New Music Monday

Deal Junkie

I have to admit, I am a self proclaimed "deal junkie". If I can find it cheaper, on sale, or use a coupon, I get pumped. Two recent websites that I have found are www.scoringdeals.com (@ScoringDeals) and www.frugalupstate.com. The websites offer advice on saving money, but also announce freebies and deals on giveaways, contests, and discounts. Right now, check out the contest at frugalupstate for a lunchbox giveaway.

I follow @ScoringDeals on twitter, and have taken advantage of some fun free stuff. If you are like me and are a "deal junkie," then check out these websites. Also, if you know of any other good ones, let me know so I can follow them.

Once a Month Cooking

So, today I went over a friend's house to watch and learn how to do "Once a Month Cooking or Bulk Cooking". I know some other people that do it and have heard of it before, so it always intrigued me on how it is done. Being more of a perfectionistic personality, this type of cooking seems like it would be difficult for me because I would want everything all evenly distributed and not just that but the mess it would create. But then my logical side says, "Hey if you have to make a mess, then just do it once and get it over with." Also, I have heard it saves money and time, so I thought I would want to try it out. The way my friend does it seems like it works and makes a lot of sense. I know there are different methods where you actually cook everything, freeze it, and then just have to reheat stuff, but she explained that the way she does it is more than just reheating a frozen meal; so she actually cooks it fresh when it is time to eat the meal. This seems more appetizing and appealing to me. So today, she had all the utensils, bowls, ingredients, and stuff needed out and ready to go. I have to say I was really impressed by the flow, ease, and time it took to make the meals. I was able to do 3 meals for a trial run, but she made 19 meals in about 4 hours. I only caught the end after I got off work and it probably took only about 90 min for me to make 3 meals because we were talking and she was explaining things as we went, and also I was asking questions a lot. I think the most work will be in the planning, shopping, and organization of it. I am looking forward to my teriyaki chicken tonight with sticky rice and steamed veggies and egg rolls. We'll try the herb buttermilk chicken and nacho chicken later this month when I need a quick meal. I would love to cook more, but the time factor always gets me after getting home late from work. It may be something I do occasionally or who knows, maybe I will really get the hang of it. (Anyway, thanks Lauren for showing me and hanging out today. I had a great time!)

Do Hard Things by Harris Twins

I just finished an awesome book, "Do Hard Things" by the Harris Twins. It is a book written for teens, and it really revolutionizes the idea of how society has low expectations of teenagers. In fact, nowhere in the Bible is the word teenager mentioned. One goes from being just a Child to an Adult-with no in between. If I remember from the book correctly, the term teenager is a fairly recent reference that was made up around the 1940's I believe in a Reader's Digest article. I would say more, but you will just have to read the book and check out their blog: www.therebelution.com

Transitions

It is an exciting time right now in our life for Jason's new position at LifePointe. So, lately I have been thinking about transitions. It seems like they are always a part of life...either we're transitioning out of something old and transitioning into something new, or we're transitioning into something different and out of something else. I guess life is one big process of discovery and it seems to me that in life you have to keep moving and going forward otherwise you are going to start going backward. We cannot stay in the same place, we're either growing in our faith or we're going backward, there is no in between. It just cannot co-exist together. So when there is transition taking place, we can either utilize our faith and have it strengthened in order to believe God to work in the situation and circumstances, or we can let the opportunity pass us by and let our faith get weak and get dull. Exercising our faith helps us have more faith to believe God for even bigger things that would seem impossible us to believe for because we have not built up our spiritual strength see it happen in our lives. It is so true that you of don't use it you lose it. I am amazed that stuff that seems so trivial can really zap our spiritual zeal. Watching tv, surfing the internet, even participating in gossip or unfiltered conversations and music with questionable lyrics. Each one of us has been given a measure of faith, the same measure, so what we do with it is our choice. We can either nurture and feed it so that it grows, or we can neglect and ignore it, so that it gets weak. Yes, we can have weak faith, but it doesn't have to stay that way. God wants us to be strong in our faith which means that there is a choice of the opposite, and that we have to choose. Begin to overcome spiritual dullness by exercising your faith. Ways you can do this is by meditating on the Word of God. (See Life Training-Brainwork on Jason's blog for a more in depth look at how to do this.) I am so thankful that we have excercised our faith so that we can be where we are today. Not only that, I am thankful that God has done more than we can ask, think or imagine with this transition and brought more resources to help us in the plan and call that He has for our lives. It all begins with excercising your faith so that it grows so that you can keep gaining momentum for even bigger things that He has for your life!

Lady Liberty and Me

In April, I got to go to New York City with my mom and my older sister Julie. We have never taken a trip like that before with just the girls and no one else. It was a fast, fun-filled trip of sights, sounds, and scenery. According to my definition, this was a trip and not a vacation. A trip is something that you go on to do stuff and go sight-seeing with not much down time. A vacation is something that you take to "vacate" from the usual responsibilities of work and home, such as going to the beach and taking it easy with no agenda. Whatever your definition may be, we went to NYC to do the tourist thing this time. We had a lot of adventures, too many to name, but overall, we had more than a fun time, and I think about the time we had together a lot since I have been home. I will forever cherish the memories. I am seen here with the Statue of Liberty or officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World. I looked her up on Wikipedia, and I love the meaning and symbolism of freedom she stands for. I do appreciate this great country that I am able to live in and all the freedoms that I enjoy. I think I have a special gratitude for being able to live here because I know that if I were to grow up in South Korea, where I was born, I probably would not have so many opportunities that I have had here. I shudder to think about where I could have ended up or any of the horrible things that could have happened to me as an orphan. But I am so grateful for being a Naturalized American Citizen: I have privileges to vote, get a job, and worship God in public. These are some of the things that I won't soon forget and all the blessings that even I cannot begin to count.

it's my first...

Okay, so I have had this blog for over 4 years, but have never written anything. Probably because I didn't think anyone would want to read what I have to say, and partly because I didn't think I had anything to say. But I liked what my husband said in his blog (www.jasonregier.blogspot.com), "...in today's world of communication a blog is just another way to stay connected. Life is all about connections." So, I hope that whoever reads this will want to stay connected with me and my family. I know sometimes a blog can seem one-sided with me just typing out my own thoughts and musings, but I do hope that you leave comments and that you'll want to keep checking back to my posts and updates. I suppose it will mostly be my family, (and I have a lot out there, so that should be enough!) But to everyone else out there, I say keep reading, stay connected, and in your own way, keep me updated with emails, texts, twitter, blogs, phone calls, and my personal favorite...a good old-fashion handwritten note.