Monday, August 25, 2008

Menu Plan Monday 8/25-8/31


Monday-Southwest Lasagna Rolls- 1st time recipe, I'll let you know.
Garrett really liked these- I thought they were O.K.
Tuesday-Frozen dinner of some sort- I have Bible Study on Tuesday nights and I am always eating as I am running out of the door, so I decided on something simple.
Wednesday-Skillet Pork Chops with Potatoes and Onions-Yummy!
Thursday-Smothered Steak and Peppers with Jasmine Rice
Friday-Baked Ziti

I don't have anything planned for Saturday or Sunday yet!


Monday, August 18, 2008

Menu Plan Tuesday (oops!) Week of 8/18/08

Monday-Having dinner with Joe & Ilene Johnston at their house-they made lamb burgers in pita pockets with a sauce of feta cheese/tomatoes/onions--they were very good. They also served chocolate cake and ice cream to celebrate my birthday.

Tuesday-Carie's birthday-Tropical Storm Fay has postponed all birthday celebrations so my wonderful husband has made chocolate chip pancakes (my favorite) for breakfast, and grilled Italian sandwiches for lunch. The plan for dinner is empanadas and yellow rice!

Wednesday-Pork steaks-asparagus-parsley potatoes-sliced tomatoes

Thursday-Grilled Italian sandwiches

Friday-Ravioli with meatballs-salad-garlic bread--this will be another birthday dinner that we will be sharing with our good friends Jerry, Tina, & Paige Landis, Margarito, & Cathy Landers.

That is all I have for now!!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Missing him

Garrett is at Lincoln for a class and I am missing him. I just could not stop crying when he was getting out of the car on Tuesday morning at the airport. Here are my excuses (as if I need them-it is totally okay just to miss your loving husband): (1) I hate being away from him, (2) I really believe this IVF stuff is playing with my emotions, (3) The job that I have is in jeopardy- the flooring industry is doing really bad right now and we just don't have any work. So in other words---I am a total and complete mess right now!!!!! He will be home on Friday at 12:30 midnight so some of the misery will be over.


So, I just opened an email from him and this is what I got:


I just love him so much!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Menu Plan Monday









Monday- Homemade Pizza - I use this recipe from Rachel Ray as a starting point, I use bacon instead of the pancetta and I add spinach and onions.

Tuesday-Friday I am on my own G is out of town.


Sorry not much to report

Thursday, August 7, 2008

A full plate

Well, I figured that since I haven't actually contributed to this blog for a few months that I should probably say something! So I thought I would share what has been going on with uncle G (as Brady calls me).

Have you ever looked at your "plate" and thought, "how did I fit all that on there?" I definitely have eyes that are bigger than my stomach, both in a literal and figurative sense. My plate lately has been extremely full with the following:

-Work, which has been crazy lately. We have a record number of applicants, which means a record number of times I've gone crazy.

-School, which is going well, but keeps my stress level at a constant high. For those of you who don't know, I'm working on my M.A. in New Testament. In order to keep up with everything, I should be reading about 50 pages a day and writing about 1,000 words a week. Needless to say, these goals are not always "reached."

-Preaching, which is a bittersweet situation. I love preaching, and it gives Carie and I a lot of time together (since we're in the car for 3 hours every Sunday). It's also a little extra income, which is definitely a blessing. Of course, the downsides are that we're in the car for 3 hours every Sunday (count the dollars flying by...), not to mention the reason for my being there--the normal preacher, Pat, is fighting cancer.

-IVF stuff, which takes up a whole lot more time and emotional energy than most people realize.

-Being a husband, which is the most important, challenging and yet rewarding thing of all. Carie deserves all of my best, and sometimes I fall short of giving that to her. But her understanding and gracious attitude is unparalleled in anyone I've ever met, and it daily makes me want to be a better husband.

I thought I would close with an interesting "discovery" I made the other day while studying the book of John for one of my courses. If you already knew this, well, then you're one step ahead of me.... This was a huge epiphany for me, and I just get really excited whenever I have one. Here it is:

In the second temple period (the time when Jesus lived), Jews celebrated the Feast of Booths (sometimes called Sukkot, or the Festival of Tabernacles) in a unique way. In the morning of each of the 8 days of the festival, the priests would gather water from the pool at Siloam, mix it with new wine from the harvest, and pour it over the altar in the temple. The water would flow down the temple steps and out into the courtyard beyond. Then at night the priests would light four large menorah's in the Court of Women, just outside the inner court of the temple, and the glow of these lamps would radiate the temple area. (Just as a side note, the Court of Women is also where the treasury was located. This detail is important).

In John 7 and 8, Jesus is speaking to the Jews, and John writes, "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"

Then, in chapter 8 (after a side-step episode) it says, "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." A few verses later, John gives the detail that Jesus said this "in the treasury," hence, the Court of Women. Jesus was a master of situational teaching!

I love it when things all fall into place like that.

Until next time....

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Mom's Birthday




We celebrated my mom's birthday on Friday, August 1st. We had pizza and "white cake" with "white icing" and "white ice cream" as my mom had requested it. I talked to her the morning of her birthday and she told me that she dreamed about chocolate cake, I told her it was too late because the "white" cake was already made. We had a nice time. Brady was so cute, he had to put the candles in the cake.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Menu Plan Monday

This is my first attempt at blogging my menu plan for the week:
















Monday-Tortilla Chip Casserole ( new recipe)


Tuesday-Chickpea/tomato/feta salad with homemade bread


Wednesday-Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken


Thursday- Marlboro Man Sandwiches- these look amazing... I can't wait to try them!


Friday- Mushroom Quesadillas

Saturday-Baked Ziti


Sunday-Ballard Biscuits


Most of these recipes I borrowed from the other bloggers at orgjunkie.com. If they are in yellow you can click on the link and find the recipe. I have the other recipes on a Word document so if you want the recipe just let me know and I can send it to you.







Friday, August 1, 2008

Walk away

I just love my animals. They have the cutest personalities. These are not my cats but it is surely something that I could see them doing and the caption is just perfect.