Cupcakes are made! House is ready!  Gumbo is cooking. Who dat! Hope everyone has a great  Super Bowl Sunday!

I am blessed. I know that. But there sure are some days when I don’t like being a grownup…. unloading the dishwasher (why do I hate unloading the dishwasher?), getting gas in the rain, working in a rough economy, laundry, packing for an overnight business trip (it is rough to be a girl and pack for only one night!)…  I just want to say a huge thank you to Pillsbury for making holiday funfetti cake mixes!

These make me smile   They are ready to be made for a Super Bowl party. I willingly admit that I view Super Bowl parties simply as a time to eat and watch commercials.  Pillsbury makes it easier to be a grown up – I can make funfetti cupcakes year round.  (And, yes, I know the Super Bowl isnt till Sunday… I can still get excited. It’s the simple things in life! And, yes, I know it’s the Saints and Colts playing.  And, unloading the dishwasher is much better when you can see the TV. THank you, Mr. G, for fixing that for me.)

Through blog reading and a little encouragement from my sister, Mom has gotten involved with Little Dresses for Africa.  Mom loves fabric and sewing and all people who love sewing and fabric so she rallied the troops and had  two days of dress making (and making shorts for the boys). It was an impressive sight to see all those sewing machines set up and everyone who helped out (women and men!). Growing up Mom always told us “Many hands make light work” and I jokingly repeated that to her as we stood there surveying the piles of dresses and shorts.  Everyone who participated had a good time and Mom is already eyeballing another couple of dates so we can do it again. (FYI… I just ironed. I’m not good at much else …)

BooMama did a post on things that make her happy. One was “comfortable silence” which made me think “that’s love”!  Love is obviously on the brain with the “Relationships of Jesus” book and it making for some interesting conversations.  (And love is also when the mister turns on the space heater in the bathroom for me!)

I had a small fashion emergency… not really. But the heel of my favorite pair of dress boots came off. My favorite pair and my only pair of winter work shoes. I took them to the shoe repair guy I have used before but he was gone… an empty store. There was a 5 second panic and then one of my coworkers was able to recommend another shoe man.  No problem, except being without shoes for a few days.  And the forecast of snow.  Last night I dug through my closet to find  shoes that wouldn’t blister and the appropriate length pants to go with them. Mr. G was in the closet packing his gym bag at this time and I suggested he leave as it was possibly going to get ugly.  I knew he didn’t understand the issue of length of pants / heel heights.  He looked at the pants I had on and told me they looked fine… I frowned and told him they were my “I’m feeling big” pants… he quickly left….

Through my blog surfing today at Nikki’s blog, I stumbled upon this article on tips for a successful marriage. I read it, thought about it all day, and then came home and emailed it to my married girlfriends, my husband, my parents, and my pastor. This is by far one of the best articles I have read on marriage and the more I thought about the article the more I realized it could be applied to all relationships (relationships are on the mind as our church is reading “The Relationship Principles of Jesus”). Just in case anyone else reads this blog, I am sharing it here as well! Found online here.

TEN SECRETS TO A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

by Mitch Temple

Successful couples are savvy. They read books, attend seminars, browse Web articles and observe other successful couples. However, successful couples will tell you that they also learn by experience – trial and error.

Here are ten principles of success I have learned from working with and observing hundreds of couples:

1. Happiness is not the most important thing. Everyone wants to be happy, but happiness will come and go. Successful couples learn to intentionally do things that will bring happiness back when life pulls it away.
2. Couples discover the value in just showing up. When things get tough and couples don’t know what to do, they need to hang in there and be there for their spouse. Time has a way of helping couples work things out by providing opportunities to reduce stress and overcome challenges.
3. If you do what you always do, you will get same result. Wise couples have learned that you have to approach problems differently to get different results. Often, minor changes in approach, attitude and actions make the biggest difference in marriage.
4. Your attitude does matter. Changing behavior is important, but so is changing attitudes. Bad attitudes often drive bad feelings and actions.
5. Change your mind, change your marriage. How couples think and what they believe about their spouse affects how they perceive the other. What they expect and how they treat their spouse matters greatly.
6. The grass is greenest where you water it. Successful couples have learned to resist the grass is greener myth – i.e. someone else will make me happy. They have learned to put their energy into making themselves and their marriage better.
7. You can change your marriage by changing yourself. Veteran couples have learned that trying to change their spouse is like trying to push a rope – almost impossible. Often, the only person we can change in our marriage is ourselves.
8. Love is a verb, not just a feeling. Everyday life wears away the “feel good side of marriage.” Feelings, like happiness, will fluctuate. But, real love is based on a couple’s vows of commitment: “For better or for worse” – when it feels good and when it doesn’t.
9. Marriage is often about fighting the battle between your ears. Successful couples have learned to resist holding grudges, bringing up the past and remembering that they married an imperfect person – and so did their spouse.
10. A crisis doesn’t mean the marriage is over. Crises are like storms: loud, scary and dangerous. But to get through a storm you have to keep driving. A crisis can be a new beginning. It’s out of pain that great people and marriages are produced.

Is it odd that I like Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch, and Planet Earth just because I like Mike Rowe’s voice?  His voice is really soothing to me. Mr. G asked what i wanted to watch tonight and I jokingly said to find me some Mike Rowe… and he did.  So I am reading blogs and listening to Planet Earth, a great way to relax on a Sunday night!  And if you read about him on Wikipedia, he became interested in narrating after reading books to blind children as part of his Eagle Scout project.  That just makes me like him more…

-Never, never play Wii bowling against an almost 6 year old. I watched her take down 4 adults… I am sure there is some technical answer but all I know is it will hurt an ego.

-If you skip out on the gym for big chunks of December and January, it will hurt BAD when you go back… and if you skip another week after that it will hurt all over AGAIN.

-Why has no one ever told me about “Bones”? It is a great TV show! We have a new DVR and are still adding shows, so I am enjoying catching up on episodes. Any other suggestions are welcome!

-Cadbury eggs are here!!  One of my favorite things about Spring! Unless you take into account the fact that I am working on my sugar intake (its a continuous battle )

-Best quote I’ve read this week: “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around. -Willie Nelson

Our church is getting read to start a “40 Days of Love” series based on the book The Relationship Principles of Jesus.  Our Pastor preached an introductory sermon today over things the Bible says about love.  One of his points was “Love is an action not just an emotion” (Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18)  Immediately I started singing DC Talk’s “Love is a Verb” in my head… and it is still on continuous play.  DC Talk makes me think of youth group and being 12 years old and Cora.  I still love DC Talk!

This past Christmas I discovered the Boy Scouts chocolate popcorn and was sad that I only bought one (in hindsight, that was a good thing!). So imagine my giddiness when I stumbled across a blog titled ”Life @ The White House” and a recipe for “Christmas Popcorn“. I didn’t read any blog entries past this one because I had to stop and make a grocery list so that I would have an excuse to buy almond bark. Almond bark bought and “Christmas Popcorn” made… oh my goodness it is soooo good!  I’d take a picture but it just looks like popcorn and you would be able to see the dent we made in it tonight!