March 2015

Well, February wasn't that busy. The last weekend, I went to a conference with my friend Tara. It is called The Art of Homemaking and is presented by the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth. We had a great time. Next year, I hope to get a fairly decent size group to go. I have been to several very bad women's retreats, so I wanted to check this one out before inviting a bunch of people. I wouldn't say it was the best conference I've ever been to but it was the best women's conference I've ever been to. I dream of hosting a women's conference one of these days & I would do a lot of things differently but this one is still one I would highly recommend. Next year it will be in the fall, so we have to wait almost 18 months for the next one but it will be worth it. :)

On Valentine Day, Anthony got up early and made me breakfast in bed. It was so wonderful. Red roses, heart shaped biscuits, man, I am one blessed woman!

I said in my last two posts that I was going to talk about my goals for 2015. I am going to be really general because I have a very, very long list that speaks of the specifics of each goal so there is no need to address that here. So, here I go.

I have categorized all of my goals into nine main groups: spiritual, physical, mental/educational, entertainment, emotional, family, social, home, and work. Because I'm a little bit crazy when it comes to making lists and outlines and organizing (despite my home not exactly evidencing that), I have subcategories & subsubcategories. Hehe. So, I'll only share a few of them with you and tell you how I'm doing on them so far, being that we are almost 1/4 of the way into 2015. :)

I. Spiritual

     A. Prayer

          1. Prayer journal - I am no where near consistent in setting aside time to pray. However, when I write my prayers out, I can concentrate better. I have also seen how my prayers often start out me-centered but end more God-centered. My husband and my mother-in-law both got me journals for Christmas that I am using as my prayer journal.

          2. Read a prayer from Valley of Vision each night together before we go to bed - I was doing this for a little while and then I stopped. I need to get back into this again. 

     B. Bible reading

          1. BSF - I am almost through my first BSF session. I'm looking forward to studying Revelation. I have different thoughts on eschatology than I did even four years ago so I'll be interested in seeing how they deal with the different viewpoints and it will be good for me to read through Revelation slowly now that my presuppositions have altered somewhat.

          2. Daily Bible reading with Anthony - We have been doing this since we got married. We miss days/weeks every so often but it is a definitely a habit we want to always be a part of our marriage.

          3. Behold Your God study - I am almost finished going through this with my friends. Wow! What an amazing study! It will reprogram your mind to think of God differently, more Biblically. It is by far the best book study I have ever participated in.

          4. Keep a list of what God says about Himself - This was an idea I got from one of the pastors interviewed in the Behold Your God study. 

          5. After reading a passage, always ask, "What does this passage tell me about God?" - The Bible is not all about me, I need to remember that. Asking this question will help me to remember who the Bible really is about.

          6. Practice homiletics - No, I don't want to preach. However, I did take a one hour BSF seminar on homiletics and I can see how it really helps you in studying a passage. I haven't practiced this much but I really want to work on it this year. Plus, I one day want to write Bible studies for women and this will help me practice in doing that.

     C. Scripture memory - I've posted a verse to memorize by our door but I really don't see it that often so I think I'm going to put the same verse in our bathrooms as well so we see it more often. ;)

     D. Church

          1. Get involved - I have joined the audio visual team and Anthony is the hospitality person for our new church, The Church at Pecan Creek. What is great is that we can actually help each other out. Anthony is so gifted at understanding technology and has been helping me & the whole team get some things set up. The other night he was sick so I and another friend of ours took care of the hospitality stuff. I will say that this audio visual stuff is daunting but I'm learning a lot. We have the ability to control both the projector and the sound system from our iPads, allowing us to sit in the audience rather than in a sound booth. 

               a. Audio Visual team

               b. Hospitality

               c. Women's ministry - I want to get a women's ministry going eventually at our new church. We aren't quite there yet but I definitely want to be involved with it.

II. Physical

     A. Exercise

          1. Wii Fit - I got a Wii Fit for Christmas and I love it. I need to be more consistent about doing 20-30 mins every morning, which means I need to get up earlier (another goal further on).

          2. Work up to 10,000 steps a day - I got a pedometer that connects to the Wii Fit so I'm keeping track of this. I didn't realize how sedentary I really am. Very depressing. The other day I walked almost three miles and still didn't even get close to 10,000 steps. I never realized how much walking that actually means. :)

          3. Thirty min move after every meal - Last week I came up with the idea to try to take a 30 min exercise of some sort (gardening, walking, wii) after every meal. I haven't done this yet but I think it is doable and healthy.

     B. Food

          1. Monthly menues - I've been consistent with this for a year; I just want to keep doing so and hopefully be better at sticking to it this year. :)

          2. Try more healthy recipes - I've researched a few new recipes I want to try including cooking with spring rolls, quinoa, and cauliflower, all things I've never experimented or even tasted. 

          3. Keep a food journal - I'm a member of SparkPeople and keep up with my nutrition through their app. I just started back at this last week and I've been pretty good at keeping up with it, with a few meals missed.

          4. Water - I am an avid water drinker however, over the last couple of years, I've gotten into a bad habit of not drinking as much as I use to. I need to be better at getting my water in each day.

     C. Checkups - working on these

III. Mental/Educational

     A. Reading

          1. Read 10 books this year (not including the Bible) - I am currently reading two books. So, I'm already behind but as long as I'm consistently working toward this goal, I'm happy.

              a. Women's Ministry in the Local Church by Ligon Duncan & Susan Hunt - I'm 65% (according to the Kindle app) of the way done with this and I can say it is a wonderful book. I highly recommend it to all women and all leaders (including the men) in a church to read this book.

              b. Everyone's A Theologian by RC Sproul - I'm only a couple of chapters in but this book is so great. It is an intro to systematic theology and is a book that every Christian should read.

               c. 

     B. Sewing - I haven't done these yet.

          1. Learn to make a skirt

          2. Learn to make PJ pants with pockets for Anthony

          3. Learn to make toys

          4. Learn to make window treatments (cornice, drapes)

IV. Entertainment

     A. TV time

          1. Limit TV time to two hours a day (except when sick and doing laundry) - We are actually pretty good at doing this right now. Many nights we don't even turn on the TV. The problem is that when we do, it is very difficult to turn it off.

     B. iPhone/iPad games 

          1. Delete the time wasting games - Done. I had some games on my iPad that I realized one day I was spending hours on and wasting much of my day. They are now gone. I feel so free now; I didn't realize what a slave I had become to them. I still have a couple of games that only take a min to make a move before waiting for the next person to move so those don't suck my time away. I also still have Sudoku but I usually only play that while watching TV.

V. Emotional

     A. Time management

          1. Get up by 6 am - I am so not good at this. I have got to get better at this. If this is the only thing I get in the habit of doing this year, I will cut it a good year. :)

          2. Create and stick to a daily schedule - I have done this several times but I finally think I have created one that works for me. I have been pretty consistent at sticking to it as well...at least most of it...still need to work on getting that exercise in as one of the first things in the morning...hence needing to get up at 6 am. 

          3. Prep dinner in the morning - When I don't do this, I can sometimes dread having to stop what I'm doing to spend the next two or more hours cooking & then cleaning up from cooking. When I get most of the prep work done in the morning, I know if I need anything in time to go to the store, I can know the meat is thawed/marinated, and I usually end up saving myself a lot of frustration and time. Another reason for needing to be out of bed by 6 am.

VI. Family

     A. Family archival - I'm still working on this. I was really consistent of doing this for a while but there was a few weeks that I couldn't and just never got back in the habit. I cleaned off my desk on Sunday so that I would have room to get back at this again.

VII. Social

     A. Game group - We want to create a gaming group that meets fairly consistently. Right now there are four of us but we would like to invite a few other people to join in with us. We are working on this one. :)

     B. Have people over at least once a month - We do this fairly often already but I want to start inviting people who we don't have over that often.

VIII. Home

     A. Major projects

          1. New garage door opener - done

          2. New roof & gutters - I need to call the insurance company to see if they can come take a look at the roof.

     B. Minor projects

          1. New tires - done

          2. Fix door panels - done

          3. Fix fence - not done yet...the weather & our busy weekends had been impeding this. 

IX. Work

     A. Kapp's Kitchen

          1. Make one batch of cookies a day - I'm not doing this consistently yet.

          2. Work the Denton County Community Market - We are trying to get our application in for this but we have a question that hasn't been answered yet, so we are kind of in limbo at this point.

     B. A Narrow-Minded Woman

          1. Research/write 1-2 hrs a day - I am not consistent in this, yet.

          2. Publicly publish the site - Not quite ready yet. I have all the pages up and ready but I want to get at least 10 articles written before I start posting.

          3. Post 2-3 articles a week

     C. COO of the Kapp Family

          1. Create a home management binder - I have created several printables and I am working on more. I have been enjoying a few of the ones I have created so far. One of these days I may put them online for purchase. 

          2. Organize & clean office - I cleaned part of my desk off on Sunday, does that count? ;) Granted, much of this is directly proportional to how far along in the family archiving I am. 

So that is part of what I'm working on this year. Ha. Like I said, I like making lists. It makes me feel calmer and less overwhelmed. Some of these are already complete, some are just habits I want to maintain, others may take many years or a lifetime to complete, and it is highly likely I'll add more to this list as the year goes along. There are a few other things that I didn't list either because they were a little more private or I just didn't want this list to get crazy. Ha. Fail there. ;)

February 2015

January was relatively quite for us. It was nice. I finally got most of the house cleaned & organized after being sick and the holidays. Anthony installed new lighting under the cabinets in the kitchen and put together a bookshelf for our bedroom. I moved all our books (except the cook books) from the living room & into the bedroom so that we could fill the bookshelves in the living room with our board games. What we learned is that either we need more bookshelves (& a bigger house for them to go in) or we can't buy anymore games for a while. :) On an unrelated note, if you like the looks of our bedroom furniture and you have a way of hauling it, we can make you a very good deal on it. :)

New bookshelf in our bedroom.

Our games are taking over.

But what has really made us feel like our house is now a home is the purchase of a lamp. It is so weird that that one little thing has made our living room so much more cozy and homey. :)

January 18th was our first official service as The Church at Pecan Creek. We held it at our future site, Pecan Creek Elementary, and will be meeting there once every two months until we move there permanently in August. It was a great service. We are really starting to make some close friendships. It is very exciting for us two introverts to make friends. :)

Pastor Trey Talley

We visited Malta for a few days and shelled some pecans. Anthony made pecan chicken & pork chops that was amazing.

Other than that and a couple of game nights, January was pretty quite. Seemed so much busier at the time but when I look back, it seems less impressive. ;)

I did say last time that I would discuss my goals for this year. I still plan on doing that. I've got them written out but I am still thinking about how I want to talk about them here. :)

December

BGG Con

November was a blast.

We went to the 2014 Board Game Geek Convention in Dallas. So much fun. I (Kristy) didn't have a break down from social anxiety this year. Yay! I only got really moody once (that I can remember) but it was super late at night. :)

I played 38 games in 5 days. Anthony played 33. Anthony volunteered in the library for an hour and went to a charity auction for a couple of hours, so I was able to play a few more than him. 

If you would like to see all the games I played, click here. Games I would highly recommend include:

Playing Las Vegas

• Black Fleet (pirates...need I say more)
• Colt Express (very cool game with a cool "board")
• 7 Steps (pretty abstract...not in America yet)
• Machi Koro (we already owned this one but it is worth mentioning)
• Robinson Crusoe (extremely difficult co-op game but very cool)
• Hot Tin Roof (very similar to Ticket To Ride but maybe a little simpler...I liked it)
• Paperback (kind of like Scrabble mixed with Dominion...if you know what Dominion is)
• Planes (like Mancala but with a twist)
• Mysterium (similar to Dixit...also not in America yet)
• Alchemists (cool use of new technology...iPhone)
• Eight Minute Empire (quick, light Euro)

Anthony, Alejandro, Jordan, & me

One night we went with a group to Hard Eight BBQ. It was pretty good, not my all time favorite BBQ place but it is seriously hard to compete with Prairie House...mmmmm....

After staying up past 2 am four nights in a row, we were exhausted when we got home. I was super irritable and ready to fight somebody for two days after that. I even risked going to a post office I had an incident at about 3 years ago but this time was much nicer despite my attitude. ;)

I'm starting to recognize a theme. I would like to ask all two of my readers to please remember me in your prayers. I need God to work on my attitude. 



We spent Thanksgiving with Anthony's family in Paris...Paris, TX, that is. We had a great time and so much delicious food. 

The day after Thanksgiving we all went out to the bottoms on the Red River. A lot of them spent several hours riding four wheelers over the dunes. Anthony's aunt made chili and hot cocoa. We roasted hot dogs over a camp fire and made a campfire dump cake. I had never had a dump cake, much less one made over a campfire and, oh man, was is delicious!

Now December is in full swing. We went to the Denton Tree Lighting and had funnel cakes. Anthony and I are really starting to feel at home in Denton. We tend to run into people we know when in stores or out at community events.

We had our own little tree lighting event of ourselves the other night. We watched Mickey's Christmas Carol and A Muppet's Christmas Carol while decorating the tree and mantle. It was a nice cozy evening just the two of us.

Have a merry Christmas everyone!

November...and October. -_-

Well, I completely forgot to post a family update for October. Oops. :) If you are interested in seeing our menu for October, click here. However, we didn't stick to it that well...again. -_-

Good news, we have had quite a few orders through Kapp's Kitchen. Very encouraging. 

Rick Morton with Tanya and Anya

The weekend of Nov 1st, Project 1:27 at Shady Oaks Baptist Church hosted it's first big event in acknowledgment of Orphan Sunday (Nov 2nd). Project 1:27 at Shady Oaks Baptist Church is a ministry my in-laws started at their church for support for adoption, foster care, and orphan care. They are just in the early days of the ministry but it is very encouraging to see interest growing. On Nov 1st, they hosted a mini-conference at the church. Rick Morton was the guest speaker and Kapp's Kitchen provided quick breads as refreshments. There was around 30-40 people who came and it was very encouraging. Mr. Morton also spoke at Shady Oaks on Sunday morning. If you would like to hear his sermon, you can see the video here.

On a related note, Phyllis called us telling us of two little girls who were in need of a "forever family." Anthony put it on our church's Facebook page with little expectation of getting a response. Within 20 mins, a couple from our Sunday school class messaged Anthony. Long story short, they are now in the process of adding these two beautiful girls to their family. It is a beautiful story but it will be a challenge. Every adoption is. However, they have a large, willing support group around them. They also have started a GoFundMe page to help the raise money or the adoption process and expenses to come. If you are interested in giving to this sweet family, check out their page here.

I have volunteered to learn the sound board at our church. Very intimidating but I'm getting it. I have been doing the words for the screen for a couple of weeks during Sunday night church but that is way easier than learning the little intricacies of the sound board, cd player, and lights. 

My back row Baptist view.

Soooo, November....this is a very full month for us. Next week, we are at the Board Game Geek Convention playing board games for five days. We are so excited about it. 

I always get a little nervous because there are a lot of people at this event and I am not the best in a crowd. The other thing is my confidence drops dramatically when I am in a crowd...especially when females are a minority. It is a roller coaster of emotions for me. First, I'm confident because I'm one of the few women at the event. Then, I start wondering, do these people even want to play a board game with a woman, what if I don't catch on right away, what if I do something stupid and ruin the game and once again fulfill these guys preconception that women should not play board games....see how my mind sometimes runs away. However, I am blessed with a wonderful husband that keeps reassuring me and two other great friends. 

Picture of the main hall at BBG Con 2013

Last year when we left the event, we said we would try to step out on our own more and face our introvert fears and try to meet more people. One good thing to keep in mind is that a large majority of these people are just as geeky, introverted, and socially awkward as I am. :) All the same, we are getting so excited. This year we are staying at the hotel instead of driving back and forth, so it is going to feel like a mini-vacation.

The four of us geeks at BGG Con 2013

I have come down with a cold that I'm fighting off. We are praying that Anthony doesn't catch whatever it is that I have so we can have a good time at BGG Con. We would appreciate your prayers as well. :)

The next week is Thanksgiving, which in addition to great food, always means, for us, more board games. ;)

I am never one to get excited about Christmas. I'm usually a bit of a Grinch however, this year, I am so in the holiday spirit. I'm actually having to restrain myself from making cocoa, putting on Christmas music, and decorating the house. I refuse to do it until after Thanksgiving...however, I don't see anything wrong with making some hot cocoa. :D

I have decided to finally learn to sew. I bought a sewing machine before we got married and I haven't even taken it out of the box until this past weekend. Today, I figured out how to change the needles out, attach a walking foot, wind a bobbin, and thread the machine. I also made a hand warmer as a practice project in honor for the cold weather that blew in last night. Yay! Now, on to my first project...I'll post on the results next month. :)

Because of all that has gone on in the last couple of weeks, I was just able to get a menu for November made this past weekend. As such, I couldn't remember what we had for some of the meals earlier in the month. :) I'm actually already deviating on the plan for today because, like I said above, I'm sick and just didn't have the energy to make a quiche. ;)

Summer Tapas & Game Night

Two weekends ago we had our friends, Al & Jordan, over for dinner & game night. My sister, Kim, had given me some salt blocks for Christmas this past year & thought this would be the perfect time to try them out. So, we decided to have a tapas night. Anthony titled the menu "Five Course Summer Tapas"


We started out with a salad of fresh spring greens, napa cabbage, carrot, red bell pepper, & cucumber with a fresh Ginger Peanut Asian Dressing. I made the dressing based on a recipe I found at The Cafe Sucre Farine blog. Let me just say, this is now one of my staple dressings. It was AMAZING. I may use it as a marinade for a chicken stir-fry soon as well.


For the appetizer, Anthony made Polenta Pizziolis. He made the polenta himself & then added some marinara & fresh mozzarella. They were amazing. This was my first time having polenta, so, true to my picky palate, I was a little nervous but, oh my gosh, sooooo good. Also, Jordan brought roasted tomato crustini that were amazing as well. She had roasted some super sweet cherry tomatoes. As a person who never eats tomatoes unless they are in ketchup or sauce, these must have been amazing because I couldn't stop eating them.

Then we brought out the super hot salt block & Anthony proceeded to cook the shrimp on it. We had three sauces to dip them in: a basic cocktail sauce that was hardly touched, a honey sriracha sauce that Anthony made, & chipotle barbecue that was another Anthony concoction. The two Anthony sauces were super flavorful & delicious but also quite spicy. The salt block salted the shrimp perfectly & was a very cool process. Below is a video I tried to capture to give you an idea.

For the entree, we used some of our left over wedding beef brisket & made street tacos. They were good, as well, but by this time we were all starting to become rather stuffed. ;)


To let our food settle a bit, we decided to play a few games before the desert of an assortment of Blue Bell ice cream (Kroger had a sale). Also, at this point, I would like to say I am so sorry for those of you who do not live in Texas & cannot get your hands on Blue Bell ice cream. Nothing compares except maybe what Baptist church ladies make for Baptist ice cream socials. 


We played board games the rest of the night, which has become our thing now, & into the the wee hours of the morning...which didn't make getting up for church the next morning the easiest task. ;) Al has begun collecting board/card games so we always get the opportunity to try out one or two new ones & play some of our favorites. 


This night, one of the games we played was a German murder mystery game called Mord im Arosa. Very fun & clever game. 


We also played a firefighting game called Flash Point. It is a cooperative game which means all the players work together, there is no one winner. Not being a super competitive person, I tend to like these games; however, I also don't like being told what to do, so sometimes they can be a bit irritating for me as well when a couple of strong personalities want to play for me. Then I just want to say what is the point of me being here. ;) Just another reminder of the human pride that infects me & that the Lord is continuing to sanctify in me through His grace & mercy. 


Then the rest of the night we played Dominion that has become a bit of an addiction of our little group. Al has now completed the entire game with all the expansion packs. They have an online version of the game, that, if you ask me, stinks. I get ridiculously frustrated with it however, some people seem to really enjoy it. :/ There is an iPhone/iPad app that I enjoy & I also, interestingly, find I am much more vicious in since I'm only playing the computer & not a real person. I wish they would hurry up & come up with a computer game of it though. 

Needless to say, it was a great night with great friends!