Success!

Sweet success was accomplished with the Taco Salad I made last night for my hubby.

And yes, he gladly took leftovers to work.

Yeah!

Thankful for...

I am so thankful for my husband. He works hard all day for his family. When it comes to my cooking, he always has kind words to say. It is on a rare occasion that he says something I made was "okay". But he always eats it. :) Always eats leftovers. I think of myself as a pretty good cook. I am no master chef, and definitely not a beginner. I just get distracted sometimes :)

So the last two nights for dinner, I really bombed.

The first night was Salmon (fish sticks for the kids) with Broccoli Cheddar Rice, and Salad. The Salmon was cooked too long. Nice and hard. The fish sticks were crispy. The rice, my husband made (turned out fine) and the salad was from a bag (can't go to wrong there).

So tonight he was telling me about the lunch he had today for a Safety Award. Those that won, were awarded lunch at a fancy restaurant. I was asking him how it was and he said, "I had a Salmon Melt on Focaccia bread. The salmon was so tender". We had laughs on that one.

Then tonight was Pizza pancakes with spaghetti sauce for dip, an Asian Salad, and apples. I found this recipe off the Taste of Home website and thought this would be a good way to use up some pepperoni that was in the fridge. It also called for Italian seasoning, cheese, chopped tomatoes, and green peppers. I took one bite of the pancake, and almost lost it. Really it was some texture problem. The salad was from a bag also, but it had some sort of sweet dressing on it. That was not good either. Apples - no problem. My husband, of course ate 3 pancakes, and finished his plate.

As we were cleaning up, he asked me if I wanted to freeze or keep the leftovers. I said, "Well, I just gave one to Shadrack, our dog". So then he went to the backdoor and threw them like a Frisbee to the dog. We had a good laugh over this one.

I shall make it up to my honey with one of his favorites tomorrow: Taco Salad
Can't go wrong with this one.

Again, so thankful for the husband that the Lord gave me. Just what I needed. :)

Do you have any cooking disaster stories?

Life with little ones...

There are some hiliarious pictures and comments over at http://www.humblemusings.com/
,with her blog entry "Life with three under three" - #6

You for sure don't want to miss checking this one out.

Will give you a great laugh. :)

Snow day

Jadon & Emily digging out. :)

Our cutie!

Never again

A few weeks ago I picked up a bunch of those Pizza Roll Snacks. There were a great price and kind of a novelty thing.

But I promise you now that I will never again partake of their hidden treasures. The fact that they are not a healthy snack (duh), have some Trans Fat in them, and most importantly do weird things to my system. If you know what I mean. :)

Good bye Pizza Roll Snacks...

Other books

At our church, "The Pursuit", we have been involved in Small Groups. All of us have been rotating through a series of books.

Here is what we have read and highly recommend to anyone else:

Becoming a Contagious Christian, by Mark Mittelberg, Lee Strobel, and Bill Hybels

This is a proven course designed to equip believers for effective evangelism in today's world. It avoids stereotyped approaches that feel intimidating to many Christian's. Instead it shows ordinary believers how they can share the Gospel in a natural and powerful way while being the person God made them.


Network, by Bruce Bugbee and Don Cousins
Discover your spiritual gifts, personal style, and God-given passion for serving the body of Christ.

This was very informative as it goes even further than the typical spiritual gifts survey and much more into the understanding of what makes you successful in ministry.


Good Sense, by Dick Towner & John Tofilon

Good $ense can help relieve the crushing stress and anxiety caused by consumer debt, restore marriages torn by conflict over money, heal wounded self-esteem and shattered confidence resulting from poor financial decisions, and remove stumbling blocks to spiritual growth.

Good $ense helps people to discover tools and develop skills that enable them to control their finances rather than allowing their finances to control them.

People receive practical help and guidance to:

-Prioritize financial goals

- Develop a personalized spending plan

-Identify action steps to reduce expense

-Reduce debt . . . and much more

More than just a learning experience about budgets and finances, this course enables participants to reflect on their relationship to money and how it impacts their relationship to God.

No matter what their circumstances--financial crisis or abundance--Good $ense can help everyone ...

-Discover how to become a diligent earner, generous giver, wise saver, cautious debtor, and prudent consumer.

-Learn how to resist the pull of the culture and draw closer to the mind and heart of God

-Experience the joy of becoming financially faithful.

Hope you have the opportunity some day to take one of these classes or read one of these books. They are so good!

My latest read

I am so pleased to have found this book,"The Twentieth Wife". This novel was excellently recommended by another blogger, "Embroider the Silence". Be sure to check out her blog and read all the great writings going on there...

A wonderful romance set in the beauty and splendor of the Mughal Empire in India (1526-1858). For three and a half centuries, the Taj Mahal has haunted our imaginations. It is a tomb built by a grieving king of the Mughal Empire (1526-1858) in India in memory of his beloved wife.But it was this woman's aunt, an empress in her own right, who was the most powerful queen of that dynasty. The Twentieth Wife is the story of this Empress Nur Jahan.

After reading her review, I picked it up from the Library on a Sunday afternoon and finished it that Friday. I love those books that you can just loose yourself in. Although, I definitely can't do this all the time. It just so happened that everyone in my family was sick and so it made it easier to indulge myself.

This book was appealing to me because of my interest in the work that my friend Leah does in India. I always find it interesting to hear about it's culture. Then as a little girl I enjoyed the dressing up in pretty fabrics and pretending to be royalty. Overall this was a pretty clean book - as love stories go, with not much in graphic descriptions.

Here is another review:

"In The Twentieth Wife, Indu Sundaresan has...chosen [characters who] are familiar but never have they been quite so human, fallible and fascinating...Sundaresan attempts to bring our history to us in a highly palatable form...The vignettes of court life, the endless feuds, the revolts, the politics of the zenana, and the pastimes of the kings, their queens, concubines and courtiers are opulently displayed in her pages...Sundaresan presents a variety of characters that are legendary, yet human and believable and who dominate the colourful canvas of the times that she has chosen to represent...Sundaresan's debut novel is well researched and presented and the reader waits for her presentation of court life in her promised sequel to this novel..."
—The Sunday Tribune (India)


So now I'm off to find the sequel titled "The Feast of Roses".

Our sacrifice means something

This is a great posting over at Humble Musings Blog:

If you are a mama or hope to be a mama someday, you need to read her post.

Just a snippet:

"Our 21st-century homes do not have front porches. Quilting circles are only found in books. And the hospital nurse at your last delivery? She was 20. Her coaching consisted of asking every few minutes if you were ready for an epidural. Has it really come to this? And if so, is it OK? I don't think it's OK. I also think many women agree with me. We weren't meant to do it alone. We weren't meant to take our cues from the broader culture. We want to know that it's OK to cross-the-line and have Baby #3 (on purpose). We want to raise them to love Jesus and not lose our minds at the same time. We want to know that our sacrifice means something, and at the end of the day, our pursuit of God's glory made a difference"

If your interested check out "Life with three under three"

http://humblemusings.com/archives/2007/02/22/life-with-three-under-three-5/

Love this...

~A penny saved is still a penny earned, even if it is a penny.

The less we spend, the more we are able

to save and to give to others~

This week's total's

I feel that part of my job as a full-time house wife and mom is to help with the managing of the treasures that the Lord has given us. It is important for me to save money where I can, which allows me the choice of staying home with my precious little ones and honoring my husband's daily job of providing for his family. So from time to time you will see what I may have saved in a particular shopping trip or two. Before I start shopping, I always pray that the Lord would guide me in what I am doing. To be an encourgement to other shoppers and keep smiling and saying thanks to the grocery clerks. It is fun.

We are very lucky to have 4 of the stores that we shop at within 1/2 mile of our home.
So down the street is a shopping corner that has an Albertson's, Rite-Aid, and Walgreens. Then down the other way is Fred Meyer.

Last night, I hit all 4 of these stores. Here is what I came up with:

Rite Aid
2 containers of Electrosal D/W Soap = .13 cents
(On sale, with .85 cpns and 4.00 Rebate) (Regular price $4.99 each)

Walgreens
2 Puffs Tissue
2 Lysol Kitchen Cleaners
4 small packets of M & M's

Albertsons
2 -12 oz bags of ground Cofee
2 pkgs. ground turkey
Breakfast Sausage Bacon
Lean Lunchmeat

Fred Meyer
2 bottles of Ibuprofren
4 cans of Organic tomato paste: + .44 cents
(each cost .89 cents, used 4 of the $1.00 off coupons)
2 bags of Organic Cascadian Farms Tater Tots

Fred Meyer
1 bottle of All Laundry Detergent (40 loads) = $1.38
(On sale $4.59, Fred Meyer coupon $3.88, used 50 cent MFQ coupon, and $2.00 off next visit catalina coupon)

Total Shelf Price: $66.88
Saved: $38.78
Total Paid: $28.30

I normally use more coupons when I go out, but this week I only purchased the things we needed [do I need M & M's? Umm Yes! oh wait I mean, No]. And those things that were already on sale.

Spring Time?

This last weekend, there were so many people commenting on it being Spring time. I thought, are you serious? Well sure the weather was in the high 50's you know t-shirt weather, birds chirping, beginnings of flowers breaking through the hard ground, I thought, "Maybe?"

It seems so odd because last year during this time we were in Montana. Where you don't even mention Spring until the last week of May and 1st week of June. I'm not kidding. And then there are tales of snow falling on 4th of July. Montana has a growing season of 3 to 3 1/2 months. So when we moved to Idaho in May, spring was done. The hot weather was here.

So guess what? Today, we woke up to snow on the ground. That will teach all those people with high hopes to speak of Spring Time so freely!

What's for dinner?

Today was overcast and a bit windy. Just the kind of day for soup and bread. So we had Italian Meatballs Soup, Pepperoni and Cheese Crescents, Salad, and Corn on the Cob (for the kids).


Italian Meatball Soup

• 8 oz. refrigerated or frozen cooked Italian-seasoned or other meatballs
• 1 can (15 oz) Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic, & Oregano (or if just regular, add Italian seasonings)
• 1 can (14 1/2 oz.) beef broth (or use beef granules)
• If needed add a little water
• Fresh basil leaves (optional)
• 6 oz of pre-cooked noodles (optional - makes a bulkier meal)

1. Combine all ingredients in large saucepan

2. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until meatball's are heated through. Garnish with basil, if desired.

Pepperoni and Cheese Crescents

• 2 cans low-fat crescent rolls
• 48 slices of turkey pepperoni (regular type - optional)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 28 oz. can or less of spaghetti sauce

Unroll crescent dough and separate into 16 triangles (as pre-cut). Place 3 slices on each triangle. Sprinkle with 1-2 Tbsp. mozzarella cheese and a dab of Parmesan cheese. Starting with the shortest side, roll crescents toward opposite point. Place on baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-14 minutes or until golden brown. Open spaghetti sauce and serve with crescents for dipping.

Thanksgiving already?

No, but my kitchen sure smelled like it. At Christmas time we were given a 10 lb. Turkey. I decided to cook it to make more room in the freezer and for some upcoming meals.

I absolutely love Turkey leftover's!!!. Here's the meals we will make with it:

• 2 Turkey Pot Pies
• Turkey Sandwiches with cheese, tomato, and Avocado (on sale 50 cents each).
• Turkey Tetraziini
• A few bags of chopped-up turkey for future meals.

MMMMmmmmmm...

I'm Here!

Here I am!
My first blog entry. Hope to make this a great place to record my day to day thoughts, interests, and activities.
Enjoy.