Let it Snow!

Wow! Has it really been that long since I posted? I rather got "sucked in" to Facebook, not to mention all the apps it has. I have TOTALLY gotten off track with my blog, my articles for ehow, etc. Now that the newness has worn off hopefully I will get back to my old routine.

We went to the U.P. to visit my sister after Thanksgiving dinner and didn't come home until Monday, it was a nice visit. I miss having her here in town. There is a big difference in our ages (she is 15 years older), but we have always been fairly close. It is beautiful up there but she lives SO far away from anything! A nice place to visit but I think I would go crazy if I lived there.

We are in a snow warning today but I am not sure why, I think somebody from Florida called it, because though it is cold, snowy and windy, it isn't that bad. And it IS Michigan!

Dinner is done and just needs warmed up (Pasta Carbonara) so I am off to clean the house a bit before hubby gets home. Today did not seem overly productive and I HATE that!

I Could Use Some Prayer

I am going to be honest, I am having a pretty rough day. Our oldest son lives with us and he woke me up at 12:30 am to tell me he had just been robbed at gunpoint. He is fine, but I am not sure I am. He was at a friend's house which is not in the best neighborhood and he had stepped outside for a smoke as they don't smoke in their house and was standing under a streetlight (it was about 11:00) when a couple guys popped around the corner with hoodies pulled tight over their faces and a gun. They took his wallet but left his car keys and cell phone. He is off today to get a new driver's license and has been calling credit card companies etc.

The two things that are bothering me the most is that the police said the only reason he would be there is for a drug deal and that they weren't wasting their time on looking for the robbers for a drug deal gone bad. He told them that wasn't why he was there and they kept insisting it was. It has made me lose a little faith in the police department.

The other thing is that somebody pointed a gun AT MY BABY (I don't care if he is 27 he is still my baby) and my first thought was that I wanted to track the bugger down and beat the crap out of him. Now THAT is not a particularly Christian thought which is why I need the prayer. I am going to need a little help forgiving this one......

Erin's Birthday

Erin's birthday was yesterday but she had school so we are having her birthday dinner tonight. Erin is my youngest son't fiancee and they will be married July s11, 2009. It is tradition around here that we all get together and the birthday boy or girl gets to pick the menu for the night. So, she picked and we are having chicken manicotti and twice backed potatoes. Now I would never have put two starches together like that, but they are two of her favorites and SHE gets to pick, so manicotti and potatoes it is! I have them all ready and they go into the oven in about an hour and then we will eat at 5:00.

Another tradition that may seem a little strange to other people is that we have birthday brownies rather than birthday cake. This started way back when my kids were little and the whole extended family would get together for their birthdays on the Sunday closest to it. This resulted in cake on Sunday AND cake on their actual birthday, so we went to having brownies on their birthday just to mix it up a little. When we stopped with the bigger gathering they wanted to keep the brownies. The only difference between birthday brownies and regular brownies is that I frost them and put candies on them. ::laughing::

Here is an engagement picture of Ryan and Erin which I took about a year ago.....

I am a little nervous about the wedding coming up, not about the marriage or actually the wedding, but the reception. Some things did not turn out as planned and now I am making the food for 200 people for the reception. The wedding will be at the beach so we are going to go with picnic food, 3 or 4 pasta salads, buns with deli meats, potato salad, veggie trays, fruit trays, baked beans, anybody have any other suggestions??

Times are Tough

I am amazed at number of people who are complaining about times being tough and money being tight and yet do not seem to understand the only thing to do is spend less. Maybe it is because I went through the recession of the 70s and my Mom lived through the depression and instilled some frugal traits in me. That is NOT to say I don't like to spend money when times are good, but it isn't necessary to my happiness. I see so many people that are depressed and groaning and moaning all the time that they don't have any money yet they have expensive cell phones (I am not saying you shouldn't have a cell phone, but a prepay would allow you much more control). They are still going out to dinner once a week and buying oodles of convenience foods like cookies and frozen pizzas at the grocery store and going to the movies (nothing wrong with renting them and when you consider you don't have to buy snacks at the theater it is SO much cheaper!) It just puzzles me people are so down because they can't buy more STUFF. What on earth do we need a bunch of STUFF for? Nothing we have belongs to us anyway, it all belongs to God and we are just the stewards of it for our time on earth. If you take care of what you have and appreciate it, He will give you more. If you don't believe me read the parable of the Talents. Okay, I am hopping off my soapbox now.

The weather is starting to get a little warmer and I have hopes summer will come soon. Though living in Michigan that is probably a little silly to be hoping for when it isn't even mid-May yet. I am just anxious for sunshine and a little warmth. I actually got to wear shorts a couple days ago and it was awesome!

I have also started "de-junking" my house. After living here for so many years and still having things of my Mom's (even though she died 2 1/2 years ago) I have decided to take charge. One room, one drawer, one day, at a time. So far I have my bedroom done and the linen closet upstairs which is huge and tended to be a catch-all. I am working in the upstairs bathroom now but I got a little side-tracked today. I helped a lady from church do her resume and it was bread making day too so I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. I am getting rid of all the things we don't use and scrubbing every room top to bottom. This just MAY take me all summer but at least it will eventually be done. I am not in any hurry, I am in NO fear that someone will break into the house and do it for me. :)

Okay, I am off to do a little Bible Study and read the book my daughter gave me yesterday. It is number eleven in the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, it is called Armageddon. I LOVE this series!

It Has Been Awhile

Time sure flies -- I realized that when I saw my last post mentioned my second half of the semester's classes were starting and they take their final exam tomorrow! After that I will be off until the end of August. The good part about that is that I will have tons of time and the weather will be right to get this house in shape, the bad part is that they don't PAY me when I am off either. :)

My youngest son and I are going to put in a garden this year. Mind you he is 24 and has his own house, but he doesn't have the yard space. So, we are doing one here and sharing the work and the spoils of our labor also. He has already started some bell peppers, jalapenos, pumpkins, shallots and onions from seed and I bought some herbs that were buy one get one free at Home Depot. Things are tight all the way around so there is no sense in me not trying to save a little money with a garden. I keep telling everyone right now I have more time than money! That is why I have been baking my own bread too, it is definitely cheaper and it sure is tastier too!

What I need to do once the finals are taken and the grades are in is develop a new routine for myself. When left to my own devices I tend to be less productive than when I am following a schedule of some sort. I need to set aside specific times to fellowship with God, de-junk my house, work in the yard/garden and work on my writing for eHow and my new food blog. I suppose I should squeeze in just a LITTLE time for Pogo games too. ;)

I am reading a new book "I Became a Christian and all I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt" by Vincent Antonucci. He is a pastor in Virginia Beach and will be speaking at church this coming Sunday. I am over half way through the book already, it is very funny and a quick read. Our small group will be studying the book this month also. I would like to get it done before we hear him speak on Sunday. I think I stand a pretty good chance of getting it done...... only time will tell.

Another Day

So today has not been awfully productive so far, sometimes this CHF really kicks me in the rear from the minute I get up and I just don't have the energy to do what my mind wants to do. I have to think of it as time God is giving me to reflect and study His Word. Doesn't keep me from thinking of all the things I want to get done though. :) Or from mindlessly playing games on Pogo instead of studying the Word. I still struggle with making that a part of my daily routine.

My new classes started last night and they went very well, I have hopes for a good finish to the semester at this point though next week will really tell the tale. I am going to do a minor revamp before next fall, I am constantly changing and creating "new, improved versions". It does seem as though I have to do more hand holding than I did when I first started teaching, I don't know what has caused it because I can't even say it is a change in high schoolers starting college because many of my students are much older that. Maybe just because many of them ARE older and either haven't ever gone to college or haven't gone in a long time they are a bit more insecure. I just don't know.

Poor Coco is having issues with dry skin and we have changed to a formula of dog food that is supposed to be good for the skin, I hope it helps. She is just so itchy and I know she has to be miserable. For a dog that is have pit bull and half german shepard and is supposed to be vicious she is the biggest baby I know.

I am also trying decide what type of appetizer to take to small group Saturday if anyone has any ideas.

When we think we don't sin, when we think we don't have any unforgiveness in our hearts we must look more closely and remember our standards are much lower than Gods.

Cooking & Thinking

So yesterday I made fried, mashed potatoes, gravy and black eyed peas for dinner and I made enough extra potatoes that I had enough for a shepard's pie today. I wanted gravy yesterday and when you fry chicken in oil you don't really have any drippings so I was looking for a way to make a great gravy without them and I found it! You can just use a can of broth and a couple teaspoons of bouillon and then put in 2/3 c. of baking mix, put them in the blender to mix them up and then simmer for just a couple minutes. It was awesome! It got thick so nicely, great flavor and no fighting lumps! Now I have used flour and cornstarch but I NEVER thought of using baking mix. Don't know why, I just didn't. Used the same recipe today for the shepard's pie other than instead of a can of broth I mixed water with the pan drippings. Seems no matter how long you have been cooking you always can learn something new!

All my kids were home last night which was obvious when I got up this morning and felt like Old Mother Hubbard (my cupboards were bare). Katy said she was telling someone at work that when they were out of food it was time to go and visit Mom. ::laughing:: You have to know -- they HAVE food -- it just isn't pre-cooked and ready to eat! Seems like I always have leftovers around, except for a morning after they all come home. I was grateful there were enough potatoes left for the shepard's pie!

My new half semester's classes start tomorrow night. I am all ready for them and praying they are as good as the last half a semester. It seems they either go very well or I have a bunch of "problem children", students who have never sat in front of a computer before and have difficulty with the fast pace of the class. One or two students per class like that aren't bad but when you get several it is extremely hard to give them the attention and help they need because it is an accelerated class and I have a certain amount of information I need to cover in 7.5 weeks. Then it gets a little frustrating for all of us.

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On to the thinking part -- kind of an offshoot of the blessing thought Sometimes when people don't think they are blessed I wonder if some of it has to do with not being content, with always wanting MORE. To truly be content doesn't mean you have to get everything you want, it simply means you need to realize how much you already have. Today's society tends to be so materialistic. No matter how much we have it seems we always want more, or want what someone else has.

In reality, the more we have, the more we have to do to keep it and to take care of it, and the more we want. For example, we want a bigger house, then we need more furniture, more flowers for the yard, more knick knacks to display and on and on. Not that there is anything the matter with owning nice things, it is when owning them and gathering more of them becomes the focus of our lives it is when material items become our "god" and our focus is in entirely the wrong place. I also believe that too much wealth and too many material possessions can tempt a person to believe our own abilities made it possible rather than God's blessing and grace.

My mother lived with us for years and when she passed away about 2 1/2 years ago and I had to go through her "stuff" I realized that much of it was just JUNK. It was then and there that I decided my kids weren't going to have to weed through years of useless collecting on my part and started throwing things out. Believe you me, I have a LONG way to go -- in part because I love some of my junk. ::laughing:: But I have made great steps and continue to keep working at it, one room, one drawer, one closet, one day at a time. I have also started something else, when I want to buy a new clothing item or anything else new, I ask myself what I am willing to throw away to bring this item into the house. It makes me look twice at whether I really want it or have a use for it.

Hebrews 15:5 - Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."