21 days Closer to Christ day #2

21 Days Closer to Christ

Day #2

(John 13:4-15)

Take His Name

"Be true to who you are and the family name you bear"

Gordon B Hinkley

We should Take The Lord's name upon us thus Honor His name everyday.

*As you go through this day, find ways that you can bring honor to Christ's name by letting the walk of your life exemplify Him. On this day, try to remember Him always.*

*Try to reflect on how each name for the Savior describes a way that He blesses your life*

Slim Down day #1

This morning marked our first weigh in and

workout with our "Biggest Loser" type program at the local Y.

I knew what I weighed so it wasn't a surprise.

no, I'm not going to reveal that tidbit of new here!

nor am I going to put up my motivation or my comparsion picture.

That's just not right!

My friend Stephanie goes at 8 and does the water aerobics.

I meet her there for an hour of working out together.

Today we did the Elliptical machine.

then I went to a low impact aerobics class.

In the middle of the class I swore I was going to die.

So it must have been doing good, right?

I made it all the way through the class.

Then I came home and got out my Calorie King program.

I love this program it makes watching what I eat a breeze.

*I paid $50 for this program eons ago and they still allow me to download new foods, BUT there is a similar program that is free. I don't recall the name right now, but if you're interested just look around.

Ok, I'm not going to blog about my activities every day

but I will blog every week with my progress!

21 Days Closer to Christ

I decided to start this book on the

First day of February instead of last week.

Just easier.

I'll be jotting down the highlights of my daily reading

mostly because it helps me retain it more

if I've written it down after I've read it.

Day 1

"Come and See"

(Mark 1:16-18 and John 1:38-39)

"My desire today is for all of us ... to have a more straightforward personal experience with the Savior's example. Sometimes we seek heaven too obliquely, focusing on programs or history or the experience of others. Those are important but not as important as personal experiences, true discipleship and the strength that comes from experiencing firsthand the majesty of His touch."

(Broken things to Mend by Jeffery R Holland)

*Determine what fills your nets.

Are everyday challenges such as time constraints, demands from work or home, or feelings of inadequacy or fear holding you back from developing a relationship with Christ.

*Today try to listen

for the quiet invitations from the Lord to

come and see.

(taken from the book "21 days Closer to Christ)

Frustration here, Frustration there, Frustration EVERYWHERE!

This week my Facebook has decided to act funny. I can get on, I can see just the first few status' of my friends, I can't go beyond that, I can't push any buttons. That's the problem, I can't push any buttons. I'm Frustrated!

I wanted to get the pictures out of my camera and start posting them here ...well the camera is not talking the computer. I've tried to mediate but they just won't recognize each other! So the pictures are still in the camera. I'm Frustrated!

I'm Frustrated with my schedule last week, someplace to be EVERY day, very little home time. So today I'm giving up! I'm staying home ALL DAY! I'm going to just curl up with a movie or a book and pretend everything is working fine. This is my favorite place to be .... Denial!

I promise an update soon!

I just rushed in the door from subbing, I'm waiting for G to get off the bus. I just wanted to let you know that this week has been seriously busy, I am amazed at just how busy and filled up it has gotten.

I have several pictures and several ideas to post but just no time to sit and process it all enough to blog it.

I don't think I've been home more than a few hours (and awake) all week ... amazing! I'm usually more protective of my time than this, but somehow things just got piled into this week. This morning I just wanted to scream when someone called to request that I do some training Friday right smack in the middle of the day! I knew all week that they were trying to arrange the training but seriously from 11:30 to 1:30?

Gotta run now .... only time I could get a haircut!

2010 Book Review #3 "The Art of Racing in the Rain"

What a unique little book.

This book is written from Enzo's point of view.

Enzo is a dog, a dog that belongs to Denny.

I liked this book.

It won't be in my all time favorites just simply because I found the book too predictable.

It was a quick enjoyable weekend read.

it gets a 3.75 out of 5

2010 Book Review #2 "In His Holy Name"

Hmmmm, I don't know what to think about this book.

I really looked forward to getting it, reading it and enjoying it.

I love to hear this author speak, he is truly one of my favorites.

BUT this book, well I'll be honest

is over my head, at least that time being!

I don't know if over my head is the right term, it addresses questions that I simply don't have.

I thought it was going to be more of a self help book whereas it was a teaching manual.

It discusses the uses, meaning and concepts of the name of the Savior. How we use the name of the Savior through the scriptures, prayers and in our church meetings.

Interesting in the latter chapters of the book, but too technical for me in the beginning.

If you in the right place in your life (and have questions of why we use the name of the Savior in the ways that we do) then by all means read it (you can borrow mine), but if you're looking for entertainment this isn't your book.

should have just stuck to my one thing!

I went to the city today to run errands, plain and simple.

My friend called me to ask if she could tag along, she a had couple of errands and then we'd have lunch. Sounded perfect to me!

One of her errands was to Hobby Lobby. There was one thing I'd been wanting to get there, no big deal I'd just run get my thing then I'd tag along with her.

She stuck to her one thing .... I didn't!

I got my one small craft item and then I saw it ......I'd been wanting a black mirror to replace my wood mirror ...they didn't have a black one but a very dark one ...AND at 50% off.... in the cart it went.

I got home worked at getting it up before hubby got home. I worked and worked, stupid screws won't hit the right spots! Ahhh, there it was hung perfectly .... I step back to marvel that the beauty I'd just hung and things went blurry!?!
JUST HOW CAN THIS BE?

The mirror was terrible. As long as I was close up it was fine, but when I stepped back a few steps it was horrible. I left the room, refusing to look at it, but when I did ~ carnival style mirror re-appeared.

I took it down and put the old brown one back up. I'll return it tomorrow.
Should have just stuck to my one item!

Wise Words

"Faith is taking the first steps,

even when you don't see the whole staircase."

Martin Luther King

Sunday Thoughts

The talks were all on the Love of God today.

They were all great.
I enjoyed them and they gave me things to ponder this week.

The lady that spoke had me confused for a bit ....

She kept saying that "We should love others as we love ourselves"
I just kept wondering about how sometimes I'm very critical of myself. If that's how I feeling, that shouldn't be how I treat others.... confusion....BUT then she said what she meant .."We should love others as Christ loves us" WOW, now that's a whole other concept! One that I'm not confused at all! We should love others unconditionally, not with conditions.

Then the most enjoyable speakers (in my opinion) spoke. He is just easy to listen to.
Some of the notes I took from his words ....
~ Our Father's work requires love
~ When we are asked to do a calling (position) in the church we should do it with Love
~ There is a purpose for that position at that moment
~When we're obedient to our callings we'll be blessed
~ What do we really love?
~What is foremost in our minds? What do we seek?
~ We should seek after the spiritual not the material
~ Keeping the commandments allows us to grow spiritually
~ Our Father Wants us to grow ~ this means that we'll be tested
~ These test will become easier as we grow
~ We should listen for answers/guidance from the Lord

Dinner Date with my Baby

This week G and I found ourselves in the city at supper time.

He'd never been & he loves spaghetti so we went to

The Olive Garden. I taught him how to use his

fork and spoon to eat spaghetti.

(Notice the concentration?) He is a fast learner.

AND

He loved his spaghetti!

I loath Slush

I can handle snow, I can handle the cold ....but this slush is about to get the best of me!

Right at our driveway's end was a big snow drift (going across the road) the road grader has come by at least once a week (since Christmas eve) and pushed a snow mound right across our drive way. AAAGGRaaahh! it created a huge bump, that was over the height of a curb. I've scouted out the other driveways ....no one Else's just ours! It was so high that I would find myself bracing for the impact. This mound was firmly frozen so there wasn't much I could do other than pray it didn't hurt my van or give me whiplash.

WELLLLLL ~

The past couple of days it's been 40ish. Snow is melting. This bump has become a mound of slush. An impassable mound of slush! I got stuck going out this afternoon, stuck enough that I had to stop a farmer passing by to pull me out! Then about 4 mini stucks trying to get back in. OH that was fun as I now had G with me! Actually really stuck BUT I found a small pile of gravel that I could scoop with my hands and put rocks behind my wheels. 4 times! I was running out of gravel. Then driving up to the house, there is now a lake of water and slush ... no place to drain. I worked on a new drainage system there for quite some time.

SLUSH I could live without it!

School Spelling Bee

This morning was G's all School Spelling Bee.

He was one of two that represented his class.

He was so excited and nervous for this day.

He was one of 12 that made it pass

the first round by spelling

Suggest correctly.

But was out in the second round

with a miss spelled Beautiful

I am so proud of you!

Frozen Frost

This morning we woke up to a thick fog and freezing temps (20).

As the fog drifted away it revealed the beautiful frozen fog left behind.

Snowball in the Garage

Today I started out moving.
The Sun was shining it was already 22 at 8am.
It was going to be a good day to get things done.

I worked shipping things for Hubby.

I moved that car so the sun could hit the driveway. Melt melt away snow!
Then I went to garage ... and then things snowballed ....
I worked on the recycling for the school. I was able to ship off 2 big boxes of Juice pouches and chip bags. Cha Ching!

then I decided that my recycling could go too! I loaded the van full to take to the recycling truck in town. When I got there it seems like everyone in town had had the same idea. The truck was spilling over! That's a good thing!

then the Dog's blanket could be aired out, Skip didn't know what to think of his blanket outside.

I've now delivered all, put everything back in place in a more organized fashion!

A snowball of organization!

Sunday Thoughts

Well today was a long time coming. We hadn't had church due to weather issues for 2 weeks plus it marked a change.

Let me start off by saying that in our church we don't build buildings for all of our congregations. Thus we share buildings. Our building had only one congregation in it for umpteen years (since the 1980's). When we moved in 12 years ago we meet at 10am and continued at that time until last summer when we moved to 9am. That's when we added another congregation to our building. Today marked the first time our congregation met starting at 12:30pm.

WOW! this threw off my 'getting ready clock". Actually moving the time to 9am threw it off, but it just meant that it was chop chop, quick, quick all Sunday morning. Now it's quite the opposite. I got up, wandered around, showered, wandered around, blew my hair dry, more wandering, worked on my hair, wandered, put my jewelry on, ...... it was a long drawn out morning. AND it was still NOT time to leave. I felt like I could really relate to the Israelites wandering the wilderness for 40 years.

Needless to say we got there on time, sat in the chapel. About half way through the meetings I was ready for a snack and a nap. Then when I got home fixed supper it was almost time to bed.

OK on to the message ... "Hope in Christ"
I didn't take notes today, but I know from my own experience that when I feel like there is no Hope, it's really depressing. I feel like I need Hope to function, to move forward, to keep positive. In Christ I find all of this, the ability to function, the ability to move forward and the ability to be positive.

Words of G

A couple of days ago G came bounding into the room.

G ~ "Mom, when is your and dad's anniversary?"
Me ~ "in the spring"
G ~ "I'm thinking that you two need to go away on a vacation."

I'm thinking what a loving thought for this boy
to wish for his parents an anniversary getaway.

Me ~ "Ok, maybe we'll go on a cruise" waiting for hubby's negative response to a cruise
G ~ "oh, that would be great, then W and I can have the RUN OF THE HOUSE!"

Again....

I wasn't going to post about the snow fall again, but when my boys look back on this winter I'll wish I would have.

Since just before Christmas there have been 3 significant snow falls. Each storm brought at least 3 inches of snow with frigid temps and blowing winds.

It is beautiful (from a inside looking out kind of way)
It is cold (zero was the high yesterday)
We couldn't find out Drive way
(until Farmer Bob came to the rescue)


It was blinding
(we couldn't see the tower lights that flash all night)


It was Christmasy (in a whipped frosting kind of way)

It left work to be done ....

The first snow obviously blew into the attic and on the one day it got above freezing melted.
these are only 2 of the water spots there are 6 right now, but the number may go up as the rest of the snow melts. Yes, the wind blew that hard that it got in our 'ridge cap'

Yes, I'll remember this winter for a long time (she says like the winter is over!?!)

Snowbow

Today hubby called home on his way home to tell

us to put our sunglasses on and look at the sun.

there was a Snowbow.

Can you see it?

it's there on both sides of the sun

way out at the edges of the picture.

We shot this shot through hubby's polarized sunglasses

and you can see the bow is larger.

In reality the bow would have gone all the way around the sun.

Pretty cool, huh?

Another night another new recipe

I can't believe that I haven't told you about this Christmas present yet!

(I didn't get permission for this picture so look fast it might disappear)

As you already know I love the Pioneer Woman

and now I love her cookbook, too

Tonight's supper is from this cookbook

(which you should RUN out and buy)

Chicken Pot Pie

(I don't think it would be right to give out her recipe on this one, sorry)

Very Tasty

Thumbs up all the way around table.

Another Yummy new dish

Can you tell that I'm tired of all the old dishes I was making? It's almost scary around here at dinner time. Chances are it will be new and never tried in this house before dish! Thus far I've only had one that was a "no go".

This breakfast dish I had Saturday morning when G had a church primary activity. It is wonderful, plus gluten and yeast free (if you need to know that) and YUMMY.

This picture is the recipe halved

Today this is Manipulation Breakfast casserole.....W and some of his buddies are suppose to work in the barn. They spent the night, this is my tool to getting them up (somewhat) early.

Amish Breakfast Casserole
Serves 12
Ingredients

1 pound sliced bacon,
diced 1 medium sweet onion, chopped (optional in my house)
6 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded Swiss cheese

Directions

In a large skillet, cook bacon and onion until bacon is crisp; drain. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; stir in bacon mixture. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until set and bubbly.

Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Simple but oh so tasty ....

I found this super easy, super good recipe for Apricot Chicken .

After I shared/tried it with my family I knew I had to share it with you.

Hey, when I say simple, super easy, that's what I mean PLUS the ingredients are things you can keep in your pantry (aka always on hand)

My kind of meal!

Multi Tasking

Yesterday I think I took Multi Tasking to a WHOLE new level. I was challenged!

From 10 to 2 ~
I made brownie's on a stick
made supper for a woman at church that was sick
had friend day for G
laundry
made up a bank deposit
made supper for us
cleaned up the kitchen
worked for hubby
and made sure the boys got to the Y (thanks W)

After 2 and before 4
I delivered the meal
Delivered the brownies on a stick
went to the bank
went to the grocery store
took the boys out for lunch
went to the post office
still worked on laundry
and got back home before G's friend's mother arrived (but only moments before)

Shewww!

2010 Book Review #1 "Same Kind of Different as Me"

When I started reading Same Kind of Different as Me I thought it was a totally different book as when I finished it. Somewhere in the middle it took a turn for even better.

The combination of Ron Hall and Denver Moore is wonderful. One I found myself in and the other I found myself wanting to be.

This book certainly gets a 5 out of 5 stars from me.

quotes from the book .....

"I'll have to think about that"

this quote made me realize that somethings

(most things) should given more time to be thought about

"Catch and Release"

What kind of person am I?

"It is good"

I need to remember this one

"Just get out of the way and let God do His thing"

Stop worrying over things

"I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn't ever gon' have no kind a' future. But I found out everybody's different - same kind of different as me."

this one says it all

I recently read the notes of someone that had heard

Mr Moore and Mr Hall speak a stand out quote from her notes .

"Some people are Bible readers

and some people are Bible Doers"

wow if that doesn't give you something to think about!?

Happy Birthday Hubby

Happy 54th Birthday

2010

thoughts on 2009

As 2009 ends I've been thinking back

This little family has done so many things

fun things, new things, amazing things, learned new things, accomplished things, loved things, enjoyed things, some painful things but most of all we've done them together!

Christmas 2009

Christmas Morning

Christmas Snow

Christmas with Dad and Betty

Christmas with Mom

This can mean one thing .....

That pile of hat, gloves, scarves, etc

drive hubby crazy

("you can't find anything in this basket, way do we have all of these?")

BUT on days like today.

I just dump it out and everyone

(G, G's friend, W, W 3 friends)

pick through it and attempt to be warm and dry!

They look silly, but they are warm!

I know I have yet to blog Christmas but I promise it's coming!

Julie and Julia

I finally had a little me time today

(not that I didn't have to keep pausing to take care of things)

and I watched Julie and Julia.

I liked it, it was fun, light hearted (no crying) and all girl!

Merry Christmas

Beautiful artwork by Liz Lemon Swindle

Christmas Eve Family fun!

This morning we had our

Traditional Christmas Eve

family fun.

Family Basketball

at the YMCA

Self Portrait of the event

We really aren't even in height.....

or talent.....

but we had fun!

This little attempt to let G

dunk the ball didn't work out so well.

After this picture, W raised G up,

G grabbed the rim

attempted the dunk but the ball missed.

W then tried to leave G hanging there while W got the ball.

G wanted no part of that .... yelling ensued (or should I say screaming).

sorry, I thought I had it turned, I'll work on this later.

The next attempt wasn't as successful in getting height

seems only 2 of the 3 were on board with the plan!

Christmas Eve 2009

No time off ....

Why can't I have at least one season without a thunderstorm?

I have a son that is leery of thunder AND a dog that is more than leery of the thunder.

Just one season, that's all I'm asking.... a 3 or 4 month period, just one season!

You think this sounds like nothing you try to carry in groceries and bags of Christmas gifts while NOT letting the dog shove his way into the house! They should give out a badge for the task!

Don't forget to breath!

Goals for the next couple of days.....

Make cookies for Exchange
Plan activities for exchange
get gifts for exchange
Attend G's Class party
send out the last of the Christmas cards
Gather enough food for W's arrival (might be impossible)
Wrap presents
make breakfast food for exchange (that's what we're serving this year)
attend cookie exchange
attend G's basketball game
work on church budget (that's funny, me making a budget)
find the candy canes I bought but now can't find
clean house
work on church project
laundry
fix supper every night
gather Terracycle things from the school
go through my gift list...check it twice
OH, and sleep!

Just for fun!

Brotherly Love

I had begun to notice the strong aroma of W's cologne as I sat at the computer last weekend.
It was strong enough that I was concerned about Just how strong was the smell downstairs!?!?

When I went down there to ask G (who was playing Wii) if he was OK, he claimed that he couldn't smell anything!?!?! I think his nose must have already been burn out of the smell.

A couple of hours later I hear .....

W yelling ~ "why would you do that?" "you're not suppose to do that, it will hurt you."

a few minutes later W comes up so I ask "what was going on"

Seems that G wanted to have some of W's cologne, so W sprayed some in the air for G to walk through. G had walked through with his eyes open and it had stung his eyes!

Yea, that's Brotherly love ... helping G smell better!

Oh, and the smell from before .. I asked W about that. It seems that W sprays his clean clothes with his cologne so they'll smell good when he wears them. Who knew?

P.E.O Christmas Party

My best buddy Stephanie belongs to a sorority type of group P.E.O.

They don't invite 'outsiders' to their meetings generally but I was invited to tour the Justice Center (our new Jail house) with them in October. That was interesting and hopefully I won't get the opportunity to 'tour' it again or at least not from the 'Sally'.

Then they invited me to their Christmas dinner at the country club and annual Auction on Tuesday. I was still recovering from Strep Throat, but I went to the dinner thinking that if I needed to go home I could before the auction.

Well, I made it through the dinner and then just went with the flow to the auction. They all make things (food, candy, gloves, dish towel, Christmas decorations) or purchase things to auction off. They have a lady with a great sense of humor doing the auctioning. It was fun, even though I was propped up along the wall, and fading fast. I slipped out after a couple of hours to head to my bed.

I must say I can feel that Stephanie is setting me up to be invited to become a member AND I must also say they need youth! Being with this group makes me feel young! Really really young. They are all super sweet and super funny! my kind of ladies!

I'm here and alive ~ I think!

I got my Rx Monday
Tuesday I was still feeling yucky but had a commitment so I was on the go
(I'll tell you about that in another post)
Wednesday around noonish, I came alive!
Thursday I was back feeling good BUT realized that I'd lost an entire week. Which wouldn't be anything to panic about except it's DECEMBER! It's a huge lost this month.
Friday I had a bit of a relapse ... I was chilly so I laid down to get warm and woke up 2 hours later!?!

Brotherly Love

This past weekend I was either on the run or in bed.

Hubby was out town playing basketball, so this left W to take care of G.

Sometimes this is a disaster, but sometimes they both rise to the occasion.

and this time they did.

Even though when I did meet up with the two of them

W gave me a warning that if G said *****(something I didn't hear and didn't want to have repeated)

it wasn't W fault. Evidently W said this ****(questionable statement)

in front of G but told him not to repeat it!

W got a "talkin' to" about his example with G. AND how I was going to ask for a refund from his

babysitting money if he I didn't straigthen up!

W knew before hand that I had somewhere to be on Saturday morning and that he'd be in charge of G. He had planned that they'd go to the Y. G could swim while W worked out.

AND they took a picture to document the day!

12 days of Christmas or maybe the 18 days of Christmas

I had been wanting to build the Christmas excitement for G. I had walked the $1 isles and picked up a few things but I was stuck at how to give them to him.

He answered my dilemma .......

This past Sunday evening (while I was sick) he and his daddy created a mailbox for the purpose of getting mail for his Detective agency (quite another story and it deserves a picture for sure!).

I now have a place to 'deliver' his little gifts.

To see what is being deliver daily go check out G's blog.

Please remind me ....

.....that I don't get a fever when I get strep throat!

Yes, that is what I have and once again I was waiting to see

if I'd get a fever THEN I'd go to the doctor!

I've done this 2x now

I should be able to retain this information for the next time.

I love the Take Care Clinic at Walgreens!

Take 2 asprins and call me in the morning....

Well, I've still got whatever this thing that I've got BUT today I'm staying home all day and going to work on myself.

Amazingly when I decided this I felt worse this morning. My usual symptoms have been feeling somewhat ok in the mornings (having the energy to do things, go places) and then by late afternoon, I start to feel runned down and by almost bedtime I'm just positive that I have strep throat. My glands are swollen and painful ... but no fever. BUT then I wake in to morning feeling better ????!?!?!

I don't know ... I'm just going to stay in today and relax.

have you noticed?

Just a couple of minutes ago I noticed that the

"Christmas Counter"

is off.

According to this counter Christmas

occur about 10 hours early.

Just how can this be?

Adventures in Subbing 09/10 #3

On Monday I subbed for what I thought was Miss Suzy in Preschool, I'd geared myself up for preschool fun (10 kids with 5 adults). When I got the school to sign in they corrected my thought .. .it was Miss Suzy in Science! I missed the preschool fun but I got to teach science to first graders.

When you teach a 'special' you teach for (generally) 30 minutes, switch classes and then teach the lesson all over again. I taught the food chain 4 times. By the end of the day, I was so confused at what I'd already taught and what I still had to teach. ALSO by the end of the day the first graders were catching on that humans aren't really the top of the food chain when I shark could eat a human .... or a "really mean dinosaur with a sharp gray beak thing" could eat a human. I was glad that was the last class because I'm not sure what I would have done if they'd all been that 'smart' or if that class had been the first one!

I got them back ... I informed them that kitties could be eaten by a coyote. This might have been a bit much for the kids that didn't live in the country. Country kids knew it was a way of life those little city girls didn't!!

November Blessing #30

I'm Thankful for this little Blog!

and

I'm thankful that I was able find something to be

thankful for each day in November.

November Blessing #29

Today I'm thankful that we sang

Christmas hymns in church today!

I loved it!

November Blessing #28

I'm just thankful I could get out of bed after yesterday.

November Blessing 27B

Today our family worked,
we rented a uni loader
boy we could all have fun if we could just own this thing!

We landscaped around the barn
We filled up the new flower bed in front
We leveled out a section of the yard that is hard to mow
We moved rocks
We moved more rocks

Our outside is ready for winter but even better our outside is ready for spring!

I'm Thankful for everyone working so hard.

November Blessing #27

Today (and everyday) I'm thankful for

My Boys!

Hubby ~

I'm thankful for his work ethnic.

He's helped me raise 2 great boys.

He's handy around the house.

He's challenging.

He'll eat almost anything!

W ~

he has a sense of humor

he's good to his mom

he's a great athlete

he knows who he is

he's level headed

G ~

he's funny

he's smart

he's a great swimmer

he's a great reader

he's busy busy busy

I love you Boys!

November Blessing #26

Today I'm working on being

Thankful for my Adversities ....

I know I'm the person I am today because of my adversities

and I like that.

At the time I don't know my own strength but when the winds

have past and the trials have calmed I'm grateful!

Now to strengthen myself for the next adversity!

**PS you gotta love the man that's thankful for breakfast, lunch and dinner!**

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm Thankful for laughter!

November Blessing #25

Today I'm thankful that

G made the Pumpkin pie

and

W helped make the

Pecan Pie!

November Blessing #24

Sometime I realize that I'm blessed or thankful in much deeper ways some time it just a surface thing. Today it's a surface thing but still I'm thankful ever so thankful.

Today I'm thankful for the fact that I have a small amount of conditioner in my travel bag.

I have to sub this afternoon (in G's class) and I'm totally out of conditioner. It's not even an option to go with out (static cling is WAY to powerful)! There is nothing, noda on the shelf, plenty of Shampoo but no conditioner. THEN the thought, my travel bag ....... yep, there is a small amount, just enough of today.

I'm blessed!

November Blessing #23

Today I'm thankful for being able to read. I know that seems like a given in this day and time but it is still it's one of the most important talents I can have.

Every few years I see a news story about someone that is a million years ago (or maybe in their late 90's) and never learned to read. Learning to read is their only true wish. I always cry at these stories purely out of the love they have for reading, reading something I do everyday and never think about it.

Reading is a blessing in my life!

Olive Kitteridge

I finally finished Olive Kitteridge

written by Elizabeth Strout

winner of a Pulitzer Prize.

What a book, what a woman!

I would high recommend this book.

It's written like no other book I've read AND Olive is like ....

well, I'm sure we all know someone like Olive.

Yummy Dinner

Tonight I tried 2 new recipes ... yea, I'm livin' risky these days.

Shredded Roast Beef Sandwiches ~
3-4 lb. lean rump roast (ask them to trim fat off, or if packaged, you can trim yourself)
2 tsp. salt, divided
4 garlic cloves
2 tsp. Parmesan cheese, divided
12 oz. can beef broth
1 tsp. dried oregano

1. Place roast in slow cooker. Cut 4 slits in top of roast. Fill each slit with 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 garlic clove and 1/2 tsp. of Parmesan.
2. Pour broth over meat and sprinkle with oregano.
3. Cover. Cook on low (preferred) for 10-12 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
4. Remove meat and shred. Serve on buns with meat juices on the side (I just put some of the juices on top of the meat on the sandwich. I also like it with thinly sliced cheddar cheese.

Also, I sometimes cut the meat into chunks and/or begin shredding it an hour or 2 before it's done cooking so it can continue cooking in the juices).

CrockPot Baked Potatoes ~

Scrub potatoes
Soak potatoes overnight in water with sea salt
Poke holes in potatoes
Coat potatoes with olive oil
Stand potatoes up in crock pot on their ends
DO NOT ADD WATER to the crock pot
Put lid on crock pot
Cook on high for four hours

OK, I'm not sure why you'd have to cook your baked potatoes in the crockpot in the first place but I suppose if you were going to be gone for just 4 hours this would be great. I also have a setting on my oven that would turn itself on and I could do Potatoes that way also. AND then there's the fact that I already had a smaller crockpot so 4 baker Potatoes fit perfectly on their ends. Well, at least if you find yourself in need of cooking Baked Potatoes in your crockpot you now know how.

November Blessing #22

Today I'm blessed to have found this blog.

I don't know this lady or family, but I stumbled along her blog sometime last year. I've 'stalked' (in the blog world) ever since.

This family is spending 3 mos in Paris due to her husband's job and I have gotten to go along via her blog. I've got on the Eiffel tower, to museums, on walks through the streets, I've watched her eat the most wonderful looking foods, I've gone to the parks with her, I've seen street bands..... I've just had to the most wonderful time in Paris with her. Hey, I even went to Brussels for the day and London for the weekend!

I'm thankful for Michelle's wonderful photographs and her trip to Paris.

Hi Michelle if you come looking! and thank you for taking me with you!

November Blessing #21

I have been waiting to see if I could really be Thankful about this or not, but decided that I'm thankful for the opportunity to see if this could work.

Hubby has suffered with blood clots (don't worry they won't kill him) thus causing his feet to swell thus giving him sores on his feet. Due to the lack of circulation in feet the sores just wouldn't heal. It's all a doomed cycle or seems like a doomed cycle. This cycle has gone on for months.

A couple of weeks ago he went back to the doctors and they had a wonderful surprise for him. They had a man in before hubby that was approved and got lab grown skin for his wounds. They'd only needed half of it for the man and half of it to give to someone else .....HUBBY! Notice the word GIVE, this stuff is expensive and they were going to GIVE it to Hubby. I'm tell ya it was the right appointment to have that day!

Well, they put it in place, wrapped it up and said don't peek for 2 weeks. That was hard wondering if the skin had taken or been rejected.

He went back to the doc yesterday they changed the wrapping, didn't peek and sent him on his way for 2 more weeks.

This time I'm once again thankful by Modern Medical Technology!

Beautiful grounded day

My school Terra Cycling stuff was getting out of hand and with the weather so cold and rainy (earlier this week) I didn't want be cold in the garage messing with it. Today when my plans got grounded by G's illness and the warm (60's) sunny weather I conquered the recycling. We've already collected about $30 for the school.

Then I headed out to hang up G's beautiful bright red bird house.

Picture to come later.

Hubby found a little tree that looks like a Deer had rubbed on it. If only our dog weren't afraid of the night he could really be more effective!?! When he is out (during the day) he's busy digging for moles in the field. He's driven one into the edge of the yard. I was looking at the 'mounds' in the yard one day when he attempted to start digging for one. I scolded him and he stopped, got that pitiful look on his face and thankgoodness hasn't dug in the yard since. I believe I could become Bill Murray from Caddyshack if this mole gets further into my yard.

I brought up a box of old movies (from W's days) for G to watch. Aladdin is currently playing.

November Blessing 20B

Today I am Blessed to be available.

Today I got a call from the

school saying that G was sick.

I rushed out of the house, scooped him up,

brought him home to be comfy and cozy.

November Blessing #20

This morning I'm busy googling to see who the Teacher of the year was in our state. I can't find it, of which I am not thankful for!

A teacher from the school that I work at the most was up for the award. She was the teacher of year for our region but now she was going for the top stop along with 7 others. The awards dinner was last night.

Yesterday I subbed for an Early Childhood Education program at this school so I got to attend a special surprise assembly for her. I have gotten to work with this teacher on a few occasions and I learn so much from her each time she's in the classroom with me.

So today I'm thankful for being able to work and be a stay at home mom. To get to work in a such a great school (they've had a teacher of the year finalist for the past 3 years).

There is a difference in the schools in our district and this school is certainly the cream of the crop! I love to work there because of the kids, because of the staff and because of the teachers.

November Blessing #19

I'm feeling blessed by Pork Chops today!

or I will once supper is done!

I love these pork chops

they're really nothing

I just pound out the chops with seasonings

then either grill them or fry them in a bit a olive oil

Slap'em on a bun with dill pickles

maybe some onions

and I'm BLESSED!

Love Love Love them!

The last time we had them W came home and

almost jumped for joy that there were left chops in the frig!

November Blessing #18

I was blessed today by a well tongue!

You know when you get that little sore at the tip of your tongue? The one that makes you aware of every tooth in your mouth and how much your tongue goes over every tooth?

Please tell me it's just not me!?!

Today my tongue was perfectly fine again!

November Blessing #17

I was Blessed by .......

Need I say More?

November Blessing #16

This past weekend I was Blessed by W

telling me that it didn't matter what I fixed for meal it was

still better than what the school had to offer!

That took the pressure of meals off.

I am Blessed for sending W to a school

where the food is yucky!

November Blessing #15B

For supper (or lunch it's the only meal I'm fixing today) we had these

 baked apples. 

 Actually, these aren't the exact baked apples that I saw Rachel cook yesterday.  They are basically the same, except she used a Kashi (cold) cereal.  She said we could pick our own cereal.  So I picked one with raisins, dates and pecans.  Then I added more walnuts. 

I couldn't find either kinds of apples and now I've forgotten what I used but I think they could have cooked a little longer.

Goodness they were good

and I felt Blessed!

November Blessing #15

Today I feel Blessed to have

 all my chicks at home.

They have played ping pong together,

 the older teaching the younger

and the younger being teachable.

We've even watched A Haunting

I do believe in spirits but

I don't ever watch scary things and

this just confirmed that I won't be watching again anytime soon!

November Blessing #14

Today I felt blessed to have a "do nothing" day.

I had a meeting on my calendar that would have been good to go
to but wasn't a have to SOOOO I didn't go.

I stayed in

stayed warm

piddle with the laundry

piddle cleaning up the kitchen

watched a movie

answered some e-mails

fixed a pot of beans with some corn bread

for supper

Just a much needed 'do nothing' day

November Blessing #13

I am so blessed to live in the country!

I have rarely (maybe can count them on one hand)

complain about living 10 minutes from 'town'.

I love the quiet,

the solitude,

 the beauty,

 the lessons it teaches us

and the wildlife.

G has been watching the corn fields being picked and loved predicting which field would be next, then predicting if they'd stop because of the rain, would they work until dark or turn the combine's lights on so they could continue working. He wanted to know where the corn went, was it still on the cobs or off and what was going to eat such hard corn.

Last night on our (G and I) way home we saw an 8 point buck munching his way through a freshly picked corn field. He was only slightly bothered with us, just enough to walk a bit furthers from the road.

A few weeks ago we saw the most hughest owl I'd ever seen!

It was quite a sight!

November Blessing #12

Last night I took the Cub Scouts to our county Veteran's Memorial.

We took paper and crayons to making rubbings of the names. 

We found out that it's not the fallen veteran's

 of our county but all the veterans. 

So little G found our neighbor Bob's name.

 He thought that was too Cool.

I'm thankful and blessed to work with the cub scouts.

 I know this could be my last night with them as a Den Leader

 and I'm so glad I could go out with a blast. 

They think anything is a blast but a fieldtrip is always a highlight!

11-11

This is the 11th picture from the 11th folder.....

This is what happens when W gets G's t-shirt in this laundry!

November Blessing #11

It's a blessing to live in this country and I'm thankful for those that protect my family and my rights by the sacrafice and service to our country.


In our family Military service was started by my Granfather, Estill, who served in the Navy in the 40's.

November Blessing #10

Today As I started back from my mom's it was raining.

 What a dreary drive it was going to be.

Then just about 30 minutes down the road, the sun came out!

I drove in sunshine all the way home.

It was so sunny at one point that I was thankful for the air conditioner!

AND as usual when I travel, the first night back

I'm ALWAYS thankful for my own bed!

Observations from a waiting room

While waiting 8 1/2 hours yesterday in a surgical waiting room I observed alot of things .....

Oats aged much better than Hall

They were on some talk show

Hall was scary

I think I would have pick him out of a rapist line up

WAY to scary for daytime TV!

It's almost as funny to watch older people watch

America's Funniest Videos

than it is to actually watch the videos themselves
They would laugh just like they were sitting in their living room alone.
If the husband would miss the funny part he would ask his wife what had happened.
They really enjoyed the screaming cat videos!?!

People will talk on a cell phone revealing

what seems like very personal things

with a complete stranger sitting right next to them

I made all my phone calls from the stair well
it was warm in there but it was sound proof!

November Blessing #9

Today I'm thankful for a Doctor

that looks like he could be my son!

**When my mom told me that I'd think that he was young enough to be a friend of W's, I thought weeeeelllll... She's probably just getting old and thinks that every young man under 30 looks like he's W's age.... BUT when I first met him, I thought "WOW you could be W's friend."

but enough about his appearance and on to his talent.

Today Doctor Looks So Young successfully removed a small cancerous tumor from my mother's left breast.

November Blessing #8

Today I was blessed to watch our church's children's program. They learn and practice their songs all year in preparation for this day. They learn lessons and give talks in Primary in preparation for this day.

As a leader in the past of this program, you always worry and worry about this day. The children always give you reason to worry .... will they know their parts, will they not wiggle so much, will they not punch the person next to them, will they not cry, will they actually know the words to the songs, will they get stage fright and not be able to speak....will they, will they, will they.....

ALWAYS, ALWAYS the program goes off beautifully, the children rise to the occasion and congregation is filled with proud parents!

..... and yes, I was so proud of G.

He knew he is part

He sang the songs

He didn't wiggle

He rocked!

November Blessing #7

Today I was blessed to hear the words ......

"Let us not be so engrained in the NOW

 that we forget about the things to come"

Kendal S Ross

November Blessing #6

I'm often reminded what a blessing it is to live in these United States.


From the little voices I teach when they recite the Pledge of Allegiance, to the cub scout's I guide when they gather for the flag ceremonies, to trips to the grocery store where food is in great abundance. As I watch the news (occasionally) I see how other live around the world and I just won't trade it for my life in these United States.

November Blessing #5

It is a Blessing that I have talent for and opportunity to work.
I love to subsitute in Kindergarden. 
They are forgiving, they are loving, they don't have any hidden adgendas, they love to please the teacher.
To be honest Subbing is great, I don't have to work everyday, I can still be a stay at home mom for little G, but still get to make some spending $.  Not money I can really count on, but it's still spendable!

November Blessing #4

Today I'm so blessed to recognize that someone watches over me!

 All this week my alarm has not gone off.  I have yet to figure out what exactly is causing this to happen or not happen as the case maybe, but I have still awaken on time (or with enough time) to get G to school.

Now to go figure out the problem so my 'someone' that watches

over me can move on to bigger and better things,

just in case I need something bigger and better than this!

November Blessing #3

Today I was blessed by

the grocery store.

When I see grocery stores in other countries

I'm always reminded how blessed I am to live in a time and place

where good food is always abundant.

Today I headed to the grocery store because

someone let me know that Walmart had

Campbell's creamed soup on sale for 58 cents!

That's a great price and there was tons of it!

I now have soup for the winter and maybe the spring!