Salsa Chicken

Oh boy, this recipe is really good. Especially as leftovers!! Also, it's healthy too.

Salsa Chicken
3-4 Chicken Breasts (frozen or thawed)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
1 cup salsa

Crockpot--throw it all in and cook High for 4-6 hours, or on Low 6-8 hours
or
Oven: cover chicken with rest of ingredients in a dish, cook at 350 for 30-40 minutes

Can serve it as a main dish, or shred the chicken and put it all in tacos....YUM!!

Blake's Birthday with Friends

I surprised Blake with a little birthday party this year. :) I told him we were going to dinner together, but didn't tell him I'd invited our whole small group from church. He LOVED it and felt so special. So that was awesome. Here are our wonderful friends:

Pastor Tim and DeShannon. Our new Pastor!!

Tiearra :) I didn't get her husband Davin in a pic...man!

Tara and little Hadley

A view of one part of the big table. I think we had 18 adults, 5 babies and 2 kids. Total.

Mike and Stephanie and little Sam. They're our small group leaders.

Lindsey and Robert and little Sadie.

Me and Melissa and her boy Dylan.

Me and hubby.

Chris and little Zane, and Cody!

Blake and Cody. Man friends.

Brent and Lori and our niece Millie!

Phil Wickham Concert

So the concert last night was so awesome! It was really long though, 7pm-10pm. Honestly, I could have done without Charlie Hall. Ehh, didn't do anything for me. But Phil Wickham came on and that man can sing.

This is Charlie Hall. I couldn't get his face.

This is when Mr. Phil came out. :)

More Phil

They had a fog machine. They filled the church with fog before the show started.

Love me some Phil.

We went with our friend Christian T. and his friend Chris.
Who is now our friend :)

Skiatook and Coweta

We went to two awesome churches this past weekend: Immanuel Baptist, Skiatook OK and Coweta First Assembly. Here are some pics:

This is Blake's back...they're doing a couple of praise songs before he sings.


This is Bro. Jim Standridge from Skiatook. He joined Blake on "I'd Rather Have Jesus" :)

We had to cross a one-lane bridge to get to Skiatook. SCARY!! But it was a pretty drive.
The road curves from 2 lane into the one lane bridge

We crossed two 1-lane bridges.

So Long Wylie

Wylie, my family dog we got when I was 12, passed away at 9pm last night at home with my parents. We loved him very much and he had a really great life. He was healthy and had a big personality. He hadn't been doing very well lately and had trouble getting comfortable and walking. I wish I could have seen him again when I go home for Memorial Day, but I did get to see him a couple weeks ago.

Wylie

Wylie and my brother Mark

Wylie is a Rhodesian Ridgeback. This picture shows the breed's characteristic strip of hair that grows backward on their back: their "ridge".

Wylie loved going to the park. He loved to chase squirrels but he'd always
come when we called him back.

Dinner with my Bro-and Sis-In-Law

I had dinner with my wonderful family last night: my brother in law and sister in law. They live in Edmond and we've been trying to make a point to see them every 2-3 weeks so we can be sure keep up with our niece Millie! Here are a couple of the cutest photos from her 4th month. I've been surprised how much I've enjoyed her. I've not been around many kids until now with Millie and the babies from our small group. Blake had a great time making her laugh. He had her going for a while, then he'd screech at her and she'd screech back at him. They were quite the pair last night.

Watching "Praise Baby" on a DVD. She loves it.

I Think I Have Great Taste

Okay. It's Friday and I am totally unmotivated and my eye is kinda twitching from fatigue. I don't know if any of you read, well I know H. and my mom do, but I wanted to make a list of books I recommend as great reads! I am a strictly fiction girl though. I've tried, I just can't get excited about non-fiction. Unless it's about animals. But it has to have pictures.

(I did copy/paste the synopses from swaptree.com just so you know.)

General Fiction-------------------------------------------------------

"The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
When June's mother dies, she is invited to join a long-standing club of Chinese women who urge her not only to take her mother's place at the mah-jongg table, but also to carry the news of her mother's death to her step-sisters in China. Through the stories of the women and their daughters, the values of different generations are articulated. June's anxiety about her responsibility to the past is contrasted with the older women's concerns that their values and culture are being lost by their Americanized daughters.

I thought this book was a fun read. I read it awhile ago though so I don't remember many specifics other than it kept my attention and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would

"Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden
In 1929, a poor fisherman sells his nine-year-old daughter to an elite geisha house in Kyoto. So begins the remarkable first-person account of how the lovely child, Chiyo, became the accomplished and much sought-after geisha Sayuri, with the help of a kindly mentor and despite the malice of a rival; and of how Sayuri struggled to balance professional success as a courtesan with the demands of her heart. Adapted into a 2005 movie starring Zhang Yiyi as the protagonist, this bestselling debut novel opened up a world hitherto unknown to most Westerners and sparked new interest in Japan and its culture.

Loved this book. I didn't enjoy the movie at all though. Couldn't put the book down.

"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Jacob Jankowski, 90 years old and living in a nursing home, tells how, orphaned and penniless during the Great Depression, he became an animal trainer in a circus. In his days with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, he falls in love with the beautiful performer Marlena--and also with the delightful Rosie the elephant.

This book is so fun and has all sorts of circus stories that at the end you'll find out are totally true. I loved how this book is sweet and is an old man remembering his life. The book is funny though and touching.

"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Cal Stephanides, hermaphrodite, (told he was a girl from birth), recounts the history of his family, starting in 1922 in Smyrna, from where his grandparents embark for America, moving to Detroit where the family settles, and ending up in San Francisco, where Cal's sexual ambiguity finds its proper home. A New York Times "Editor's Choice" for 2002.

If you read this and don't enjoy it I'm sorry. I will casually warn you the book does pertain to sex, but the actual scientific male or female stuff.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A beguiling mix of politics, magic, romance, and sex, the saga of the mysterious history of the Buendia family of the village of Macondo does nothing less than recapitulate the entire history of the human race. Written with little regard for traditional novelistic conventions, Garcia Marquez's novel incorporates emotional responses in lieu of plot, a cyclical approach to fractured time lines, and many different characters with similar or identical names. The first of a wave of Spanish-language novels characterized by what came to be known as magical realism, ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE was an immediate success on its initial publication and was translated into more than 40 languages. It established Garcia Marquez as one of the preeminent authors of his generation.

I read this book in college and it has haunted/stayed with me ever since. It is a massive read that is funny and quirky but also deep and introspective and moving. Not your normal fluff read, but still very accessible to a casual reader I would say. So instead of it being like cheesecake, I'd say this book is like your decadent chocolate and raspberry filling type cake.

"Sophie's Heart" (Christian) by Lori Wick
Sophie, quiet and shy, has fled her native Czechoslovakia and needs work. Janet, her Bible study teacher, recommends Sophie to Alec, Janet's brother, as a housekeeper. Alec, the father of three, had recently lost his wife in a car crash and reluctantly agrees to hire Sophie. Love slowly blooms and barriers are overcome in this moving triumph of God's tender care.

I adored this book. So inspiring and well written. It made me want to be a better person and Christian. I cried and laughed and really bonded with this book.


Memoirs/Biography----------------------------------------------------

"Sickened" by Julie Gregory
An unusual memoir describes growing up as the victim of Munchausen by proxy, a dangerous form of child abuse in which her mother invented or caused a series of illnesses and ailments, and her struggle to escape her mother's serious psychological problems to rebuild her life as a healthy, compassionate young woman.

This is a quick and consuming read. You'll be appalled there is a mental illness like this out there. It is so intriguing though. This book is like shortbread cookies: you start consuming them and find you can't stop and you're a little surprised about that.

"The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls
Jeannette Walls's memoir revolves around her parents, who give the concept of bad parenting a whole new meaning. Her irresponsible romantic of a father was an inventor of outlandishly useless devices, and her mother, an artist, was his abettor. As the two of them dragged the family around the country on the run from creditors and from one bad idea to another, they virtually ignored their four hapless children, except when they were giving them shoplifting lessons or stealing their money for booze. Walls writes about these years with a hardheaded, clear-eyed acceptance and very little recrimination, and she doesn't neglect her parents' virtues, which she manages to wrest out of the slag heap: their values were both generous and idealistic, they produced self-reliant children, and they were true originals.

I loved the story of the siblings. I was surprised by the creativity of the children and parents on how to survive with the parents refusing to work but always going on adventures. It's not a depressing book by any means, and not a pity-party book. That is why it was so good.

"Switching Time" by Richard Baer
A psychiatrist tells his true experience with a woman with 17 personalities. She originally comes to him for help when she is fed up with having blackouts and memory problems and eventually the doctor realizes she has multiple personalities that don't know about each other. He carefully guides her into this realization and helps her say goodbye to each of them.

This is a totally awesome book. Really absorbing and fascinating. I read it on a car trip and was a bad wife because I was reading and not keeping Blake company :)


Historical Fiction-----------------------------------------------------

"The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory
Anne Boleyn's younger sister, Mary, tells the inside story of the doomed Anne, who was beheaded in 1536. Meanwhile, Mary has her own tribulations, culminating, after the death of her first husband in the plague, in a happy second marriage.

I wrote a blog by itself on this book. Great, fun read that is not heavy but really consuming.

"The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett
This epic historical novel tells of the trials and tribulations encountered in the building of a cathedral in twelfth-century England.

At this point in my life, I'd say this is my favorite book of all time. It sounds boring, but it's not. The characters are so rich and unpredictable. It really is an epic! You will get lost in the events of the story and it's very plot driven so it's fast and interesting, but the author takes care to develop each character fully so you're invested in the story. This book is like eating a full course meal and dessert at a fancy restaurant that you had a gift certificate to: all the fun and deliciousness of a skilled professional, but without the dread of the mental workout ("the bill") of a classic novel

"Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jane Auel
Young Cro-Magnon orphan Ayla is adopted into a Neanderthal clan, but her differences from her hosts prove to be a source of continual conflict.

I liked this book because it was SO different! It was very intelligently written and I liked the characters and their obstacles. And who doesn't love a good neanderthal book? Enough said.

Mark of the Lion Series (Christian) by Francine Rivers
"A Voice in the Wind" I
"An Echo of Darkenss" II
"As Sure as the Dawn" III
Francine Rivers / This best-selling trilogy chronicles a tale of persecution and perseverance of 1st-century Christians in hedonistic Rome.

So inspiring! Well written and great plot story. The characters are colorful and memorable.


Young Adult Fiction------------------------------------------------------------
(You should try it!)

"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card
Ender Wiggins was only six when he was sent for special training because of his unique talents, and he may be humanity's only hope in a war against aliens. Winner of the 1986 Hugo and the 1985 Nebula Awards.

I actually bought this book. And kept it. I never do that.

"The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
Hollywood scriptwriter William Goldman pretends that he is simply editing and commenting on what purports to be a 19th-century fairy-tale by "Florinese" writer S. Morgenstern. Studded with hilariously anachronistic one-liners, this fantasy aims to teach its readers the important lesson that "life isn't fair," by placing considerable obstacles in the way of the romance between Westley, a talented farmboy who later assumes a somewhat more dashing and mysterious identity, and Buttercup, a sweet, dimwitted, world-record-breaking beauty who becomes engaged to the local prince. Goldman adapted the novel into a successful 1987 film starring Cary Elwes as Westley and Robin Wright as Buttercup.

If you liked the movie, you'll love the book. Very quirky and I love knowing what the characters are thinking. This book is perfect if you're sick in bed and have nothing to do. Perfect.

"Across the Nightingale Floor" by Gillian Rubinstein (aka-Lian Hearn)
The first book in a trilogy, ACROSS THE NIGHTINGALE FLOOR is set in an imagined country very similar to medieval Japan. A warlord, intent on world domination destroys a peaceful village leaving no one alive save for one boy, Takeo, who was playing away from the village at the time of the attack. Takeo is recruited by a rival clan to help strike down the evil lord, and he also encounters young Kaede, who may grow up to become the woman he loves and be the savior to his people. A New York Times Notable Book for 2002.

This whole series is fantastic and a fun, light read. I really enjoy the plot and the love story and the infused culture.

"Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer
Seventeen-year-olds Bella Swan and Edward Cullen are enmeshed in an intense, hungry love that leaves them both destroyed, yet passionately longing for more. Bella's scent and very being excites Edward, a vampire who, along with his family, abstains from feasting on humans. After a difficult start, the two become inseparable, learning more and more about each other as the days pass, all the while knowing that with every thrilling moment might end with Bella's death. The beautiful, evergreen landscape of Washington state's Olympic Peninsula permeates this gripping, fast-paced drama as it torpedoes through the notions of family, relationships, and sacrificing everything imaginable for true love. Named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2005 and a 2005 School Library Journal Best Book.

Don't judge me. If you haven't read this book yet, you will.


Okay! I feel better. Blake doesn't read so I don't have anyone to talk to about books. If you have any books you loved, please share with me!!