Stove Top Cooking

Well, for my third year in college, I moved into a studio flat (which is actually a room in an extended-stay hotel but studio flat sounds better, makes me feel better, and is better to explain). I do have a roommate.

Well, I originally agreed to stay in the studio flat (rented through my university) because in the picture I mistook the dishwasher for a stove (and I didn't ask anyone to explain what was in the studio flat). So I came down all excited, figuring that, since I didn't have a meal plan and would have to prepare my own food, I would have a stove. I loved baking stuff in the stove. I rarely used a stove to prepare my food back home.

Well, big shock. I had a two-burner stove - and no oven. But I did have a dishwasher (which is rather nice). Well, my brother gave me a toaster oven he wasn't using, but believe me you, that is one annoying toaster oven (I do manage to use it, though, I just have to "baby" it and watch it and everything gets burned in it because it cooks the outside first and then the inside so by the time it's all done it's pretty burnt).

I've been learning exactly what you can make with a stove.

Here's my list.

1) Grilled cheese (with or without a fried egg).

2.) Grilled turkey and cheese (no egg for me).

3.) Fried eggs (and scrambled, but I only eat scrambled eggs if I have to).

4.) Bacon (if you have a place to put the grease).

5.) All kinds of canned and frozen vegetables.

6.) Hamburger helper.

7.) Spaghetti.

8.) Rice (mine has yet to turn out right, but I know you can make it on there).

9.) Pasta Roni (all kinds).

10.) Mac and cheese.

11.) Chicken breast fillets, premade, using veggie oil.

12.) Salsa con queso, cheese dip, salsa.

13.) Soup, canned or fresh.

14.) Pancakes.

15.) Hot chocolate AND cappachino (instant).

16. Whatever you can use ground beef for.

17.) Sausage gravy.

18.) Chef boyardi ravolis.

19.) Potatoes from a box.

* PLEASE GIVE ME MORE IDEAS :)
** Please, if possible, keep it fairly low-cost and fairly down to as few ingredients as possible. But really, whatever you come up with!

I use the microwave just as much (sometimes I buy stuff that can be microwaved).


And I use that good old toaster oven.

1.) Flameyons.

2.) Chicken breasts. 

3.) Party pizzas (big pizzas as well I guess).

4.) I will update this as I remember what I put in it.


I have some things I am going to try in the toaster oven.

1.) Muffins (muffin mix).

2.) Cookies.

3.) Chicken nuggets.

4.) Fries.

5.) Other meats.

Misc.
1.) I know how to make a no-bake cheesecake.

2.) I make juice (from cans of frozen juice).

3.) Pre-packaged, no cooking involved foods like donuts, candy, ice cream, etc.

Feel free to suggest stuff on Facebook or the comment section (for the stovetop, and for the toaster oven I guess if you want).

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

I'M BACK!!!!!!

I can't believe that I haven't blogged in such a long time. Well, break was, well, break. It was a normal break, and a good one at that. School has been, well, school. There isn't much to say about either of them after five semesters, and beginning my sixth, and facing two more (although one significantly shorter than the other). One goal I have for this semester: straight A's. I haven't achieved this yet, and I WILL.

Also, I am pondering my future (which gives me a headache, really). I know that no one feels like it is their right to interfere with my life (I'm not likely to show much appreciation if they do, no matter how much I need the advice, unfortunately). I just want to say that I am in my Mass Media Law class (finally, after everyone with as many credits as I have have already taken it), and I must say that perhaps I have found a niche. I feel really passionately about a federal shield law for journalists, and I want to be involved in that creation (IT WILL COME) either as the fighter for it or the politician who advocates it (the former, I would prefer). I just don't know how. Well, I could be involved in media law. Still, the thought of all those years of law school makes me cringe inside (the costs of law school hardly help alleviate it). Plus, my undergraduate degree(s) hardly provide much in the way of getting into law school (although English IS on the right track but it is not THE track). AND I want to make sure this is not just me trying to make up for something else (I don't know what). But law school for a woman is hardly a dream. And I'm old - 21 is old, trust me - but not only that I'm about to graduate college in a year with TWO degrees, which do not involve the law anymore than Small Press Publishing (contracts) and Media Law (introductory) are prepatory classes which practically don't even count! Why would this be growing in my heart the past two years? (Unfortunately, the years are right, even though I haven't admitted it to anyone until, um, today. Yea...).

Basically - I'm too scared to go to law school, too scared of failing. And I do not want to fail. What if this is God's plan for me? Why wasn't it more obvious...or, why didn't I listen?

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Finals

Finals are this week, or at least this month, for a lot of people. It's a stressful time, even if a student is not attending an Ivy League school. All schools hold finals in high regard.

Why? I don't know. I guess because they are the end of the semester test, the ability for teachers to know if you have learned something from their class.

I like the non-comprehensive finals, ones that serve as a third or fourth test that students get to spend two hours dawdling over (although few, but not all, only take half that time -- still, it's the IDEA that students have two hours that people like).

The comprehensive finals add more stress to an already stressful week. Better yet, professors should just give final projects and let that serve as the culmination of a student's knowledge. After all, how many of us are really going to remember the square root of 95 in our lives, no matter how useful that might be?

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

My Phone

Three days after my phone battery dropped down an elevator shaft and remained there, I finally got it back. I had almost 100 text messages that I missed over those three days.

WOW!

After whining to my RA and everyone else and spending too much time on Facebook and email, it returned.

I do, however, see the good in the situation. I was able to study for my finals, since I was not distracted by texting...and yes, texting IS a distraction. Of course, I was also thinking about my poor phone battery the whole time.

How did such a weird thing happen?

I really don't know. I was walking - really, Saturday was a horrible day, remedied only by dinner with Laura and Mike at McDonalds - to the elevator for something, I think laundry, and my phone dropped and broke open...and the battery went down the crack in the elevator. How the battery went down that crack I will never know because I wasn't watching it ... I just heard it hit the bottom. I'm pretty sure my finger got cut off (just teasing - I'm saying my phone is like a body part). And stayed there (because who can get to a battery in a crack in an elevator floor?) for three days - and a weekend, and everyone knows that weekends are a busy time for hotels.

Ugh! I worried about it, I checked on it (meaning I looked down the crack in the elevator when I went down the elevator), and I talked about it. I am sure that everyone is super annoyed about it now and happy that I got it back so that I will shut up about it.

And now Justice [the name of my phone] works again and we are back together and happier than ever.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Gossip

My favorite topic, probably because girls are so bad about knowing what is gossip and what is not gossip.

I do believe that gossips stems from insecurity. After all, if you're saying something about someone's clothes or body, things that cannot be changed and reflect who a person is, then you have deep issues that you need to confront and work through.

So, let's look at gossip from the Bible's standpoint.

1.) Gossip can stem from a lack of self-confidence that other people pick up on. After picking up on the lack of self-confidence of someone, others then discuss it in circles. God, however, punishes people who do humiliate and pick on other people who are already down, if you examine the rest of Ezekiel 36.

Ezekiel 36:3

English Standard Version -- "Therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people..." And so on.

MSG 1-7 -- "And now, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel. Say, 'Mountains of Israel, listen to God's Message. God, the Master, says, Because the enemy crowed over you, "Good! Those old hills are now ours!" now here is a prophecy in the name of God, the Master: Because nations came at you from all sides, ripping and plundering, hauling pieces of you off every which way, and you've become the butt of cheap gossip and jokes, therefore, Mountains of Israel, listen to the Message of God, the Master. My Message to mountains and hills, to ditches and valleys, to the heaps of rubble and the emptied towns that are looted for plunder and turned into jokes by all the surrounding nations: Therefore, says God, the Master, now I'm speaking in a fiery rage against the rest of the nations, but especially against Edom, who in an orgy of violence and shameless insolence robbed me of my land, grabbed it for themselves. "Therefore prophesy over the land of Israel, preach to the mountains and hills, to every ditch and valley: 'The Message of God, the Master: Look! Listen! I'm angry—and I care. I'm speaking to you because you've been humiliated among the nations. Therefore I, God, the Master, am telling you that I've solemnly sworn that the nations around you are next. It's their turn to be humiliated."

Evil gossip. Here gossip gets an adjective - evil, as in, malicious, awful, horrible. Cheap is also used in some translations. So this is gossip at one of its worst points, where people are trying to humiliate someone else. As you can see, the object of the gossip then falls under God's protection.

2.) Gossip can stem just from evil hearts living in a fallen world. They are making it worse for others, but that is our world, sometimes.
Romans 1:29
English Standard Version -- "They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips..."
Romans 1:28-32
MSG: Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!

3) Gossip can stem from lacking discipline, guidance and respect. A gossip may refuse to turn from their old way of life into the new way of life. Jealousy, quarreling, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder are all grouped together.

2 Corinthians 12:20
English Standard Version (ESV)
20For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

The Message (MSG)
12: 20-21 I do admit that I have fears that when I come you'll disappoint me and I'll disappoint you, and in frustration with each other everything will fall to pieces—quarrels, jealousy, flaring tempers, taking sides, angry words, vicious rumors, swelled heads, and general bedlam. I don't look forward to a second humiliation by God among you, compounded by hot tears over that crowd that keeps sinning over and over in the same old ways, who refuse to turn away from the pigsty of evil, sexual disorder, and indecency in which they wallow.

4) Gossip can stem from not having enough to do, and having a "we're just hanging out" mentality. It can stem from restlessness.

1 Timothy 5:13
English Standard Version (ESV)
13Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.

The Message (MSG)
5: 11-15 Don't put young widows on this list. No sooner will they get on than they'll want to get off, obsessed with wanting to get a husband rather than serving Christ in this way. By breaking their word, they're liable to go from bad to worse, frittering away their days on empty talk, gossip, and trivialities. No, I'd rather the young widows go ahead and get married in the first place, have children, manage their homes, and not give critics any foothold for finding fault. Some of them have already left and gone after Satan.

A clarification. Slander is malicious lies that people tell about others, with the intent of destroying another's reputation or life. Gossip may or may not be lies, but it is idle talk, may or may not be malicious, and is about people's personal lives. Some people don't realize that gossip most closely resembles "just talking about others," and mistake it for slander. Some gossip is stronger and comes extremely close to slander.

So we need to avoid it, watch what we say, and who we hang with. Sometimes we need to directly confront the person partcipating or pertuating gossip.

And remember.

If you wouldn't say it to the person you're talking about, don't say it to anyone else.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Blessed are you who mourn...

This is for everyone out there who's had a rough week/month/year. "Blessed are those who mourn [weep, wail, moan in deep sadness], for they shall be comforted." Prayer for you: "The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, be with them in their time of mourning. Bring them Your joy and your peace, which passes all understanding. For the Lord says, "Weeping may last for a night, but the joy of the Lord comes in the morning." Love you all!" :)

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Comments

FINALLY! Comments work on my blog. They will show up now!

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Lessons from Jacob

Genesis 25-Genesis 33 - Jacob lost his whole family, way of life, his material possessions, and his land. He was fleeing for his life, despite having God's blessing and being the son who would inherit from his father. Even if we lose our whole family and way of life, God is still with us. We never lose God!

Eventually, Jacob received more than he could ever dream of (all twelve of his children were born before he ever got back to the "Promised Land") despite having lost everything. And God prepared the way Jacob and Esau eventually reconciled. God is a god of RECONCILIATION, of mending broken relationships! Amen.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

The Redemption by M.L. Tyndall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was a fantastic, must read book. It was my first introduction to MaryLu Tyndall. I bought the book with a gift card to Borders (now out of business, unfortunately). It was at the very top of the shelf, but somehow (divinely inspired), it found its way into my hands.



Charlisse is now my favorite heroine (my other favorite being Hadassah in Francine Rivers' "The Mark of the Lion" trilogy).



Charlisse is abused and neglected by her uncle in London. She flees him in search of the father she never knew, a pirate. She becomes shipwrecked and is found by Captain Merrick, a man filled with Christian compassion who desperately wants to stop Edward the Terror, one of the most vicious pirates on the sea and his former captain.



With pose, passion, and dignity, Tyndall weaves the story of Charlisse and Merrick on the tapestry of the Caribbean with God and Christ at the helm.



Merrick is noble, brave, and charismatic, but harbors deep pain.



Charlisee, too, is brave, fiery, and cautious, but hides dark secrets.



She keeps readers guessing and wondering - just what is Charlisse hiding, what happened to Merrick, who's Edward the Terror, and how does Charlisse factor in to this cylce?



There is no sexual content other than kissing, although some of the minor men (sailors, Charlisse's uncle) are licentious.



There are battle scenes, but these are well-done, and not presented as gory messes.



Drugs and drinking are frowned upon as bad habits and something people shouldn't do.



The language is appropriate with nothing foul.



A must read book, fantastic, entertaining, spiritually uplifting book!



View all my reviews

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Discipling: Psalm 91 Five-to-ten-minute Bible study

Here is a brand new Bible study to enhance your knowledge of the Bible.

A pretty common Psalm, but it needs to be looked at deeply. Stay tuned for more Bible studies!

Read Psalm 91 out loud. There is a link below.
Psalm 91

Questions:

Who does God honor?
Where should we strive to be?
When we are under the shelter of God, who do we fear?
Does God keep us safe in any situation? How?
Does God want us to be afraid?

1.) Pick out one, two, or three verses that leave an impression or say something to you.

2.) Search through those Scriptures. Answer the following questions, if possible.

What promises from God are there?

What warnings from God are there?

How do the characters mentioned in the Scriptures (players, i.e., angels, demons, other people, God) relate to our lives?

What does this say about our culture or society?


3.) Paraphrase the Scriptures in your own words.

4.) Pray the Scripture over a family member, a friend, or someone you know who needs to be saved. Ask God how you can outreach to them and be His hands and feet to them.

4.) Make up a short song, story, drawing, or poem that relates to the Scripture (if you wish). Or think of some creative way to express the Scriptures you chose.

Thanks! Love you all with Christ's love.


Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Three Weeks

Three weeks until classes end. I'm basically just preparing for finals and finishing up projects and end of the year activities.

Feel free to help out!

I am conducting a small scale survey on the effect of text message lingo on the English language for my History of the English Language class.

Everyone who isn't in college survey


This is for my UI500 class, the History of the English Language, and for my Sociolinguistics paper. Your answers are helping me out! I need about 15 people to answer. I love you all!

College students survey


Praying you have Faith, Hope and Love,

Rachel

Eudodias Email

This showed up in my email:

Euodias

The Woman Who Fell Out With Her Friend

Scripture References - Philippians 4:2 (see Acts 16:13-15; 17:12)

Name Meaning - Euodias is actually a man's name. Euodia is its right form here ( Philippians 4:2, rv). Euodias means "prosperous journey" - Euodia, "fragrant." Wilkinson has the note, "Euodia is 'a good journey,' and was used in the colloquial Attic Greek as the French use the expression bon voyage." Euodia is coupled with another female, Syntyche, and both may have been among the women who resorted to prayer at the river bank (Acts 16:13-15), and among the honorable women who believed ( Acts 17:12). Scripture is silent on the genealogy and family association of these two women who, after their conversion became colaborers with Paul in the Gospel (Philippians 4:3). Belonging to a class bespeaking prosperity they doubtless ministered unto Paul of their substances.

At Philippi women were the first hearers of the Gospel and Lydia the first convert. If Euodias and Syntyche were also brought to the Lord there, they naturally took a leading part in teaching the Gospel to other women in a private sphere of labor once the Church had been formed there (1 Timothy 2:11, 12).

When Paul exhorted these two prominent workers to "be of the same mind in the Lord," he implied that they had been previously at variance. What caused the breach between these two deaconesses in the Philippian Church we are not told. Perhaps one had a more dominant personality than the other and received more attention. Whatever the dispute was, it became serious and hindered the work of the Lord, so Paul besought the two women to give up their differences and live at peace in the Lord. The lack of harmony between Euodias and Syntyche disturbed the Apostle, so he urged a reconciliation, for as those professing to be redeemed their whole life should be lived in peace and in an endeavor to please Him who had saved them.

A humorist has suggested that because of the strife between these sisters in Christ they should have been called Odious and Soon-touchy . It was sad that there was this difference of opinion, and more tragic still that divisions have kept Christians apart all down the ages. "How can two walk together except they be agreed?" is an old adage we have lost sight of. We like to believe that Paul did not plead in vain, and that Euodias and Syntyche were completely reconciled and went on unitedly to serve the God of peace. Is there any need of such a reconciliation in your life as a Christian? If so, for the sake of your own peace of heart and your influence in the world, go out and put wrong things right.

Today's reading taken from Herbert Lockyer's "All the Women of the Bible," copyright 1967. Other material copyright 2011 Bible Gateway except where otherwise noted.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Well, I haven't had any problems with planes or trains. Big shock, as I have nothing to do with any of them.

It all started with an automobile.

Something messed up over the summer - it literally stranded my sister on the highway to St. Charles, needed a new engine and oil - and since then it's been monthly disasters.

Well, we couldn't get a good car fast enough, so we replaced the engine. Then there were oil problems, problems with keeping oil in it - a leak, plus it needed to be changed (it was long overdue). And now the power steering fluid is leaking, which is probably being chalked up to the new engine, since it wasn't doing it before the new engine.

Now I'm going home. Again. I mean, I may live in Cape Girardeau, but I'm pretty sure I reside in St. Louis, very much so. Then again, I've always mailed packages back to St. Louis because I don't "trust" the school system down here. I am finally sending something to myself down here. (Cape is south of St. Louis, pretty much south of any big city. I love Cape.)

So, compounded with fifteen credit hours, increased responsibility at the Arrow where I work, driving home in October and September to work over 20 hours a weekend, increased responsibility within every student organization I'm involved in, and inter-relational conflict, among other things, it's been stressful.

I love it. I swear I do. (The busyness, not the car trouble.) But man I don't know what else I can handle. At least death isn't being thrown in the mix. Actually, scratch that, a relative did die recently (I'm telling you, it's yearly), but I didn't personally know him - my parents did, though.

My help comes from the Lord, whom I can trust.

Cast all your burdens onto the Lord. Christ shares our yoke, and makes it light and easy. I'm worrying/stressing myself out needlessly. Christ provides, comfort, nurturing, and meeting our basic needs. He always has, always will. I'm going into His strong arms right now.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

WORDS

Life and death is in the hands of God.

But they are also in spoken word. The spoken language is as natural to man as anything, unlike the written word, which must be learned. But when people are deprived of the spoken word, of the love that comes out through speech, their lives spin down an irreversible spiral of blackness leading to death.

You may say that isn't true. Words don't matter.

You'd be lying.

They do. Oh, they do.

It has been seen numerous times. We see it best in severely neglected children, such as Danielle , a girl so neglected that she could only communicate in grunts. Her eyes were distant and vacant. No one had spoken to her; she could not speak at all, despite having a mother and two adult brothers. Or the baby primates who, despite the fact that they were starving, crawled into the comforting arms rather than taking food from mechanical arms.

We see it in the babies in Romania, who died or were irrevisibly damaged from being left in rooms or in cribs and subjected to only the basic necessities - but received no love or affection or words of affirmation.

Words are everything. A negative word, a positive word. Both can uplift or depress. The way they are spoken - I love you said harshly means something different than I love you said lovingly and gently - also matters.

I made a vow today that I would speak more positive, uplifting words, as much as possible, words that give life instead of death. It will be a hard change, but one that will be worth it a thousand times over.

If I do not do what I know is right, if I am not a light in my little world, who will be? If not me, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?

All people have are their words.

Who else will make such a vow, and keep it?

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel

Chapbook Ideas

Ideas for my Chapbook

black or putered

gold or silver

or red - embossed and shiny --- fire ---- ribbon

textured black

Scrapbooking letters in this font?

Colors agree with each other

COHESIVE!

Red and Black

---- Red, orange, yellow mix paper color (for background - this would represent heat)
and nice heavy duty paper (Staples ---- may be cheapest, get in bulk not individual pieces, Hobby Lobby - individual pieces)

8 - 9 pieces of inside paper


The Spirit Press
Mission statement editing


Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel