Day 1

Ok so here we go! Day 1 of the 30 Day Challenge starts now!

 

So obviously I'm married. Most people know that. We have been married now for 19 months.

There's not really a lot to expand on this subject so I thought I'd switch it up a bit. Stuart and I answered the same questions about marriage so you can get a glimpse of what our relationship is like :)

What's your favorite thing about being married?

Stu- "Hmm, there are lots of good things. Lets see... I enjoy going on dates but not just movies it can be just a walk."

Meg- "I love just being around each other! We were very serious about NOT living together before we got married so once we got married it was awesome to just live together."

What's your least favorite thing about marriage?

Stu- "The cleaning. I don't like cleaning"

Meg- "Sharing my bed! Haha I am very serious about my sleep and having to share my bed sometimes is a hard thing for me!"

What's your favorite moment of marriage so far?

Stu- "I would say the moments where we are both laughing so hard that we're crying. Oh! And the moments when we find out we like the same TV show cause that only happens like twice a year!"

Meg- "I would have to agree that my favorite moment is also when we laugh so hard that we're crying. Apparently, we're both extremely hilarious... to each other at least!"

What are you looking forward to the most in the future?

Stu- "Umm, having kids and being old farts making fun of young kids and getting to use the word 'whippersnappers'"

Meg- "Starting a family and making new memories with our kids... And hopefully a dog! Hint hint babe ;)"

What's the one thing that you learned after marriage that you wish you knew before?

Stu- "haha umm my opinion doesn't matter as much as I think it does."

Meg- "Sometimes you should ask permission instead of just doing something and then asking for forgiveness... Like shopping..."

What is your favorite thing about your spouse?

Stu- "Oh there are so many to choose from... (Insert sarcasm) I would say her genuine caring spirit for others."

Meg- "Definitely his ability to make me laugh and even snort! He definitely can break my seriousness when I'm stuck in my head!"

 

Day 2 is coming soon!

 

 

ABC's of Me!

The ABCs of Me

A — available or married?

Married for almost 2 years!

B — book?

Right now I'm starting the third book in the Hunger Games Trilogy but I've also read all four books in Karen Kingsbury's Bailey Flanigan series recently.

C — cake or pie?

Cake all the way! As long as it's not chocolate!

D — drink of choice?

Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper

E — essential item?

Chapstick or nude lip gloss

F — favorite color?

PINK will always be my favorite but I'm also obsessed with coral, teal, and navy right now.

G — game to watch or play?

football and baseball

H — hometown?
Elgin, SC

I — indulgence?

Clothes... It really gets me in trouble sometimes...

J — job?

Part time preschool teacher and church admin assistant.

K — kids and their names?

No kids yet. But hopefully soon :)

L— life is incomplete without?
Jesus Christ. And maybe a cupcake every now and then...

M — music group of singer?
Queen and Mumford & Sons lately.

N — number of siblings?
One younger brother.

O — oranges or apples?
Apples!

P — phobias/fears?
Snakes. And walking into a room by myself.

Q — favorite quote?
"Be the change you want to see in the world"

R— reason to smile?
My hubby. He's cute and really funny. He tends to ruin my makeup a lot because he's always making me laugh.

S — season?
Summer!

T — tattoos?
Two.

U — unknown fact about me?
I have really bad anxiety.

V — vegetable you love?
Zucchini, broccoli, spinach, carrots, celery, cucumbers, potatoes, asparagus.

W — worst habit?
procrastination.

X — X-rays you've had?
foot, hip, teeth.

Y — your favorite food?
Mexican. Anything Mexican.

Z — zodiac?
Pisces.

I'd love to hear from my readers! If you read this, I'd love to know what you think!

Confession

I have a confession.

It's a pretty big one.

Are you ready for it?!

Here it goes...

I'm a horrible blogger!

Phew! I'm glad I finally got that off my chest! I'm sure if you're reading this you're probably thinking "duh... that's not really new news!"

 

I have been thinking about this blog for a few days and feeling extremely guilty for not having much of anything on it. I have racked my brain for ways to keep myself in the pattern of blogging almost every day and I still don't think I've found a solution but I did find a starting place! While I was browsing Pinterest (Ok, ok, so maybe it was more than browsing. More like I spent 2 whole hours on it while I should have been asleep) I found a 30 Day Challenge of blog topics.
 

 

Some of them seem really boring but I figured it would get me writing and hopefully inspire more blog posts for the future.

 

Who is willing to join me in this venture?! It's probably going to be a bit painful and will definitely take longer than 30 days but I'm going to do it!

 

Day #1 begins tonight...

Granola

My husband likes to call me a crunchy granola (also known as a hippie) from time to time. It really doesn't bother me because those choices I make are saving him money. :) So yesterday, while I was battling my 4th round of sickness in 2 months, I decided to tackle homemade granola. Stuart likes to eat it as cereal and I love to eat it in yogurt with a few slices of apple (it literally tastes like apple pie!) I was surprised to see that we had almost everything we needed at home. I found this blog through Pinterest and decided that this was a fitting recipe for our needs. 

I must warn you, all the pictures I took of the process were on my iPhone which I love dearly but the pictures it takes sometimes are awful quality. Please bear with me...

I do not eat chocolate (I know, worst female ever!) so I had to make 2 different batches. For Stuart's batch, I followed the recipe exactly. For mine, I added extra sugar and extra honey to make up for the loss of sweetness since I left out the chocolate.

What you need:

3 cups rolled oats

2 TBSP sugar (I added extra to the non chocolate batch)

2 TBSP vegetable oil

6 TBSP honey (I used more for the batch without chocolate chips)

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1/4 cup walnuts or almonds

To Prepare:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Spray cooking sheet lightly with non stick cooking spray.

Mix oats, sugar and nuts in a large bowl. In a saucepan, warm oil with honey until honey has thinned out.  Pour honey mixture over oat mixture and coat well.  Spread granola evenly on to prepared pan.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, then stir granola.  Bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until browned.  Let granola cool, then, stir in chocolate chips. Store in air tight container.

 After making 2 batches without any issues, I know that this will be a staple in our house for a long time! So if you make this granola, please share with me how you made it your own!

And please send me ideas for other recipes you want me to share. I freezer cook and do a ton in the crockpot! :)

We're not new here...

We're back! Yes, the Rays are back on the blog scene! I let my other blog fall behind and decided that we just needed a new one! So let's get everyone up to speed, shall we? 

Stuart is working at EL Wright again this year and assisting at Spring Valley. He's also leading a bible study for the guys from our Sunday school class and he is growing in his faith every day. 

I am working in the church office Monday-Friday afternoons and teaching preschool Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. I also started a small sewing business that is starting to take off. 

Now that we're up to speed on that, let's catch up on the last few months. In August, we celebrated our 1st anniversary! I am so thankful for Stuart. He challenges me every day and continues to make me fall in love with him more and more every day. 

Other than that, we have just been hanging out and trying to spend time together. We still enjoy going to church together (we have an awesome Sunday school class that we are blessed to be a part of) and I love singing in the choir and praise team. 

Most of my posts will probably be just a bunch of pictures since I have a little catching up to do with my photo sharing but I hope that you enjoy reading about our lives, whether they are boring or exciting! :)

"Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it." Ezra 10:4