Miscellany Monday {6}

{1} So thankful

My husband’s new job benefits (for all three of us) started on October 1st. Last year, after my teaching benefits ended, we only had enough money to buy private insurance for Luke and I. My husband was without any kind of insurance from September 1st, 2009, to September 30, 2010. He went to the doctor one time, and he had no serious injuries or illnesses. God was very, very gracious to us.

{2} Apparently, we’re the weirdos

Chris was given an Olive Garden gift certificate for his b-day, so we went out to eat last night. On the rare occasions we eat out, I will usually (very politely) ask the hostess if they can seat us along a wall (and I always offer to wait longer than the expected wait time, if necessary). I just hate sitting in the middle of the dining room – it’s like, reverse claustrophobia, which weirds me out in an unexplainable way. Anyway, she seemed a little confused at first, but then typed in a note on her computer, and we sat down in the lobby. As we were sitting there talking, I hear one of the hosts by the to-go counter say, “So we have this couple that wants to sit in isolation…what do you guys think? Should we put them in 502? Is that isolated enough??” A second later, a hostess comes over to seat us. As we follow her, she says, “So you guys want to be in isolation, right? Is this table okay? I wasn’t really sure where to put you but we have this table all the way in our back dining room.” We just laughed and explained what had happened. Apparently it’s much faster to type in “isolation” than “seat by wall.” I wonder if they thought Chris was going to propose or something! haha

{3} Sweet little things

Speaking of Olive Garden, they have these new (to me) desserts – they’re called dolcinis.

Image courtesy of olivegarden.com

They’re mini cups of dessert and you can order them as singles or in triples. I ordered the chocolate mousse with dark chocolate cookie crust and chocolate shavings on top (the one all the way on the left). Oh.my.word. There may or may not have been some involuntary moaning and husband embarrassment going on at our isolation table.

{4} Tears of joy

Yesterday Chris and I went back to a church we had visited for the 2nd time. We got there early, and we met a few other young couples in the nursery (something we were worried about the week before). As we were standing there singing in the sanctuary, my heart just wanted to burst and I felt like crying. I knew we had finally found a new church home and I was overwhelmed. We are committed to going to this new church and we are both SO excited about how vibrant, loving, and committed to God this church appears. (And as an added perk, the pastor and his wife adopted two boys, which I think will be a great resource when we adopt in the future.)

{5} Pumpkin eater

A few months ago, a friend told me about the blog Eat Live Run. Jenna is a food blogger and she is pretty much the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. I made her whole-wheat squash pancakes yesterday for breakfast (subbing in pumpkin), and topped them with (real!) maple syrup and walnuts like she suggested. YUM. The whole house smelled spicy and warm. I highly recommend them for a crisp fall day.

My one suggestion: don’t add any salt – they were wicked salty (or maybe you could cut it by a fourth or something). You can always top it with salted butter if you want. If you’re anything like me, you have about 1,872 recipes clipped or mentally saved that you want to try. I’m glad I crossed one off the list!

{6} Two is better than one

I use two hands when I’m on a laptop. My right hand moves the “mouse;” my left hand clicks. Chris thinks this is SO weird. Does anyone else do this? Or is this once again a sign of my computer-ineptness? :)

Happy Monday! :)