Always on & always available?

Lately I've been thinking about how I can live a more purposeful life and the topic "Meditating" in a recent young peoples bible study made me think about one issue specifically: If you watch people you see that every free moment they have, they grab their phone, check the news, Facebook, Pinterest... And it happens everywhere, waiting in line, in traffic, in the washroom, in bed before going to sleep and first thing waking up, often even in company when we go out to eat. And I have to admit I'm not much different. It can be addicting and you feel like you're missing out on the latest update if you don't check your phone which can cause stress and anxiety. I noticed something about myself. My phone is always the last thing I look at before I close my eyes at night - and the first thing I check and use first thing in the morning when I'm awake.

Couldn't we use these moments much better? How about thinking about your day so far, what you still want to accomplish. Or even better think about your last bible study, things you can be thankful for. Embrace each moment that you have. I believe Life can have more purpose if we are taking these breaks and not always keeping ourselves so busy with things that, to be honest, don't matter so much. Satan wants us as busy as possible so we don't have time for what is really important : God.

I bought alarm clocks for both Sarah and I this week so we don't need our phones on the night stand and can keep them out of the bedroom. My next step will be to replace my current Nexus 4 smartphone with a simple flip phone that I can only use for talk & text. News, Facebook & emails will have to wait for the times I am on a computer.

I am curious how this experiment will turn out. 

Begin to find joy in what really matters. 

B.D

Apple & Orange Bundt Cake

I am officially 4 months pregnant and now that the nausea has warn off I finally have my appetite back! Food doesn't repulse me and I'm actually enjoying all of my favorites again. This pregnancy I can't get enough of apples with peanut butter. They have to be mackintosh apples though - no other apples will suffice. That's right I'm one of those picky pregnant ladies. I bet you've never heard of one of those before...Ha!

I do enjoy the other kinds of apples too but if I'm eating them with peanut butter then you bet they have to be mackintosh. I have another "European Style" cake recipe for you guys that my hubby from Deutschland went nuts over. If I can help him miss home just a tiny bit less by making him food that reminds him of home - (and get to indulge in it myself) well By Golly that is what I intend to do! 

The things we do for love. 

Right hunny? 

I've been noticing how much faster I'm popping out with this pregnancy compared to my pregnancy with Landon. 

I can't figure out if that's actually normal...

Or is it because of the amount of cake, wunderbars, and Ruffles all-dressed chips I've been eating. Hmm?

Oh well - in the words of my incredibly wise brother in law...

You don't have to tell me twice...

If you'd like to give this recipe a try here is everything you'll need:

Ingredients:

1 cup of unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1 cup of Sugar

4 Eggs

2 tsp of Vanilla 

2 tsp of Baking Powder

Zest of 1 Orange

3 cups of Flour

1/2 tsp of Salt

4 Apples, peeled, cored and cut into bite size pieces

3/4 cup of Milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease your bundt pan well and set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, add orange zest, eggs and salt and mix to combine. 

3. Add the milk and whisk it all together until you have a smooth mixture. 

4. Chop your apples into bite size pieces. 

5. Add the Baking powder along with the flour and vanilla and mix it long enough to combine the dry ingredients. 

6. Sprinkle the apples with about 3 Tbsp of flour and toss them to coat. 

7. Add the apples to the batter and fold them in. 

8. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake it for about one hour to an hour and 15 minutes until fully cooked through. 

9. Allow it to cool completely, invert onto a platter and dust generously with confectioner sugar.

Enjoy!

Crispy Onion Baked Chicken

I was debating whether or not to post this on here in the recipe column because I'm not really sure if I'd consider it an actual "recipe". But we found it pretty delicious when we tried it so I thought I'd throw it out there for any of you that are looking for a new flavorful way to enjoy chicken for dinner. I actually just threw these ingredients together one day when I was out of bread crumbs and it turned out amazing. I later realized that there were other recipes online like this one and this one that used pretty much the same method as well.

We eat tons of chicken in this house and love it! So I'm always looking for new ways to make it to keep dinners interesting. This recipe was actually a "lets just try this and see how it turns out" kind of discovery. These french fried onions were the closest thing I had to bread crumbs at the time - so we tried it out - LOVED IT! And have never gone back to just plain old bread crumbs again. Accept for when we make Chicken Parmesan or something...

This chicken has such an intense flavor it's phenomenal. It always turns out super crispy and incredibly juicy. It's a favorite in the Dietz home.

I don't have exact measurements for this but it all depends how much you end up making. I took about 3 cups of crispy fried onions ( we get ours in the big bags from costco) and crushed them up into small chunks. You could also just use a food processor to grind them if you'd prefer them to be more fine.

Line your baking dish with aluminum foil. 

Crush your crispy fried onions. 

On separate plates I put 1 cup of flour, the crispy onions, and whisked 2 eggs with salt and pepper. 

I dredged them into the flour, then the egg, then the onions, and placed them into my baking dish. 

Put them in the oven and bake them on 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

 (Depending on your oven and the thickness of your chicken breast it could take more or less time - you'll just have to check it.)

Mmm so delicious!

And serve with your favorite sides.

Your kitchen will smell amazing when you make this. I'm always looking for new chicken recipes so if any of you have a favorite way to make it I'd love to know what it is! Maybe it'll be my new favorite too!

Have a great night everyone! 

S

Girl Gone Goodwilling

Why not start this post off with a cute picture? :)

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed your holidays with family and friends!

We're now back to real life once again. After 10 days off - Ben has hit the road (not literally) and is now back to the long commute to work. We enjoyed having him home and all to ourselves so it's quite a switch to have him vanished all of the sudden. Landon has been saying "Papa...Papa...Papa..." all day today and he doesn't quite understand where he disappeared to. So we are trying to keep occupied so we don't notice it as much!

Maybe some packing could be good considering we're moving in March...
But there's lots of time for that right???  (Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
Oh the procrastination begins - story of our lives;)

Speaking of procrastination : I have a few projects that I've been working on since the summer that still are not complete. But I know I'll get there eventually. I'm a Goodwill gal. I love searching for bargains and "little treasures." Over the months I've found some pretty great stuff and thought I'd share some of the findings with you. I definitely wouldn't consider myself an expert when it comes to refinishing things - but I like to give it a whirl anyway! For Landon we always used the ANTILOP Ikea highchair and got the tray for the top that comes separately. It was super cheap and very durable which we loved! It was awesome to wipe up any messes and spills too without dealing with a cloth highchair that always needs to be washed. But even though we purchased our Ikea highchair, I've always been on the lookout for an antique wooden one that I can refinish into something trendy with a more modern touch.

I hit the jackpot when I found this highchair at our local Goodwill for 10 bucks. Can you believe that??? Underneath the tray it has metal brackets that you can slide out to remove the tray. I have a vision of this chair being a bright fun color to stand out in any kitchen. After finding these pictures online - I was inspired!

Once it's sanded, primed, and painted it will have a completely new look. 

I can't wait to get started on this project. I still haven't decided what color it'll end up yet...That's always the hard part for me. But I will make a separate post on this so you can see the finished product!

I love big frames with dramatic detailing. That's why I was drawn to this one that I used to make the cork board in our kitchen.

My next goodwill find was this picture frame that I purchased for $4.00. I always seem to browse past the frame sections of second hand stores to see if anything catches my eye. I noticed this frame with a wicker border affect. I think it has something special to it.

Of course my first thought when I looked at this picture was "Hmm, no wonder someone dropped this off at Goodwill - Yikes!"

But I know I can do something with this. I'm leaning towards a jewellery holder this time. Some cork board in the center with some elegant fabric over it and cute pins to hold the necklaces in place. I've got some work cut out for me...

This cookie jar is my little treasure. Can a cookie jar be that out of the ordinary? You bet it can. For years I was looking for an old fashioned (round) cookie car with a cork top lid. I would always look at Target or Canadian Tire and never have much luck. They all either had glass or plastic lids.

 I was walking quickly through (you guessed it) my local Goodwill store to the checkout - completely frazzled - I was sick of trying on a cart full of clothes and coming up empty handed. I walked by in a hurry and I saw it out of the corner of my eye. My cookie jar! I grabbed it off the shelf so fast I think a few people gave me some funny looking stares - or was that when I was actually hugging it? Hmm I can't quite remember. 

I have nightmares about my children (or myself  my husband) breaking it one day. So as weird as it sounds I'm always on the lookout for another one as a backup. Haha. 

I really wouldn't say I'm a hard person to please...this $5.00 cookie jar made me the happiest short freckled brunette girl alive!

This was a find for our sweet little boy. It is honestly the cutest book ever and I love reading it together. If you ever see this book when you're out and about you shouldn't think twice about getting it. I'd say it's a must have for any children's bookshelf!

And if the price is right - well that's an even better reason to pick it up! Gotta love thrift stores. 

Landon calls it the "RaRa book". When translated from toddler talk that actually means "Rabbit Book". 

I'm still trying to decide if finding this dresser was a score or a curse. When I first bought this dresser at Goodwill for $15 in the summer I had huge plans for it...

Well the summer has been long gone for awhile now and I still have not yet fully completed this project. So I need to start using my evenings wiser and get to work on it again. 

The sanding and the priming I got done pretty quickly. 

Thank you Landon for being such a good napper!

I was actually thinking about keeping it white since it looks so purdy!

Even with just a fresh coat of primer I think it looks so much fresher! I picked out 2 paint colors for it but once I started painting it I noticed the 1 color wasn't exactly what I thought it would be and I just wasn't completely happy with the way it turned out. So I ended up ditching that plan and went a different route. 

It still needs a final coat (which I will hopefully get around to finishing up soon) and once it's complete I will post pictures of the finished dresser! Goodwill is so fun. You really can find some unique treasures - and for such great deals! 

Does anyone else have a treasure they've found at a thrift store? Feel free to share it with us! 

Have a great night everyone!

S