Secrets: Transforming Your Life and Marriage

This summer I rounded up some girlfriends of mine to do a new women's Bible study called Secrets: Transforming Your Life and Marriage. It's a new Bible study by Kerry Clarensau and seemed like a great topic for someone like me who recently got married. I have to admit I had some reservations at first. My favorite color may be hot pink, but the butterfly on the front made me a little skeptical because I wasn't looking for a fluffy feel-good study; I wanted solid, Biblical principles. Thankfully, that's what I found.

The study is called Secrets: Transforming Your Life and Marriage but it is truly more focused on the life part and just applies that to marriage. Obviously marriage is the most important human relationship we can have, but this book teaches principles that apply to every relationship and most importantly, our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

My favorite chapter was "The Secrets to a Strong Inner Life." Sounds a little new-age-y, but it is filled with Truth to fight against common temptations like doubt, bitterness, insecurity, anxiety, etc. The questions at the end of the chapter are a great self-evaluation and application tool as well.

If you are looking for a study to go through individually, with friends, or even in a more formal study setting, you should check out Secrets: Transforming Your Life and Marriage. I liked the study so much that I am teaching it this fall at Second Baptist, so if you're in the Springfield area and would like to come, let me know. It will be Wednesday nights, 5:45-7pm.

To learn more, visit www.secretsbiblestudy.com. Also, check out Kerry's blog, http://kerryclarensau.blogspot.com and view comments and other testimonies on Facebook, www.facebook.com/secretsbiblestudy.

Pretzel Bread and DIY Cereal Box Magazine Files

Blimpie has a new Pretzel Bread that Barron has become a fan of, and he suggested we try to make some. I'm always up for a culinary adventure, so I scoured the Internet for a recipe and discovered signature pretzel bread from Two Bites in Suburbia. I never realized pretzels were boiled before baked, but in fact they are. Fascinating! Here's what I came out with. Not perfect, but pretty good -- we made four small buns and this is the remainig lone ranger.

Next up - DIY Magazine Files from cereal boxes. I must admit I semi-stole the idea from a new book called Wallpaper Projects. The book suggests covering the boxes with walpaper scraps. I, however, do not have any wallpaper scraps, nor do I know where in Springfield to find the adorable wallpapers featured in the book, so I opted for scrapbook paper and "peel and stick" laminiate. I think it turned out well!

Cut box to desired shape

Trim paper to fit and glue on all sides. Line inside with same or coordinating paper if you like.

Finished product!

This was a trial box for me, as it was acually too small for magazines, but I'm pleased with how it turned out and I've got a couple larger boxes in the cabinet that I'll be ready for!

We Be Jammin'

A blog I read regularly (FoodieRachel) had a recipe for Jalapeno Jam and it got me thinking that I should make some with the Garden Salsa peppers we grew this summer. So last Saturday we "jammed", as Barron calls it.

Aren't those little bell peppers cute?!

Sealing them up. Hope it works!

Tada! It worked!

This was my first time canning anything, so I was pretty nervous about it all. Thankfully Barron was there to help, or we wouldn't have been successful. It was so exciting hearing the lids popped, indicating they sealed!

Barron had never had pepper jelly before, so he was skeptical, but he came around after trying it with some cream cheese. Since we were successful on our first attempt, he wanted to make strawberry jam, so we headed to the store for some strawberries and repeated the process. It went more smoothly the second time and we've been enjoying jam all week long! Will I do it again...well, maybe next year when I forget the process.

The Besty: RSS

Many of you have mentioned "visiting" my blog "from time to time" and enough of you have said it that I feel compelled to share with you a wonderful tidbit of technology: the RSS reader. What is it? Well, my friend Sarah Jo Austin (@sarahjoaustin) described it so well, I'll let her explain it to you:

I use RSS, and you should, too. That is the theme of today’s post, so I’ll be laying the peer pressure on pretty thick.

So what exactly is RSS? Well, it stands for really simple syndication. By using an application called a reader and adding subscriptions from your favorite news sites and blogs (hmm…A Fool of Myself [and Excellent Adventure] comes to mind), the new content from those sites comes to you in your reader. You no longer have to remember all the sites you frequently read, go to them, and hope for new content; if a site has been updated, the new content will appear in your reader. (Come on. Everyone is doing it.)

Still confused? Watch this little video produced by CommonCraft.com to see how you can start using RSS within minutes. I would have made my own video, but I hate reinventing the wheel, and this one is super easy to understand:

Click To Play

To summarize the video, to get started with RSS, you need a reader (e.g. Google Reader, NewsGator, Bloglines, My Yahoo!, etc.). Once you have a reader, add subscriptions to your account by looking for and clicking on the orange RSS logo. That’s it! Just start reading! (I’m going to tell everyone how lame you are for not using RSS!)

Thaks, Sarah!

Here's a screen shot of my RSS reader. I use Google Reader because I already had a gmail address when I signed up - and I'd recommend getting a Google account if you don't have one!


You can see

• blogs I follow in the left hand column (which I categorize further by friends/foodie/ministry, etc.)
  
• some of the posts from those blogs in the middle (this is the "home" view)
  
• recommended blogs (based on who I follow already), recently read items, recently starred items (things you want to come back to - great for craft ideas, recipes, etc!) on the right.
  

If you look closely at the left column again, you'll see some people there - Google Reader allows you to share items with your friends who also use Google Reader. If you see a funny video, click "share" below the post (not shown) and it will be shared with all of those people. You can also add comments about why you shared the item (if you choose) and make comments on what other people share. Very fun! (I envision some of you ladies making a "scrapping" group and sharing ideas amongst yourselves - fun!)

Another added bonus: if you have an iPhone, you can log in and read everything there --a great and productive use of dead time!

Anyway, that's my attempt at making your busy lives easier. Hope you'll try it. Post any questions or concerns you have in the comments section. Happy RSS'ing!

Win prizes from Yeebird!

My wildly creative friend Rebekah made this fun sleeve for us to put our wedding album in. We'd been carrying it around in a bubble wrap pouch (talk about cool), so Rebekah took it upon herself to make a sleeve as nice as our album. Check it out!


It just so happens that Rebekah is celebrating her 100th blog post with a giveaway! Forgive me for being a little late in the game, but regardless of the contest, her blog is so fun to read. She's always working on a project and having fun with her kids...and she offers basic photoshop tutorials! If you're into scrapping, sewing, or crafting, you'll want to check out Yeebird.