvation army, or a number of other thrift places and give it as a donation. People are always looking for good deals at these places and I like to think that I am helping them find one.

I thought I would also post a few more suggestions for how to recycle more and save what is still valuable:

-- Buy Recycled paper and print on both sides of your paper.
-- Take your old magazines to the doctor's office, gym, or somewhere else so that others can take advantage of what you are done with (Cut off your name and address)
-- Buy a reusable coffee container at Starbucks so that they can use less paper and plastic for your drink.
-- Instead of buying bottled water, get a water cooler and use a reusable container to fill up.
-- Keep four recycling bins at your house to separate paper, plastic, metal, and glass and keep recycling going. It brings in a little extra cash and keeps it from the landfill

There are a few tips that we use at our house. I hope you can use some of them at your house. Here are the last couple of days info...I have been a little under the weather.

January 6, 2009 Thankfulness:

We are thankful for our blog because it's a place where we can keep everyone up on our life and also keep up on their blogs. We are thankful that the internet makes it easy to live far away from people you love.

January 7, 2009 Thankfulness:

We are thankful for a giftcard we got for Christmas to go out to dinner. It's so thoughtful when people give us gifts for dates because it's hard to make ends meet sometimes and it helps to have a fallback when we want a night out.

January 8, 2009 Thankfulness:

We are thankful for the ability to recycle and help our world while making a little extra cash for dates. We are thankful that California takes that seriously and has a lot of locations to be able to recycle.

January 6-8 Learning/Growth:

We have learned that it's important to watch our tone with each other. It's so easy when you live with someone every day to start to treat them too casually and not watching how you talk to your loved one. This is something that I have had to check myself on long ago and moreso I am noticing it recently how easy it is to relax too much and start to get lazy on how we treat each other.

--e--

Some holiday ideas

2009-01-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

So this year Anthony and I decided that we would work all year to make the holidays extra special for our families. Yes, that means great gifts but more importantly it means thinking through things that would be ultra special to the other person and not something they could just buy themselves or eventually will lose its luster. I have quite a few ideas already in motion and have been working on gifts each day already but I would love any suggestions that people may have about things to get their family and loved ones. Here are a couple of suggestions that we have thought of but we are not sharing who they are for so no surprises are ruined.

1. Go on zazzle.com and personalize a number of gifts! They have sweatshirts, t-shirts, shoes, postage stamps, greeting cards, mugs, calendars, posters, and also have things that others have designed that are really cool and unique

2. Create a homemade cookbook of all your favorite recipes to make to a friend who might be getting married soon or moving into their own place.

3. To a movie lover, create a movie package called the movies of your life. Buy the top grossing movies for them at crucial times in their lives. Examples would be; when they were born, graduation year, the year they got married, etc... It brings back memories.

4. For a music lover, do a similar project called the music of your life and give them a cd of the top 20 songs of each year of their life. If you have limewire or another music download account this is really affordable and fun. Music always brings me back to certain times in my life including school dances, first kisses, and the songs that made you think of that one boy!

5. Create a scrapbook of you and someone's fun memories together. You may have a best friend who has been around since gradeschool. If you have a bunch of snapshots start making copies and putting them together for her to enjoy in a scrapbook.

6. For someone special in your life; give them a book called "A year of memories."; Take one snapshot a day of your life that made the day meaningful (I am doing this now for someone) Buy a cheap sketchbook for 5.00-10.00 at Borders and put each photograph on its own page and write a brief summary of what you did that day that made you take the photo. If that person is a daily part of your life, take special photographs that will remind them of your time together. If they are far away, share your life through photos so that you never felt apart!

7. Make a special gift called "The grateful box" Get a fancy box at Michael's craft store and every day, jot down something you are thankful for in a certain person. Do it daily and at Christmas wrap it up nicely and put it under the tree. That way the person has notes and notes about what makes them special to you. A really expensive present could not top the meaning that this one gives!

These are my current ideas and I would love anyone elses suggestions! I am so excited about the unwrapping of these gifts on Christmas 2009! :) I can't tell you who they are for but man are they going to be fun and meaningful!

and Now....

January 5, 2009 Thankfulness:

We are thankful for good friends. Anthony and I have friends who are really great and bring us so much happiness and joy. We are lucky to have these people to share our lives with and thank God every day for good friends.

January 5, 2009 Growth/Learning:

Sometimes the smallest things done together can really add to a relationship. An example is brushing your teeth together before bedtime. Do not shut yourself in the bathroom alone to get ready for bed but make it something you do together and be playful in the moment. Sometimes the smallest things done together can become a marriage ritual that is really special and looked forward to. It may sound corny but I love brushing my teeth with Anthony before bed and teasing him with promises of good kissing once he flosses, brushes, and rinses! :) Oral Hygiene is hot! :)

--Erica--

Jan 4th!

2009-01-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I did not get a chance to get online and publish this so here they are

January 4, 2009 Thankfulness:

I am so thankful for my husband's days off. We always have such a good time just lounging together around the hosue in our Pjs, playing board games, playing video games, doing puzzles, watching tv, cooking together, and you know...other married people stuff (wink wink)! Having time with Anthony is a valuable part of my life and every day he has off I fall in love with him more and realize how amazing my life really is.

January 4, 2009 Growth/Learning:

Taking time each day to be affectionate with each other has been so helpful in our pursuit of focus on our family. I am not a very affectionate person by nature, however, Anthony is. When I take the time to really hug him, kiss him, and pursue him intimately he feels loved and I feel loved and we meet in the middle and the passionate part of our marriage is livened up each day! :)

Learning...

2009-01-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

Boy people aren't kidding when they say that when you get older things are harder to learn. Anthony and I have been working very hard on learning the guitar. Anthony has had a guitar for quite a few years and never put the time in to learn it. I just got a new guitar for Christmas and it's fun and sparkly and feminine but unfortunately, it doesn't play itself. I have only been learning for a few weeks but it is really hard to learn. I can read music to sing but I have never learned any guitar so this is a true challenge.

It's so nice to be learning something with Anthony though and seeing each other through the struggle. We teach each other when one of us doesn't get it. It's great time between us and a lot of laughs. I encourage everyone who wants to learn an instrument to try it!

Now, onto the news of the day...

Thankfulness January 3, 2009:

We are thankful today that we are both alive and well. My health and Anthony's has been good lately and we are striving for better things. It's awesome to wake up each morning with a beat in our heart and breath in our lungs and get another opportunity to praise God and be together.

Growth/Learning January 3, 2009

I personally learned today how much Anthony loves me. Anthony puts all things behind me in his life and would do ANYTHING for me. He really grasps the amazing parts of marriage that don't come natural to me. I am naturally selfish by all means and Anthony is naturally selfless. I am learning to be more like my husband every day. It's a really hard level to work toward. :)

--e--

What's for dinner at the Lewis House?!

2009-01-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

I don't know if anyone that reads my blog enjoys cooking but I love to cook. I am a huge cooking show fan and try new things all of the time. Most of my recipes are meant to be healthier fare but I sometimes try something more southern to remain close to my roots! Since 2009 is all about Anthony & I doing things we love and enjoying life, I thought I would write about one of our first loves, food. Yes, you can tell we love food! I don't just love to eat though, I love to cook food. I love to see my husband smile and say "MMM" so cooking is a rush for me

I thought I would open up the blog and ask the readers to tell me what your favorite dish to cook is and if you can't cook, what does someone else make that you just love?! I love trying new dishes so if you don't care to share, let me know! Tonight for dinner, we are doing one of Rachel Ray's recent dishes she had on the show using leftover Ham called Ham & Cheese Strata! It's going to be yummy and we'll let you know tomorrow if all went well.

Have a great January 2nd and here are my thankfulness and growth:

Thankfulness January 2, 2009:

We are thankful for our lovely apartment in which the rent was due yesterday. We have a lovely home with lovely furniture and tons of amenities that God has been so good to give us. We hear a lot of people complaining because they rent and don't own but I have learned to thank God for each step in our life. We are in the first year of our marriage so if we live in a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, that seems normal. We have much more than some people have in this country and we don't forget that but truly give God our thanks. Thank you Jesus for our lovely home where all the magic happens! :)

Growth January 2, 2009:

We learned today that helping each other out with things that are easily forgotten can be really loving. An example is that Anthony gets up very early in the morning (5 am to be exact) and he often stops for a Monster Energy drink on the way to work in order to stay awake on the freeway. I am not a huge fan of this because those things are super expensive if you do them everyday and they hurt Anthony's stomach too. What did I do to help him out? I set the coffee pot for 5 am and had a hot pot of coffee ready when he got up this morning. I also wrote him a little note and stuck it to our front door that said quite simply "I love you, get coffee" which reminded Anthony to grab it before heading out so that he could be super alert on the freeway since he knows our budget no longer allows for the Monsters. Sometimes we have to be helpful when things are hard for the other one to remember. Being strong in their weak areas is something we have learned over our relationship of almost 3 years over and over. We are hoping to continue filling in each others weak spots. Thank you Lord for my wonderful and sleepy husband!

-- Erica

Happy 2009 From the Lewis Fam!

2009-01-01T23:35:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is already enjoying their 2009 as it's a new year with new opportunities and adventures to have. Anthony and I are not really "party people" so we stayed home last night and watched the ball drop together and drank apple-grape martinelis. We would love to say our life is more exciting than that but it really isn't. Today we spent the day doing even more exciting things; watching Heroes, eating a nice Ham dinner, and putting together a Marilyn Monroe puzzle. Speaking of that, talk about frustration....

We got this Marilyn Monroe puzzle months ago and we had not even opened it. I am a huge Marilyn fan and Anthony likes old movies like I do so we had planned to put this gorgeous puzzle together and then frame it for our wall. It's one of those puzzles that are made up of tiny little pictures to make one large picture. We are really excited to get it finished but we have put about ten hours into it in the past couple of days and it's border is together and probably 50 pieces more and it's a 1,000 piece puzzle. As you can figure out, it's difficult. It was frustrating and my eyes felt like they were going blind during the process. I haven't done a puzzle for years and man did it take it out of me.

I just realize in writing this post that I am pretty boring and domestic and for the first time in my whole life, I like that! I have learned lately what it is like to just enjoy life and really take in all of my experiences. I have been learning guitar, knitting, reading, and various other things on my break from school and just learning the concept of relaxation and enjoying life. When school is in I get so wrapped up and my biggest new years resolution is to enjoy life and enjoy my husband and all of the days that God allows me to be on this Earth. It's a year for me to learn gratefulness, calm, peace, and grace in the biggest ways possible.

I am determined to do things this year that will remove stress which means saying no more often, taking time for myself, and enjoying the things that I love and the people that I love. I also wanted to start something on the blog that makes this task easier. It's going to be a little add in to my blog each day about what I am thankful for in the days events and what growth happened in our marriage/family for the day. Anthony and I believe in every day we have a chance to say THANK YOU and LOOK WHAT WE LEARNED so we decided to share that with our blog.

We pray that your 2009 is absolutely wonderful and that you find the peace that we plan to find this year and remember what is very important about life!

Thankfulness for January 1, 2009:

I am thankful today for my husband having the day off and the wonderful quality time we spent at our house cooking together, watching tv, doing our puzzle, and laughing over our puzzle frustration. It's amazing to have a husband that you not only love and think is gorgeous but also enjoy as a friend and companion in life.

Growth in our marriage for January 1,2009:

Today I realized that when I tell Anthony that something is bothering me, he works very hard to adjust himself to that thing and make me happy and fulfilled. That is a great lesson for me to learn and I would be better if I was more like my husband. We learned that we have to come to a middle in our relationship where each of us gets our desires like doing a Marilyn Monroe puzzle while watching Denzel movies.

--Erica--

Update on the Lewis Fam!

2008-12-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I hope that your holiday season is going great so far as we are only 3 measley days away from Christmas. We are doing magnificent and have so much to praise God for everyday. My prince (that's Anthony) just celebrated his 28th birthday on December 17th so we have been in Birthday Zone this past week. We celebrated on the 18th by going to Disneyland to enjoy their beautiful Christmas decorations and stopping by California Adventure to learn to draw a disney character in the animation department since my lovely husband is an artist. We came home for dinner and I made Anthony a new recipe I got from Healthy Decadence on Fit Tv. It was Barbecued beef sandwiches and they were SOOOO good.

We had an actual party on the 20th and went to Medieval Times with Anthony's brothers and it was a lot of fun. After dinner we came back to our house for some cake and video games. The boys had a good time together and Anthony was around his best friends, Me and his brothers and that is what I wanted for him. I got him an XBox 360 and some other little gifts and he has really enjoyed that. Having a birthday so close to Christmas can feel cramped but I absolutely try to do it up for him.

Our Christmas plans are different this year and it's an adjustment but I sincerely can't wait for it to happen. Since we are married this year we are spending our first Christmas staying at our home. We are going to have a little Christmas dinner by ourselves and open gifts and watch Christmas movies to our little childless hearts content. This is a year of freedom and couplehood for us and we want to really cherish this time. We are going the day after Christmas to have time with Anthony's family and I won't be seeing my family this holiday season. Traveling is so expensive so my family will get boxes of love from California holding their gifts. I am sad about it but also realize that every year holds new things in our lives and they are adjustments.

Well that is our updates for today and I am going to be posting some pictures later on and doing a new family member of the week! I have a little more time right now as I am on break from school and practicum and really enjoying family time. Come on over to my personal blog later on and read my newest post (I am getting ready to write) and keep us updated on your lives as well.

By the way, no baby news as of yet but we will let you know after we let our families know...when it happens! :) Keep us in your prayers for this season of our lives.

--e. lewis

Health in the Lewis Family

2008-12-10T15:41:00.000-08:00

Anthony and I have really been thinking and working on our health lately. We are both significantly overweight and we know that. We both want healthy children and healthy bodies so we have started really supporting each other in that goal. I have a life threatening illness in diabetes and Anthony hasn't seen a doctor in years so we are not in the best position. I have now scheduled Anthony a doctor's appointment and physical and I have begun a meal plan for diabetics wanting to become pregnant. We are both on a very structured meal plan and working our butts off to do what we need to do.

We would appreciate prayers directed our way for this goal as we are both tired of being overweight and unhealthy. This is the beginning of our lives together and we want that life to be happy and healthy! Thanks for stopping in. We will update on this regularly! Hopefully next time we'll have some numbers for you. We aren't afraid to share our weight if it helps others know how serious we are about changing those numbers. If you have any advice for us, spill it! :)

Family Member of the day!

2008-12-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I decided to do a string of posts kind of like my Christmas songs and movie posts but this time it will be our family members. Anthony and I have 5 siblings between the two of us and of course our parents, the siblings significant others, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc... so we thought a great part of our blog would be to let you know our family piece by piece. Today I am going to do a piece of Anthony's family since we have new photos from Thanksgiving. Our first family member to talk about is Paul Lewis, Anthony's little brother. He is the youngest Lewis boy and Anthony and he have a very close relationship. They like playing video games together on the Xbox 360 or Wii and basically do that the whole time they hang out. Paul is dating a girl who he has been with for 3 years or so named Misti and she has a daughter named Hailey who we love so much. Here are a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment!

Our First Married Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T13:42:00.000-08:00

As you all know, I agreed to host my husband's family for Thanksgiving. Let me just tell you that it went AWESOME. The food all turned out excellent and got done at the same time and everyone had a lot of fun. Anthony and I cleaned the house to crazy wife standards and then by 7 am we started cooking. Our Menu consisted of the following

Turkey
Ham
Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing
Sweet Potatoes *candied*
Corn
Green Bean Casserole
Rolls
Deviled Eggs
Cheeseball
Cocktail Weinies with sauce
Macaroni & Cheese
Gravy
Pumpkin Pie
Strawberry Rubarb Pie
Lemon Squares
Chocolate Chip cookies

Let me just say that EVERYTHING was homemade and from scratch and it went so well. Everyone complimented our lovely home and the amazing food which felt so good. I did it, I succeeded in throwing my first family holiday and it went wonderfully. The brothers all played video games after dinner and I took some pictures to soon be on here as well as facebook and myspace. I hope you enjoy them and I am also going to add pictures of our Christmas decorations that we have up. After it was all over, everyone asked that I host Thanksgiving every year. Oh boy, what have I done?! :) Anyway, Anthony was smiling and that's all that matters to me! I hope yours was fantastic as well!

My Firsts!

2008-11-21T12:24:00.001-08:00

I am doing this so Renee from Life with my Special Ks can be a voyeur and peek into my world. If you are reading this and haven't done it, consider yourself tagged and let me know that you did it so I can peek at your blog

1. Who was your FIRST prom date?
Did not go because I wasn't interested in wearing a dress! :)

2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love?
No, it would be far too awkward as we are both married people now.

3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink?
You know, I don't remember. I haven't had a lot of alcohol in my lifetime to be honest, it really isn't my thing. I would guess it was something hard though that my mom gave me a taste of because I was curious and she wanted to turn me off to it! She says it was Everclear! WOW

4. What was your FIRST job?
I babysat a few times but my first job that I would consider was that I worked at Shoney's a sit down restaurant back home in Indiana.

5. What was your FIRST car?
My first car was a 1986 White Ford Taurus. Yeah, I was cool! :)

6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today?
I am not sure that anyone has yet today.

7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?
Anthony because he turned on the light before my eyes were ready!

8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher?
Mrs. Menaugh and we still keep in touch as she is one of my friend's moms.

9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane?
To Mexico from Indiana

10. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with them?
Shane Stroud and yes I still talk to him when I see him which isn't often because I don't go back home a lot but as in REALLY friends...I probably would not consider us REALLY friends anymore.

11. What was your FIRST sport played?
Softball, I played on a league from the time I was 5 on.

12. Where was your FIRST sleep over?
I think it was at Amanda's, my cousin.

13. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today?
Anthony (see question about him turning on light before I was ready..bitter much?!)

14. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time?
I was one of my mom's junior bridesmaids when she married my step dad when I was 5.

15. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?
Be assaulted by the bedside lamp and said "Anthony, I wasn't ready!"

16. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to?
Boyz II Men when I was 15.

17. FIRST tattoo or piercing?
I don't remember when I got my ears pierced but I know I was REALLY young and I got my first tattoo on December 28, 2004 and it is a tortoise.

18. FIRST foreign country you went to?
Mexico on a missions trip in High School to Guadalajara

19. What was your FIRST run in with the law?
Probably my first speeding ticket when I was 19.

20. When was your FIRST detention?
8th grade when I said to my teacher that he was a "dip stick." Yeah, I did not have a filter back then.

21. What was the FIRST state you lived in?
Indiana

22. Who was the FIRST person to break your heart?
Probably Andrew because he said we were unequally yoked or something. It was a weird way to break up with someone.

23. Who was your FIRST roommate?
In my actual room, Kelsey and Tori when I started at Vanguard. Before that at Indiana state I had my own room in a quad.

24. Where did you go on your FIRST limo ride?
To school, my grandpa had two limos and I went to Elementary School in a limo every day! YES, True Story!

Silver Bells

2008-11-18T12:43:00.000-08:00

Today's Christmas Song is Silver Bells.

City sidewalks busy sidewalks .
Dressed in holiday style
In the air
There's a feeling
of Christmas
Children laughing
People passing
Meeting smile after smile
And on ev'ry street corner you'll hear

Silver bells silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring a ling hear them sing
Soon it will be Christmas day

Strings of street lights
Even stop lights
Blink a bright red and green
As the shoppers rush
home with their treasures

Hear the snow crunch
See the kids bunch
This is Santa's big scene
And above all this bustle
You'll hear
Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring-a-ling, hear them sing
Soon it will be Christmas day

Here is Silver Bells sung by Elvis...

Today's Christmas Movie is one of my favorites "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"

Here is a clip

Have a lovely day!

Up on the housetop

2008-11-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

Today's Christmas Song is "Up on the Housetop"

Up on the housetop reindeer paws
Out jumps good old Santa Claus
Down through the chimney with lots of toys
All for the little ones, Christmas joys
Ho, ho ho! Who wouldn't go? Ho, ho ho! Who wouldn't go?

Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with old Saint Nick

First comes the stocking of little Nell
Oh, dear Santa fill it well
Give her a dolly that laughs and cries
One that will open and shut her eyes
Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn't go? Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn't go?

Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with old Saint Nick

Next comes the stocking of little Will
Oh, just see what a glorious fill
Here is a hammer and lots of tacks
Also a ball and a whip that cracks
Ho, ho ho! Who wouldn't go? Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn't go?

Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with old Saint Nick

A video to go with it...

Today's Christmas Movie of the day is The Grinch That Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey and the Original Cartoon Version. Enjoy the videos....

Have a glorious day and don't be a Grinch!

Hosting Turkey Day

2008-11-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

So here I am in my first married year and I am challening myself quite a bit by hosting Thanksgiving Dinner for our family. We have invited Anthony's immediate family and that's all we can really house in our 1 bedroom/1 bathroom apartment. I am pretty nervous about getting everything done on time, making sure the house is uber-clean, and having everyone here to enjoy dinner. Anthony is a very big help so I know he will be right beside me helping me make it marvelous but I have to be honest that I am nervous to cook for my in-laws. I am extremely blessed in that I have two amazing brother in laws and a great mother in law. My mother in law is also re-married to Anthony's step father and he's pretty cool too. Anthony's brothers also have great partners to share their lives with so I at least like everyone coming to my house for dinner.

So far the menu is Turkey, Ham, mashed potatoes, homemade mac & cheese, deviled eggs, yams, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and lemon squares. Let me know if you have any recipes that will wow a crowd. I am nervous so rest assured the blog will be with me all the way. Look forward to some pics being posted of my big day!

--e-

For kids from 1 to 92

2008-11-16T09:32:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone is getting in the Christmas Spirit. Today the Christmas Song of the day is ....

The Christmas Song

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
A very Merry Christmas to you

Here is a beautiful version of it by Nat King Cole

The Christmas Movie of the day is ...

The Christmas Story

Here is the awesome trailer....

Have a marvelous day and be careful, you'll shoot your eye out!

You can plan on me...

2008-11-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Song of the day is "I'll be Home For Christmas"

I'll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow
And mistletoe
And presents 'neath the tree

Christmas eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams

Christmas eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams
If only in my dreams

Here is a montage of Thomas Kinkade paintings set to the beautiful song by the Carpenters "I'll be Home For Christmas"

The Christmas Movie of the day is "The Santa Claus" trilogy with Tim Allen. They are all three wonderful and certainly a part of my collection

Here is the Santa Claus 3 Trailer

Have a wonderful day!

I'm dreaming of.....

2008-11-14T19:41:00.000-08:00

A white Christmas!!!! Yes that is today's Christmas Song and Movie of the day!

Enjoy...

The lyrics:

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

and my favorite scene from the movie...

Have a wonderful Christmas joy filled day!

A very special giveaway

2008-11-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I wanted to make mention of this really great giveaway on my friend Renee's blog. There is an artist who makes just gorgeous pictures and she is giving one away in this drawing. I personally entered to get one of my beautiful nephew who I can't see because he is playing up in heaven! Just

Visit her blog for a chance to win!.

I hope you all have a great day and if you win, let me know who you chose to get in your picture.

--e-

Christmas Song of the Day!

2008-11-13T12:46:00.001-08:00

I am starting new posts up and through Christmas that have Christmas themes like Christmas music, Christmas Movies, Christmas stories, Memories, etc.... so enjoy my Christmas posts and feel free to comment and add your favorites!

Song of the day: Home for the Holidays

Oh, there's no place like home for the holidays,
Cause no matter how far away you roam,
When you pine for the sunshine of a friendly gaze,
For the holidays, you can't beat home, sweet home.

I met a man who lives in Tennessee,
He was headin' for,
Pennsylvania, and some home made pumpkin pie.
From Pennsylvania, folks are travelin'
Down to Dixie's sunny shore,
From Atlantic to Pacific,
Gee, the traffic is terrific.

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays,
Cause no matter how far away you roam,
If you want to be happy in a million ways,
For the holidays,
You can't beat home, sweet home.

Take a bus, take a train
Go and hop an aeroplane
Put the wife and kiddies in the family car
For the pleasure that you bring
When you make that doorbell ring
No trip could be too far

I met a man who lives in Tennessee,
He was headin' for,
Pennsylvania, and some home made pumpkin pie.
From Pennsylvania, folks are travelin�
Down to Dixie's sunny shore,
From Atlantic to Pacific,
Gee, the traffic is terrific.

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays,
Cause no matter how far away you roam,
If you want to be happy in a million ways,
For the holidays,
You can�t beat home, sweet home.
For the holidays,
You can�t beat home, sweet home.

Here is a video of the song in case you were humming along and want to hear it now. This is done by the Osmonds! Along with it is some of the Osmonds show to enjoy. :)

Christmas Movie of the day is none other than Miracle on 34th Street which is my favorite! Here is the theatrical Trailer from the 1947 version! I love this movie

Here are some scenes from the newer version set to Josh Groban's "Believe." I hope you enjoy it and maybe rent it and enjoy it with someone you love. I love Christmas!!!

I hope you are in the Christmas Spirit now and continue to check in for more Christmas Joy!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2008-11-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas season in the Lewis house. Anthony and I are huge Christmas fanatics so life has been very Red and Green lately for us. We start thinking about Christmas November 1st and think about it through to the New Year. Anthony and I went last week and bought our first Christmas tree together. We just got a 6.5' artificial tree and it is full looking and pretty nice. I grew up having both artificial and real trees and as clean up goes, I feel we picked the right thing. We also took a nice little trip to Pier 1 and picked up some decorations and ornaments that we liked for our tree and apartment. We also got a tree skirt and our beautiful stockings. We are having so much preparing for our first married Christmas and our first Christmas in our own place. Life is sweet!

We don't have any AMAZING plans or anything for Christmas other than enjoying each other's company and spending time with family. We are so excited and just wanted to share our passion for Christmas hoping it would make yours light up too! I will add pics at some point of our Christmas tree! You know you want to see it!!!!

Merry Christmas begins here!

Doctor's orders

2008-11-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

I am back from good old Indiana. I have been back for quite a few days but have been eating up every moment with my husband that I could get. Indiana was a good time and everything went very well. I saw about 5-6 friends from high school that I haven't sene in years and others that I have seen but love seeing every time I go home. I got to see quite a few of my friend's children and also was able to go trick or treating with the cutest Hannah Montana (Riley) and Sharpay (Hailey) that you have ever seen. My sister's shower went off great and everything was a hit in terms of the plans that I made for it. Stay tuned to the blog for pictures of the amazing food that my caterer came up with (April Saliba) and pictures from my sister's wedding the day after. I have a new brother in law who I very much like and things are good for them as they are expecting their first child as well.

As I have previously mentioned, Anthony and I are working on the baby plans. I saw my doctor yesterday and it turns out I am doing everything right in terms of my health. I have started prenatal vitamins, working out regularly, and even eating much differently than before. We are keeping close tabs on everything and my diabetic doctor is making medication changes and helping me with a urinary tract infection so that everything will be a go. Being a diabetic, I have to watch every little thing and be super critical of what I do during this time. Anthony and are so excited to have a baby. We have been keeping a journal for our little one since we started talking about it and moving towards it so someday they will have the full story of how it all came about. (some details are excluded ha ha!)

Please keep us in prayer as we go forward in our plans and we'll keep everyone posted as soon as we know anything new. Baby Lewis...coming your way soon!

--e--