A Broken Marriage, A Broken Friend

I have one of those friends that I haven’t seen in almost 20 years-but we talk to each other like we parted yesterday. Her name is Angela. She is also a Godly survivor of marital infidelity, betrayal and a broken heart.

She interviewed me for her own blog, asking me all sorts of personal questions about my nunchaku skills, my ability to kick cheating husband’s butts and why I told her to fight for her marriage. I even revealed some things that have happened to me in the past that has shaped my view of a Godly relationship.

After she found out her husband had been cheating on her and lying about cheating on her, her world fell apart. Her ex tried repeatedly to force his way back into her life.

Here’s an excerpt from her blog-“Moving On After He Moves Out“:

Before my divorce, if a friend came to me and said, “Ang, I don’t know if my marriage is going to make it,” I’d say, “It will work out. Just pray.” After my own marriage didn’t work out (even though I’ve never prayed so much in my life), I had to go back and apologize to those friends. And now that I know how to relate to unloved wives, I want to offer all the support and encouragement I can. I don’t have all the answers, but I know the guy who does. And I know that no matter what choices your husband made, God’s still got awesome plans for your life.

God has restored her, her hope in marriage and her hope in finding a good man. Hop on over to her blog, read the interview with yours truly and let her you know her weirdo friend, “Becky Banana” (this will be explained).

If you’ve ever experienced infidelity and need someone to talk to, Angie is your gal.

3 Minute Fudge

A good friend of mine stopped by with her husband and this recipe for 3 Minute Fudge one evening. I am not a fudge girl-for the most part. But, she changed my thinking that evening with her deliciously easy fudge recipe-and I haven’t looked back since.

This recipe is so simple, it’s hard to believe. Within 3 minutes, the fudge is made and you can sit back while it cools in the refrigerator.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this quick, yummy dessert:

(2) 12 oz Semi sweet Chocolate Chips
(2) 14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
(1) Stick Butter-room temperature
(1) C Finely Chopped Walnuts

Combine the chocolate chips and the butter in a microwavable safe bowl.

Add the 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk.

Cover the bowl with wax paper. Microwave for about 3 minutes, stirring every minute, until everything is melted and smooth.

Stir in the cup of walnuts.

Spread the mixture evenly into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Cover and let the pan sit overnight in the fridge.

Slice into 1″ squares, pour a glass of wine, call a few friends over and enjoy!

Linking up here, along with other parties:

Playing with my Food-Happy Faces

Do you ever notice patterns in your life? You tell the same jokes. You recount the same stories at parties as fall back conversation. You wear the same outfit relentlessly because you know it’s cute…
 

…you do weird things in the kitchen to creep other people out.

Like playing with your food when no one is looking…

…which eventually is so irresistible to others, they have to join you.

Lately, I’ve been noticing a pattern when I’m cooking in the kitchen.

It started off slowly.

But then continued to grow into an obsession.

Maybe it’s a lack of real faces surrounding me that prompts me to create ones from inanimate objects.

Whatever the cause, I love to see “happy faces” in my kitchen, whether animal, mineral or vegetable.

It seriously never gets old.

Seriously.

What weirdo thing do you do?

My Current Obsession-Liquid Stevia

I am NOT getting paid to say any of this, NOR am I getting any free product. (But hey, Stevia makers-if you want to send me some free stuff, I won’t ‘return to sender’. Hint, hint.)

Biceps and I are on the path to paying off my student loans, our rental houses and our personal home. (You can read about that here.)

That said, we are trying to find extra ways to trim our budget without feeling like we have no life. We still want to enjoy life and its simple pleasures.

Our morning cup of coffee is one of our life’s simple pleasure. I require a tiny amount of sweetness added to my coffee-Biceps, on the other hand, requires a lot of sweetness added to his.

We were buying Splenda packets-but at $7 for 200 packets, I realized we were spending $.21 (4 packets for Biceps, 2 for me) every morning sweetening just our coffee. This amount didn’t include how much we were using to sweeten strawberries, yogurt or cereal. That may not sound like much, but over the course of a month, I was buying close to two boxes of Splenda and spending $14 to sweeten our lives.

I also didn’t like how Splenda was processed-it is zero calorie due to the fact that the sugar is run through chlorine. I did a little research and was dumbfounded at what I thought was a “safe” sweetener actually isn’t safe at all-and it could cause weight gain. Bummer.

“The inventors of Splenda admit around fifteen percent (15%) of sucralose is absorbed by the body, but they cannot guarantee us (out of this fifteen percent) what amount of chlorine stays in the body and what percent flushes out. New chemical sweeteners (like Splenda) and the sweetener blends (aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame K blended together in one product) may be causing users to show signs of weight gain, disruption of sleep patterns, sexual dysfunction, increases in cancer, MS, Lupus, diabetes, and a list of epidemic degenerative diseases.”-source

Since I am always looking for ways to save some serious dough and I am also wanting to decrease our nasty intakes, I decided I needed a better option. My mother-in-law convinced us to try liquid stevia, due to the fact I couldn’t stand the licorice aftertaste of the powdered Stevia.

We have found love. The 8 oz unflavored Stevia was about $7 at Whole Foods. The flavored Vanilla Creme Stevia was on sale for $11. (I ended up liking the unflavored more than the Vanilla Creme.)

We only need to use a few drops to sweeten our coffee or yogurt. The 8 oz bottle was purchased at the end of January and we still have 3/4 of the bottle left.

Knowing what we know about aspartame and sweeteners, I love that we are no longer ingesting nasty toxins and are replacing it with a natural herb. And knowing what we know about our budget, I love that we are saving money. I’ve figured over the course of a year that we will save approximately $140 a year on sweetener.

Boo yeah.