Family Favorites ~ Sloppy Joes My Way

My kids are a huge fan of the sloppy joe but I never could find a recipe that I totally liked.  It was always too sweet or too bland or just not to my tastes.  And it just went against my grain to buy the Sloppy Joe stuff in the can.  So in a moment of creativity, I threw all caution to the wind and I experimented to make what suited me more, trying to leave out those things that I thought might add the flavors I didn't care for and then tried to balance those things I thought I would like in a sloppy joe.  This is what I came up with.

The browning of the onion and beef to the pan made for a real nice richness that added to the flavor of the spaghetti sauce.  But you have to watch it carefully, because you don't want a burnt onion flavor, just nicely browned.

SUE'S SLOPPY JOES
(serves 6 - 8)
*freezes well

-1 large onion, chopped
-1 Tbsp. oil
-1.5 kg (3 lbs) lean ground beef
-salt and pepper to taste
-1 jar 645 ml Paul Newman's Sockarooni Spaghetti Sauce
-1 green pepper, chopped
-1 generous Tbsp. Dijon mustard
-1 - 2 Tbsp. juice from pickled jalapenos
-soft buns of your choice (hamburger, cheese buns, kaisers, or small sub type bun)

Heat oil in 10 inch saute skillet.  Add onion and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes stirring occasionally.  Add beef, breaking it up and let cook without stirring until the bottom browns. Watch carefully as you want browned and not burnt onion.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add chopped green pepper.  Stir and break up big chunks. Continue to cook until hamburger is cooked all the way through stirring occasionally.  Drain well.

Add spaghetti sauce, mustard, and jalapeno juice and mix in.  Simmer for 20 - 30 minutes to develop flavors.

Serve on soft buns with your favorite sides.

Friday's Fave Five #132

It's Friday and welcome to FFF!  Please join in as we look back over our week and take note of blessings, large or small, that have touched us as we walk through our days.  If you are new, the guidelines are here, otherwise just jump right in!

1.  One of my all time favorite books from a Christian author is again available as an ebook in Kindle or Nook format.  I have read this book at least 3 times and I still love it just as much each time.  I think I'm due for another reread soon.  A blurb about it, reviews and ordering info is  available here.  I'd say a heck of a deal at only $2.99.

2.  Beautiful mornings.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we woke up to snow.  Yes, snow.  So it was donning the winter coat and going outside early in the morning to shovel before the dayhome parents came.  That wasn't necessarily the favorite part but the peace and calmness out there was.  It was beautiful, hovering around zero but absolutely calm and the birds chirping their songs made for a peaceful time before the chaos of the day.

3.  Volunteering with my daughter.  T and I spent a few hours volunteering together last Saturday afternoon and I must say I really enjoyed it.  Chopping vegetables and cutting desserts and then serving food at a downtown soup kitchen with my girl was a great experience.   And one that I am looking forward to repeating.

4.  Making a dent in the purging of the craft room.  Being a child care provider I tend to hang onto all sorts of ridiculous things that most of you immediately throw out with the idea they might be good for some kind of craft.  So very soon it becomes an overwhelming amount of stuff.  I finally put my foot down about some things and ruthlessly threw out a ton of stuff.  And I've only just begun but it's encouraging already.  I can hardly wait until it's finished.

5.  Fresh, herby smelling candles.  With the putting away of the winter decorations, I also put away the "heavier, thicker" scented candles are brought out the lighter, herb smells I like in the spring.  My favorite is Basil Nectarine from Yankee Candle.

What were your blessings from the week?  Was it a week full of wonderful goings on and you have to contain yourself to write down just five or were you having a harder week where you really had to be aware and look harder?  Either way it is a good thing to remember them as it makes us more aware of all the ways God touches our lives.  We all want the really great weeks, where the blessings are big and obvious, where it is easy to remember them and write about them,  but being in the habit of doing the exercise helps those hard weeks we all at some point face, where we have to dig deep and search for them amidst the trouble.  It is in those weeks that the simple, everyday graces of God show through.  My prayer is that whatever kind of week you are having you may find those ways that God is trying to say He loves you in the midst of your everydays.

Please join us and do a post and link up.  It's a blessing to visit and read all your favorite things from your weeks.

Cooking Thursday ~ Upside down Pizza

I don't know where this week has gone.  It's Thursday already and I again I haven't posted for 2 days.  The time, it just seems to slip right by me lately.  But it's Cooking Thursday and I wanted to share this recipe I found at AllRecipes.com.  I love this recipe resource.  If you've never checked it out, take a little tour and then sign up for their daily recipe ideas.  Makes menu planning much easier.  Anyway, this recipe is super simple, takes no time whatsoever, and the whole family loved it.  I think it's a recipe that is super simple to play with, adding whatever you like best about pizza.

 UPSIDE DOWN DEEP DISH PIZZA

-1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen spinach or frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
-2 cups shredded mozzarella
-1 can refrigerated pizza crust
-1 pound ground beef
-1 (26 oz.) 796ml jar smooth tomato basil pasta sauce

Preheat the oven to 375*F.

Brown the ground beef with salt and pepper to taste.  Drain well.  Add pasta sauce and bring to a boil.  Pour the sauce into a 2 quart baking dish.

Top with the broccoli  or spinach, then the cheese.  Cover with the pizza dough stretching to the edges and sealing lightly.

Bake for 20 minutes or until crust is golden.  Cover edges with a bit of foil if they start to get brown too fast.  Let stand before serving.

**recipe notes:  I used fresh broccoli and it was very tasty, but next time I think I will use a spicier sauce, mushrooms, spinach, green peppers, and maybe red onions too.  I'm looking forward to playing around with this.

This post is linked up Cooking Thursday hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

The First Day of Spring, Alberta Style

I don't get it.

No this is not last month's picture.

Even the dog is confused.

Is it not spring today?

What I want to know is who tempted fate

and packed away the winter gear

in effect causing a 3 day snow fall warning to occur?

C'mon 'fess up!

Spring Reading Thing 2011

Today is the first day of spring and that means the Spring Reading Thing of 2011 is underway!  It's a fun, low-key challenge to get some reading done!  You can go here for some of the details.  Again this spring my choices are going to be a bit of a mish mash of goals.  I have some that will be review books, some non-fiction which is always a challenge for me, and I'm adding some out of my book basket because it is starting to overflow and then, of course, I will have some from the library that I just couldn't leave behind.  As always there will be a couple of spaces to add review books as I get the requests.  So far this year I am reading at a slower pace than last year so I'm hoping I get through this list.  So many books I want to read and I have so much less time than I would like.  Looking forward to reading all your lists too, and I'm sure I will be adding to my want to read list as I do that.  But here's my choices for this spring:

1.  "Lazarus Awakening" by Joanna Weaver - (for review).  Finding your place in the heart of God.

2.  "Feed Your Pet Right" by Marion Nestle (finishing).  Because we're trying to make up our minds about the commercial dog food industry.

3.  "How to Raise the Perfect Dog Through Puppyhood and Beyond" by Cesar Millan - I wanted some specific suggestions for certain things and I like his show, so the book seemed the obvious choice.

4.  "God's Guest List - Welcoming Those Who Influence Our Lives" by Debbie Macomber - I'm pretty sure my friend Faith reviewed and recommended this one, but I couldn't find the post to link to.  Okay, so Faith just let me know it wasn't her.  Well, I have no idea then where I saw this but I know they said it was good.  LOL.

5.  "The Kitchen Boy - A Novel of the Last Tsar" by Robert Alexander- reviewed by Carrie and it sounded like something I would really like.

6.  "Undressing the Moon" by T. Greenwood - looked interesting on the library shelf so into the bag it went

7.  "Secrets" by Robin Jones Gunn - choice from my book basket

8.  "Standing in the Rainbow" by Fannie Flagg - choice from the book basket.  I think it was on the fall into reading list too.  Oh well.

9.  "The Midwife of St. Petersburg" by Linda Lee Chaikin - from my book basket

10.  "Unlocked" by Karen Kingsbury (finishing from my book basket)

 11.  "The Purple Book" by Rice Broocks & Steve Murrell - study in discipleship that my ladies group is doing

12.  "Experiencing the Ressurection" by Henry & Mel Blackaby - getting myself focused on the meaning of Easter

So there you have it.  I better get to it.  If you'd like to join the challenge or find some great reads, check out the link at Callapider Days, our hostess.

Friday's Fave Five #131

Hi everyone.  I'm so sorry this wasn't up at it usual time.  I have no excuse except I plain mixed up my days and didn't even think it was Friday until having my coffee this morning.  Please join in the Mr. Linky and I'll have my post up as soon as I can.  If you need the details the link is in the sidebar!  Have fun and I'll see you in a bit.

Well, hello again.  I can't believe I did that.  Late to my own party.  But now that I'm here I'm looking forward to reading everyone's favorite blessings for the week.

1.  Blue Skies.  Oh I am enjoying the blue skies.  It just brings on a joy seeing them through the living room window.  So much better than grey!

2.  Snow disappearing.  I love my snow but I've seriously had enough for this past winter.  I'm not even going to complain one bit about the wind we've had because it is melting the snow!  Our pile in the backyard and along our driveway was so high from shovelling that it's taking a while but it's getting close!

3.  The Purge.  All this nicer weather is putting me in the mood for getting rid of stuff.  So I've been grabbing things as I see them and off they are going if I don't want them, don't need them, they don't fit, or just not something I want anymore.  I would love to participate in something like the 40 bags in 40 days kind of stuff going on around the blogosphere but working a 10 hour day Mon - Fri, well that is just not gonna happen, so I'm doing it as I can.  So far 2 bags of clothes, gone,  and 2 boxes dedicated to yard sale, with the items priced as they go in thankyouverymuch, are done!  Sure feels good!

4.  Spring decorating.  Well, I've got them dug out of storage and am putting them up as I've got a minute.  Gone are the silver and white of winter decorating, hello fresh greens, yellows, and brighter colors of spring!  My little bird collection is coming out hiding too.  Again, feels so good.

5.  A real, live filing cabinet!  Silly I know, but I've wanted one for years and years and never got one.  Hubby went and purchased me one.  It's a bit bigger than I was thinking but hey, I got me a filing cabinet!  I'll make the room!  No more having our papers stuffed in cupboards and accordion files all over the place.  No more having my dayhome idea stuff spilling out of drawers.  It will all be in one place.  Yipee!

What are your favorite things this week?   Please do a post and sign on up so we can come and visit!  Just remember to link directly to your Fave Five post of the week and NOT your home page!

Book Tour ~ What's It Like To Be Married To Me?

"What's It Like to Be Married to Me? ...and other dangerous questions" by Linda Dillow


Publisher's Summary:


Women everywhere wonder if there is more to marriage than what they have. Best-Selling author Linda Dillow, helps women shape their marriage by design rather than letting circumstances shape it by default. What's It Like to Be Married to Me? And Other Dangerous Questions, is a book about knowing the difference between having a desire for a better marriage and setting the goal of having a better marriage—as women look in the mirror to see how they can change. Extremely intimate and honest, Dillow shares the best and worst things she has done in her nearly fifty years of marriage, guides women to make their own Marriage Purpose Statement, and leads them into God’s heart for what their marriage could be. 

About the Author:

Linda Dillow is no stranger to publishing and adventure. She's the author of Creative Counterpart, Calm My Anxious Heart, The Blessings Book, Satisfy My Thirsty Soul, and co-author of the Best-Selling book Intimate Issues. Linda and her husband Jody lived in Europe and Asia for 17 years training Christian leaders in closed countries with Biblical Education by Extension, during this time, Linda traveled extensively in Romania, Russia, Hungary, Poland and Asia. She taught women and helped them launch women's ministries. She is a mother of four children, as well as a grandmother.

My Thoughts:

When I first was asked to review this book, in all honesty, I wanted to run the other way.  I mean, the title is one loaded question!  One which I knew I would not like a lot of  the answers to.  But I kept going back to the email and finally in a quick push of the button before I could change my mind, I sent for it.  Again, in all honesty, once I started it I could not put it down.  I could best describe this book as an honest look of where I am as wife and how to live out marriage on a day to day basis.  In my thoughts, attitudes, and actions.  It takes an open, very honest, and very vulnerable look at different areas that may present difficulties in a marriage.  Some of the questions it asks is:

     -What is really important to me?

     -What does it feel like to be my husband?

     -Am I willing to change my attitude?

     -Why do I want to stay mad at you?

And that is just a sampling.

Yes, it is introspective, and yes, it was hard, very hard,  to take a look at the areas where I fall very short (and which, if I continue on being honest here, I knew darn well were issues for me hence, running from it at first).  But what I really liked about this book is how it made very clear that we are only responsible to the Lord for ourselves.  But the author did not leave me feeling totally beat up and bruised with all my wrongs in my face with only things to do in my own strength.  I felt very encouraged in this book with the exercises and constant pointing to the Lord as our Creator, Forgiver, Healer, Strength and Help. I couldn't just read it through.  I had to take notes even though I was trying to get it done for the tour.  I will actually be going back to it and doing the study in back more prayfully and not so quickly.   The study is also geared to do as a women's bible study group.  If your heart's desire is to be a godly wife and you want to draw closer with your husband and you're willing to be vulnerable and honest with yourself then I would say to definitely read this book.

Thanks to Coast to Coast Publicity for providing the book free for review.  The thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

The book is available for purchase at Amazon, Christian Book and Family Christian.

Friday's Fave Five #130

Hi everyone!  It's Friday and that means time to look for our blessings from the past week.  Guidelines are here if you need them.

It has been a bit of a ho hum week around here for me.  Nothing big and exciting.  So I had to do a bit more opening of my eyes to find my favorites amidst the routine.  But they were there waiting for me to notice them.  These are my top five favorites this week.

1.  Ice Cream Sandwiches made out of these cookies

  and vanilla ice cream.  Oh my, they are sooo good together.  Very addictive.  Bet you can't eat just one.  These cookies are also wonderful dipped into a hot beverage such as coffee or tea.  Think I'll go to the kitchen get a couple right now.

2.  A fresh, clean carpet.  Every couple of months I pull out the handy, dandy Hoover carpet steam cleaner and have a go at the carpets.  There is something about a fresh clean carpet.  It makes me feel more relaxed in my home.  I know, weird, but it's the truth.

3.  A movie at the theatre.  A rare occurance for me.  My friend treated me to a movie.  It was great going to a theatre to see a show.  We took in "Unknown".  Enjoyed the escape with  popcorn and coke on the side.

4.  Tax receipts done and sent to the dayhome parents.  Always feels so good to get those done and out of the way.  Now to get our tax stuff together and to the girl who does our taxes.  And that will be done for another year.  Yipee.

5.  Weather that has been above the freezing mark.  It's been wonderful, to us that is warm, the snow is melting like crazy and the sunshine has been out.  It feels so good and I hope it is now going to stay around.

What are your favorite blessings from your week?  It may not always be obvious and easy to find them, but well worth looking for and noticing them.  Please join in and sign up on Mr. Linky.

Not sure why it's not coming through in Google Reader but here's a link to today's post:  Oven Fried Firecracker Chicken.   Yum!

Oven "Fried" Firecracker Chicken

Growing up my Mom used to make the best fried chicken ever.  I was constantly requesting it.  Now, as an adult, I still love fried chicken but try my best not to eat too much "fried".  So when I found this recipe for Firecracker Fried Chicken I knew I'd immediately fall for the fried drumstick all over again.   And I was right.  The first few times I made it exactly as the recipe dictated but then I thought I'd experiment with an oven version to avoid the whole frying in oil thing.  It only took a couple of times of figuring a good oven temp and we had success.  I have to admit the fry is always going to be the absolute best but this lends itself to a very yummy oven version too.

OVEN "FRIED" FIRECRACKER CHICKEN
serves 4-5

8 - 10 chicken drumsticks
1/4 cup hot pepper sauce  such as Louisanna Hot Sauce

1/3 cup flour
2 Tbsp. corn meal
1/2 tsp. salt

1 - 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

At least one hour before cooking and up to 24 hours before, remove the skin from the chicken.  Place drumsticks and hot sauce into a resealable plastic bag or into a glass baking dish with a cover.  Refridgerate and let marinade,  squishing around in the bag or stirring in the dish every once in a while.  The longer it marinades the spicier the chicken will be.

Just before cooking preheat your oven to 400*F.   Prepare the coating by mixing the flour, corn meal and salt in bowl or another plastic bag. Starting with 1 Tbsp., spread the oil onto a baking sheet adding just enough more to get it evenly spread over the sheet.

Add chicken to coating a couple at a time and cover with the coating in the bowl or shake in the bag.  Place on baking sheet.  Bake for 40 - 45 minutes until juices run clear.  Remove with spatula to avoid the coating pulling off the chicken.

This post is linked up with Cooking Thursday hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Mixed Up Does as Mixed Up Is

I am so mixed up in my days. (And evidently in my titles too!  Does that title even make sense? Or should it be "Mixed Up Is as Mixed Up Does?"  Oh well.)  It seems lately that it's never the day I think it is.  Today I thought it was Thursday already. Yesterday I thought it was Monday.   I wonder what I'll think tomorrow will be.  So in that vein I think I'll do a post of mixed thoughts because obviously mixed up is where I'm dwelling right now.

We woke up to a gorgeous morning today.  Yesterday was -23*C (brrrr) and today is 0*.  Gotta love Southern Alberta. Definitely heading outside with the kids today.  I think I'll try and take Todd out for an early morning walk before work all this week seeing as it's now light out at that time.  Providing it's nice at 6:30  in the a.m.

Not looking forward to losing an hour sleep this weekend.  It is the weekend we turn the clocks forward, right?  I'm already stressing about it.

I've got several books on the go right now.  I'm doing a book for review that will have the review posted this weekend.  I won't be finishing it by that time because I only received it last week but it is good.  It's non-fiction and try as I might to just read it straight through for the review I find myself not being able to help taking notes so it's taking longer.  It's very good and definitely convicting.  I'm going to make a concerted effort to do as much of it that I can before the review but I know I'll be going back to it and doing a deeper study for sure.

I need to put an ad in the paper for another dayhome child.  This is the part of my job I find most difficult.  Those interviews even after 21 years of doing this do not come any easier.

On that thought, I am really considering taking some courses in library sciences.  I don't know why I never pursued becoming a librarian as it's always been a passion from the time I was an elementary school  kid.  I think I got really distracted in high school with the social scene.  Anyway that's another post.  But I've heard that there will be lots of retirements of librarians in the school districts around here over the next few years, so I'm really considering taking the plunge.  It's never too late, right?  The thought of homework though makes me cringe.

I colored my hair on the weekend trying that new foam haircolor that is supposed to be really easy.  Sigh.  I've never had such a mess.  I got dye all over my son's bathroom wall.  Hubby was not impressed.  And the color came out way darker than I thought it would.  With my luck, this will not fade fast, just because I want it to.  Maybe I'll try to put some high lights into this weekend.

And on that note I need to get to work.  I see some instrument crafts in my very near future.

Shoe Love

My dog and I.  We have a thing for shoes.  We love them.

A girl, and apparently a dog, can never have enough of them.

I, however, do not stick my nose in them

Nor do I find taking an afternoon nap in a basket of them especially comfortable

Me, I prefer them on my feet.

Friday's Fave Five #129

It's still cold with lots of snow on the ground in my neck of the woods so I've put up my tulip button in the hopes that it will kick start spring around here.  Or at the very least, get the temps a little above the freezing mark.  I welcome you all to Friday's Fave Five.  If you are new you can take a peek here for the guidelines and then join right in.

So in no particular order here are mine:

1.  American Idol.  I know, it's sort of a shallow thing but I've really been enjoying the season this year.  The level of talent has been exceptional and I'm really liking the way new judges treat the contestants so far. I liked that they focused on the talent more than the weird on the audtions.   It's a nice way to click out for a couple of hours.

2.  Coffee night with a couple of the girls.  Monday night was frigid cold and snowing. Only three of us showed up for bible study so we just had a coffee night instead.  It's nice once in awhile and helps us get to know one another better.

3.  Warm socks.  I'm telling you, with this winter, and especially this below normal week,  warm socks is definitely making my list.

4.  Time to cook.  Cooking for my family is one of my favorite things to do.  It's a little stressful when there is a time crunch involved, but this week there seems to have been plenty of time to just relax and enjoy the process and then the results.  And of course hearing their appreciation is just icing on the cake.

5.  The Titanic Artifacts Exhibit.  All of you who knew we were debating on going were wondering if this was going to show up on the list, weren't you?  Well we went.  And we all loved it.  It was so interesting.  It made it very real, rather than just a story or movie.  When entering you were handed a boarding pass that had an actual passenger's name and information about them and what they were doing on the Titanic.  My passenger was a 30 year old woman from New York who was coming home after having purchased her wedding dress and was travelling alone in 2nd class.  It was very sobering when at the end you looked on a huge wall with all the names listed by the class they were travelling and you had to find whether they survived or were lost.  So many interesting facts and personal stories. Also very interesting to us was that a couple from the city where we saw the exhibit was on the Titanic and survived.  Apparently their hotel lost business after the tragedy because of rumors of how the husband happened to make it onto the lifeboats when there were still women and children who were still on the Titanic.  It gave their address when they lived in the city and I wanted to go see their home but time just ran out on us. It was so sad to read so many people chose to remain on the Titanic and wait to be rescued because they truly believed the ship was unsinkable.  Anyway I better quit talking about it because I will go on and on. Ha.  Sorta like the Celine Titanic theme song says.   Sorry no pics because it was not allowed.

Of course the whole day was special.  A day spent with family taking a little out of town trip, enjoying each other and ending it with a dinner at one of our fave restaurants.  It was mighty fine.  :v)

So what have been some of your favorite things been this week?  Link on up if you've done a post so we can come and visit.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Avocado Chicken and Shells

I was in the mood for making something up.   It's one of those dishes that happen by mistake, or rather experimentation would be the better word, that turn out really good.  I like experimenting and making up stuff according to the ingredients I have on hand.  That is I like experimenting when I have the time to allow for it.  If I'm in a time crunch, it will so not be enjoyable. As it turned out, everything came together last week, time and ingredients, to create this tasty dish.   In our after dinner vote this received a big thumbs up from everyone in the family.  And it was easy.  Bonus.

AVOCADO SPINACH CHICKEN SHELLS

-500 gram pkg. (1/2 lb.) Pasta shells (the medium, bite sized sized ones)

-4 large chicken breasts

-1 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil

-seasoning salt

-fresh ground pepper

-2 garlic cloves, crushed

-1 pkg. Frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained

-2 cans cream of mushroom soup

-1/2 cup milk

-1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

-1 large tomato

-1 ripe avocado

Cook pasta according to directions to al dente state.  Drain well.

Place in oil in electric skillet.  While heating, cut chicken breast into large bite sized chunks.  Place in hot oil.  Season to taste with seasoning salt and pepper.  Add crushed garlic.  Cook until chicken is browned and cooked through.  Add drained spinach, soup, and milk.  Gently simmer for 10 minutes. 

While simmering, cut tomato into eight wedges.  Remove wet, seedy part of the tomato and then slice into chunks.   Stir gently into chicken with the parmesan cheese.  Peel and cut avocado into small chunks.  Add over top of the dish just before serving.  Do not stir in.

This post is linked up with Cooking Thursday at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Time to Get Motivated

Well March has definitely come in more as a lion than a lamb around here.  It is cold outside and it's snowed for a couple of days again.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the nice day forecast for tomorrow holds up for my son's ski trip.  I don't know, maybe I'm getting old but the thought of whipping down a mountain when it's bitter cold outside no longer appeals to me.  The young, they don't seem to notice.  He's not concerned about it at all.

I've been purging out clothing in the last few weeks.   A couple of ladies I know are opening a gently used clothing store so I've taken that as my cue for trimming back around here.  I started Laura's 52 Weeks of Organizing with great plans but with my MIL's health scare in January everything came to a grinding halt.  But life is slowly returning to somewhat normal so I'm taking the bull by the horns while the urge is there and life is allowing it.  I've already filled 2 bags worth of stuff and am still working on it.  I can't believe I hang onto clothing that no longer fits right or looks good or that I just plain don't like. And my girl is somewhat the same way.  She doesn't wear what she doesn't like but it sits in her space.  That's not a good thing to pass on to your children!  So I'm going to be going through her closet and dresser with her maybe this weekend.   Laura has great tips on purging your closets here if the mood happens to strike you too.

After years of not having a garage sale each year, I've decided that this year I'm going to again put one together for the spring.  So I've slowly been filling up boxes specifically labeled "garage sale".  I'm tagging the item with a price right away before I put it in the box so the chore of pricing will already be done come garage sale time.  I'm hoping that will cut the stress and overwhelming amount of work when the crunch time is on.  I've already got a couple of big boxes filled.  The thing with garage sales is that getting the money and getting the unwanted stuff out of the house is wonderful, but the collecting of the stuff until the manifestation of the sale is a pain!  I'm already grumbling everytime I bang my toe against the boxes in the storage room and I've only got two boxes sitting on the floor!

Hopefully this urge to get back to Laura's challenge will continue and I can get back on track, albeit somewhat behind on my list.  My 52 weeks will probably look a little more like 45 weeks but that's okay.  Beating one's self up doesn't motivate too much now,  does it?  Instead I'll be my own little cheerleader.

Rah, rah!