Dear Santa:

Yes, I know it is the middle of your summer vacation and its 114 degrees outside and no one has Christmas gift giving on their mind right now... but I thought I could catch you early to make sure you know exactly what my needs wants are:

A freezer to keep in the garage.
Since its in the garage, I dont care what it looks like so no need for a shiny brand new one when an old-used-rusty one will do just fine.

An IPOD.
I am not really sure if that is what its called or not...Back in my day, it would be called a walk-man. Basically, I want to listen to music when walkng the dog and I want whatever that would now be called.

A bicycle.
For a little variety... one day I'll walk around the neighborhood, the next day I'll bike. I'm unpredictable like that.

I am in no way offering a bribe... but.... you might find some extra cookies when you stop by.... some extra slice and bake chocolate chip cookies.

Look what I "won"!

It was fierce bidding at the annual charity auction benefiting CASA-a local Child Advocate Association ... It is so fun to "shop".... I was outbid on a number of things....but in the end, I brought home this autographed copy of a Holly Clegg cookbook!

Then I stayed up way into the night plotting and planning my new cook and freeze plans!

First up, will be the BBQ Chicken Pizza and the make your own slice and bake chocolate chip cookies.

Now, I need an extra freezer.

Is it too soon to start a Dear Santa letter?

Yes, I take requests....

WHOLE WHEAT BISCUITS
Recipe from Rescue Chef Food Network TV

Pre-heat oven to 450.

In a large bowl- whisk together 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour.
Add 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Mix well.
Add 1 stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces.
Mix well.
Mixture should resemble coarse meal.
Add 1 cup cold buttermilk.
mix well.
lightly flour surface and knead dough 4-5 times.
Pat it out to 1 inch thickness and cut with biscuit cutter.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 12-14 minutes or until brown.

Menu planning

Sunday: Baked chicken.

Monday: Chicken Enchiladas.
Mix left over chicken with chopped cilantro, a can of enchilada sauce, shredded Cheddar cheese, one can of black beans and one can of corn. Roll in tortilla and bake for 30 minutes. Add more cheese on top.

Tuesday: Chicken pasta in crockpot.
Put 6-8 chicken thighs in crockpot with one car of spaghetti sauce, salt and pepper. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. De bone chicken. Mix in 1/2 cup of half and half, stir well and serve over pasta.

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: Shepard Pie.
Recipe from Rescue Chef on Food Network. Brown one chopped onion, two stalks of celery, two chopped carrots and two cloves of garlic in a tablespoon of oilve oil and one tablespoon of butter. When brown, add pound of ground beef, salt pepper, one tablespoon of tomato paste, two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 cup of beef broth. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Spoon into baking dish. Layer shredded Cheddar cheese and mash potatoes on top. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until top is brown.

Friday: Vann Egg Rolls. You buy them in the deli section of the grocery and bake them. They are two WW points each!


You can see more weekly menus here

This week I. . . .

- Recruited a friend at work to join WW with me! Its so much easier to do it with a friend.

- Dealing with hormone changes. Having a hysterectomy sure cures a lot of problems... but brings others that no one tells you about...

- Grilled pork chops for dinner. This is a big deal because this is usually my husband's job, and I have not before touched the grill. But he is busy with wood flooring... so I am filling in other places.

- Met a neighbor while out walking who I had just waved at in passing before. She said she was happy to have a new neighbor in our small subdivision and seemed interested in me and mentioned that she missed having a good neighbor friend to visit with. I will make it my goal to befriend her.

- Survived the hottest week of the summer thus far. It was so hot, sticky and generally miserable it made me want to go to work, stay in all day, come home and stay in all night. This is really bad news for the dog who expects to be walked each evening, and for my schedule since I plan on getting a whole lot done each day on the lunch hour. The hot steamy weather is also bad news for my hair.

- Took over the planning of the Women's Ministry events at Church.

- Made home made wheat rolls....I need more practice.

- Am so impressed with my friend at Church. She and her husband bought a couple of trailers in a trailer park to rent out and then her son invited the renter's son to Church. He was saved and went home and witnessed to his family. The entire family has been saved! Now this first rental family has invited a second family to Church! My friend has her own little mission field!

- Dreamed I failed college... although it was years ago and I didn't. I was upset for DAYS....even though I know it did not happen, the stress of the dream was so real.

- Watched a great deal of Hallmark TV. They have several series of movies that I get sucked into... Sarah Plain and Tall, then the other two or three that followed... and Love Comes Softly and the other forty-three or so that followed.....

- Finished the floor in one bedroom upstairs and the hallway!

And She's Off.....

In the middle of the preacher's sermon this morning, a jogger carring a heavy backpack interrupted the sermon complaining that he was trying to run the race that God had assigned him to run, but was finding it hard to do so. He said he gets up in the morning with so much enthusiasm, and he starts running. But soon, he gets tired and worn out and he just cant run as effectively as he wishes he could.

In trying to find an answer to this problem, the preacher made him take off his backpack to see what he was carrying with him....then one by one, he pulled things out of the backpack.

His cell phone, computer, e-mail, extra hours at the office, extra servings of ice cream, golfing every weekend, attending every college football game, four hours of TV each day, having the most expensive car in the parking lot.... he went on and on pulling things out of the backpack, which made the back pack lighter and lighter and easier to run with.

The point was clear. We cant effectively run the race that God has assigned for us to run when we are so distracted and weighed down by other things, not bad things, but things God did not assign us to do.

Then came the challenge.... Pick one thing that is taking up a lot of your time and lay it down for one week.

This week, I am laying down the computer (except for business and Women's Ministry use). No blog, no personal e-mail, no shopping.... no reading the daily updates of The Young and The Restless.

Instead, I am going to spend more time in the word and I am going to have the happiest dog in town by walking him extra laps around the block, and I am going to make home made bread to bring to a sick friend for dinner... OK .... maybe not the home-made bread part.

See you next week!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1 (New Living Translation)

Unforgiveness is like swallowing rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.
Author unknown.

"So—who is like me? Who holds a candle to me?" says The Holy.Look at the night skies: Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name—so magnificent! so powerful!— and never overlooks a single one? Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,or, whine, Israel, saying,"God has lost track of me. He doesn't care what happens to me"? Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out.He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts.For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall.But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind. Isaiah 40:25-31 (The Message)

Yard stuff

The jasmine is growing up the new fence. My sweet husband made them a little "running board" to climb on.

When we fenced the back yard in, I suddenly gained half of these plants which belong to the next door neighbor! She said she did not mind sharing! Her half of the plants, on the outside of the fence, are blooming with beautiful orange flowers. I am waiting for some blooms on my side of the fence.

Waiting for the birds to come visit the newest breakfast place in town, which was a housewarming gift from my sweet sister/cousins! I look for the birds every morning.

Miniature Gardenias are blooming. (Husband just said "those ain't miniatures, they just ain't growing much...")

Hydrangea is blooming in front yard, down the way from the gardenia. Its more purple than blue.

Thirty years later ....

....in a different dining room, about five miles from where it started, is the china cabinet that my Grandma had in her dining room, with the spoon rest that she had hanging next to the china cabinet.

This is, however, my spoon collection (and my china). No doubt started from years of watching my Maw-Maw add to hers.

I'm such a gracious winner

This weekend My brother in law and I had a chicken salad throw down.

Despite all his trash talking....I have to admit.... I was pretty confident.

About thirty minutes into the eating, it was clear to all which way the voting was going, and the tide never changed...

About 9:00p, when my bowl was completely empty and his bowl was amazingly full, a concession speech was given and a chicken salad winner was declared.

There was cheers and applause...

and

I am very pleased to announce the winner was.....

ME!!

I fully expect to have my own show on Food Network any day now.

My victory may be short-lived as my brother in law is already demanding requesting a re-match. I foolishly let him choose the next challenge and he chose... shrimp creole... something I have never made!!!

Lets just say... my husband is going to be eating a great deal of shrimp creole in the coming weeks as I perfect my next dish.

But for now... I am basking in all my chicken salad glory.

Here is the winning menu.

Weight Watcher's Chicken Salad (4 points each serving)
Bake a whole chicken and take meat off bone
Chop one onion, one green bell pepper and a couple of handfuls of green and red grapes
Mix in a little low fat mayo, salt and pepper.

It sounds simple... but trust me on this one.... its a winner!

Lazy Summer Asian Cole Slaw recipe from New Every Morning

Layer the following in this order in a bowl:
2 packages of crushed raman noodles
Cole slaw mix (or broccoli slaw mix)
1/2 cup chopped almonds
one bunch chopped green onion
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
then pour this dressing on top:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
season package from raman noodles
1/2 cup of vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
1/2 cup sugar.
DO NOT STIR.
Put in fridge for 30 minutes to 24 hours
stir and serve.


Corn and Black Bean Salad with Lime Cilantro Dressing I adapted the recipe from Good Things Catered. (she has a picture of it, too!)

Mix together one cup fresh steamed or grilled sweet corn (I used one can of sweet corn, drained), and one can of black beans drained and rinsed. Add one chopped green bell pepper, one chopped red bell pepper, 1/2 chopped large onion, one chopped tomato, and one chopped jalapeno pepper (minus the seeds).
Whisk this dressing together: 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, juice of two limes, 1 chopped garlic clove and a tablespoon of taco seasoning(instead of the other spices the original recipe called for).

I had some left over Corn and Bean Salad that I put grilled chicken with and wrapped in a flour tortilla for Sunday dinner.

Weekend Update

Whats the fastest way to get your house clean?

Invite your boss over for dinner. Then, what the hay! Lets invite Husband's boss over too!

My house is spotless.

Then after church on Sunday..... I did something that I very rarely do.... I took a long nap.

My house and I are celebrating our six months together

This is what the kitchen floor looked like when we moved in:

After we replaced the floor:

This was living room looking into breakfast nook before:

And after we replaced all flooring, painted kitchen smoke blue and painted livingroom sugar cookie. One day, I hope to get curtains up:

This is walkway to kitchen door before:

And after we planted climbing jasmine and Lavender;

This is dining room looking into front foyer before (notice the Barney purple walls)

and after we painted the foyer butter yellow and the dining room smoke blue and replaced the carpet on stairs. I also hope that one day the dining room will actually have a dining room table.

This is living room before:

And after we painted and replaced floors:


I'm exhausted! and I havn't even shown the upstairs work!

live well wednesday

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow. ~Mary Anne Radmacher

or.. in my case.... I'll try to stay away from the Blackberry Cobbler ice cream again tomorrow....


Visit others who are choosing to live well here

Weekend project

Guess what we did this weekend?

This is the floor in one upstairs bedroom before this weekend (its sub flooring):

This is the new floor We started putting in. We only have half of one bedroom done. Its a big job and it is still not sanded or varnished (We are both too sore to move, but very happy):

Guess who really got in the way helped?

Menu Planning Monday

You can see more weekly menus here

Sunday: Baked Chicken with veggies and Potatoes

Monday: Chicken pillows: shred left over chicken, add 1/2 package of low fat cream cheese, 1/2 chopped onion, 2-3 chopped stalks of celery and a little ranch dry dressing mix, mix well and put in center of a low fat crescent roll. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes until roll is brown. (WW friendly)

Tuesday: Spaghetti. I take frozen meat that I have already cooked which makes it so easy- add a jar of spaghetti sauce, real Parmesan cheese and rolls. If I feel particularly energetic, a green salad.

Wednesday: Roast which is already cooked and frozen in freezer, waiting for me.

Thursday: Left overs!

Friday: Reuben Sandwiches. Toast Rye bread and add low fat Thousand Island dressing. Top with Turkey pastrami from deli section and sauerkraut in a can- after you heat both in skillet, and add some Swiss cheese also from deli. (WW friendly)

Blackberry goodness....

Unless you want to gain 14 pounds in two days, stay away from this:

Trust me on this one.

Guess who is 40?!

No, its not me!

Its MOLLY!


But I think I am taking it harder than if it were me!

How can she be 40?


I was just watching her last week, making her own prom dress.

No....

Wait...


That wasn't last week!

That was 24 years ago....

I was so excited to see she had a new show on ABC Family Network last night... until I saw that she wasn't the star of the teenage drama! She was the MOTHER!

Happy 4th

Visit more flags at Kari and Kijsa's