Question Answered Pt. 2

Keeping on with the questions you asked me on this post!

4W asked me: What has been your most grand adventure to date?
See, you have many questions so far!
Hungarian food? Got any good recipes? (I'll trade you some of my Bachi's Polish recipes :0)

My grandest adventure to date. Wow, that is sort of a hard question. I sometimes think my life is really, really boring with not a whole lot of adventure going on. LOL. To me I guess, it sort of depends on how one defines adventure. I sort of think every part of life is a bit of an adventure. Becoming a Christian has definitely been an adventure as I've walked territory I definitely never thought I'd walk. I've done things I never thought I'd do and I've changed in ways I never thought possible. Marriage is an adventure. And I hope it continues to be. Having children was an adventure I totally loved and having teenagers is an adventure that continuously pops up things I never thought of. LOL. But if you define adventure as going somewhere and doing something then I suppose my grandest adventure has been the Hawaii trip I took with my hubby. I loved every second of it. I did things like swim with fish and have them eat of my hands. Hike in the most beautiful place I never thought I'd see and I was actually a beach bum by a gorgeous ocean for a few days. Being an inland girl all my life that was something totally new.

Gianna asked: Who is your all time favorite author for fiction and non fiction? My kind of question Gianna! I love to read and love books. I love lots of different authors. I tend to go in waves. When I find an author I like I end up reading most of their books almost back to back, putting them on hold at the library. Different types of stories appeal to me at different times in my life. Some of my favorite fiction authors are Angela Hunt, Susan Meissner, and a new one to me this year, Sandra Dallas. But if I have to name an all time favorite I think it would be Francine Rivers. Everyone of her stories have really spoken to me or touched me in some way that left me pondering them for a long time after, my favorite being Redeeming Love. And I know you didn't ask but my all time favorite fiction novel of all time is Ribbon of Years by Robin Lee Hatcher. I have read it over and over and never get tired of the story.

My favorite non-fiction author is a little harder to name. I don't do so well with non-fiction. I start them with great gusto and lose interest not even half way through. But if I have to name one from books I have finished it would be a toss up between Max Lucado and Charles Swindoll.

More questions answered on another day. :v)

Photo Hunters ~ Purple

I haven't done a Photo Hunter challenge in a couple of months blowing my goal of not missing one this year. Oh, well. That's what happens when life happens. LOL. This week's theme is purple.



I have no idea what these pretty purple flowers are but I find them scattered here and there down by the river in the hills. The picture doesn't do the double color of the flower justice or how it stands out against the brown and green grasses. It really is a lovely punch of purple color in the hills.

To join in on Photo Hunters or see other "Purple", click over here.

Friday's Fave Five #94

*Sorry guys. I accidentally had it scheduled to publish at PM instead of AM. My bad!

Hi everyone! It's Friday! Time for Friday's Fave Five. Join us as we look back and find our five favorite blessings from our weeks. They can be big or small, obvious or somewhat hidden. For details you can go here. And then just join right in!

1. Cool evening breezes. After all the rain we've had, we've finally been enjoying a few really nice warm days. But it makes for warm houses in the evenings so it's been really nice to have a nice cool evening breeze blowing through. And here's the part where a pic of billowing curtains would look great. But alas, I have no curtains to billow. Only blinds. And they don't billow so well, so you'll just have to trust me.

2. A lovely anniversary dinner with my Honey. We went to a favorite restaurant and had an absolutely yummy meal. Peppercorn steak for him, bourbon steak for me. Yum! And the company was the best!

3. My favorite chocolates. A gift from my hubby for our anniversary. I'm so proud of myself I actually made it last 6 whole days. So good.

4. A totally hilarious, totally made for us Anniversary card from my hubby. It's like it was totally made for us. Cracked me right up and totally made my morning when I read it. I love cards and I love it when one is found thatcould totally have been designed by the give and is totally suited for the reciever.

5. Bike riding. We finally, finally, got out for a bike ride on Father's day. It was perfect weather. Warm but not overly hot, just a slight breeze. I would have taken pictures except it was requested by a certain father that the camera stay home. And seeing it was Father's day, what could I say. The camera stayed home.

These are just 5 of my favorite things from the week. What were yours? Do a post and link on up so we can come and visit.

Summer, It Begins

Well with the last day of school tomorrow for most of the kids around here, summer has officially begun. And may I say the weather is finally beginning to co-operate. At least in my city it is. And I am so glad. A half a dozen kids with cabin fever for days on end is no fun! We've been outside soaking in every minute of warm rays that Mr. Sun sees fit to give us.

I've been trying to get myself motivated to get a semblance of a summer plan together. I know summer is all about letting loose and lazy, hazy days and all that, but really I still have to plan some activities for each day for the dayhome kids or else it really does become chaotic. Because a lot depends on the weather, I usually do a bit of a flexible plan. Just different ideas that I can incorportate on whatever day I choose as the mood strikes as long as I have that list of ideas and supplies ready on hand this is easy. If I don't, it makes for very long days.

" Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it,
it is not all mixed up."

A.A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh

I always find the balance between having dayhome kidlets arriving at 7:30 in the a.m. and allowing my own kids summer sleep in time a constant source of stress and struggle. Not that my kids sleep in until noon but I do like to let them have a couple hours past their regular school wake up time. It is their summer holidays, after all. And they are teenagers. Teenagers who have summer jobs where they sometimes don't get home until midnight. But on the same token I cannot and will not be "shushing" the dayhome kids, their parents pay me to let them come and have fun, not be told to be quiet all the time. My best bet is to make sure there are planned things to do for that morning time slot. Choices that don't involve running, screaming and bedlam. So my summer balancing act begins. Sometimes I'm able to get those balls all in the air. Sometimes it is a battle.

"To be prepared is half the victory"
Miquel de Cervantes Saavedre

But in all the planning, I've found, flexibility is the key with a houseful of kids in the summer. I'm a bit of a "plan but go with the flow kind of gal", rather than the "execute the plan at all costs" type of person. If the kids are having a ton of fun doing something I am definitely not going to break it up just to force them to start something new that I had planned. That would be craziness on my part and bring on many tears. The kids and mine.

So my list begins. (And to help me with that I'll be checking out Faith's series on summer activities for kids to maybe get some new ideas I haven't yet used.) And you can bet if the kids choose to dream and wile away some time that will definitely be allowed. It is summer, after all.

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."
John Lubbock

And who knows. I might just join them.

Questions Answered

Last week I asked you all to ask me whatever you liked (as long as it was family friendly :) ) and that I would do my best to answer some questions you wanted to know. You guys asked some great ones. So today I'm going to tackle a couple of them. They might not appear in the same order as some will require more detailed of an answer.

For now the very first one comes from my Canadian west coast blogging buddy Michelle. She asked:

Did you grow up in Canada? Or Hungary? I was born and raised in Canada in the same city I live in today. I've never moved away, not even for school. All my relatives however, are in Hungary except for one Aunt who lives in Australia but has disconnected herself from the family. I have only ever visited Hungary once in my life when I was 10 years old and it's the only time I've ever seen my Grandparents. With the exception of 2 of my uncles who visited here, that is the only time I have ever met my extended family. I do talk to one of those uncles at Christmas time on the phone, though, so that's really nice. My parents came to Canada in the '56 Revolution. Both my parents had to learn English and because my Dad worked outside the home he learned faster than my Mom and so my primary language growing up was Hungarian. In fact I was put into kindergarten a year earlier, unheard of at that time, no such thing as pre-schools back then, so I could learn more English as I went through Kindergarten twice. Mom and Dad found a kindergarten willing to take me on. And the rest is history, I haven't stopped talking since.


Karen, my long lost twin, asked:

Well, let's see. I know what your favorite ice cream is, what your wedding dress looked like and what kind of books you like to read:)

What was your favorite vacation of all time? My favorite vacation of all time is a toss up. I have not been on a lot of "huge" vacations in my life but "huge" also doesn't necessarily make for favorite. But I have to say that my favorite vacation has been when I was 10 and we went "home" to Hungary. I was finally able meet all my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I experienced life in the big city, Budapest, and life in a little town, Tiszafured. The hospitality, the culture, the food and oh, the beautiful architecture and country is forever marked in my heart. It was quite the experience for a 10 year old. I have many, many memories of it and treasure them all. I've been secretly yearning to go back ever since.

The next one comes from my good blogging buddy, Faith:

oh wow....well...I'd love to know where you'd like to visit if you could go anywhere in the world, and why would you choose that place? also, have you ever traveled "down here" in the USA and if so, where? and if not, what state most intrigues you or which state would you most like to visit and why?

Well that is a loaded question, Faith, because I've always had the desire to travel. Unfortunately, so far, I haven't fulfilled a whole lot of that in my life. So my bucket list of travel is quite extensive. LOL.

Other than the going back to Hungary trip, one of my life time travel desires has been to see my own country. I love Canada and think the variety in the different provinces is amazing and beautiful. Unfortunately, there too, I haven't seen a whole lot. I would love to visit every single province. But my absolute first stop would be Prince Edward Island, where my blogging buddy Kathy lives. I've wanted to go there and Nova Scotia since I was in elementary school. I am determined to fulfill that dream in my lifetime! But for now, I visit vicariously through Kathie's beautiful blog.

My next choice would be a trip to Ireland. I would love to go on one of those trips where you get to stay in a different castle every few days and really get to see the whole country and the great towns that make up Ireland.

Another thing on my bucket list would be to take a Mediterranean cruise. The kind that makes all the stops and lets you go explore the countries. My heart yearns for this. I have all these grand illusions of what a romantic, beautiful trip that would be. And I'd get to see a whole bunch of countries and experience a whole bunch of cultures all wrapped up in one awesome trip. If I couldn't talk my hubby into getting on a boat, then I'd love to do the whole European tour thing. I'd visit every single tourist thing to experience all the history and architecture, which is incredible, and then I'd just go into the countryside and see the "real" country and visit with people who live it and really get to experience their culture outside of the touristy stuff. But I'd have to win the lottery for either of these ones. And seeing as I don't play the lottery the chances of it happening are quite slim.

As far as visiting my U.S. neighbor, I have been to Hawaii, another favorite vacation. And I've been into Montana and Idaho. My memories of vacation in Cour de Alene are of a very beautiful little resort town. I'd love to visit all over the States too. The Grand Canyon has always drawn me. I'd love to drive the Oregon Trail. And Faith's love of the Adirondack's makes me want to go hiking there with her. A trip back to Hawaii I'd never refuse. I loved Hawaii. I'd move there if I could. I wonder if they need a good dayhome there? Although I have to admit I would totally miss my mountains. And four seasons. So maybe just a nice little vacation home there would be good. :v)

Whew, now I'm totally wanting a great vacation! LOL. More Questions Answered to come another day. This is actually turning out to be fun. I don't know what I was so scared of.

Spring Reading Thing 2010 Wrap Up

Well this spring has just flown by and with it is the the wrap up for the Spring Reading Thing challenge. Thanks to Katrina for hosting this each year. It's nice to have a bit of a focus with my reading.

So how did I do? Did I finish all my books? If not, why? Did I stick to my original goals or change as I went along? Well my original list is here. I am very happy to report that I have finished my original list with the exception of one and a half. And of course, both of those being of the non-fiction variety. "Experiencing the Resurrection" is my half. I am well into it but just couldn't get it done on time. Hopefully, I'll finish it in the next couple of weeks. With my track record of not finishing non-fictions I'd say that a finish of 3 1/2 non-fictions off this list was pretty darn good. Included in that is a book I finished off leftover from the Fall Into Reading challenge: "Unexplainable - Pursuing a Life Only God Can Make Possible". Now that is a record for me in the non-fiction department! Yay me! The devotional book "Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock" I just could not get into so I set it aside for another time.

As far as fiction went I finished off my whole list of 7 novels plus added two more for a total of 9 fiction. I don't think I've ever done this well on a previous challenge. I don't know what was different this time. I think I just hit on some really great reads that kept my interest and kept me faithful to my original list and in the reading groove for the whole way. You can read any or all my thoughts on the books here. The Spring Reading Thing reviews start with #10 and go through to #22.

What was your favorite book you read this spring? Least favorite? Why? There was quite a few on my list that I really, really liked but I have to say my absolute favorite was "The Silent Gift" by Michael Landon Jr. It was just such a great read pulling every emotion out of me through the course of the book. It made me ask continuously throughout it "What would I do if in that postion?" and I had a hard time putting it down. All signs of a great read for me. My least favorite? A bit harder to pick as I didn't absolutely hate anything I read but a few were definitely not as enjoyable and gripping as some of the others. I think maybe "Here Burns My Candle", "The Wednesday Letters" and "Indivisible" were amongst my least favorites. Not that they were bad reads they just didn't hit me or engage me or weren't my style the same way some of the others were.

Did you discover a new author or genre this spring? Did you love them or not? My favorite read this spring was also a new author to me, Michael Landon, Jr. and I definitely loved it and it was in one of my favorite genres. I also discovered Sandra Dallas and she is definitely become one of my favorite authors. In all honesty I did come across her just before the reading challenge so therefore one of her books was on my original list and I quickly added her latest as soon as it came out.

Did you learn something new during the SRT? About reading? Yourself? A topic? I did learn I am capable of finishing a non-fiction. I guess it just has to be the right kind. As long as there is a progression of learning and not just the author saying the same thing twenty different ways it holds my interest a lot better I've discovered.

My favorite thing about the challenge? Just reading. And as usual, I loved reading everyone else's lists. I get alot of titles from going through other's lists.

I'd say it was a pretty successful challenge this spring. And the reading groove is still going! With the dog days of summer coming one of my favorite things is just sitting on a blanket, iced coffee or tea in hand and reading. Hopefully, the groove will continue!

Friday Fave Five #93

Hello everyone. Welcome to another week of FFF. Take a look back over your week and look for those things that were blessings to you and then join in with us. For details you can head over here.

1. This post over at Bungalow '56. Cracked. me. right. up! It's a good thing I had swallowed my coffee. Dana is a Canadian blogger I've just recently met and she has a wonderful sense of humor and takes wonderful pictures. Check out her fun summer post.

2. Our first taste of this year's Cherries from B.C. And it was luscious and juicy and full of sweet goodness! Yum!
3. Shoes. Specifically New Shoes. More specifically: New pink shoes. And even better: New pink shoes that cost next to nothing.

4. Downspout extenders. Okay I know. That is just weird. But this week with it raining cats and dogs those cheap vinyl roll out extenders are saving my sanity. So far, the basement is dry whereas other times I would have had some leakage by now. Hopefully it will continue that way. Keeping my fingers crossed.

5. I left the best for last, and that would be the guy who is making today a day to celebrate by marking with me our 27th anniversary. We've seen lots of mountain tops together and few valleys too, but we've walked it together and here we are 27 years later with a beautiful family and lots of wonderful memories looking towards the future. Happy Anniversary, Sweetie!

What have been your favorites things this week? Do a post and link on up. Please take a moment and make sure you link is working. For some reason a few have not "taken" over the past couple of weeks.

Bits of This and That

It is raining cats and dogs here. I guess what they say about fog bringing moisture 90 days later must be true because we had a lot of fog over the last winter. And now we are having a very weird, wet spring. It is coming down in buckets. In fact, we discussed whether building a small family ark would be a good idea.

I just turned on the World Cup Soccer broadcast for the first time because one of the dayhome boys wanted to watch. Nigeria is playing Greece. I've been watching now for two minutes and I am getting more and more irritated by the second. Sorry, but those African horns that sound like some horror movie swarm of bees is making my skin crawl. Don't think I'll be watching too much soccer. How on earth do the players concentrate with that going on? How can they even communicate with each other on the field? And how on earth do the people watching the game sit through that for the whole game? I can only imagine how much louder it really is at the stadium than on tv. There is no break in the noise W.H.A.T.S.O.E.V.E.R! Anyhoo, switching channels now.

Did I mention the wind is blowing like crazy along with all the rain? Yeah, it is.

School is almost done for my kids. I think they each have one exam left and that is it. Son will officially be done with his "forced upon you" school career. Yesterday, he said he couldn't believe how fast this year has gone by. I think a little nostalgia was hitting him. One last summer before the "adult" schooling starts with the first round of courses that will eventually make him a Paramedic. Nice for him, though, most of his friends are not moving away to attend school.

Did I mention I'm cold down to my bones? Rain and wind makes for a chilly combo especially when I have to make regular checks on the down spout extenders to make sure they haven't been pushed off or blown away. Brr.

Today is full of Father's Day crafts. I see tin cans, masking tape, buttons and shoe polish which, hopefully, will translate into a nice pencil holder, in my immediate future. I also see lots of nice, hot coffee.

Hope you're having a nice warm, dry day whereever you are.

It Is, But It Isn't

I don't know where the weekend might have gone, but gone it is and Monday disappeared right along with it. My goodness it's been busy around here somehow. And now it's Tuesday and I haven't posted since Friday. And only twice last week. You guys have asked some great questions and I'm working on some good posts out of them. Don't be afraid to ask some more today on that post if you missed it.

Today, though, I wanted to share this great recipe with you that I tried on the weekend. It was so easy and sooo good. And pretty healthy to boot. It's packed with fiber because of the beans and the olive oil instead of mayo makes it a healthy fat. And bonus: it doesn't heat up the kitchen. I found the link on someone's blog but now I can't remember who that was. But it was originally taken from this recipe. The person modified it to their tastes, and I too modified it a bit to use what I had on hand rather than running to the grocery store yet again. I know you might have read tuna melt and had the urge to run screaming from the room. Believe me, I did too. I've never liked tuna melts. Even though I love tuna, the mixture of tuna, mayo and melted process cheese always caused a rebellion in my mouth. But trust me, this one is different. The blend of ingrediants, which I never would have thought to put together, along with texture of the softer filling and then hitting the crunch of the grilled bread put this over the top and officially makes me forget that it really is a tuna melt. Even though, you know, it is. And I'll let you in on a secret. If you insist on watching your carbs, I know you people are out there, it's even good just eating it from a bowl without piling it on the bun.

The "Make You Forget it's a Tuna Melt" Tuna Melt (adapted from Rachel Ray)
4-6 servings (count on each adult eating 1 -2 bun halves)

-2 6oz. cans chunk tuna in water, drained and flaked
-1 large can white beans, about 1 1/2 cups (either navy, cannellini, or chickpeas. I used chickpeas because that is what I had, but I'll bet the other beans would give the filling a creamier texture)
-1 large or two smaller tomatoes
-2 stalks celery, sliced
-4 Tbsp. olive oil (I used extra virgin), divided
-3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice or Real Lemon
-fresh ground pepper to taste
-1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 tsp. dried (fresh is sooo much better!)
-1 1/2 cups finely grated cheese of your choice (I used marble because that is what I had, Rachel used swiss)
-4 large ciabatta buns cut in half (I used the big triangle shaped ones from Costco)

Place 2 Tbsp. of the olive oil into small bowl and set aside. Set aside half the cheese.

Rinse and drain the beans well. Place in bowl and add tuna. Slice the tomato into eighths and scoop all the seeds and wet stuff out with your fingers. Chop the tomato flesh into small bite size pieces. Add all the rest of the ingrediants except the buns and stir well.

Heat bbq to medium heat. Brush both sides of each bun half with the reserved olive oil. Place on grill cut side down. When toasted and grill marked flip over and turn the heat down a bit. Pile on the filling equally on all bun halves. Add the remaining grated cheese on top, cover and grill until the cheese melts and bottom of bun is toated. Keep an eye that you've turned the heat down enough not to burn the bottoms of the buns as the cheese melts.

Awesome served with grilled vegetables such as asparagus or a spinach or baby greens salad.

Friday's Fave Five #92

Welcome to Fave Fives this wonderful Friday. Please join us as we look back over the week and find those things that have been blessings for us. Details are here.

It's been a crazy week for me with a family crisis right in the middle so this is a really good exercise for me right now. Otherwise I might just go on auto pilot and not even recognize a blessing when it was there for me.

1. Volunteers who show compassion and are there for families and individuals. My mom went through an awful event this week and I thank God for the compassionate young man who was sent to be an aide to her. He was gentle and kind and I thank him for that.

2. Strangers that gave my mom a helping hand when she needed it the most. Thank you to those strangers who helped my mom when she needed it.

3. Fast food. I know it's not healthy but when I was exhausted it was there and ready and hot. I'm was glad for fast food restaurants last night.

4. Birds singing. It instantly lifts my mood to hear birds singing and they've been giving us their songs a lot this week. It seems the cooler, cloudy days make them want to lift their voices and I've been enjoying every note!

5. Rain on one side


and Rainbows on the other and the reminder that comes with them of God's faithfulness.

Thank you Lord, for those blessings, large and small, that carried me through this week.

What were your blessings, large or small this week that turned to favorite moments? Do a FFF post and link that post along with us and let us enjoy your favorites along with you.

Questions, Questions

Why is it that June always seems to be such a busy month. Somehow in the winding down of a school year, there is the turning up of activity and busyness. The studying for exams on the part of my high schoolers, 3 birthdays within a week in my dayhome and those kids coming and going and changing for the summer, all which involve special activities. All of it brings an exhaustion at the end of the day that hits me like a ton of bricks and my motivation to think of things to blog about was seen packing it's bags about a week ago. So I'm going to do something that I've always been afraid to do. And that would be...

drumroll, please...

I'm going to let you ask me whatever you would like. What has been burning in your mind to know? And I'll do my best to answer. But, please be kind. And keep it to what would be appropriate for a family friendly blog.
And now I'm shaking in my boots that I actually did this. Mind you, I might not get one question. So then, I would really have nothing to worry about. Alrighty then.

Friday's Fave Five #91

Sorry for the delay in FFF getting posted. My wireless connection is not behaving itself.


It's Friday's Fave Five time! Are you ready to look back on your week and find those blessings? Please join us. If you need details, they are here.

1. The skies. Skies and cloud formations have always fascinated me. I've always loved looking at them and enjoying God's artistry in them. And I love taking pictures of them. I posted a few pics in this post. That grey one was absolutely amazing. My neighbor and I were talking over the fence when we noticed it and both of us ran to get our cameras. My daughter thought I had outlined it somehow using a photo program but I didn't. That is how the cloud was, straight out of the camera, streaks, outline, and shining white spots. I've never in my 29 (ahem) years seen anything like it. The other two were when the blue sky finally broke through the other day. But Wednesday night? Wednesday night was the most incredible orange sky ever.


I just had to run out and try to capture at least a smidge of what it was like.


The skies have definitely been a favorite this week.

2. A night of food and fellowship with the girls. Our ladies bible study girls decided to just have a night of fun this week instead of our regular study. It's a nice break in the routine and really lets us bond as friends in addition to being a bible study group. I wish I would have gotten a pic of the food, it was delicious, and the fun. But I totally forgot to take my camera.

3. Soft Serve Ice Cream. Oh yum. Son works at the DQ and once in awhile he surprises us and brings home a container of ice cream. I really like it better than the ice cream you buy at the grocers.

4. Dishes done and the fella who did them. Thanks to hubby for surprising me and unloading the dishwasher and scrubbing up the pots when he came home on his lunch break. That was so nice!

5. Answers to prayer. I love when God brings a specific answer to prayer and you just know it's been Him who has brought it.

What were your favorite blessings from the week? Share with us and link on up. Please link to your specific FFF post and not your home page so those visiting later in the weekend can find it easily!

The Sky. It Is Blue.

Could it possibly be? Yup, I do think it is.


There is actually blue skies peeking out last night.

Quite a contrast to this cloud that started off the whole week of grey and wet.


And this is the actual shot. And no the camera wasn't messing up. It was actually streaked and outlined in black. With shining white behind it. I've never seen a cloud like this with the grey streaks and black outline.

For a split second, I sorta thought it might be announcing the return of the Lord.

And while it was really cool, I'm really liking the cloudless blue sky this morning. Maybe my poor old pansies can finally get planted. They've been oh, so patiently waiting in their teeny tiny seed pots waiting for it to warm up. Sprouting and growing. It is time.

This morning they're basking in the sunshine awaiting their new beds.

I will be joining them, raising my face to the sunshine. As soon as I hit post!