Menu Plan Monday 3/1-3/7

(Check out other ideas at Orgjunkie)

Mr.Pate has been working several nights lately, which is always harder on me period, but especially with dinner. I start with the best of intentions to get dinner cooked and delivered to him, but I find it is so easy to just make excuses on these nights for that to not happen. Anyhow, I only ended up cooking a few things last week because of it, so here's to try number 2 on some of these meals!

• Monday: Chicken, Potatoes & green been bake
• Tuesday: we are helping a friend cater, so hopefully she'll feed us! 
• Wednesday: dustin's
• Thursday: broccoli chicken potato parmesan skillet
• Friday: Out, date night
• Saturday: Tacos
• Sunday: Dinner for 8 (church thing), taking a side dish

Broccoli Chicken Potato Parmesan 

2 tbsp oil 

1 lb small red potatoes, sliced ¼ inch think 

1 or 2 cans cooked chicken (or like 2 or 3 cooked chicken breasts cubed)

2 cups broccoli 

1 can (10 ¾ oz) Campbell’s Broccoli Cheese Soup, 98% Fat Free 

½ milk 

¼ teaspoon garlic powder 

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese 

1. Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat, add potatoes. Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

2. Stir in chicken and broccoli. 

3. Add soup, milk, and garlic powder. Sprinkle with cheese. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 5 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Serves 4. 

What are you having this week??

5 O'Clock Club Wrap Up

Today is February 28th... which is the last day of February... which means its the last day of the 5 O'Clock challenge. Wow, that went quick! I am so glad I did this (special thanks to Cheye for letting me know about it), and overall it has been a blessing!

How did I do this last week? Not so hot. I struggled to get up everyday. I still had time with the Lord everyday but one, however I had to make other sacrifices in the morning to get there (so I wasnt the most put together person, our lunches were rather thrown together, and I missed my workout a few times). I really want to keep this habit going, so some of us have joined The J Club to challenge each other to keep it up! If you are struggling with consistent time with the Lord and want someone to come alongside and spur you on, come on over and join us!

So long 5 O'Clock club, you were great while you lasted!

How did the rest of you do this week?

And the winner is...

And the winner of this week's Name that Movie Friday is...

No-one officially, but unofficially my niece Jilli (and because of her mom mom and sis)! They never visit the actual blog bc it is emailed to them, so they answered by email. ** Also, Kristen got it right too, but again, through email.

The movie was "Last Holiday" with Queen Latifah, which I have quote before. Can you tell I like it? I love both of these quotes, but the second one is hilarious because she says it with such attitude. Love it. You need to watch this movie, it is just a good clean fun movie.

Name That Movie Friday!

Welcome to Name that Movie Friday! Don't know what this is? Find out here!

"No Butter! No Cream! No Wheat! No Dairy! No Fat! AMERICA! Why do they even bother to eat? Next time just stick this in my neck!"

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"Oh no, you done up and read my possibilities book."

Name that Movie!

J is for Join!

Well, as many of you know, I joined a club this past month. And as crazy as it sounds, February is almost over! I have loved the benefits of getting up earlier so much that I hate to see it come to an end. I know what you are thinking, "Sabrina just keep getting up early!". But I think the reason I have been successful with this the last month is the accountability and group synergy I felt when I knew others were doing it too. It was good to see others eagerness to set aside the time, and it was encouraging to see I was not the only one who struggles with this. I found it refreshing to hear what others were learning and I was motivated by posting the check in's. Basically, it worked for me.

So I have been asking myself what I need to do about this, and here is my proposal- let's start our own club! I am officially starting "The J Club".

• What: An accountability group
• Who can join: Anyone willing to commit to a set time with Jesus daily. **Even those of you who dont have your own blog!**
• How to join: Comment below leaving your email address for me. I will set you up as a blog author on The J Club Blog. 
• What will it consist of: 
• You committing to specific time each day to hang out with the Lord. This can be morning or night, whatever works for you. 
• You posting on our club blog about how it is going at least once a week (but more if you want) and something you are learning or struggling with. 
• You reading the blog and supporting/ holding the other members accountable to persevering on. 

So who is in??? Come on people,

"let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."(Hebrews 10: 22-25)

6 truths and a lie

I typically would not do a post like this, but since it's my friend Sarah, I felt I needed to oblige. Have any of you ever been around BlogWorld and seen "Blog Awards"? I see them all the time. Basically, one blogger gives an award to several bloggers and then they are supposed to pass it on and one etc. So my friend Sarah gave me this one, so I figure it would be for your enjoyment.

So here are the rules when receiving and passing on this award (and where the "liar" part comes in)

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you.

4. Tell us up to six outrageous lies about yourself and at least one outrageous truth.

5. Allow your readers to guess which one or more is true.

6. Nominate seven "Creative Writers" who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.

7. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.

8. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

6 Lies and 1 Truth:

1. I only have half of a thyroid.

2. I got in a fist fight on the bus when I was in Kindergarten.

3. I love to watch college football.

4. I graduated college with Honors.

5. I have been to 5 foreign countries.

6. I have never gotten a ticket and have a perfect driving record.

Can you guess which one is the truth???

Now, on to the next bloggers who need to do this:

1. Life with Kristen. My dear friend from High School on, and my college roommate all 4 years. She just started her blog last week, so this will be a good post idea for her! PS. Her blog is going to have all of her crazy adventures traveling on it, so any of you who like to read about funny foreign country experiences need to check her out.
2. Chapters of Life. Another dear friend from High School on, and she needs a distraction from winter right now! Ha!
3. Yancey Clan. Dear friend from college who is a new momma, coach, and teacher.
4. Notes by Nat. One of my original dgroup members who is still a close friend. You better do this girl!
5. My Business is Making People Happy. Also an original dgroup member turned bff. She needs some reasons to write on her neglected blog... and she is creative so she'll be great at this.
6. To Build This House. Dear friend from college who actually got a degree in writing (journalism maybe?), so this should be right up her alley.
7. Eli and Annie. My daughter and friend (it's a BCM thing) who was a crazy english major! Write away girl.

Now... guess which of mine is the truth! How well do you know me??

Getting in the Habit... #1

Mr. Pate and I are reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families" by Stephen Covey right now. It is sooo good guys! Anyhow, it is quite long and is full of great things so I have decided to start summarizing the things that stand out to me from each Habit to help me retain it all.

Habit 1: Be Proactive

The whole premise of this habit comes from a few sentences he read in some other book:

Between stimulus and response, there is a space.

In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response.

In our response lies out growth and our happiness.

Basically, we all have a choice in how we respond to everything and everyone in life. We can either REact to that person or thing (stimulus) or we can act, meaning we can choose how we will respond without being controlled by the circumstances. I think this is probably something most people in life struggle with, and I know I do big time! He uses the mental picture here of having a "pause button- something that enables us to stop between what happens to us and our response to it, and to choose our own response."

Covey says the ability to do this comes from developing the 4 unique human gifts that animals do not have: Self-awareness, conscience, imagination, independent will.

• Self-awareness: the ability to step back from our life and observe it. We can observe our thoughts and we can choose to make changes also.
• Conscience: Our moral or ethical sense or "inner voice". We can not only observe our life, we can evaluate it too.
• Imagination: Our ability to envision something entirely different from our past experience. We can see a "better way" that life could be than what we are observing it as now.
• Independent will: This is our power to take action.

These are what live in the space between what happens to us and how we respond. We have to learn to use these "gifts" more intentionally in order to become "response-able", able to respond to life instead of being controlled by it. (The book has lots more indepth info about this.)

He also teaches about the Circle of Influence and the Circle of Concern. The Circle of concern embraces everything in your life you may be concerned about. The Circle of Influence is a smaller circle within the Circle of Concern that embraces all the things you can actually do something about in life. We typically focus on the Circle of Concern, but this diminishes the influence we have in the Circle of Influence. So we need to learn to focus only on the smaller circle and it will influence the larger circle... see picture:

Next up is the Emotional Bank Account (EBA). It's a simple concept really, our relationships operate just like a checking account. We can choose to make deposits into the account, or we can make withdrawals. The deposits are positive investments in our relationships, like communicating, keeping promises, being honest, encouraging etc. The withdrawals are negative actions that hurt our relationship, like lying, being mean, not keeping promises, attacking, belittling etc. So just like your checking account, if you want your relationship to grow, you have to make more deposits than withdrawals.

The rest of the chapters gives examples of how we can do this, but basically you need to be aware(self aware actually haha) of each relationship's bank account. Make a special effort to go a whole day without making any withdrawals. And he stresses how when we do screw up (as we all will) that apologizing and accepting blame can be the biggest of all deposits for our EBA's.

Actions Steps for this Habit:

• Begin trying to identify how you use the 4 gifts in each major family interaction. Think about the last time you reacted instead of acted and try to identify why this happened and how it could be different.
  
• Spend some time identifying what your 2 circles are. List out all the things in your life you are concerned with, then list the things you have any control over. Try to focus this week on spending time only on these things.
  
• Balance your EBA's. Do you have a positive or negative balance? Write down three things you can do this week to make a deposit in a relationship.

Why I Love This Week!

• I have an amazing new camera to play with!
• Mr.Pate and I are having some friends over for games. See I am working on the whole social thing!
• My dgroup is hopefully going to meet again- its been several weeks!
• This weekend I am throwing some dear friends a wedding shower. They are getting married in NY and then going to Italy for their Honeymoon.
• This week is our Weight Watchers @ WKU Open House. I am really hoping we get enough people to have another session! Anyone around the BG area wanna join??

Menu Plan Monday 2/22-2/28

Hello BlogWorld! Sorry I have been so unfaithful in posting (ok well unfaithful for my norm I suppose, prob only Nat missed me! haha), but my new toy has been quite distracting. And I sleep alot last week. And if I don't post on the weekend it just doesn't happen. And I think thats enough reasons.

Anyhow, we did eat food last week- don't worry. Ha! As if you thought we Pate's would skip eating, we definitely don't roll that way. One meal that stood out last week was Cheesy Chicken Casserole. It was yummy and easy! Go try it soon.

On to this week:

Breakfast Options: Oatmeal, Frosted Shredded Wheat, Waffles, Fiber One bars

Lunch Options: PB & J, Baked Potato & Sour Cream, Tuna, Leftovers

Dinner:

• Monday: My parents will be feeding us! (We are going to G-town to do our taxes finally)
• Tuesday: Brown Gravy Pork Chops, mashed potatoes, green beans
• Wednesday: Dinner at Dustin's
• Thursday: Chicken, potatoes & green bean bake (minus the lemon and subsit. seasoned salt)
• Friday: Skillet Lasagna
• Saturday: Throwing a Wedding shower
• Sunday: Mexican after church and leftovers

Anybody eating anything yummy this week? Please share!

**Head over to Org. Junkie for more ideas.

And the winner is...

I owe you two winners to Name that Movie Friday, my bad. I have been MIA in blogworld this week, thats another post. Although Duke has let me know that it doesnt really matter who wins and it is not a desirable victory because you do not win an actual prize. What do you guys think I am made out of, gold??? Thanks for the encouragement Duke... thanks! Haha! On to the prize-less victories!

The winner of Name that Movie Friday 2 weeks ago is....

Jamie!

It was in fact The Notebook. Great movie. Great book. I figured I owed you guys a more well known movie.

The Winner of Name that Movie Friday this week is...

Melanie!

It was The Wedding Planner, such a fav. I think I can quote this whole movie.

And now to address a critical issue:

It has come to my attention that it is hard for some of you to ever win, you know because it posts too late or too early for your work schedule. I know, this is just killing you. This week I actually scheduled it to post at 4:30 in the morning per Mel's request! Ha! So from now on to keep it fair, Name that Movie Friday posts will not post until the latter evening. Be forewarned.

Name that Movie Friday!

Welcome to Name that Movie Friday! Not sure what that is? Find out here!

"Cover me up front, the FOB is MIA."

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"Problem? Your the one with the problem! Do you realize Fran has chosen teal for her bridesmaid dresses? Teal, the color of gang-green. My last bride who chose teal ended up getting her marriage annulled in 12 days. Oh, oh and "I honestly love you"! You might as well commit matrimonial suicide right now! "

Name that Movie!

Ouch!!

I am currently reading "The 7 habits of highly effective families" by Stephen Covey. I sooo highly recommend it, and I am only on habit 3. Anyhow, I wanted to share with you something that super convicted me as I read recently. It is a definition, or clarification, of what a certain common word we all use means.

"Rationalize (creating rational lies)"

It wasn't even his main point, but those few words in parenthesis really pierced my heart as I read. I rationalize all kinds of things. And I had never thought of the definition of that word quite like that. I usually just use the word meaning I am making excuses or giving reasons for me to feel better about something, which both of these definitions work of course. But something about reading and having to face the truth that ultimately when I rationalize something I am just creating lies that seem rational in my mind. I am lying to myself and others to make me feel better about how I am dropping the ball. Ouch!

Wake up in the morning feeling like...

So I didn't get around to giving an update this weekend on how this whole 5 o'clock club thing is going. Did you think I just gave it up? Was I avoiding you?

How is it going? Very well, thanks for asking. Although I feel like there is less chatter going on with my girls who decided to join too, I am still really enjoying this challenge. Last week I got up everyday but one. And today I totally didnt get up, but I am just feeling yucky! Anyhow, here are some things I am realizing:

• Getting up early is so an issue of the mind, not the body, usually. If I can resolve my mind to get up, I realize my body has gotten plenty of rest.
• It is so much easier to focus on the Lord when the world is quiet. This means when we wake up during the "early" hours for our society, there just wont be as many distractions. There are not as many cars driving by, not as much light, not anything to watch on tv and distract you, etc. On Saturday I got up early, but not as early as the rest of the week. What I noticed is that it was harder to focus because it was "daytime" in my mind. I could be doing housework.... but in the dark hours of morning I find I am not lured by my dishes.
• The Lord really does give us the power to do all things through Him. Each night I have been begging the Lord to wake me and not let me miss the special time with Him, literally begging until I drift to sleep. People, though I am a morning person, I am not an easy riser. Duke can attest- I love to hit snooze for an hour. This rising early is only by His grace. And it has been neat to see this.
• Memorizing Scripture is not as daunting as I have made it in the past.
• Prayer is an amazingly magical thing that I just cant describe. I mean on the simplest level it is me talking in my head (or out loud). But somehow that same simple act becomes the most amazing soul transforming thing!

So I am loving that I was motivated to start this habit. And I am praying it will just be a habit from now on. Anyone with me? Want to start our own "Something o'clock club" and hold one another accountable in life. I say something o'clock because it is so not about the time of day, but the time spent. Let me know!

So how has your time with the Lord been?

Dear blog,
I won't be able to make our regular weekend meeting, please forgive me. I still want to be best friends and share my whole life with you, its just that this weekend has been a bit busy. You see, Friday night i hungout with my boo and then feel asleep at 7:30 (yes i am lame, are you surprised really?). Then Saturday some amazing ladies came and treated my soul to some much needed girl time. And today, well lets just say i played the wii with mr.pate until our tv decided to go nuts and we suddenly had to make an emergency trip to sams to return it just before the 90 day deadline. You see? I would never miss our weekend hangout where I fill you with too many random posts if it was not an absolute must. Don't worry, ill be back before you know it.

FFR's

Favorite Family Recipes that is! Here are a few of Mr.Pate and I's favorite recipes to cook up at home, and a memory or thought on each. Enjoy!

Dinners:

1. Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is hands down Mr.Pate's favorite recipe. The summer after we graduated college, I interned at a church in Louisville. We got to learn all kinds of stuff, but my favorite was a day of cooking lessons from a cool lady named Emily. She taught us to cook Chicken Cordon Bleu the easy way, and it is flat out delicious. Mr.Pate prefers the rolled up fancy way, which really isnt a very hard thing to do. We ate it last weekend, and I always forget how yummy it is.

2. Brown Gravy Pork Chops

Yummy! I also got this recipe from my summer in Louisville, but from my host family. We actually had a night where the other interns came over and we all ate these, and my host dad challenged me to see how many pork chops I could eat (i sound like a man dont i??). I ate a ton and surprised him! Trust me people, these are the best pork chops you have ever eaten.

3. One Dish Chicken Bake

My friend Cheye got me some Campbell's cookbooks while I was engaged, she probably doesnt have any clue how much I love those things! So many of our staple meals come from these, including this one. This is a super easy, quick and comfort recipe. We mainly do it during the fall and winter.

4. Chicken and Dumplins in the Crockpot

I randomly found this one on a blog from Meal Plan Mondays (see they are helpful resources), and since I didnt know how to make dumplins but knew Mr.Pate loved them, I decided to give it a try. So good!!

5. Salsa Chicken

I found this recipe online the first time we did WW. It was a "core" recipe, which was a plan they used to have where you didnt have to count points (they still kinda have it). Anyhow, it basically is a chicken taco salad and easy and great-tasting!

6. Homemade Pizza

This is always a comfort food we go back too, and we love making it together. Its kinda a group project.

7. Chicken Casserole

I found this on in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It is yummy.

8. Chicken Quesadillas

Another one from the Campbell's cookbooks. I started cooking this one the first summer of our marriage and we feel in love. Another super easy one (are you seeing a theme here?).

1 lb chicken breasts cubed (2 cans or canned chicken)

1 can (10 ¾ oz) Campbell’s Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup

½ cup Thick and Chunky Salsa

4 Flour Tortillas (fajita or burrito sized)

1. Preheat the oven to 425º

2. In medium skillet over medium-high heat, add chicken, soup and salsa; heat to a boil, stirring occasionally.

3. Place 4 tortillas on 2 baking sheets. Top half of each with about ¼ of the soup mixture; moisten edges of tortilla with water. Fold over and press edges together.

4. Bake 5 minutes or until hot.

Desserts:

1. Peanut Butter Pie

Two years ago, will I was at home and recovering from surgery and preparing for my treatment, I was perusing my Better Crocker Cookbook and I found a peanut butter pie recipe. We are crazy about peanut butter around here. So I decided to go for it, and we loved it! It is a family favorite at holiday celebrations too. This one isn't that quick or easy, but its not difficult either.

1 pie crust

1 eight oz package cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

2 tbs milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whipping cream

2 tbs sifted powdered sugar

3/4 cups mini chocolate chips

1. Beat cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. Add 1 cup powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla; beat until combined.

2. In a chilled mixing bowl beat whipping cream and the 2 tablespoons powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Gently fold about one third of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Fold remaining whipped cream and mini choc chips into the peanut butter mixture until smooth. Pour into pie crust.

3. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours (I do it overnight).

**It is also good without the choc chips.

2. Molten Lava Cake

I have only had this recipe two times, but we are definitely hooked. I have always been a fan of lava cakes at restaurants, so being able to make it at home for cheap is a joy. But it is not very WW friendly- just a warning!

3. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Someone gave me this when we were engaged and we love them! They are super easy and soo moist and yummy.

1 box Spice cake mix

1 can of pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup of choc chips

1. Mix all ingredients together.

2. Form into small cookies and place on a cookie sheet (batter is extremely sticky, and also this batter will not flatten like other cookies, so try to make the cookies flat)

3. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. The cookies have a cake like texture, so they should be springy.

So what's your family's favorite recipe?

Name that movie Friday!

Welcome to Name that Movie Friday! Don't know what this is? Find out here!

Why didn't you write me? Why? It wasn't over for me, I waited for you for seven years. But now it's too late.

I wrote you 365 letters. I wrote you everyday for a year.

You wrote me?

Yes... it wasn't over, it still isn't over

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Did you write that?

No, that was Walt Whitman.

I think I knew him...

I think you did too.

Name that Movie!

notice anything new??

have you noticed anything new on my blog?? (i feel like one of those people that gets their hair done and then goes home and tries to get their hubby to guess what is different...) well there is something different, and those of you on google reader should head over here to see it.

pages.

mine are titled "find your way around here". go ahead, look and see what I am talking about.... i'll wait...

...

...

you done? ok, well blogger is now offering a feature called pages. some of you may already now about this, and may even have them. i am addicted to my google reader, so i dont venture over to real blogs much. but anyhow, with this feature, you can actually create a page that will stay accessible to your readers, instead of a post they will have to find in the archives. for instance, i now have a page that explains Patelife. you can click on it and get a brief summary of what i write about here. so for someone that just starts reading my blog, they can catch up with who i am without trying to read between the lines in all my posts.

i think this is super fun. depending on the template you have on your blog, you can have the option of setting the pages up as tabs along the top of your blog (mine wont let me and i am in love with this blog design right now). if there are certain things, like maybe your goals for this year, that you want to keep up with all year then this feature will majorly help out! instead of your last post about that getting lost in last month's archives, its right at the top and ready for you to click on it. basically it helps keep it in sight.

i just wanted to give any of you who hadnt heard about it a heads up. do any of you already have pages on your blog??

Booking It Check In

Well it's February people, which means there is one month down in my Booking It challenge at Life as Mom. You can see my reading goals for this year here.

So how am I doing?

Pretty good I guess. I completed two books in January, Treasuring God in Our Traditions and TrueFaced. But both of these things happened right at the start of January, so I feel like I havent made much progress since then. I have started two other books, but I just havent spent that much time reading.

Right now I am reading:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families and Mr.Pate is actually reading it with me! Yay! It is really good, but man the chapters are long! I am reading this on with the SimpleMom Bookclub.

• Real Sex. So far this is a really good book, she has alot of good perspectives. I need to be more diligent about reading this one consistently.

Have you read anything good this year?? Please share!

Workin' 9 to 5

Well, to be technical I work 8 to 4:30, but you have heard plenty about my current job I think, so that is not the point of this post.

I come from a family of hard workers. My mother is pretty much what you call a workhorse. So I feel like I have always worked. We are currently hiring students at work, so it occurred to me the other day that many people do not get their first jobs till they are in college, and some not until after college! By the time I had graduated college had worked 8 jobs! So I decided I would share with you (and remind myself) of all the jobs I have had in my life thus far:

1. Hostess at Applebees: Sophomore/Junior year of high school. I learned alot about food service and how a restaurant runs. This is also when I fell in love with salmon.

2. Choreographer: Throughout high school and the beginning of college. I got paid to make up dance routines for a few smaller high school dance teams. Seriously? That was an awesome job!

3. Sonic Drive-In: Junior year of High School through Freshmen year of college. I made bank with this job! I started at a brand new sonic in gallatin that was really slow. I worked with my dear friend (and middle school ex boyfriend haha) Michael, who is no longer with us. Once I went to college I "stayed on" with Sonic but didnt work again until the summer after Freshmen year. That summer I worked at a Sonic in Hendersonville with Jamie and rolled in the dough, seriously! Loved it. Except one car hop got robbed that summer, right after I left. Crazy.

4. Admissions Office at WKU: Freshmen through Senior year at WKU. I gave campus tours and did office work. This is how I fell in love with WKU. I learned everything about our campus and BG, and I just really took pride in my job. I met Becky, Cameron and our bunko group. This job is one reason I have my job now, networking my friends.

5. Fuge Camps: Summer after Sophmore year of college, and random other weeks of some summers. I worked the "East Coast Traveling Team" and both loved and hated it. We had a really dysfunctional staff and there was alot of fighting. Luckily I was the youngest and just stayed out of it all. The campers were amazing and God really showed me my heart for ministry. I did some random weeks of camp the summer before and after this too.

6. Victoria's Secret: Junior year of college. I got a seasonal job at VS and totally loved it at first. I worked all the time over Christmas break and fell in love with expensive bras. I even stayed on after the season was over, but after a month or two I just couldn't take all the driving back and worth between BG and Rivergate. And I hated how they made you push credit cards on people-- heads up peps, their credit cards have bad rates.

7. Planet Beach Tanning Salon: Summer before Senior year of college. I feel like I lived at this place that summer. It was one of those upscale tanning places they have now, I had to take two major tests about tanning to work there. I really enjoyed it and I had a great tan too.

8. Aid for someone with Cerebral Palsy: Senior year of college. Kris and I met a friend Sophomore year who had CP, and she became his aid Junior year I think. Anyhow, senior year I singed on for every other weekend too. It was great pay. He was a super smart grad student who needed help with basic things that involved motor skills (eating, dressing, running errands etc).

9. The BCM: The 4 years after college. Do I really need to explain this one??

10. Childcare at Living Hope: I took care of kids.

11. Nanny for a family with 4 kids: Summer of 2007. I basically played mom all day to 4 kids. It overall was a great summer, but some days it was draining.

12. "Student Worker" for the IM-Rec Office: Summer of 2008. I worked in the IM-Rec Office (which is the department I work in now) as a student office worker. So I answered phones and organized things. Little did I know God would use this temporary summer job to lead the way to the next phase in our lives.

and lastly...

13. Health & Fitness Lab at WKU: Present. Loving it.

Man, 13 jobs seems like alot. But the strange thing about all this is, I loved every job. I think being a hard worker was just ingrained in me, so it just seemed normal and like part of life from a very young age. Good job Denise and Chris!

Your turn--

Where have you worked? When was your first job? Did I leave one out?

Snow day! Woohoo!!! WKU never closes, but today my friends, we are indeed closed. What what! On the agenda: go back to sleep, wake up later, linger in the word and prayer, curl up and watch a movie, write several blog posts, 30 day shred, read read read, and who knows what else?

Happy Wednesday everyone!

random thoughts from my couch

it's been snowing here... again. this is a big deal here, you see we normally get snow like once a year. but so far this winter we have gotten snow three times I think. anyhow, tonights snow is quite alot and it really made the roads slick. people were slip sliding all over the place.

mr.pate is working at the ol starbucks right now. i am doubting many people are heading out to get their favorite white cup of warmth, so he is probably bored.

i am on my couch with a large dog that keeps trying to play with a cat that just aint havin it. lots of meow-yelling going on over here. just finished watching biggest loser, which i have just had a hard time getting into this season.

anyhow here is the deal- i am liking this snow. i thought i would hate it and be sick of it, but its pretty. and i have decided if it is going to be cold anyhow, why not be white and pretty too?? i really like how it is bright at night when there is snow. it makes me feel like time is standing still and nothing bad can happen.

that is all... back to hgtv now. do you like snow??

27

27: Favorite books from my childhood

1. The Giver
2. Are you there God, it's me margaret?
3. Number the stars
4. Nancy Drew books
5. The Babysitters Club
6. Encyclopedia Brown
7. Sweet Valley High
8. Sweet Valley Twins
9. Sweet Valley University
10. Sweet Valley Kids
11. Iggie's House
12. Starring Sally J. Freeman as herself
13. It's not the end of the world
14. Tiger Eyes
15. Deenie
16. Forever
17. Goosebumps
18. Tuck Everlasting
19. Mrs.Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
20. Bridge to Terabithia
21. Harriet the Spy
22. James and the Giant Peach
23. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
24. Sarah Plain and Tall
25. The American Girl doll books
26. The Polar Express
27. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Thinking of these just makes me want to read each of them again!

What was your favorite book from childhood?

Why I love this Week!

• I am starting the week with a super clean and organized house, that always makes me feel refreshed!
• It's the first full week of the 5 o'clock club for me and really I am starting to look forward to it everyday!
• It is looking like its going to be another girls week for me- On Thursday I am hanging out with Mya after what has seemed like an eternity, and on Saturday my girls are coming to bg (our last reunion got cancelled due to the snow)!! Yay!
• We totally ordered a DSLR camera and there is a slight possibility that we may get it this week... slight possibility!! I am so so excited! I have wanted one of these for what feels like forever. More on this purchase later. We rolled tons of change on Saturday to put towards this purchase, yep we rolled change. Thats how we roll around here...
• Just life, I am just excited for the normal schedule of life: youth, work, time with the hubby, fav shows, dgroup, etc.

Anything great happening this week in your next of the woods??

Menu Plan Monday 2/8-2/14

Well the house has been cleaned twice this weekend (we had a super bowl party, so one can imagine a need for a second cleaning), the lunches have been packed, and it is time to get back to the weekly grind. Is it just me or do these weekends just fly by?? I am declaring this week leftovers week at the Pate for several reasons: 1. We have lots of yummy leftovers 2. We have a couple of nights were we wont be home or only one of us will be 3. Its my plan and I can do as I wish... There you have it folks.

Oh and I just need to tell you guys that I made the Lava cake all on my own Saturday night and I am absolutely in love! Mr.Pate thought it was wonderful, and guys it was sooo easy to make!! Try it!! Seriously!

• Monday: Ranch Burgers (except we are just putting a slice of cheese on top, we decided you cant taste the shredded mixed in), green beans and chips

• Tuesday: Leftovers

• Wednesday: Dustin's

• Thursday: Leftovers

• Friday: Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole (Date night)

• Saturday: Steaks, Baked Potatoes, and broccoli

• Sunday: I think I will make mr.pate take me out... It is Valentine's day after all! hehe

Options for Leftovers: Chicken Cordon Bleu, Pizza, Coca Cola Pork, One Dish Chicken Bake,

What are you having?? Head to Org. Junkie for more ideas!

The grass is greener...

Ok people, throughout January I read all of Mandi's "31 Days of Organizing for a Better 2010", surprising I would read something titled that huh? Anyhow, I would love for you to read all of them, but I want to talk about her very last one today.

Go read about Enjoying Life to the Fullest now please... seriously... this post will make more sense if you do... pretty please... with sugar on top??

I think we all should identify with this. We all struggle with being content. All. of. us. I think its the very root of sin. Eve was afraid she was missing out, she was afraid of simply being content with what she had. And we make the same choices everyday. If we aren't careful, we will assume that only the people in the stage of life we want to be in are content (i.e. if you are single you may assume that married chicks are obviously content with their perfect lives, etc), but the truth is we are all discontent on some level. And we should be. We were made for somewhere else! This is not our home... we are stuck in a sin cycle... that should cause us to be discontent.

But we cant just be ok with that. We need to strive to be like our Savior. And he was not discontent. We need to make a conscious effort in this area, especially women because I think on average we are sooo bad at this. We spend way too much time wishing we had it made like so-and-so (me being the worst of these).

I love the beginning of Mandi's article when she quotes the Calm my anxious heart book:

:: Never allow yourself to compain about anything — not even the weather.
:: Never picture yourself in any other circumstance or someplace else.
:: Never compare your lot with another’s.
:: Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
:: Never dwell on tomorrow — remember that tomorrow is God’s, not ours.

So this is what I am going to try to do today, and tomorrow and the next day- obey this list. Really it is scripture, just rephrased. I challenge each of you to do this as well... I am going to check back in next week and tell you how great or horrid I did, maybe you'll join me? Try to see how many times you catch yourself complaining about the basic things in life. How often did you begin to picture yourself in a different circumstance?? Goodluck my friends!

And the winner is...

And the winner of Name that Movie Friday is...

No One!

Apparently I stumped all of you. And I was really trying to go outside of my "romantic comedy" box for you too. The Movie is "Baby Mama". This is the scene where Amy Poehler is in Tina Fey's apartment looking for food and calls Tina at work. She is so funny when she says this line too, because her character is so dramatic anyhow. For those of you who havent seen it, it is sooo funny. I thought I would hate it with those two in it, but its funny.

I love the scene where they are at birthing class and the teacher says something like who is planning on giving birth the natural healthy way for the baby and everyone raises their hands except for amy. Then he says something like 'who is planning on putting your baby in danger and being selfish by taking drugs' and amy says "ow ow" and raises the roof! Hahaha! maybe I should have used this quote??

Anyhow, happy Saturday people.

Show us your life- beauty tips and favs!

It's "Show Us Your Life" day at Kelly's blog, and we are talking Beauty Tips and Favorite products!

Ha! I need some badly!! I come from "natural" women- neither my mom or sister wore makeup really when I was growing up (except for Misty's lip liner and lipstick... yes girl I did just call your lips out! haha love you!). So I just naturally didnt either. I have always just dabbled in make up, never really having a consistent look. I probably only wear make up once every few weeks. Weird I know.

So the only tips I have are:

1. Wear shimmery browns on your eyes if you have blue eyes. People always comment on my eyes when I put shimmery browns on.

2. Mineral make up. So light and natural looking.

3. Pinky light blush- makes you look fresh and young... thanks Carmindy! Haha!

What about you, got any tips to share??

Hello alarm clock

Hello alarm clock, I'm so glad to see you again....

NOT!

This week I joined the 5 O'Clock Club, and it has not been nearly as bad as I envisioned. Overall I have loved loved loved having extra time in the morning to linger in the Word, pray harder, and even just gather my thoughts for the day before I have to head out into the real world. Here is how the week went:

• Monday- The club had not started yet. I got up later than I wanted to and was in a rush all morning. There was still snow on the ground and I almost feel about ten times going to work. It was cold. Ugh. My time with the Lord got thrown out the window, in an attempt to get ready for work. It is no surprise to me that when I saw Cheye's post that night I jumped on board real fast.

• Tuesday- First day of the club! Mr.Pate had to open at Starbucks, which means he left the house at 4:45am, and awoke at like 4am (insane I know, but people have to have their coffee). So he woke me up at 4:45am and I made sure the alarm was good for 5am. Surprisingly I got right up at 5am without a problem, I am guessing it was like awaking on the first day of school or Christmas morning- you are too excited to sleep. Anyhow, it was absolutely amazing to have all that time! I started the coffee, made my lunch and packed my bag for the gym because I was intending to leave the house at 5:50 to head to Preston. I fed the starving animals (gosh they cry like babies in the morning and follow me everywhere until I feed them!) and then settled onto my barstool. All was quiet. It was a great time with the Lord. After my quiet time, I got up and began to put together my dinner (crock pot). This is where this morning got crazy but whatever. I cook in my crock pot all the stinkin time. I love coming home to dinner already made. I always put my meat into the crock pot frozen, because I am gone for so long that this helps the food not burn. Well Tuesday morning my frozen porkchops decided they were not going to come out of the package. They stuck to the cardboard tray & the paper thing that soaks up the juices, and refused to let go. I spent 20 minutes getting these things into my crock pot! My hands were numb! But amazingly I was not panicked or frustrated. See if I had gotten up at my regular time I would have been soooo frustrated and late for work. But I had plenty of time and I had just centered myself on the Word! Yay! So I had to change my plans and work out at home, which I am not good at doing, but it still was better than nothing. I attempted the 30 day shred- you would think since I work out every day this would be no big deal... wrong! I have been sore for 4 days because of the stupid squats! Thanks alot Jillian! That was Day 1. Glorious it was. Oh, but I was still a little late to work. Not sure how that happened when I got up at 5am??

• Wednesday- Mr.Pate had to open again so basically the same drill for getting up. At 5am I popped right up, well 5:05 but who's counting? Mr.Pate had gotten me the workbook for Kelly Minter's "Ruth" study (I had printed off the sample week and done it and loved it) so I started it Wednesday. It was a fabulous time. I am also seeing that with this extra time my prayers are so much more focused and heartfelt. I struggle with Prayer, so this is a blessing! No fights with Pork chops this morning, but I even had time to watch an episode of "Say Yes to the Dress" from my DVR while I stretched (due to my overwhelming leg soreness from the stupid shred!). My kind of morning.

• Thursday- This morning was much more of a struggle, because Mr.Pate didnt have to get up early. So I ended up out of the bed at 5:20am. I had great time with the Lord and was able to fix lunches. But then I just took my time getting ready (starting the day off with time to linger makes me slow in getting ready I have decided) and ended up rushing to work... we had a class scheduled to come in for assessments right at 8am (who does that?) so I had to park in a metered spot to get there in time to open the office etc. SO then I had to go back out and park my car! Still not a bad morning, just alittle rushed with work. But it is amazing how the Lord prepares you with patience when you have spent time in His word.

• Friday- Got up gladly amidst a rainy day (only through the Lord I am telling you) right round 5:30 am (late I know, but whatever). Spent some fabulous time looking at Ruth and then had some time to finish a chapter of the book I am reading for Simple Mom's bookclub. Refreshing way to start the day I am telling you! Went into work ready to work joyfully.

• Saturday- I was aiming to get up at 6:00am and got up at 6:30am, so not too bad. My alone time was not as long today because me and mr.pate are celebrating our anniversary (it was Thursday) all day. To start off: pancakes at 7:30! Yay! He makes the best pancakes ever! Even though my time wasnt as long, it was great.

So there you have it. 5 days down, and the rest of February to go. I cannot begin to explain to you how valuable I think this early time is... but it is hard to tell yourself that when you are in the bed! How am I making myself get out of the bed? Each night I am falling asleep praying "Lord please literally force me out of this bed in the morning. My heart is resolved to meet with you, please help motivate my flesh to get on board!".

Some of you reading are not morning people and you are reading this thinking, why get up so early? Just spend tim with the Lord at night or later in the day. But the thing of it is, for me, if I dont do it in the morning I just wont do it. There are too many excuses, too many things that get in the way; however, at 5 am, there is nothing else that needs to get done. (Mothers of infants, you are in a different phase so do what you need to do and dont feel condemned by this. at 5am you may have a baby to feed) I dont think quiet times have to be in the morning, spending time with God at some point during the day is the point, whenever that may be. But I did like this quote I read from John Piper:

“I earnestly recommend that it be in the early morning, unless there are some extenuating circumstances. Entering the day without a serious meeting with God, over his Word and in prayer, is like entering the battle without tending to your weapons. The human heart does not replenish itself with sleep. The body does, but not the heart. We replenish our hearts not with sleep, but with the Word of God and prayer.”

So your turn: how are you doing on spending time with the Lord?? Need some encourage or accountability? At a good phase right now??

Name that Movie Friday!

Welcome to Name that Movie Friday! Don't know what this is? Find out here!

"I am not trying to be dramatic, but I would rather shoot myself in the face than eat this food."

Name that movie!

I love you because…

For those of you who didn't get the memo, today is the pate's 4 year wedding anniversary. 4 years! Crazy crazy! Disclaimer: you will see several posts on the subject today and tomorrow, humor me by pretending to care pretty please.

Dear mr.pate,

I love you because…

    you are an imperfect disciple of Christ

    you are a hard worker and fabulous provider

    you are downright funny

    you are a hottie

    you have red hair and are as feisty as they come

    you are strong- emotional and physically

    you are so intelligent (I only halfway love you because of this actually, sometimes its plain annoying fyi)

    you put up with my strange habits during my sleep

    you desire to serve people

    you are not materialistic

    you are cheap

    you are very practical and logical

    you love to invest in others, particularly young others

    you are fabulous with kids (this is also one of those annoying ones sometimes, I hate that kids like you better than me.. just a confession)

    you love food as much (or more) as I do

    you are neat and not messy

    you are sarcastic (I know this should be a bad trait, but people have you met me?? I love sarcasm)

    you are honest

    you choose to watch hgtv with me

    you treat our animals like human children

    you try to dress well for me, as opposed to how you dressed before "us"

    you actually have good taste and care what our house looks like

    you make me feel safe

Basically I am trying to tell you that I kinda like you and wouldn't mind if you hung around for another 4 years, or maybe even 40.

                                Love ya,

                                    W

Aim

It's the start of a new year. Ok well its the second month of a new year, but regardless it is still towards the beginning of the year and you know what that means.... goals/resolutions/new habits/whatever you want to name them. Though I didn't join in all the fun of posting these at the beginning of the year, I have been thinking through what I want to aim for this year. The old saying goes, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time." I want to be a person with aim (as I type this I can already hear mr.pate saying I need alot of ball practice then haha). So while they may not be the most measurable, well put together goals, here are the things I want to strive to focus on this year.

1. Personal Goals:

• Memorize the book of Philippians. Yep, the whole book.
• Read 2 books a month.
• Be social at least 3 times a month.

2. Marriage Goals:

• Have a "connect" time each day- a time where we have intentional communication, a devo and prayer time.
• Be more affectionate.
• Practice the discipline of date night.

3. Financial Goals:

• Track our monthly spending to ensure we are actually living out our proposed budget.
• Give coupons another try.
• Cut our grocery budget by 10%.
• Be more diligent about contributing to our savings & retirement.

4. Physical Health:

• No longer be considered insulin resistant. I know this sounds presumptuous or like I think I have control over my health, but in the case of insulin resistance you really can control having it or not by managing a healthy weight.
• Get to my WW goal.
• Do something physically active 5-6 times a week.

5. Project Goals:

• Begin my Holiday memories scrapbook.
• Create a family heritage cookbook for my side of the family and Justin's.
• Make a price book.

So there you have it. Hold me to it people! And now for your enjoyment, some quotes I love about goals:

You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-range failures. ~Charles C. Noble

Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another. ~John Dewey

Establishing goals is all right if you don't let them deprive you of interesting detours. ~Doug Larson

Goals are dreams with deadlines. ~Diana Scharf Hunt

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. ~Author Unknown

If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.

one twelfth

one twelfth of the little things that make up a year. one twelfth of the things that make me happy. one twelfth of the silly, meaningless details that make up a day, which make up a week, which make up a month, which make up a year, which make up the years of my life.

my favorite moments and things from january 2010:

• Grilled Cheese sandwiches: Mr.Pate randomly decided to make a grilled cheese one night at the beginning of the month and love it. It made me crave one. So we had a grown up grilled cheese night with turkey and swiss grilled cheeses. #1. They were delicious. #2. It just felt homy to and classic to be making good ol grilled cheeses.
• HGTV moments with my man: Holmes on Homes, House Hunters, My First Place, and Property Virgins. Most of the nights in January Mr.Pate and I spent some time watching an HGTV show together, which is totally my love language! Haha!
• Say Yes to the Dress: This show is my favorite. I heart it. Alot.
• Tags: I discovered that google reader allows you to tag blog posts so you can quickly reference back whenever you need. WHAT?? My little organization-loving heart overflowth! Now I will always know exactly where to go when I want to reread those helpful posts on parenting that I cant utilize know but hope to use one day, or those freezer cooking posts about big omac days I hope to attempt sometime soon. Pure genius people.
• Cuddling: Thanks to our new couch being big, Mr.Pate and I can actually lay on the couch and cuddle for the first time since we were engaged! Shear joy. Be still my heart.

Did anything make your heart beat fast in January?

5 O'Clock Club

Recently, my friend Cheye posted about a club she was joining called the 5 O'Clock Club. Some of you may read the Girltalk blog and be familiar with this club, but I was not. So the background is that Carolyn Mahaney and her daughters formed a club a while back where they got up at 5 am to spend time with the Lord. Carolyn would call her daughters and be their alarm clock! (I can do this for you if you want me too...) This month they are hosting a 28 Day Challenge on the Girltalk blog, here is a little snippet from them:

In emergency mode. So much to do. No time for the Lord. Desperate. Alone. No doubt every woman—whether you are a mom, a student, or a businesswoman—can identify. We all want to be consistent to sit at Jesus’ feet. And yet it can seem impossible to find a slot in the schedule that we can maintain.

Dramatic action is needed. Enter the 5 O’Clock Club. For many of us, the only cure for our starving souls is to wake up early—or at least earlier than we currently do. It doesn’t have to be 5 O’Clock to join the club, just early enough to secure a regular time to sit at Jesus’ feet.

I have been struggling to really get a morning routine down every since I returned to the working world! This may be just what I need, a little bit of motivation to get up and get focused. Besides, half the time mr.pate is leaving the house at 4:45am! It will be good for me to get a little taste of how hard my man works for me. So I will be posting an update every weekend on how it is (or isnt!) going and some reflections.

If you want to join in "officially" just head over to the girltalk blog to sign up, or you can "unofficially" just leave a comment letting em know you are joining in and I will bug you check up on you throughout the month.

Good Morning!

Getting those ducks in a what?

Remember how I was writing several posts on time management and planning? Remember how I was going to do more posts on that?? I pretty much get a big fail on this one. Dangit.

This would be one of those good examples of how I am not a very good finisher. The night I began writing these posts I was super inspired about it and had it all written in my head. But I could only get a few typed up that night before I just had to get in bed. A few days later I tried to finish it up and realized I had nothing to say about it... why was I writing this again?? Haha, see this is why I have a blog. If I didnt write things as they came into my brain I would lose so many memories or thoughts!

So sorry if there were any of you who actually cared about these posts and wanted them to continue. Congrats to those of you who could care less about those posts, there will be no more torture for you.

But for those of you that do want to work on time management and planning here are a few suggestions to check out:

• Simple Mom- She has a whole category on this, just scroll down and look to the right.
• Organizing your way
• Passionate Homemaking

Why I Love This Week!

• I will celebrate being married 4 years this week! Crazy! It's so strange, I kinda feel like its been way longer and at the same time I cant believe it has already been 4 years. Strange.
• Work will hopefully begin to slow down this week! Things were super busy during the month of January, but now that we have gotten past a couple of things it should slow down. I mean I dont want to be bored, but I dont want to stay late every night either! Ha!
• My dgroup is going through the bible study No Other Gods, and we will meet about it the first time this week. Does it sound familiar?? Love it.
• I already know I will get flack for this one, but I am super excited bc I finally found a budget tracking spreadsheet that works for us. So this week I am working on getting all our info plugged in so I can see how we are doing each month. Yes I am actually excited about tracking spending, I know I am weird... whatever.
• Did I mention I will celebrate being married 4 years on Thursday??

Looking forward to anything this week??