Has moved...

I never announced it...but I moved my blog to this new site.
http://blog.chiecarroll.com

Stay on the course.

So it's been quite a while since my last blog again. Aside from my ever growing baby, sweet and active toddler, pile of laundry and stuffs around the house, a part-time work at home job was added on my plate. I'm not talking about my freelance contractual work I do once in a while or my photography & artwork. I'm talking about being employed "again".

Still it's manageable, yet some of the things I like to do has to come at last end of the string these days...like blogging. But I want to stay on the course and keep blogging.

So, what's going on? I can't wait for spring! I'm so excited, I bought a running shoes today even I don't really run with my hubby. The last time I run with him was before we got married, when we were still in Winona Lake, IN. It was fall when we first run together. He's a good runner and although I was physically fit at that time, I hate running in the cold weather. I have to bundle myself in order to run...or maybe I didn't do the right thing or put the right outfit. Either way, I'll wait 'til it's warm and then we'll run together again.

One of my friend Barb suggested I share some recipes I cook sometime. Maybe I should try...I'm not the best cook, but I'll give it a try to share some recipes I make this coming season. In time for spring and pledge to run (when it gets warm), I'll start to experiment and share quick & healthy recipes...and even semi-homemades. I'm excited and I hope so are you! So you better bookmark this blog to make sure you'll get my recipes on your plate.

Snow, Kitchen & Beef Tikka Masala

I woke up this morning to take out the mail in the mailbox. It's snowing and I guess it's probably been snowing since early morning. It's white everywhere, but it wasn't thick as back in northern indiana where hubby was from.

I can feel the winter breeze touching my face. I have a goal today aside from doing my regular household chores...to blog, as I haven't posted here since November last year. I had to welcome my first blog for 2010 with a warm pot of Beef Tikka Masala against the cold chilly weather outside. My hubby and I are a fan of Indian cuisine but we bid goodbye to eating out all the time (thanks to Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey). So, we aim to complete our kitchen/dining area to a global themed kitchen that will bring us to a fine restaurant or global cuisine experience every time we sit down to eat. Although we are not there yet...we began by painting our kitchen mustard yellow (never thought I'd like it). The color scream spices for me so I hope I'm opt for a good start. We want to paint the kitchen cabinets but we can't agree on which paint goes on it. Oh well...that'll come sometime.

I can smell the simmering pot of Beef Tikka Masala right now. I had to do it semi-home made almost in every cooking so I had to go with the jarred Tikka Masala sauce from "Kitchens of India" which my hubby and I really like. Try their Paste for Butter and Chicken Curry also for a quick curry dish. I still make my mom's dish which is the old-fashioned Filipino Chicken curry with pineapple. But above the rest, hubby's favorite is still Adobo & Sinigang.

Today: We got something in the mail!

This morning, the door bell rang and we got two packages from our post guy. Whenever this season of the year arrives, USPS always pays us a visit and sometimes, the guy in the brown shorts too! But today, one package is unexpected because I forgot my sister-in-law sent it. We got her coffees! One is our order from her coffee site and other extra FREE coffees! A lot of FREEBIES! And did I say FREEBIES loud?!

Christmas shopping comes with online ordering so I received in the mail one of my online orders which is a $1.00 winning bid from Ebay. Five pairs of 3T size Old Navy socks for my little girl. Gotta add some pairs of socks in her Christmas stockings.

Then we went to the doctor's clinic for the kid's routine check-up and immunization. Poor Caleb, he had several shots. He did well for the most part especially when we went to the mall to buy towels and bed sheets to add in our Balikbayan box.

As I'm trying to finish this blog, I checked the status online of one package I'm waiting to arrive. One from Overstock.com. I was hoping it'll arrive tomorrow, so, I went to my email and click the "track package status" which brought me to UPS website. I was stunned! The item status is already "delivered"??? What???

As I read each detail, I notice that it was delivered 11/16/09 at 1:48pm in Crescent Springs. Apparently, when I checked out at Overstock.com, I forgot to change my shipping address to our new one. Now, I just hope I won't have nightmares thinking about that tripod I ordered. My hubby was so nice and didn't get mad at me or maybe he's half asleep. I just hope that he'll find that package tomorrow at the front door of our old apartment tomorrow after his work.

3-month update

It's been over 3 months since I last blogged and of course a lot of things happened in the past 3 months. To sum it up, we moved to the house we bought even we haven't close on that yet in August, then we sold our beloved small Hyundai Accent together with our GPS as a freebie with the car then bought a used white minivan to accommodate the additional car seat and stroller.

On the evening of September 2nd, Caleb joined our family. We also finally closed on the house on September and starts feeling the reality of all the responsibilities that comes with it :) But we are more than thankful to God for all the experience and learning along the road.

We've been going to a new church at the beginning of this year and found warm welcome and fellowship in the home group lead by our senior Pastor Bigney. But the move to the new house made us decide to find a closer home group. So, we started going to a new home group just few minutes from our house. The group made us feel welcome and as though we've known them for a long time already. We look forward to learn, grow and be equip with our new home group. We're thankful for all these undeserved blessings!

Christmas is not far from this month so we started decorating for Christmas last weekend. I was so excited that my hubby allowed me to do that even before Thanksgiving as we normally do it early in the Philippines.

Last night, we met with a family that goes to our church and also new to the area of Northern Kentucky. Like my hubby, they are also from Indiana! The husband is a commercial photographer in Amazon.com and they both like coffee! What a common ground to start of friendship.

Surprised by purple flowers...

Yes, I'm surprised yesterday when hubby came home with a bunch of purple flowers and a very sweet card. I couldn't contain myself overwhelmed by his very sweet gesture. When I asked him why he got me some flowers? He said, he just want to thank me for all the things I do for our family and let me know how much he loves me.

Love my man so much!

Update on the house

Sometimes, when we don't see the end of the tunnel, we tend to panic or become frantic. We are supposed to close on the house last Monday but because we applied for RHS loan, the processing got delayed a little bit because of all gov't backlogged (according to our lender).

Earlier this week, I thought what should be our response on the situation? No, not to worry? But how do you not worry as time and days goes by, waiting to hear when is your closing date...the anticipation does grows. Today, as I read my devotion...I am reminded that my trust is in Him, my God who was with us from the beginning when we decided to buy a house and He will be with us until we close and move to this house. I admit, my doubting mind sometimes snatched out my faith but I'm glad that I have a big God that makes my troubles very tiny.

So, my response today is to trust in Him and wait patiently.

"And again, I will put my trust in Him." Hebrews 2:13

We haven't move yet, but...

I'm trying to figure out how we're going to combine a girl toddler with the baby on the way in ONE ROOM. Actually, for the first few months...the baby will be sleeping in our bedroom on a used cradle we bought out of Craigslist.com and Gwen's old crib set will be re-purposed/re-finished for the baby boy Caleb.

Since the two rooms of the house we bought are on the first level while the 3rd bedroom is in the basement, it just make sense for both of them to be in the same room for a couple of years. We can't put the the baby or Gwen in the basement, far from our sight when the master's bedroom is on the first level. So, I kept searching and searching the net for inspiration or design concept on having two opposite-gender kids in one room and I found some!

Found this at Apartment Therapy's "OhDeeDoh.com" website which is Jackie and Joe's room. That is what I actually thought of, paint the crib set and furnitures white. It will go well with the existing room's paint color which is light green.

I can't get over the elephant in my head, so I better add this decals on the wall where the crib goes! Decals by DecalHappy.etsy.com

This decals are cool also to put in their room! Found this again at Apartment Therapy's OhDeeDoh.com website.One last inspiration I found was from TonyaJoy Photography. She posted her kid's vintage-inspired room. I'm tempted to go this route...modern-vintage black and white room. Hmmm...still deciding, but at least, there's still plenty of time to decide. I just wish my sisters are around to help me put it together as it's not fun having cramps and back pain lately.

:)