Sunday - snacky foods, pizza
Monday - apples (got up way too late for regular breakfast!)
Sauteed chicken tenders with kidney beans and corn, brown rice
Tuesday - oatmeal
Sloppy Jalopies
Wednesday - French Toast
Pork tacos, rice, beans
Thursday - Smoothies (this could change if it's really cold in the morning)
Steak, baked potatoes, grilled veggies
Friday - Oatmeal
Spaghetti
Saturday - TBA
Monday, October 27, 2008
Weekend Thoughts
Hi there! It seems like Monday mornings are the time to get my thoughts down. Some Mondays, my thoughts are on what's ahead, like meal plan, schedules, and so on, but today, I want to share a little bit about my weekend. Meal plan hasn't been done yet, so that will be posted a little later.
We had a pretty busy yet low-key weekend. In other words, we faced the same craziness, yet nothing terribly exciting like an ER trip (like last weekend for Sophia's foot, no break, thank God) or anything like that.
Sadly, I was a first hand witness to anti-missional living on a few accounts. At the grocery store, as we were pulling out, this big guy in a big truck aggressively zipped past us to hurry and get the spot designated for pregnant women. I could see DH's mouth wanting to open, I looked at him, the kind of look that says, remember your children are here! He looked out the window and smiled at the guy and said, "Congratulations!" He looked at DH and said "There ain't no d%*m pregnant women here!" It was sad, but I loved DH's humorous chiding.
Then at the soccer fields.....sigh. This broke my heart. At the end of the game, when the coaches, siblings, parents and friends are to gather together to create a tunnel for the young stars to run through, something happened that was so unnecessary. ****disclaimer - the uses of the words attractive and unattractive will be used here, according to culturally and worldly expectations of attractiveness, and I do not wish to offend anyone by the use of the words - they are to give you, the reader, an idea of how things transpired **** a young-ish, "attractive" woman was approaching the tunnel line up with her hands up ready to form a tunnel. She looked up and saw that the person with which she would have had contact was an "unattractive" man so sidestepped and had contact with no one and left the man to have contact with no one. I tried to dash across to form the tunnel with him, to show him some grace and acceptance, but the children were running through and I couldn't get across, then it was over.
I saw how an action that lasted maybe 5 seconds could have possibly crushed another human being's spirit! Ugh! I felt so sad when I left. So sad.
A thought to ponder....was this woman, a mother of two, raised with unconditional love? Or was she raised to believe that she would be accepted only if she was attractive enough? Skinny enough? Was she raised to accept others primarily because of their physical appearance?
God has been really speaking to me lately about the power of our words and actions. I was able to see a strong example of the hurt that one simple decision (to act or speak) can hurt another person.
After all this, our church service was beautifully set up with an open mic. We were first given three questions to discuss amongst ourselves. They were about reaching out to others. The questions were a follow up to last weeks' sermon, which I didn't make it to because of Sophia's ER visit. Following that, three more questions were given to us and the mic was made available. What has God been doing in your life? How has He been at work? (this is so not verbatim, hehe) and How has God challenged you this week? One by one, people got up in front. They bared their souls and shared some very deep hurts and some praises and some encouragements. We were able to collectively pray for our church family members. It was a very intimate hour.
I shared how He has been at work in my life this week, and I was unable to come up with a way that He has challenged me (don't know why nothing came to mind because He challenges me all the time!) I did walk away feeling very challenged, though. All in the essence of this post. To actively pay attention to my thoughts and actions - to only speak words of encouragement to others. To live a life of loving others and making them feel loved and not condemned or discouraged.
We had a pretty busy yet low-key weekend. In other words, we faced the same craziness, yet nothing terribly exciting like an ER trip (like last weekend for Sophia's foot, no break, thank God) or anything like that.
Sadly, I was a first hand witness to anti-missional living on a few accounts. At the grocery store, as we were pulling out, this big guy in a big truck aggressively zipped past us to hurry and get the spot designated for pregnant women. I could see DH's mouth wanting to open, I looked at him, the kind of look that says, remember your children are here! He looked out the window and smiled at the guy and said, "Congratulations!" He looked at DH and said "There ain't no d%*m pregnant women here!" It was sad, but I loved DH's humorous chiding.
Then at the soccer fields.....sigh. This broke my heart. At the end of the game, when the coaches, siblings, parents and friends are to gather together to create a tunnel for the young stars to run through, something happened that was so unnecessary. ****disclaimer - the uses of the words attractive and unattractive will be used here, according to culturally and worldly expectations of attractiveness, and I do not wish to offend anyone by the use of the words - they are to give you, the reader, an idea of how things transpired **** a young-ish, "attractive" woman was approaching the tunnel line up with her hands up ready to form a tunnel. She looked up and saw that the person with which she would have had contact was an "unattractive" man so sidestepped and had contact with no one and left the man to have contact with no one. I tried to dash across to form the tunnel with him, to show him some grace and acceptance, but the children were running through and I couldn't get across, then it was over.
I saw how an action that lasted maybe 5 seconds could have possibly crushed another human being's spirit! Ugh! I felt so sad when I left. So sad.
A thought to ponder....was this woman, a mother of two, raised with unconditional love? Or was she raised to believe that she would be accepted only if she was attractive enough? Skinny enough? Was she raised to accept others primarily because of their physical appearance?
God has been really speaking to me lately about the power of our words and actions. I was able to see a strong example of the hurt that one simple decision (to act or speak) can hurt another person.
After all this, our church service was beautifully set up with an open mic. We were first given three questions to discuss amongst ourselves. They were about reaching out to others. The questions were a follow up to last weeks' sermon, which I didn't make it to because of Sophia's ER visit. Following that, three more questions were given to us and the mic was made available. What has God been doing in your life? How has He been at work? (this is so not verbatim, hehe) and How has God challenged you this week? One by one, people got up in front. They bared their souls and shared some very deep hurts and some praises and some encouragements. We were able to collectively pray for our church family members. It was a very intimate hour.
I shared how He has been at work in my life this week, and I was unable to come up with a way that He has challenged me (don't know why nothing came to mind because He challenges me all the time!) I did walk away feeling very challenged, though. All in the essence of this post. To actively pay attention to my thoughts and actions - to only speak words of encouragement to others. To live a life of loving others and making them feel loved and not condemned or discouraged.
Ps 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Mortgage in Texas
My husband, Danny is a Loan Officer - he is hard working and honest, he does what it takes to make your home buying experience the best it can be. If you live in South TX and are considering a home loan, please stop by here first. You'll be glad you did. : )
http://www.esquedahomeloans.com/
http://www.esquedahomeloans.com/
Monday, October 20, 2008
Meal Plan Monday
Here's the menu for the week:
Sunday - snacky foods and leftovers
Monday - oatmeal - red beans and rice, ham, and turnip greens
Tuesday - smoothie - chicken enchiladas
Wednesday - baked rice pudding - spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the triplets at church
Thursday - smoothie - meat and beans
Friday - oatmeal - chicken noodle soup and saltines
Sunday - snacky foods and leftovers
Monday - oatmeal - red beans and rice, ham, and turnip greens
Tuesday - smoothie - chicken enchiladas
Wednesday - baked rice pudding - spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the triplets at church
Thursday - smoothie - meat and beans
Friday - oatmeal - chicken noodle soup and saltines
Monday, October 13, 2008
The work...
This morning, taking the kids to school, Shout to the Lord was playing on the radio. I will admit, a lot of the time when a slow paced song comes on the radio, I change it to something a little heavier : ) but today, I din't. I don't know if I blogged about this before, but oh well. It's a story I love to tell.
My father passed away in November of '05. The more time that passes, the more I miss him. We had a very rocky relationship. I had huge steel walls set up around my heart which prevented me from letting my guard down. I learned to do that because when I did let it down, I was hurt. His alcoholism had many terrible effects on me and everyone with who he had relationships.
I really see God's work in my life, especially because He drew me to him at a time when life was really hard, dealing with Dad. God knew that for me to forgive dad, I needed Him first. End of story. Or beginning??? I was still a very immature Christian when Dad passed away, and I never made it to give him the love and compassion and approval that he so desperately desired. It wasn't till the Christmas that followed his death that I came to true forgiveness.
Christmas Eve happened to fall on a Sunday that year. I was pretty emotional going in, a combination of hormones and grief (not good). We had a big day ahead of us, Danny's family has a very large celebration on Christmas Eve, steeped in tradition and family. I was extra tired that morning, too. Anyways, to make a long story short, during the music portion of the service, the song Shout to the Lord came along. I was once told to envision our children when we came to the part that goes...I sing for joy at the work of your hands...and I was doing just that - thinking of my babies - when a beautiful voice, loud and quiet at the same time, spoke directly into my heart, "Your father was the work of my hands, too, Melanie." I was stunned and joyful, all at once. I couldn't accurately express the range of emotions that swept over me at the time, but I can tell you that relief and love and forgiveness came in to replace the regret, anger, unforgiveness, and sadness in me.
That year, I received the best gift of all, God spoke directly to my heart and enabled me to forgive Dad, once and for all. From that point forward, I have been able to remember the good things and love him like he needed to be loved. I hope he knows that.
My father passed away in November of '05. The more time that passes, the more I miss him. We had a very rocky relationship. I had huge steel walls set up around my heart which prevented me from letting my guard down. I learned to do that because when I did let it down, I was hurt. His alcoholism had many terrible effects on me and everyone with who he had relationships.
I really see God's work in my life, especially because He drew me to him at a time when life was really hard, dealing with Dad. God knew that for me to forgive dad, I needed Him first. End of story. Or beginning??? I was still a very immature Christian when Dad passed away, and I never made it to give him the love and compassion and approval that he so desperately desired. It wasn't till the Christmas that followed his death that I came to true forgiveness.
Christmas Eve happened to fall on a Sunday that year. I was pretty emotional going in, a combination of hormones and grief (not good). We had a big day ahead of us, Danny's family has a very large celebration on Christmas Eve, steeped in tradition and family. I was extra tired that morning, too. Anyways, to make a long story short, during the music portion of the service, the song Shout to the Lord came along. I was once told to envision our children when we came to the part that goes...I sing for joy at the work of your hands...and I was doing just that - thinking of my babies - when a beautiful voice, loud and quiet at the same time, spoke directly into my heart, "Your father was the work of my hands, too, Melanie." I was stunned and joyful, all at once. I couldn't accurately express the range of emotions that swept over me at the time, but I can tell you that relief and love and forgiveness came in to replace the regret, anger, unforgiveness, and sadness in me.
That year, I received the best gift of all, God spoke directly to my heart and enabled me to forgive Dad, once and for all. From that point forward, I have been able to remember the good things and love him like he needed to be loved. I hope he knows that.
Monday Meal Planning
Here's the plan for the week:
Sunday - leftovers and snacky foods
Monday - oatmeal
Roast beef with potatoes and carrots
Tuesday - smoothies
Burgers and chips
Wednesday - sausage biscuit sandwiches
Tacos (with leftover beef roast) rice and beans
Thursday -smoothies
Sloppy Jalopies (renamed, thanks J.R.)
Friday - oatmeal
Sausage and ribs, corn, mashed potatoes
Saturday - TBD
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Catching up on pictures
Sunny
Oliv, peering into the distance.....
Sophia, chilling on the swing...
Icees - these were Danny and Sophia's first ever!
Our morning coffee...our propane tank was empty this morning so we made our breakfast outside. It was so fun!!!!!!!
Bacon and eggs
The kids eating their breakfast...
Moon and Star
Midnight and Moon (no picture, but we still have Eddie!)
Last Sunday's baking - bread and peanut butter cookies
Homemade breakfast sandwiches.
We made sushi for lunch Monday. It's D Jr's favorite lunch.
Here are the babies. Final head count is ELEVEN!
Oliv holding a baby. Awwwwwww.Thursday, October 9, 2008
Following up on pet drama and yogurt making.
My suspicions have been confirmed. Yes, we do, in fact, have two female fancy mice. Lizzie had a litter over the weekend and Dungeon had her litter yesterday. Now we have many little mouse mutts. I will count them tomorrow when we transfer them to an aquarium to keep them contained till they wean and are big enough to go to the pet store. I'll take a pic tomorrow when I transfer them.
If you read my yogurt making post, the one where I provided a link to a recipe, and are considering making your own yogurt, please read this. I made my third batch last night and this one came out perfect. The first batch, I used organic yogurt, 2% milk from HEB, and about 12-16 oz of yogurt for the starter. This came out very thin, although it tasted great, made great smoothies and yogurt cheese. I held back about the same amount from that batch and made a second batch of yogurt. (Both times, I heated the milk to 160 then cooled to 110). I used 2% milk from Walmart. This batch came out grainy - sort of the texture of ricotta and was much more sour than I was expecting. I strained this and now have a container of sour yogurt ricotta in my fridge. If I can't think of something to do with it, it will be a nice nutritious snack for the chickens.
After batch 2's failure, I decided to do some research to where I could have gone wrong. I found 3 things: 1) it is not recommended to save some from each batch as a starter, like you would do with sour dough. The bacteria loses it's potency. 2) every other source said to heat the milk to 180* rather than 160*. This ensures the opposing bacteria are killed off and all you have working are the ones you need for the yogurt. I still cooled it to 110* before adding the starter. 3) You only need 2 T of starter. That is way less than I used and much more cost effective. I used plain Dannon yogurt. You can freeze the starter and it works just fine when you use it. An ice cube container works perfectly because each cube holds 2T of starter. One container of yogurt gave me 14 doses of starter plus about a cup and a half of yogurt left. If I had another tray, I would have frozen what I had left. Instead we used it in smoothies this morning. I used half whole milk and half 2% milk from HEB for batch 3. I am sure the added milk fat helped.
Two tablespoons of yogurt and one half gallon of milk yields 2 quarts of yogurt. A half gallon of milk is about $2, and one quart of yogurt is about $2. Without getting the calculator out, this comes out to about $1.10 a quart of healthy, additive free yogurt. That so works for me. : )
Batch 3 turned out nothing short of perfect. It had the right thickness, tastes great and I will be going with that formula from now on. Yay!!!!! I love kitchen science! (did I just reveal myself as a nerd???)
If you read my yogurt making post, the one where I provided a link to a recipe, and are considering making your own yogurt, please read this. I made my third batch last night and this one came out perfect. The first batch, I used organic yogurt, 2% milk from HEB, and about 12-16 oz of yogurt for the starter. This came out very thin, although it tasted great, made great smoothies and yogurt cheese. I held back about the same amount from that batch and made a second batch of yogurt. (Both times, I heated the milk to 160 then cooled to 110). I used 2% milk from Walmart. This batch came out grainy - sort of the texture of ricotta and was much more sour than I was expecting. I strained this and now have a container of sour yogurt ricotta in my fridge. If I can't think of something to do with it, it will be a nice nutritious snack for the chickens.
After batch 2's failure, I decided to do some research to where I could have gone wrong. I found 3 things: 1) it is not recommended to save some from each batch as a starter, like you would do with sour dough. The bacteria loses it's potency. 2) every other source said to heat the milk to 180* rather than 160*. This ensures the opposing bacteria are killed off and all you have working are the ones you need for the yogurt. I still cooled it to 110* before adding the starter. 3) You only need 2 T of starter. That is way less than I used and much more cost effective. I used plain Dannon yogurt. You can freeze the starter and it works just fine when you use it. An ice cube container works perfectly because each cube holds 2T of starter. One container of yogurt gave me 14 doses of starter plus about a cup and a half of yogurt left. If I had another tray, I would have frozen what I had left. Instead we used it in smoothies this morning. I used half whole milk and half 2% milk from HEB for batch 3. I am sure the added milk fat helped.
Two tablespoons of yogurt and one half gallon of milk yields 2 quarts of yogurt. A half gallon of milk is about $2, and one quart of yogurt is about $2. Without getting the calculator out, this comes out to about $1.10 a quart of healthy, additive free yogurt. That so works for me. : )
Batch 3 turned out nothing short of perfect. It had the right thickness, tastes great and I will be going with that formula from now on. Yay!!!!! I love kitchen science! (did I just reveal myself as a nerd???)
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Snack
Last evening, as we were watching a family movie, Little Danny, my bottomless pit, asked me for a midnight snack. I told him, "Honey, you have been eating all day! Besides, it's not midnight yet." A moment later, he asked me, "Mom, what time is it?" I replied, "8:19." ...."Can I have an 8:19 snack, please?"
Goofball!
Goofball!
Talents and Gifts...Possessions???
A very large dose of reality hit me the other day after I wrote about The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing.
I have been struggling with pretty bad wrist pain for the last several weeks. This pain has come from repeated movement associated with knitting and is not showing signs of going away.
I have been praying to God about this - why does my wrist have to hurt so much? This stops me from knitting! Knitting is my gift! You have given me this talent! I love on people with my knitting! It calms and relaxes me and I exercise my creativity with it!
It's funny how we can read words on a page and pick up new things every time we read them. Case in point:
(again, a quote from The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer)
"Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are, God's loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles. 'For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?' "
I have been struggling with pretty bad wrist pain for the last several weeks. This pain has come from repeated movement associated with knitting and is not showing signs of going away.
I have been praying to God about this - why does my wrist have to hurt so much? This stops me from knitting! Knitting is my gift! You have given me this talent! I love on people with my knitting! It calms and relaxes me and I exercise my creativity with it!
It's funny how we can read words on a page and pick up new things every time we read them. Case in point:
(again, a quote from The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer)
"Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are, God's loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles. 'For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?' "
How humbling. What else can I say?
Monday, October 6, 2008
The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing
I have been reading a book entitled "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer. This book was written in the late 40's yet is still relevant in our time. I am making slow progress, as every time I pick it up, I must have a block of time in which to read, meditate, digest the words. As you might have picked up from my blogging, blocks of time are scarce, thus making this slow reading! HA!
What I want to talk about is the second chapter. I read this over a month ago yet the words of it still ring in my ears as a beautiful encouragement and comfort, especially in the midst of financial crisis that is currently overwhelming our country.
The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing.
(any quotes that I present are from this chapter in this book.)
When God created all the "things" of the world, he intended for them to be external and subservient to man. God created us with a place in our hearts to be filled by none other than God Himself. The trouble for us began when we allowed "things," the very gifts that God gave us, to replace Him in our hearts. We allowed these "possessions" to take root in our hearts. We use the words "my" and 'mine" when we truly should acknowledge that all things are from God, that we and all things are His. Our "self life" is actually "an enemy within us which we tolerate at our own peril."
"To allow this enemy to live is in the end to lose everything. To repudiate it and give up all for Christ's sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life eternal." When Christ refers to the "poor in spirit," this is what He is referring to. To get to that place, we need to follow these words, "Let him take up his cross and follow Me."
The poor in spirit are the ones who are not slaves to things, to possessions, gain, profit, earthly and familial relationships.
Tozer made an example in this chapter of Abraham and his son Isaac. God realized that, since Isaac was a miracle baby, Abe's whole live revolved around him. Abraham had everything that would constitute worldly possessions. He had his precious son. God knew that for Abe to surrender himself and to become poor in spirit (God didn't ask him to be poor in possessions), he was to sacrifice his own son. Imagine the grief and confusion that Abe felt as God asked this of him! Abraham ultimately obeyed God and was rewarded by not only being able to have his son live and his descendants be the chosen people of God, but the temple within his heart was made available for God to "reign unchallenged."
In the scenario of the state of financial crisis our country is experiencing...where are our hearts? Will we survive great financial loss? Security in things? When we put our hope and faith into things and people, where do we find ourselves when the going gets rough? Things will go away, people will let us down. God will never do either. He will always be with us. If we put our hope in Him, when the going gets rough, we still have Him! We will never lose everything. He will always take care of us.
I pray that we all can allow the roots of possessions to be pulled from our hearts so that God, our Heavenly Father, can reside there, filling us to the brim with His love and care.
Here is Mr. Tozer's prayer at the conclusion of this chapter:
"Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide them from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' name, Amen.
What I want to talk about is the second chapter. I read this over a month ago yet the words of it still ring in my ears as a beautiful encouragement and comfort, especially in the midst of financial crisis that is currently overwhelming our country.
The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing.
(any quotes that I present are from this chapter in this book.)
When God created all the "things" of the world, he intended for them to be external and subservient to man. God created us with a place in our hearts to be filled by none other than God Himself. The trouble for us began when we allowed "things," the very gifts that God gave us, to replace Him in our hearts. We allowed these "possessions" to take root in our hearts. We use the words "my" and 'mine" when we truly should acknowledge that all things are from God, that we and all things are His. Our "self life" is actually "an enemy within us which we tolerate at our own peril."
"To allow this enemy to live is in the end to lose everything. To repudiate it and give up all for Christ's sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life eternal." When Christ refers to the "poor in spirit," this is what He is referring to. To get to that place, we need to follow these words, "Let him take up his cross and follow Me."
The poor in spirit are the ones who are not slaves to things, to possessions, gain, profit, earthly and familial relationships.
Tozer made an example in this chapter of Abraham and his son Isaac. God realized that, since Isaac was a miracle baby, Abe's whole live revolved around him. Abraham had everything that would constitute worldly possessions. He had his precious son. God knew that for Abe to surrender himself and to become poor in spirit (God didn't ask him to be poor in possessions), he was to sacrifice his own son. Imagine the grief and confusion that Abe felt as God asked this of him! Abraham ultimately obeyed God and was rewarded by not only being able to have his son live and his descendants be the chosen people of God, but the temple within his heart was made available for God to "reign unchallenged."
In the scenario of the state of financial crisis our country is experiencing...where are our hearts? Will we survive great financial loss? Security in things? When we put our hope and faith into things and people, where do we find ourselves when the going gets rough? Things will go away, people will let us down. God will never do either. He will always be with us. If we put our hope in Him, when the going gets rough, we still have Him! We will never lose everything. He will always take care of us.
I pray that we all can allow the roots of possessions to be pulled from our hearts so that God, our Heavenly Father, can reside there, filling us to the brim with His love and care.
Here is Mr. Tozer's prayer at the conclusion of this chapter:
"Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide them from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sunday fun, pet drama, meal planning and living up to my maiden name
Today, I took a self-imposed break from the norm. I didn't set an alarm clock, I woke up at my own pace, read for as long as I wanted while I sipped some coffee. I didn't wake the kids up, instead they got up when they were ready. I took a long shower and shaved (a rare treat! Hehe!) and we all took our time to get ready for brunch. We went to eat, no rush, had a delicious meal at a popular West Side Mexican restaurant. The kids and I walked to Grandpa's house while Dad waited for Grandpa's lunch to go and squared up the bill. We visited with G for while and loaded up our old cast iron wood stove that Danny and I bought before we had Olivia that has been sitting in the shed all these years. Sophia and I got a few items at the grocery store and then we came home. Once here, I got some bread going in the Kitchen Aid mixer and did some dishes. As the dough was rising, I warmed up the oven and baked 3 dozen peanut butter cookies and 15 baking powder biscuits. (BTW this is where I live up to my maiden name - BAKER).
Sophia has been coveting the neighbor kids' breakfast biscuit sausage sandwiches. I made the biscuits and some sausage patties, assembled the sandwiches, wrapped individually and put in the freezer. Voila! An hour of work and a weeks' worth of healthy convenience food! : )
While I was inside baking, Danny got the wood stove burning outside and fixed chicken fajitas with red and green peppers and purple onions from Julie's farm. He even heated up the corn tortillas tight on the stove top! Delish! We topped these with my home made salsa ad some yogurt cheese (I know this sounds icky, but it is from my yogurt I made last week - I strained it over a pot overnight and it turned out with a taste and texture very close to sour cream. (Sophia likes to mix raspberry jam into it.)
The bread, in all it's fragrant glory, came out of the oven, ready to be tested out on my family as our daily bread....good for sandwiches, toast, etc.
Meanwhile, during all this cooking and baking, I sent Olivia outside to clean the mouse cage. She got Lizzie and Dungeon into a safe place and went to work. She soon ran in, crazy excited, holding 4 newborn baby mice in her hand. I mean they were the size of large kidney beans. I sent her out to make sure that was all and she came back with three more! These babies are no more than 24 hours old. There is a problem, though. Lizzie and Dungeon are both girls. We have had them for at least 15 months. We suspect that there have been unexpected visitors sneaking in and out of their cage. The girls are pretty big, but the field mice are pretty small. Living near a field, out in the country, we have had mice in the house before. I guess it's time to start a mouse control effort again! Ugh! Olivia completed cage cleaning and we got the mice reunited with the babies (we don't know which one's the mom because they seem to have turns mothering them. Sweet.) As soon as they start moving around easily, we will have to either find a glass aquarium with a screen top or take them to the pet store. I don't know if they'll take mutts, though.
(I have taken a bunch of pics but lost them all while getting them downloaded...the program wasn't responding and I took the card out, the pics had already been removed from the device but never made it to the program).
As soon as the excitement died down, the kids and Dad washed my car (and each other!) and I got the meal plan done for the week. Here it is...
Sophia has been coveting the neighbor kids' breakfast biscuit sausage sandwiches. I made the biscuits and some sausage patties, assembled the sandwiches, wrapped individually and put in the freezer. Voila! An hour of work and a weeks' worth of healthy convenience food! : )
While I was inside baking, Danny got the wood stove burning outside and fixed chicken fajitas with red and green peppers and purple onions from Julie's farm. He even heated up the corn tortillas tight on the stove top! Delish! We topped these with my home made salsa ad some yogurt cheese (I know this sounds icky, but it is from my yogurt I made last week - I strained it over a pot overnight and it turned out with a taste and texture very close to sour cream. (Sophia likes to mix raspberry jam into it.)
The bread, in all it's fragrant glory, came out of the oven, ready to be tested out on my family as our daily bread....good for sandwiches, toast, etc.
Meanwhile, during all this cooking and baking, I sent Olivia outside to clean the mouse cage. She got Lizzie and Dungeon into a safe place and went to work. She soon ran in, crazy excited, holding 4 newborn baby mice in her hand. I mean they were the size of large kidney beans. I sent her out to make sure that was all and she came back with three more! These babies are no more than 24 hours old. There is a problem, though. Lizzie and Dungeon are both girls. We have had them for at least 15 months. We suspect that there have been unexpected visitors sneaking in and out of their cage. The girls are pretty big, but the field mice are pretty small. Living near a field, out in the country, we have had mice in the house before. I guess it's time to start a mouse control effort again! Ugh! Olivia completed cage cleaning and we got the mice reunited with the babies (we don't know which one's the mom because they seem to have turns mothering them. Sweet.) As soon as they start moving around easily, we will have to either find a glass aquarium with a screen top or take them to the pet store. I don't know if they'll take mutts, though.
(I have taken a bunch of pics but lost them all while getting them downloaded...the program wasn't responding and I took the card out, the pics had already been removed from the device but never made it to the program).
As soon as the excitement died down, the kids and Dad washed my car (and each other!) and I got the meal plan done for the week. Here it is...
Sunday - Fajitas
Monday - sausage biscuit sandwiches
grilled cheese and tomato soup
Tuesday - smoothies
Posole
Wednesday - oatmeal
Sloppy Jotatoes*
Thursday - smoothies
Spaghetti and meat sauce
Friday - sausage biscuit sandwiches
chicken and dumplings
Saturday - TBA
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*the Sloppy Jotatoes are a personal creation -
Brown 1 # ground beef with chopped green peppers and onions
Drain, add 1 can tomato soup, 2 T brown sugar and 2 T Worcestershire sauce.
Cook till thick and bubbly.
Meanwhile, bake potatoes in the microwave.
Split in half and top with sloppy joe mixture.
YUM-O
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