Squash, beans, and life as a newly married couple on a budget.

We've been eating a lot of yellow squash from our garden lately.  Squash.  And beans.  I made a huge pot of chili and we have it in some form or another for most of our meals.  Oh yes, and corn bread.  I made a bunch of that too.  Squash, beans, and cornbread.

We had squash pizza, squash sandwiches, and most recently, I added a large batch of squash to the chili.  Poor Barry - I'm not sure if he liked yellow squash to begin with.  I'm trying to make it appetizing, but I'm not sure if he's convinced; I happen to love the stuff.

You see, we're at the end of the month.  Which means that most of our food budget is used up.  Yes, there's about $10.00 left but I'm saving that for flour; I used up all our flour in my many baking experiments.  Because you see, I don't have a job.  No job + husband in medical school = wife in the kitchen a LOT.  Here's another addition problem for you: 1 wife in the kitchen + $150 food budget =  many creative cooking/baking experiments.

It wasn't so hard to stay under our budget this month because for most of it, we didn't have a car.  The beloved Corracle was in the shop getting its back bumper fixed (that's another story for another time) and so I got to experience the joys of carless commuting.  I biked to Walmart to pick up a prescription.  I ran to the post-office, library, and grocery store, arriving home with an overloaded backpack filled mostly with books.  I enjoyed it.  But I am glad to have our friend the Corracle back with us.

You may wonder why I'm telling you all this.  Two reasons.  One, I've been posting way too many blogs without words.  I'm trying to remedy that. And two, it's basically just another excuse to put up even MORE pictures of food.  I know it seems like that's all I've been posting lately.  Mainly because it's most of what I've been doing.  And reading.  Oh yes, and running.  I've been doing a lot of that too.  50k, here I come!

California Garden

Our garden has been flourishing under the California sun.  We've already harvested LOTS of basil, several yellow squash, and a few green peppers.  Tomatoes and melon are on their way.

Before                                                                               Now

 
Details

Sabbath Hike / Yellow

What did you think the first time you knew that Barry was interested in you?

I thought: OH MY GOODNESS!! what in the world!!!! NO WAY... This can't be happening to me! BARRY HOWE!????????? This must be some kind of a mix up. He must like someone else. Who else could he like?? There is NO way on earth that BARRY HOWE would like someone like me!

Those were my initial thoughts. Then, when it finally had time to sink in, (actually, I'm STILL not sure if it has sunk in!) I began to think: hmmm... Barry Howe... You know, he's a really, really, REALLY incredible guy and I respect him a lot. But I don't really know him that well. And it's not like I have a crush on him or anything. This is so totally unexpected, I'm not sure what to think. Maybe I should just tell him no. (I realized he liked me about 1 week before he talked to me. But to be honest, I still thought I was making things up until the moment he called me and asked to talk).

I almost decided to tell him no, but then I started rethinking. I had been praying that God would lead in my life, not thinking that it would have anything to do with a guy. But who says that just because I wasn't in love with Barry at this point didn't meant that God wasn't leading? So I decided to see what God was up to and follow Him in faith, even though I wasn't sure. So I said yes.

In addition, even though I hadn't spent a lot of time with Barry and I didn't really know him that well, I did know that he was the kind of guy I could respect, admire, and grow to love -- deeply. And that's exactly what God did :) :)

Ask me anything

California Roadtrip Videos!

Mammoth Cave National Park:


Great Sand Dunes National Park


Zion National Park


Thousands of miles

*Contrary to the fact that Barry was driving every time we passed each thousand mile point, I DID do my share of the driving, I promise!

California Roadtrip Panoramas!

Sorry this took so long in coming.  I was having some hardships saving such big files into small enough formats that blogger would accept them.  I have succeeded with all but one which is so huge that my computer automatically converted it to RAW format and now I'm having a beastly time trying to save it as a JPEG.

A few of these are only a few shots wide but some have more than 15 frames in them.

I specifically wanted to post this before my brother left for Sudan so if someone down at Southern sees him, please tell him to check my blog before he leaves! :)

Great Sand Dunes
Sunrise on the dunes

Moab Canyon
Sunrise over the canyon

Sunset light on the canyon

Arches National Park

Barry

Barry

Barry

Bryce Canyon 

Barry

Barry

Zion National Park

Sorry this one is so washed out.  This is from the top of Angel's landing.  I'm including it not for it's photographic merit but just to give you an idea of the place :)

Our mesa-top campsite

Mesa sunset  (this picture is incredibly wide and a lot more detailed than you can see here.  Unfortunately, there is no way I can post the large version.  This is one of my favorites from the whole batch :) )

Yosemite