Serious and Then Not So Serious

First starting with the serious, I'm over at Faith Lifts today. Please come on over and join me there for the last post on purpose. It's only a click away on the Faith Lifts button. Afterward refresh your coffee and come on back for something not so serious.


Are you back? Now for the not so serious. Pastormac's Ann from It's Always a Production has tagged me for a "Nine Weird Things Meme". Apparently there is a least nine weird things that Ann would like to find out about me. Well Ann, you asked for it. Here it is.

NINE WEIRD THINGS MEME

~I tend to repeat myself over & over when I'm nervous. To the point where I'm telling myself in my head to shut up, Sue!

~When I have to have a discussion with someone about something important, I plan out the whole conversation in my head, with every possible way the conversation could go and how I would react to each option.

~My daughter says I laugh outrageously at my own jokes in a conversation.

~When I get into bed, as soon as I put my head on the pillow, I have to flip the pillow.

~I always flip it top to bottom.

~I like peanut butter on my bread when I eat stew.

~I like my hard ice cream melted just a touch.

~I'd rather vacuum the house twice than dust. I hate to dust.

~I love sour cream. I put it on pancakes with syrup, on cabbage rolls and in homemade cauliflower/veggie soup. I add onion powder and dip chips into it. I've even been known to snitch a spoon here and there right out of the container.

Now I'm tagging Katherine, Tammy, Carol, & Beck. 'Cause I just gotta know how weird you really are.

Gold + Wind = White

WARNING: the following pictures may shock you, they may frighten you, they may cause you to go running to hide your head under your covers. But be brave my friends.


Remember Friday's post about the yellow brick road in my backyard? Here's a pic just to refresh your memory:

After a wind filled Saturday now take a look and see what we woke up to on Sunday morn:

Shocking? Are you running from the room screaming yet? No? Well, here's another:

And by late afternoon it was still coming down:

Brrrr! I spent the afternoon and evening under my favorite teddy blanket with a few nice mugs of coffee with southern butter pecan creamer, my book and the movie "The Gospel". And "The Amazing Race" in the evening with peach and apricot tea and chewy chocolate chips cookies that my Teen Girl made. I mean what else is a girl to do on a day like this?

Fall Recipes and Meal Plan Monday

A few of you were gracious and asked for a couple recipes of foods I've mentioned. I thought I'd post them as they are so good for fall and the cooler weather. Enjoy them both!

CROCKPOT BEEF AND BARLEY SOUP

1.5 lb round steak cut into bite size cubes

2 Tbsp. flour

4 medium carrots, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 (1 litre) carton beef broth

1 - 2 cups water (depending on what your crock will hold)

1/2 - 3/4 cup barley

1 tsp each basil & thyme

2 tsp. salt or to taste

1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper or to taste

1 Tbsp. fresh chopped parsley or 1 tsp. dried

Toss beef cubes in flour and a little salt and add to hot oil to brown. You may have to it in several batches. Transfter to crockpot as it gets browned. Add all other ingrediants. Cook on high for 4 hours and then turning down to low for another 1 - 2 hours. Serve with thick slices of bread or cheese toast.

PUMPKIN BUNDT CAKE

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 (14 oz.) can pure pumpkin

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups white sugar

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. each of the following ground spices: nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 10 inch bundt or tube pan.

Cream the oil, beaten eggs, pumpkin and vanilla together in large mixing bowl.

Sift or whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices and salt together. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined. If desired stir in nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 50 - 60 minutes until inserted knife comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then turn out onto plate to finish cooling.

Can be served with whipped cream, or glazed before cutting, or sprinkled with icing sugar before serving.

MEAL PLAN MONDAY

Monday: Ham & Scalloped Potatoes, Mixed vegetables

Tuesday: Pea Soup & Hamburger over toast with gravy,

Wednesday: Homemade Mac & Cheese, green salad

Thursday: roast chicken, rice, gravy, carrots

Friday: something crockpot

Saturday: scrounge day

Word for the Weekend

Photo by Jessica Brockardt, USA Unrestricted Usage

"Honor the Lord from your wealth

and from the first of all your produce;

So your barns will be filled with plenty

And your vats overflow with new wine"

Proverbs 3:9-10

Fall is in the Air

*UPDATE: at bottom, scroll on down

It's definitely fall around here. We've been getting wet, cold, foggy weather. Yesterday was very windy. My trees in the backyard have been kissed by the below freezing nights last week and I have a wall of gold running across my back yard. It's just beautiful. This particular day the cold foggy morning turned into a beautiful sunny fall day.

The kids love it when these trees drop their leaves. I'm telling you they get a huge pile to jump in! Before I had these trees the back yard was bare and I would go out front to the boulevard trees and to the neighbor's front yard
and collect leaves by the wheel barrel and bucket full and bring them to the back. Did I ever say I love fallen leaves? The crunch, the sight, the smell. Heaven!


This is a pic of the foggy mornings the kids were heading to the bus stop in. The cold, wet weather has made me get a bit of a hankering for some baking. I'm not much of a baker. Love to cook, not so into the baking. Don't get me wrong. I love to eat the baking, but don't enjoy the baking of it. So if I get any kind of compulsion to bake I go for it. Last night I made Pumpkin Bundt Cake and we enjoyed it with nice hot mugs of hot chocolate and whipped creme on both. MMMMM! And yes, my fitness buddy, you know who you are, I had a slim piece with oh so little whipped creme on it and no hot chocolate. Promise!



Now to wrap up my love of fall, the next pictures were taken by my Tweenie Girl. She loves photography and would like to be a photographer. She's always got camera in hand looking for what would make a cool picture. Personally, I'd buy her stuff! :v)

*Update: Remember I mentioned up top that it was very windy. Well look at our surprise when we went out to play:

Is that the yellow brick road in my backyard?

Take a look at that pile! And that's only 1/2 of them that the wind blew off! What fun the kids had for hours in here. And the smell as I raked them. Heaven, I tell you, heaven. I wish I could somehow make a wonderful candle out of that scent. Oh and the feast for the eyes. All that gold in one big pile. The picture doesn't do it justice to how gold it really was! And the warm sun on my back as I raked and the cool, crisp air to keep me cool. It just can't get better than that! How God must love us to give us treats to the senses like this! Did I mention I love Fall?

GRRR to Beta Blogger

I'm grumpy, oh so grumpy, because Beta Blogger is again not letting me comment on a lot of my friends sites. My password apparently is "incorrect". So sorry to all I tried to comment on for two days now. Hhrrmmpphh!

On an upnote, however, Blogger did let me upload this picture on the first try. Yes, it's true.

Thursday Thirteen~To Watch Movie LIst

13 DVD's ON MY TO WATCH LIST

1. "Fancy Pants" with Bob Hope & Lucille Ball

2. "The Prize Winner of Definace, Ohio" with Julianne Moore

3. "From the Earth to the Moon" 5 DVD series

4. "Love Comes Softly" Series

5. "Nacho Libre" with Jack Black (with my kids)

6. "The Lake House" with Keanu Reeves & Sandra Bullock

7. "Take the Lead" with Anotonio Banderas

8. "Big" with Tom Hanks

9. "The Gospel" with Boris Kodjoe

10. "Luther" with Joseph Fiennes

11. "The Pianist" with Adrian Brody

12. "De-Lovely" with Kevin Kline & Ashley Judd

13. "TimeLine" with Paul Walker & Frances O'Conner

Feeding the (so-called) Addiction

Did I ever mention I love coffee? If you've read this site for any length of time, I'm sure you've picked up on the fact due to subtle hints and suggestions that I do have a slight penchant for the lucious brown liquid. Well, if you are like me in your addiction enjoyment of this beverage let me show you what I found!


President's Choice Smokin' Stampede BBQ Sauce. It's says it's a Beer and Chipotle BBQ sauce but guess what?! It's got coffee!! Yup, you read right! One of the ingrediants is coffee. And it's an award winning sauce. How could it be any less with that secret ingrediant, may I ask!

Now unfortunately, my friends, this is a Canadian brand. Sorry my friends from the States. This is from the North! A notch in the great Canadian belt of fine foods, uniquely Canadian. Right up there with Tim Horton's, Canadian maple syrup, E.D. Smith jams & jellies, and Bernard Callebaut Chocolates. But I think you can order it here. I think they might ship to the States, if you really want to feed your "enjoyment".

This has got me thinking now. What other stuff is out there with that brown gold as an ingrediant? Here is a Salsa Recipe. Apparently according to the author of this recipe: "I always use a tablespoon or two of black coffee in any dish or sauce I make that has any type of Chili (Hot) Pepper. From what I understand black coffee has an antioxidant that enhances the natural flavor of the Chili's. It does not intensify the heat though. I have made dishes with Chili's before and left out the coffee. I could notice the difference. I suppose it really comes down to a matter of taste. You really can not taste the coffee at all by the time the cooking is complete."

There you go. Don't ever say that all you get is fluff at my site. I have just educated you on another use for coffee. What would you do without me?

Fall into Reading #2

Another one off the list. And of course it is a fiction novel. I read fiction so much easier than non-fiction. Unless it's an autobiography type thing, but anything that is a "teaching" kind of book or too heavy I just seem to go in fits and starts as is evidenced by how long it's taking me to read the book about teenage boys. I find my mind tends to wander and I find I've read a page or two and then can't tell you a word of what I've read.

Anyway the next one finished was "Divine" by Karen Kingsbury. This book is about a powerful woman in Washington who lobbies the government for different bills and funding directed towards children's and women's shelter issues. She uses her testimony of how God rescued her to help women in abusive situations. The story is based on her young life and the horrendous situations she was put into from a very young age to how God set things up in her life to bring her to Himself and make her the person she is to help others.

I read this book in a couple days. I think mostly because I wanted to get through it and not have to dwell too much on it. While it is not graphic, it does tell a story of child abuse, prostitution, and physical abuse. And the wonderful story of God's redemptive, cleansing love and His power to totally turn a life around. It tells of unconditional love in a persons' life even when it looks like there is no hope.

This book also brought to me a bit of an understanding of the mindset and emotional trauma of someone in an abusive relationship so I did learn something. I probably won't read it again just because I did find it hard, as mentioned above I read through it very fast because of the hard subject matter.

Fall into Reading #1 - The Novelist by Angela Hunt

Made With Love

GiBee at Kisses of Sunshine is hosting a Homemade Gifts with Love today. If you've got some great ideas for homemade gifts or would like to get some ideas from the simple and inexpensive to the elaborate go on over to her place and check out all the links. For someone like me, I'm loving all the different ideas everyone is sharing, as I'm not so great at coming up with these.

One idea I do have however, is a very simple teacher or coach gift that you're child can be involved in helping to put together. It's a "Care Package". You simply put each item into a nice little cloth drawstring bag or nice little gift bag with a note either handwritten by the child or done up on the computer explaining each item. The items and note are as follows:

"A Care Package to Help You Do Whatever It Takes"

A Stick of Gum: to remind you to stick with it

A Candle (unscented or the food will take on the scent - a birthday candle or tealight is nice): to give you light when you feel burned out & to remind you that Jesus is the light of the world

A Chocolate Kiss: to remind you that someone cares

Smarties: to help you on days when you don't feel so wise

Lifesavers: to remind you that everyone needs help once in awhile

A Snickers Bar: a reminder to see the funny side of things

A Rose: (either silk, chocolate, a picture, etc.) to remind you to take the time to smell the roses

Confetti: to help you celebrate the good times

A Penny: to say thanks for sharing your thoughts and knowledge

A Bag: to help you keep it all together

Fall into Reading and Menu Plan Monday

Well my Fall into Reading Challenge has been plugging along. I have to admit that since I started blogging my book reading has not been quite as voracious as it was before last spring. I still love to read the books, there just is not enough time in a day. I have enjoyed though, getting back to more of a regular every day reading of books since the challenge began.

Already I have found my little list of books is going to be changing. I'm going to have to put a couple of the books on my list to the back burner as the books I have had on hold from the library for a couple months have finally found themselves over to my place. So I will be moving Club Sandwich and Elijah down the list to make room for "The Brethren" by Beverly Lewis; "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan, "The True and Ourstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters" by Elisabeth Robinson; and I'm adding "the Family G.I. Diet" by Rick & Dr. Ruth Gallop.

Okay onto to the one I did just finish: The Novelist by Angela Hunt. I really like Angela Hunt books as you never know what will happen next in her novels. This one, however, so of chugged along for me. It was not quite the page turner that her other books were for me. Maybe that is how she meant to write this book, however, as more of a introspective kind of story. It's the story of a very famous novelist who writes spy novels. She takes on teaching a college class on how to write a novel. One of her students challenges her to write more of a personal story so she takes it on thinking it would be a good novella to write as part of the class. Meanwhile in her personal life things are falling apart with her son so she writes the story as an allegory with the thought in mind of giving it to him so he could learn how choices affect your whole life. So the story flits back and forth between her real life and her allegorical story. There is a twist at the end that I didn't guess at all. All in all in was an interesting story but I didn't enjoy it as much as some of her other books.

Now Blogger is being ornory again this morning so pretend the Menu Plan Monday Banner is here!

Menu Plan Monday: I've been a bad girl and skipped the last two weeks with this, simply because I've been so busy the grocery shopping kept getting pushed down the list. I finally got to where I had no choice so now that I have groceries we're back on track! Here goes:

Monday: Crockpot Beef and Barley Soup, Buns

Tuesday: Roast chicken thighs with chipotle bbq sauce, roast potatoes, carrot/raisin salad

Wednesday: Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad

Thursday: Paprikash Potatoes

Friday: Taco Salad

Saturday: Scrounge Day

Sunday: Roast Beef, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies

For more great menu ideas or to link your own head on over to I'm an organizing junkie.

Prayer for Canon's Family

Today for the Faith Builders Meme we are going to be joining together in prayer for the family of Canon, who passed on to be with Jesus this weekend. I encourage you to join us in prayer for this hurting family. I cannot even imagine what they must be going through as they face this week and their lives without their little boy and brother. Let's join together to lift them before the Lord. If you'd like to write out a prayer at your site and then link on at Faith Builders with the button above, so they can see the support of the blogging community for them.

Father, I come before you in the name of Jesus, to stand in the gap for our hurting family. Father, I pray that you would be with them, that you would wrap you arms around them and be a fortress for them. We know little Canon is in heaven with you totally free of pain or sickness but it's so hard for the one's left behind. I pray that they would feel your comfort, your compassion, your peace and your heart for them. I pray that through the hard days ahead and the days to come after that they would keep their hearts soft towards you and they would trust in your plans for them. May they have others stay rallied around them after this week and may they feel your love for them through the ministering of your people. In Jesus name, we ask.

Word for the Weekend

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

In returning to Me and resting in Me

you shall be saved;

in quietness and in (trusting) confidence

shall be your strength.

Isaiah 30:15 Amplified Bible

Photo Credit: John Frenzell, USA

The Meme of Three

I've been tagged by Pretty Lady for this meme of three. It's a really good "get to know a person" one. The answers are provided in threes.

1. Things that scare you.
-creepy horror movies
-being without God in my life
-my children getting very ill

2. People that make me laugh:
-Shalee
-kids in all their innocenc
-Mark Lowry

3. Things I hate the most:
-the act of driving drunk
-children being harmed or hurt in any way
-adults making soldiers of children

4. Things I don't understand:
-how people can torture others
-why everytime I go to get juice for myself there is always just enough in the jug to say it is not empty but not enough for a good drink
-how computers work

5. Things I'm doing right now:
-this meme
-watching Star Trek: the Next Generation with beloved hubby
-helping my daughter with homework

6. Things I want to do before I die:
-see my children grow up and pursue their dreams
-see all my children serving God in their adult years
-travel Europe

7. Things I can do:
-cook well
-type well
-play guitar - sorta

8. Ways to describe my personality:
-people oriented
-intense
-loyal

9. Things I cannot do:
-sew
-play golf
-bungee jump

10. Things I think you should listen to:
-Jesus telling you how much He loves you
-the bible
-your children as they grow up too fast and before you know it the house will be silent

11. Things you should not listen to:
-derogatory talk against anyone
-bass speakers in an enclosed car turned up so loud they shake the windows of the houses going by
-anybody devalueing any human life from conception to death

12. Things I'd like to learn:
-to play the piano
-blog design
-how to keep wasps away from my yard

13. Favorite foods:
-pizza
-ribs
-fried chicken

14. Beverages I drink regularly:
-coffee
-is there another beverage? :v)
-ok, chai tea latte
-water

15. Shows I watched as a kid:
-the Flintstones
-the Brady Bunch
-Carol Burnett

16. Three persons to tag:
-Linda because she hasn't had a get to know her meme yet
-Shalee because I haven't got her for awhile
-Laura at I'm an organizing junkee because I think there is more to her than organizing

Gotta have me some milk!

Yup, my hubby was out on a milk run just yesterday! (Sorry for the link, I haven't quite figured out how to put something like this on my site).

Got Milk?

Retagged and a Humble Thank You

Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee was just too quick when I tagged her and before I could run away she re-tagged me! Sheesh, I'm going to have to be more on my toes around that girl! So I'm going keep playing under the guise that this may be expanding my vocabulary? Sound good? Okay here goes: 4 word meme. My words are as follows and I need to tell what they mean to me.

chicken: What I am when it comes to something like bungee jumping.

tranquility: Peaceful. No Agitation. When I close my eyes and imagine myself by a beautiful lake with the forest all around, birds chirping. A breeze so small it is not even moving the water. I'm just sitting on a huge rock outcropping over the lake and just watching God's creation and marvelling a what a wonderful artist and creator God is. And I'm just chatting with Him and Him with me. Yup, that is tranquil.

permanent: not changeable. Stays forever. Sorta like the ink marks I'm looking at in my wood table even as I'm typing this.

adjusting: What I am continually doing as I learn how to be a better follower of Jesus, a better wife and mom, a better friend, a better person on this earth.

There ya go, Linda. Good words. And I was seriously tempted to be real quick and tag you back but you were so exhausted from the last tag I figured I'd give you just a little rest. But be prepared because you never know when it's coming! Wahahaha! Anyway, I am going to tag, let's see, I know: Anybody who is a "lurker" here. C'mon, come out and play along. Let me know in the comments and I'll come and give you a visit.

Here are your words:

warmth
serious
unflappable
buzz

Okay now second order of business. I want to thank everybody for your very uplifting, wonderful words you gave me for this post here. That was a very difficult thing for me to put up. I had been praying for a way to be more vulnerable and still maintain the level of privacy my hubby would like (he's a very private person), and I was also praying for confirmation that my site was being what I wanted it to be. And then I saw this meme at Barb's and at momrn2's and thought this might be a good way to accomplish the answer to those. Thank you all, I felt very humbled.

Now no one picked up the ball, and took the meme to their place. Cmon, ladies, someone pick it up and let me know or I might just have to start tagging you all. That's really not a threat or anything but I will ya know!

Slow Cook Thursday~Super Taco Sauce

Before I post my recipe I have got to say that last night I made Sandra's Smokey Crockpot Ribs and they were awesome. And ultra easy. I got ribs on sale with enough to feed my family for 10.95. Can you believe it? Compared to the over $75.00 minimum it would cost our family of five out for ribs (and that wouldn't include drinks or tip!). And everybody said it was better than the restaurants!

Now onto to my contribution for the week:

CROCKPOT SUPER TACO SAUCE

10 large tomatoes, peeled or 2 large (28 oz. each) whole tomatoes

5 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsp. salt

2 large onions, chopped

4 green peppers, seeded &chopped

2 yellow or red peppers, seeded & chopped

1 tsp. of each: chili powder, oregano, thyme

1 Tbsp. each: Worcestershire sauce, sugar

3 - 4 jalepeno peppers, seeded & chopped (wash hands thoroughly after, do not touch face or eyes)

1 Tbsp. each: flour, vegetable oil and wine vinegar ( regular can be substituted)

Place all ingrediants except flour, oil & vinegar in crockpot; stir well. Cover and cook on low 8 - 10 hours. Remove cover and turn to High for last hour to reduce moisture.

Before removing sauce from pot, stir together flour, oil & vinegar. Stir quickly into pot. Allow to cool.

Pour cooled sauce into blender 3 cups at a time, cover and blend until smooth.

Blend all of contents for smooth sauce, or leave some out of blending and then stir into the blended portion to make a semi smooth sauce.

For more slow cooking recipes or to take part and add your own head on over to Diary of A Stay At Home Mom.

UPDATE: to those of you who asked, yes this recipe is very freezeable. I usually froze it in 2 cup containers. I'm not a canner but I'm sure it cans up nicely too!

Pizza & A Movie

I was telling you in this post about missing out on grocery shopping because we realized that we had a movie out that needed to get back. That movie was this one:

This movie did not make the movie theatres here in Canada, well, at least not the ones in my city. And what a shame. It's an incredible story of love, understanding and walking in total forgiveness to the point it changes a peoples and turns around to become a blessing in your life, too. It's the true story of the 5 missionaries who had such a heart for people who had never been contacted that they didn't let the violent history of the tribe deter them from trying to reach these people for God. And when they landed on the sandstrip of the river in the tribes territory they lost their lives. But the miracle of the story comes in the form of what their families did after their deaths. I won't tell you the rest of the story. A lot of you probably know it already. It's well known in Christian circles. But to see it walked out before your eyes on screen is very profound. A lot of the movie is shown from the eyes of the main Wadouni tribesman whom the story is about. It is a violent movie, not so much absolute gore, but violent as they deal with exactly how violent these tribes as a people were. I let my teens watch the movie. It was great for them to see the love of God in action. But for younger children, you might want to preview the show for yourself first. And you might have to explain to younger ones too about the dress of these tribes, or the lack of it.

End of the Spear is not a "preachy" movie but does clearly tell the gospel story in a way the tribe could understand. And it does have a lot of subtitles. When the tribespeople are conversing they are speaking in the Wadouni language. And if you have a widescreen T.V. that can zoom in so that the widescreen format fills your screen a little more, you might want to just leave zoom off. That way you will not spend 3/4 of the movie going "What'd they say?", "I'm confused!" , "What's happening?", & "I don't get it". And thinking to yourself , "Geez, they sure are using a lot of Wadouni words to say the 3 words that are printed in the subtitles." Ya, just giving you a "head's up" about that. Umm, not that that happened to us. No, I'm just thinking, like maybe that could possibly happen you know, half the subtitles cut off 'cause the zoom is on. Ya, just thinking. And out of the goodness of my heart, I just thought I'd pass that on. Ya, ahem.

Not Really Playing Hookey

Hi Everybody! I'm not really playing hookey today. I'm over at Faith Lifts so why don't you just link on over here, and come and join me.

Is There a Plan B?

Working a full time job that keeps me at home and not able to leave the house for errands during the day, most running around, grocery shopping, errands, etc. are left for evenings or the weekend. Most days during the week, it just seems the last thing I want to do is go out running errands at night time. So that leaves a lot for the weekend. And seeing church is on Sunday, I try very hard not to have to be doing major time consuming errands on Sundays. I like to be with family on that day or maybe a relaxing trip to the library is about as strenuous as I like my Sunday to get.

Being the list person that I am, I try during the week to jot things down that I'll need to do on the day left, that being Saturday. So Saturday morning comes and what happens, the jammies feel so comfy, and the coffee with Southern Butter Pecan creamer tastes so good, and bloglines is calling me, and that book is jumping out at me. After all, Saturday is the only day that I actually get to laze around a little bit, too.

So going back to the list, I have grocery shopping in big letters. We're out of quite a few essentials like milk, cat food and garbage bags, so this is a no option. Now when I do lists I make them according to which store I need to get the stuff. My big plan was to do it all. Hit all 3 or 4 stores and actually finish in one morning. Great plan wasn't it. Just too organized for words, right Laura? Plan A was great in theory. Something, however, got lost in the execution. Remember the paragraph above? Let's just say the jammies, coffee, you guys, and my book just didn't let me go. And was it wonderful!!!

Then as I was finally getting myself in gear around noon to go do Plan A, I started to pick up a bit here, wipe this counter down there when I remembered I had read on someone's WFMW that mixing baking soda and vinegar into a paste with a clean rag works just as well as the Mr. Clean magic sponges. Well, now that I was noticing all the grease marks and finger prints on my laminate cupboards, I thought, I'll just make a small batch and see what happens on one cupboard. LOL, can you guess what happened? It worked great, so 6 cupboard doors and 1 rangehood later, I still had not left the house. It's now about 1 p.m.

On the way to the bedroom to get my purse, I noticed how messy the carpets looked, so I thought I'll just run the vacuum really quick over the carpet so that Beloved Hubby didn't have to come home to a messy rug. Well, once I did the living room, the entryway & kitchen looked twice as bad, so..... I vacuumed them too. Then when I went to put the vacuum away well, the hallway and bedrooms just couldn't get left out!

Okay, now it's getting past 1:30. What was Plan A again? Oh, yea, groceries. Get my purse, tell the kids goodbye, and the phone rings. My mom wants to bring my bread over rather than wait till I go get it because she's coming by anyway. How sweet of her, can't say no to that! Right? By the time she was going, hubby was coming home. Then we thought of the DVD we rented, that was due back, we thought, at 6:30 so we better get to watching it. (More on that in another post). By the time we were done that, we were starving with no supper made so when we returned the dvd we stopped at Little Ceasar's for a couple of their $5 pizzas to bring home.

What was Plan A again? Oh yea! Groceries, right. By now who wants to run to 4 stores? So plan A got ditched. Quick plan B. Walmart had the biggest number of items needed so we'll get one list tonight. So when all was said and done the best of plans and intentions went down the drain. And as I unpacked the bags from Walmart I had a good chuckle. For contained therein was my milk, cat food and garbage bags. So I guess Plan B was not so bad after all. At least the cats won't go hungry and there won't be garbage on the floor!

Word for the Weekend

"Thy Word

is a lamp unto my feet,

and a light

unto my path."

Photo by:
Juan Hurtado, Canada

Picking up the Ball - One Word Meme

Barb at A Chelsea Morning has passed the ball on this one word meme and so has MomRN2 at My Quiet Corner so I'm picking it up with a little curiosity and some bit of trepidation. Here is what you do:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm supposed to invite you to leave me a comment with the one word you think best describes me. You may explain your choice if you want to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So there you go, go for it! I'm peeking through my fingers.

And now come on, whose brave enough to pick up the ball and run with it. Let me know in the comments so I can go visit yours, too!

Slow Cooking Thursday~Cowboy Stew

As usual for more great crockpot recipes or to link to your own wonderful creation, visit Sandra at Diary of a Stay At Home Mom.

COWBOY STEW

Serves 4. Is easily doubled.

1 lb. ground beef

3/4 cup chopped onion (1 medium)

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 can (15 oz.) chili beans

1 can (15 oz.) can pork & beans)

1 can (15 oz.) cream corn

2 cans (8 0z each) tomato sauce

In skillet, brown the ground beef with the onions and green pepper. Drain well. Add to crockpot and add all other ingrediants. Cover and cook on low 6 - 8 hours or on high 4 hours. Serve with thick slices of a hearty bread.

Thursday Thirteen~You are What You Eat!

THIRTEEN THINGS ON MY TABLE THIS PAST THANKSGIVING

1. Turkey, of course

2. Dressing, of course

3. Instant mashed potatoes * see note below

4. Maple spiced yams

5. Gravy

6. Honey glazed carrots

7. Fresh veggies with Dill dip

8. Cranberry Sauce

9. Pickled Beets & Onions

10. Pickles

11. Apple Squares

12. Cherry Tarts

13. Pumpkin Tarts ala Gibee

*ah yes, my little added note. If you know me personally you would be looking at me in astonishment at the words "instant mashed potatoes" But I had a silly little incident of almost 5 lbs. of cooked potatoes doing a 1/2 Gainer (that's a type of dive) into my sink and doing a very nice splaaaat just before I was going to serve dinner. Sigh. I was so mad at myself. So beloved hubby ran to the grocery store and rescued me with 4 boxes of instant mashed potatoes. And even though it almost killed me to set them on the table everyone was very gracious and said they were good. Ya, I gotta say they weren't too bad, mind you on my plate they were doing the back stroke in the pool of gravy so probably if I would have set out polly filla that gravy would have made it taste good!

Christmas Already at My House!

This is Susanne from Living To Tell the Story reporting to you from MY BRAND NEW LAPTOP COMPUTER!

Yes, folks, you read right! Beloved hubby pulled a huge surprise out of his hat and went and bought me a laptop for my very own! I can hardly believe it! He says it's my Christmas present but once he decided that's what he wanted to do he couldn't wait till Christmas to get it for me! I'll think I'll let it go this time!

I am giddy with the thoughts of what I can do! Just think, I don't have to fight three teens for computer time; I can actually finish a post for the next day in the evenings instead of half asleep at 11 o'clock at night or at 6:15 in the morning. I can actually browse around without worrying about being kicked off because someone has to do something as silly as homework! (You know I'm just kidding there!) And I don't have to wait my turn because someone is in the middle of a level in a game and it dosn't save it from the spot they are at and they'll have to redo the whole level.

Or what about not having to have 100 icons on the desktop, or being able to put my feet up when I'm posting like the doctor told me I had to do everyday. Okay, maybe he didn't say to be posting at the same time and he did say my feet had to be higher that my heart, but come on, details, details. My feet are at least 2 feet higher than if I left them down if I park them on the coffee table and balance the laptop on my lap so that's got to count for something! Or how about I can take it with me anywhere in the house!

You all will just have to forgive me. I'm really excited and now feeling guilty that I'm actually posting about this, but did I say I'm just really excited! Now I'll just sign off and go cook him a really nice roast beef dinner instead of the KD I was planning on!

Great Ideas Galore!

In touring around blogland in the last little while, I have come across so many great creative ideas. Now this is one area that is up and down with me. The mood has to strike me so I am very glad to see all these cool linkies going up all over blogland. My great creative idea? I'm listing all the ones I've found on this one page! Pretty good, eh? Enjoy!


1. Jennifer at Snapshots has come up with a cool place to exchange gift giving ideas in all sorts of categories. You can come and get ideas or do posts on your great ideas and hey, she's even giving away a book if you hot link. Now that's a great idea! For more detailed information link here.

2. Gibee at Kisses of Sunshine is hosting a Homemade Gift Idea Exchange. On Monday October 23 she will be providing a Mr. Linky so you can post your great homemade gift ideas or if you uncreative like me, you can go get ideas. For more information go here.

3. Sandra at Diary of a Stay At Home Mom is hosting a place to share your Holiday Tradition ideas. It will happen on November 1 and she'll be putting up Mr. Linky. Go here for more details.

4. And don't forget Overwhelmed with Joy's Holiday Recipe Exchange. If you haven't gone over there and checked it out I urge you to go. Holidays and food go hand in hand, right? And this is everbody's best recipes. I've got so many new things to try I can hardly wait to start! Go here for all the links or to add your own! Happy cooking and baking!

Post-turkey

Yup, totally turkeyed out! Every single year we all look at each other and groan, and ask why we did it to ourselves again! We clean, we cook, and bake. And then we sit down to the feast. And I've got to say that I did not take a whole bunch of any one thing, but when I looked down at my plate it was still brimming. By the time a took a little of this, and a tablespoon of that, it was the hog fest all over again. But boy was it good!


Art by John Slobodnik


Some of you have asked for Canadian Thanksgiving traditions and what we do to celebrate. I'd say it was very similar to the the U.S. Thanksgiving except that we don't line up at Walmart at 5:30 a.m. to get all the good deals for Christmas on Thanksgiving morning. :v)

In my family we either have turkey or ham, depending on whose hosting and who's coming. My dad is allergic to turkey so if he's coming it will definitely be ham. And there is the whole shebang of side dishes and desserts. We usually have the usual potatoes, yams in one form or another, pumpkin pie, apple squares, and stuffing. The things that remain constant from year to year is family laughing and enjoying each other's company, way too much food, dishes stacked on every counter and everyone sprawled out on the couches for a movie afterwards all the while groaning that we ate way too much and why do we always do this to ourselves. This year the guys beat us to the remotes so they had a western already going before the girls even made it into the living room. So after watching scruffy looking, unshaved men talking out the sides of their mouths with cigarettes in between their teeth and shooting at anything that moved for 20 minutes (no not our guys, the cowboys in the movie) the girls joined the kids downstairs to watch "Hoodwinked". I fell asleelp in spite of being poked every 10 minutes by niece to make sure I didn't fall asleep too deeply. Why don't kids ever get tired after a turkey meal?

Later, teen daughter and I watched the Amazing Race. I always enjoy watching this with her. It's so easy for us to be the couch potatoe coaches telling all the teams what they should do, shouldn't do and groaning as they make wrong decisions. She gets frustrated with the girly girls who constantly whine that they can't do this or that and who cry at the drop of a hat. And I get frustrated with the teams that argue, fight and yell at each other through the whole race. We pick our favorites and cheer them on. And we laugh together at the goofy things that are said and done all in the name of getting to that mat before the next team. All in all, a real nice weekend.

Now to get back into work mode for tomorrow. Arrrgh, that's always the hardest part. Personally, I think we should make the day after a holiday a "post-holiday mandatory day off" so that we can all get over the eating and staying up late of the holiday. Employers should like this as their employees would come to work much more awake and with more energy as the turkey would have had that extra day to digest. Yes, I think that is an idea that would really bring about more productivity amongst the working peoples. Now to just get the goverments to recognize such a thing.

Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

Happy Thanksgiving

to all my Canadian Friends!

Now Thank We All our God

Now thank we all our God,

With heart and hands and voices,

Who wondrous things has done,

In whom this world rejoices;

Who from our mothers' arms

Has blessed us on our way

With countless gifts of love,

And still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God

Through all our life be near us,

With ever joyful hearts

And blessed peace to cheer us;

And keep us still in grace,

And guide us when perplexed;

And free us from all ills,

In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God

The Father now be given;

The Son, and him who reigns

With them in highest heaven;

The one eternal God,

Whom earth and heaven adore;

For thus it was, is now,

And shall be evermore.

Based on Ecclesiasticus 50:22-24 by Martin Rinkart (1586-1649)

Translated by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878)

Word For The Weekend

Art by Helge Boe entitled "Hvile"Hvile in Norwegian means "rest- to slow down and find your breath"used with permission

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and You will find rest for you souls."Matthew 11: 28 - 29

Four Word Meme & Friday Night Lights

Carol, at She Lives, has tagged me for this word association meme. And she has given me a just a wonderful little list of words that I'm supposed to look at and then write what those words mean to me. Here goes:

Focus: The name of the out of province youth conference my kids all like to attend that I have to start saving up for now to be able to send them in the spring.

Desensitize: Hard heart. What happens when I am out of the Word and into the things of this world.

Cubed: The big old ugly ship of the Borg from Star Trek: Next Generation. I know, their ship isn't actually called "cubed" but like my son says it looks like a big cube of garbage driving through space.

Inane: Dictionary says "silly". I have no idea how this applies to me! :v)


Well, that wasn't so bad. After reading Beck's words that she gave out (that girl knows some seriously different words!), Carol, well lets just say I'm glad I got yours and I'll even forgive you for not giving me a word like "ice cream".

So I am tagging Linda 'cause she's very good with words (if you haven't found her yet go check her out), Addie, IslandSparrow and Jenny, if you want to play or haven't done it yet, of course.

Here are your words:

Teach
Shrill
Memento
Abundance


Now about Friday Night Lights. All you football fans like Shalee, Kate and Boomama, did you know they ran a pilot the other night that is going to turn this movie into a weekly show? Starring one of my favorite T.V. actors, Kyle Chandler as the coach. I caught the last 15 or 20 minutes of the pilot and in that time they had 2 moments of prayer in the show. Did you catch that? Two times they prayed in 20 minutes in a Major station pilot. In Jesus' name, even. Yes, they prayed in Jesus name!!! I almost fell over. I tried to go to the NBC website because apparently you can watch the whole pilot on there, but I couldn't get it to work. What I want to know is, did anyone see it? Is the whole show good? Are the morals good through the whole show? Someone let me know because I'd love to have a sports based show to watch with my teens!

UPDATE: If you haven't linked over to Linda at A 2nd Cup of Coffee yet, take a minute & go. You won't be sorry. She did a great job on her very first meme and you will seriously never look at a meme the same way again.

And great job to Island Sparrow and Jen, too! I thoroughly enjoyed reading yours! Thanks for playing along. I haven't seen Addie's yet but I know hers will be a pleasure to read too!

Thursday 13

THIRTEEN THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR THIS THANKSGIVING

(yes, it is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada)

1. I'm thankful first and foremost for Jesus Christ, God's own Son.

2. I'm thankful that the Lord saved me and made me His own and that He gave to me His Word and the Holy Spirit to guide me in this life.

3. I'm thankful He has given me a wonderful husband to spend the rest of my life with.

4. I'm thankful for 3 of the best kids out there. My life would not be complete without them.

5. I'm thankful that my Mom and Dad are both still with us and have been able to watch their grandchildren grow.

6. I'm thankful for the wonderful friends I've made through this blogging world.

7. I'm thankful for the beautiful fall we are having.

8. I'm thankful that I have eyes to see the beautiful colors, a nose to smell all the fall smells, and ears to hear the crunch of those leaves.

9. I'm thankful for the laughter of children.

10. I'm thankful for the church family the Lord has made me a part of.

11. I'm thankful I live in this beautiful country of Canada which knows no wars on her land.

12. I am thankful for those who leave family and friends so that this counry may stay that way and those who go and help restore peace to those countries who have seen war.

13. I am thankful for the Lord's provision in my life.

Slow Cook Thursday ~ Bar B Que Beef

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay At Home Mom for Slow Cooking Thursday. If you've got a great recipe to share or you'd like to try a new one for these cooler days of fall head on over to her place.

Crock Barbecue Beef

1 Beef Roast (any size to suit your family, any cut that you like. I usually get the one on sale that week)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup ketchup

1/3 cup smokey type barbque sauce (like mesquite or hickory smoke)

very spare 1/4 cup vinegar

1 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp. fresh cracked pepper

1 whole bay leaf

tomato paste

kaiser buns

Rub the roast with the salt. Put into crockpot. Mix remaining ingrediants except tomato paste and pour over top of roast. Cover and cook on high 4 - 5 hours or on low 6 - 8 hours until tender. Remove roast and let rest for 10 - 15 minutes. Slice very thin. Add tomato paste 1 Tbsp. at a time until desired thickness for sauce is acheived. Return roast to sauce. Serve in sliced kaiser buns. I let each person add the amount of meat & sauce they desire to their buns themselves. My hubby & older daughter like it drier while me and the other kids like it saucy. It's great with a nice green salad on the side and tater gems.

WFMW - Oranizing Family Schedules

With the fall schedule kicking into high gear and 3 children ages 11 - 16, our schedules are a huge mish-mash of papers and notes coming from school, church, youth group, and activity leaders. The amount of paperwork is daunting to say the least and ultra messy. This is what I do to try to keep out from under the overwhelming feeling of it all.

I buy those huge calendars with the very large squares. Sure there is no pretty pictures at the top but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do! As soon as a note comes home I take it, read it thoroughly (that's a key, do not skim, you'll probably miss something). Then I use either fine line scripto felts in various colors or hi-liters in various colors. Each child has their own color, as does school, church, birthdays and myself. As soon as I read it, it is transfered to the calendar in the corresponding color. Then the paper either gets thrown away or if there is too much information on the note to transfer to the calendar, I make a star on the calendar notation and then place the paper in a file folder in my drawer. Then when the activity comes up and I see the star I know to go get more info from the note in the file. I can see days ahead from the star that something extra is going to be required.

This has worked great especially as all three kids have different activities going on. If it's a very detailed schedule of practice times and games where the team travels, such as my daughter's basketball, I keep that taped to the back of my kitchen door or in a cupboard because I need to see that almost on a daily basis. I no longer have a ton of papers on the kitchen counter, and I'm not running around at the last minute trying to find things that they are supposed to bring to the activity.

Fresh, Hot Meme

Jules at Everyday Mommy was getting creative and created this meme to get to know us better. And she "taggeth" me. How fun! Although I'm going to say that the memories that I list are not necessarily the only fave memories of that person. There are so many. How do you choose so I'm basically going to put the first one that comes immediately to mind. So here goes:

1. Favorite memory of your mother: The one that comes to mind right now because of the fall season is my mother working in the kitchen canning all sorts of yummy things for her family. She used to do pickles, beets, cherries, pears and peaches. They were all so good. I can see her in my memory over the big canning pot, steam rising, sweat coming off her forehead. Canning season around here still meant hot weather outside. And the produce does not wait for a cool day. You had to do it when it was ready to go. I can see all the jars, sitting upside down on a kitchen towel, lined up in neat rows on the counter top. All the lovely colors of the particular thing being canned that day! And oh, how my mouth would drool. I'd be asking to open a jar right away and she'd always laugh and remind me that they had to sit for awhile. This memory always speaks to me of my mom's love for her family and doing her best for us even when it meant hard work for her.

2. Favorite memory of my dad: One of my favorite memories of my dad is of him starting the neighborhood water fights. How he giggled as he got a poor, unsuspecting neighbor across the fence with a good dose of water from the hose. I've talked of that one before so I'm going to name another one of my Dad. One of my other favorite memories of my Dad is having lunch with him in the hotel resteraunt where his barbershop was located. My elementary school was about 4 blocks away from his shop and I'd walk there many a lunch hour. If he didn't have a customer he'd always join me very often buying me french fries. It was here he introduced me to having gravy on my fries, something I still love today! We'd chat and just share the lunch break together. If he had customers, I eat and read in the resteraunt and then go watch him as he cut hair.

3. Favorite memory of your sibling(s): One of my favorite memories of my sister is when we went to Hungary when I was 10 and she was 8. My mom bought us a few outfits that matched. My dad was stopped quite often on the streets in Budapest and asked if we were twins. I remember snuggling up with her in the big bed in my Grandma's house. I remember at my aunt's tiny house in a tiny village, playing with the bunny rabbits with her. She loved those bunnies but they always pee-ed on her. I remember how whatever relative was taking us out for the day, we'd talked them into getting us soft ice cream. You could buy that all over in Budapest and they had soft chocolate, too! But my sister's somehow quite often ended up falling off her cone onto the sidewalk after just a few licks. And how she'd cry. I remember going to the big amusement park with her and going on rides. It was a wonderful time for us. I believe it was a gift from the Lord for in our teenage years we grew apart. Our different personalities drove us in different directions for many a year. Now she is also a Christian, and God has brought us back together and she is one of my best friends. But those memories from Hungary are ones I'll always love.

4. What one skill would you like to wake up tomorrow and be able to do (though you'd never learned it): I have always wanted to just sit down at the piano and play beautifully. Everytime I hear a beautiful worship song played, or listen to Yanni or Giovanni I just want to be able to play like that. Now. Not years from now. Like now.

5. Which one of your dreams has come true: Well, first off, I'm glad my grade 5 dream of becoming a nun did not come true! :v) And that's so that my dream of a husband and kids could come true. My dream of working with handicapped people came true, and my dream of going to Hawaii came true. Oh only one you wanted, Jules? Ya, well, you know I have trouble listing only the amount asked for. :v)

And Laura, Shalee, Laurel, and Sandra consider yourself "taggethed". (If you want to play).