The Pioneer Woman and The Love Dare

Hello Friends!

I am home once again waiting on the cable (Dish Network) guy.  "What?" you say, "I thought you were getting cable last week." No my friend, they found no signal.  So someone new is coming today and I am spending yet another morning in the house waiting.  But don't feel sorry for me because I love it!  I've got my coffee, my camera, my laptop, and my puppies and I'm good to go.  

Have you ever been to ThePioneerWoman.com? If not, you are missing out.  Ashley, myrecipes.com extraordinaire and best friend, shared this site with me many months ago.  I had not visited in a while and one day I thought, "I'll see what Pioneer Woman is up to."  I hit the jack pot.  She started a whole section on photography.  We're talking easy to read tutorials that I can understand! I am pumped! (This may have been there all along, but I didn't notice it until now.) Anyway, I basically am terrible at manipulating this camera to do more than take pictures on full auto.  I'm trying, but I get frustrated when I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. Pioneer Woman is full of great advice so if you are interested in photography, cooking, gardening, and life in the wild west, check her out.

And, on to the second subject of the blog,.... The Love Dare.  (Couldn't think of a smooth way to transition from the Pioneer Woman to the Love Dare. Sorry.)

If you have ever seen the movie Fire Proof, you know what The Love Dare is.  If you haven't seen the movie Fire Proof, you need to watch it. Now. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Landmark (our church) just started a new Wednesday night class on the book, The Love Dare.  For those of you that may be unfamiliar, the Love Dare is a 40 day challenge for husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love. Sounds interesting, huh? Let me give you a little taste by sharing with you what is on the very first page: 

"Receive this as a warning.  This forty day challenge cannot be taken lightly.  It is a challenging and often difficult process, but an incredibly fulfilling one.  To take this dare requires a resolute mind and a steadfast determination. It is not meant to be sampled or briefly tested, and those who quit early will forfeit the greatest benefits.  If you will commit to a day at a time for forty days, the results could change your life and your marriage.  Consider it a dare from others who have done it before you." 

Tonight, we begin.  I am very excited about this class and this journey and I pray that it will change my life and my marriage.  I'm not saying that Ben and I don't have a great marriage, we do!  I just think that you can never do enough to make your marriage even better. Marriage doesn't just happen because you coexist in the same house.  It takes work. I'm sure I have a lot to learn and I can't wait to begin!

You can pick up a copy of The Love Dare at your local book store and definitely at your local christian book store.  If you are interested and need someone to keep you accountable, let me know and you can go through it with me! No class necessary.

Our New Addition and Berkley's New Doo

The Lassiter family would now like to welcome into their home, cable. Oh Food Network, how I have missed you! 

I may have mentioned before that Ben and I decided not to get cable after we got married.  Neither of us were big t.v. watchers and we had heard that it was better for your marriage to not have cable (the theory being that you spend time with each other instead of just sitting in front of the t.v.).  So, we opted to save the money and not do the "normal" thing.  Thus, for 1 year and 3 months, we have been without cable.  

Did we miss it? Not really. Sometimes.  It was probably missed more by our house guests than Ben and me.  You know how you have company over and you keep the t.v. on in the background? Well, we didn't have that.  No background t.v. here. I think that made some people uncomfortable.

I missed t.v. when I was home by myself and I was tired from work and just wanted to sit there. I missed t.v. when there was an Auburn game on and we couldn't have people over to our house to watch it with us.  That about sums it up. 

Now, don't be completely fooled.  Come February when it was time for the new season of LOST to start, you better believe we went out and bought an antenna.  We couldn't wait an extra day to watch the new episode on the internet.  

Anyway, Ben and I decided it's time to move up in the world.  Goodbye antenna, hello multiple clear channels! And, we are just in time for football season! 

Now, on to Berkley.  In case you missed a post or two, I have a 4 month old standard poodle. One major benefit of the poodle breed is that they do not shed.  However, dogs that don't shed must be groomed regularly, and you know that Ben Lassiter isn't going to cough up 30-50 dollars a pop for grooming the family poodle.  Therefore, I bought clippers and determined that I'd learn to do it myself. How hard can grooming a poodle be, right? So, my friend Katie called just as I had purchased said clippers and volunteered to come watch just for kicks.  Little did she know, she would be doing all the grooming.... here we go...

Berkley Lassiter, the "Before" shot

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Behold, the "Lamb Cut" (4 hours later)

Thank you Katie, for your help and your excellent grooming skills. I don't understand why I haven't heard from you since. Just kidding. Stop begging me to let you come over and give Berkley another hair cut! Enough is enough!