Odds and ends

Well, I'm caught up on my sleep, mostly. I think I am a little droopy today because of all the caffeine I had yesterday.

I'm excited because as soon as I finish here I'm going to mow my lawn. Granted this may be the only time I am excited to mow my lawn until next spring but . . . yea! I'm gonna mow my lawn.

Tonight is the last night of Awana so I will have to say goodbye to the kids in my group. Well, not really, as two of them are in my Sunday School class and I will probably see the other two next year even if they aren't in my group. But still, it won't be the same as seeing them every week and watching them grow in and study the Word of God.

Gotta go, mow!

Truth and consequences

Sometimes I cannot believe my idiocy.


+ =


Last night I read into the wee hours of the night (or morning, depends on your perspective). I did this knowing I had to get up earlier than usual for a workshop. Bah.

Not only that but to keep myself awake and functioning I drank 2-16 oz. cups of caffeinated coffee. This wouldn't be so bad if I regularly drank caffeinated beverages. But I don't.

So although I was awake and functioning, all day I suffered the buzzing sensation that accompanies a caffeine high.

On the plus side, I did finish my book!

Cold snap . . .

I think my grass may decide to curl back into the ground.

The last couple days the wind has been from the north and has blown in some COLD weather. Most of the day today it sleeted or snowed. Thankfully, it melted as it hit the ground.

It is odd . . . going from flooding basements to freezing temperatures . . . at the end of April.

It was just last week that I had almost every window in my house open because it was so beautiful outside -- not to hot and not too cold.

Oh well, I really should appreciate the weather we have because I'm sure in about 3 months I will be complaining about the heat! :-)

5 things I'd rather

• I'd rather be mowing my lawn today.

• I'd rather not be vacuuming the lake out of my basement.

• I'd rather be making the sibs birthday gifts.

• I'd rather not be cleaning the house.

• I'd rather be reading
  

Tomoto paste splat . . . redux

Here is the photo from Tuesday's post:

Walkin'

Yeah! I've started walking to work again. As soon as I woke up this morning I stuck my head out the door. Cleo ran and hid when I did a jig and sang "I'm walking to work today!"

The last couple weeks it has been too wet to walk. Not that I will melt in the rain but I really dislike getting all damp and having people endure looking a my wet puppy dog look all day.

That may be a little vain but that's the way it is.

I am still anxiously awaiting my trees to start budding. My neighbors must think it strange to see me peering at my trees every time I walk out the door.

Tomorrow I am going to get my lawn mower ready to use on Friday. I can't wait for the smell of freshly mown grass!

Just a little mishap

Thursday night I made myself beef stroganoff (mom's recipe). I'd never made it before and it turned out really well considering.

I used my spaghetti sauce trick to use up the tomato paste so it wouldn't go to waste. I opened the freezer with the cookie sheet containing tablespoons of tomato paste when I realized I hadn't made a space for it.

Instead of doing the bright thing, I juggled the freezer items and the cookie sheet trying to make room.

My box of butter fell out of the freezer and got slimed with tomato paste.

The "oh, I just do this quick" way ended up taking me twice as long!

Rejoice

Rejoice always. I Thessalonians 5:16

One of my favorite scripture passages to read and meditate on is Philippians.

The book of Philippians was written by the apostle Paul to the believers in Philippi (a city in Macedonia – now ?) around A.D. 60. During this time Paul was far away from his friends in Rome awaiting trial. He was under house arrest, kept imprisoned by military guards.

Knowing this, I find it amazing that Paul could speak of his joy or rejoicing at least 16 times throughout this letter.

It forces me to question how my heart would respond in a similar situation:

• Would I dwell on the joy in my life in the midst of frustration, disappointment, and unforeseeable trials?

• Or would I wallow in my own self pity?

• Would my focus be on Christ my Savior, my Friend?

• Or would I focus on myself?

• Would I “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I will say, rejoice!”? Philippians 4:4

5 things . . .

5 websites I check every time I log on:

1. Yahoo mail
2. Igoogle & Reader
3. Hotmail
4. Blogger -- blog-tastic!
5. My Yahoo -- including my favorite comic strips: FoxTrot, For Better or Worse, & B.C.

Courtesy of Creators.com

Completely blank

I cannot think of one thing to blog about today. I am trying to think of something funny that happened to me this week . . .

Blank.

Something exciting and new . . .

Blank.

Something boring and old . . .

Blank.

I think I need to get out more!

Whoa ..... nellie!

I have been watching Ace of Cakes on the Food Network lately. If you don't know what that is, it is a 1/2 hour show following the cake-making hijinx of a company in Baltimore, MD. They make cakes in all shapes and sizes.

Anyway, that combined with my cooking kick, I came up with a brilliant brainstorm: why don't I make some fun, fancy cakes!

I checked out a couple cake-making and decorating books from the library. And found out exactly why I don't make some fun, fancy cakes!

It is a lot harder than they make it look on the television show. I have decided to hold off on this endeavor -- not that it would be fun to try -- until I have completed some of the other projects I have started.

Spaghetti Leftovers

So the other day I was in the mood for some home cooking, rather than cereal or sandwiches, and I got out some pans and made myself some spaghetti.

The problem I have with home cooking is I cannot eat it all by myself. So I decide to get a little creative.

After supper, I looked at the pan of spaghetti sauce, less what I used, and decided to freeze it for later use.


I scooped the sauce out in individual portion sizes.


And put each scoop into a pile on a cookie sheet covered in waxed paper.

I only had about one serving left over after doing this and I put that into a container to eat for supper the next evening.



Once the cookie sheet was full, I rearranged my freezer so I could fit the cookie sheet in and keep it level.


I left the cookie sheet in overnight, but I could have taken it out as soon as the spaghetti sauce mounds were frozen enough to stay together when I removed them from the pan.

The next day, I labeled and dated two quart-sized freezer bags.


Then I pulled the frozen spaghetti mounds out of the freezer.



Scooped them off the cookie sheet and put three of them into each freezer bag. Now I have quick and easy meals for the future.

Food fodder

My attempts at being a chef seem to come and go. It is probably good that I am not a terribly picky eater. I can "feast" on sandwiches and cereal for months before I get an itch to make chicken dinners or some other equally time intensive meal.

This phenomenon seems to relate to the fact that I haven't completely mastered cooking for one. Which leads to the problem of too many leftovers and not enough stomach!

I have decided to address the cooking for one issue by using my freezer more. And not for frozen pizza either! My post tomorrow -- if I can remember to load the photos onto my computer -- will show you my first step.

I am also going to be getting some garden produce this summer. I talked to my mom about what she is planting in her garden and I am going to add a couple things. So hopefully I will have some canned and frozen goods next year!

5 things . . .

5 of my favorite musicians:

1. Chris Rice
2. Wayne Watson
3. Steve Green
4. Brad Paisley
5. Harry Connick Jr.
   

Blogs & Labels

I was just editing my blog labels. I was eliminating some, combining others.

I am so glad our lives are not limited to labels. I would have a weird and unbalanced life. Granted I don't have a PERFECT life -- no one does. However, if someone was to judge my life simply by the labels I have applied to my posts . . .

In fact, you probably wouldn't be able to know me well simply from my posts. I by no means blog about every aspect of my life.

I am a very private person. Which is kind of ironic considering that I blog every day of the week.

I have journaled most of my life but not in consistent way. I started blogging 1)to force myself to be accountable for journaling on a regular basis 2)to develop my writing skills -- which have become lax since my college days 3)to focus on the blessings in my life 4)to let my family & friends know what is going on in my life.

So far I think I have kept to all four reasons, although I am not one to judge whether or not my writing skills have improved or gotten worse :-) and I feel like there are some days that I cannot see one blessing (I like to think those are the days I make a mess of my blessings!).

I have to say I am proud of myself for posting every day and I am rooting for myself to continue on!

UGH!

Grand Prix (Part 2)

Here are some of the cars. I think this year the kids had some really great cars -- physically and aesthetically.


Going . . .

Going . . .Gone!

The weekend and other stuff

I had a good weekend. I did nothing. I take that back, on Friday night I went to a game party which lasted until the wee hours -- 12:30 a.m. That is as late as my outings get nowadays. Once upon a time 12:30 was the middle of my evening. No longer. I am either maturing or getting older. I haven't decided yet.

It was fun.

I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing . . . reading . . . doing nuthin'.

It also was fun.

I had planned to upload some more photos of the Grand Prix today, however, my computer is not cooperating with me.

Who would have though -- a computer not doing what it is supposed to.

Bah!

I will try again tomorrow though!

5 things

This is a continuation from last week's 5 things. I was looking through the name that I like and, surprise, I don't have a lot of boys names written down. So we will see if I can come up with five here.

5 boys names I like:

1. Jack
2. Alex/Alexander
3. Charlie
4. Eli/Elijah
5. Jonah/Jonas
   

Let's go racing . . .

Last night was Grand Prix. I took lots of photos . . .

These are from before everyone arrived:

The track . . .


The trophies . . .


The racers waiting area . . .


Here is my contribution to the event:


I created the chart and kept track of the races, winners, losers, etc.

I will have some more photos from Grand Prix Monday.

Sleepless in Iowa

I have rarely have trouble sleeping. I can sleep in, I can take naps, and I usually fall asleep within minutes of shutting off my light. (I know, I'm blessed!)

The past week I have had some problems. Mostly, I believe, because I had a cold. I was coughing myself to sleep -- a very difficult thing to do. But the past few days I have been almost healthy. Healthy enough that my cold should not factor into my sleeplessness.

I don't know if I have things on my mind? Or maybe I am not getting enough exercise? Or my body desperately wants it to be spring? But I have had a hard time falling asleep.

At least until last night. Last night I slept for 10 hours straight -- and I fell back into my routine of falling asleep minutes after turning off my light.

The true test will be if it happens again tonight!

April Fool's

Today is April Fools day. Personally, I don't celebrate this day -- never have, most likely never will.

But my curious mind wondered where the "day" came from so I did a little research.

Basically, the holiday for fools came about when countries adopted January 1 as New Year's Day -- previously it had been April 1st. So instead of paying calls and giving gifts on April 1st people did it on January 1st.

I don't know what is involved in changing a holiday but I would guess there were some people who didn't like change. (Surprise, surprise. :-)) Anyway it became practice to give "mock" gifts and play little pranks on the day formerly known as New Year's -- April 1.

For more info and some known pranks click here.