Time Travel Tuesday--Vacations

Well, I'm late but I'm sure that's no surprise to any of you. That's just the way I'm made :-o) I can never seem to get a post done on time (translation: I can never get it posted when I WANT it to be posted). Such is life. Anyway, today Annie asked us to travel back to our most memorable or favorite vacation. This is only my second TTT and I hate to be a rule breaker but I think I'm gonna have to! I have so many wonderful vacation memories that it's hard to share only one. I hope you'll forgive me.

The most recent vacation that comes to mind is the trip Jeff and I took to NY last December. I had always wanted to visit Manhattan and I was not disappointed. So many things to do and see. Jeff had to go on business and I begged to go along. This vacation was probably the most memorable one to date for a few reasons. This was our first vacation alone. No kids. They stayed behind with Jeff's parents. For 6 days it was just me and Jeff. We saw Queens, Times Square, The Statue of Liberty, The Ed Sullivan Theatre, Rupert Gee's Deli, Soho, Chinatown, Ground Zero, United Nations, took a cruise around Manhattan, rode the subway (ALOT!), Central Park, took my first airplane ride, got lost and Jeff called NYPD and filed a missing persons report (insert record scratching noise).......Yep, you heard me right. Let me back up for a second. We arrived in Newark on Sunday evening. We dropped our things at our hotel in Queens and hit the subway toward Manhattan. Spent that night walking around Times Square together. Monday morning was a work day for Jeff. He was to be in meetings all day. Being the brave soul that I am, I reassured him I would be fine walking around Manhattan alone all day, shopping and stuff. That's exactly what I did too. I rode the subway into Manhattan with him early Monday morning and I started my foot race through Manhattan. About 4pm, I was pretty tired and since I have a wacky thyroid, I decided I'd subway back to Queens and take a nap until he called. 6:30pm rolled around and I started to worry because he hadn't called my cell or the hotel. Shortly after 6:30, the hotel phone rang and I answered. It was Jeff and he was in a state of shock. Turns out he had been calling me since 4:30 but my cell phone (for whatever reason.....PROVIDENCE) wasn't picking up. He had called the hotel but apparently it was just before I got into the room. This poor man had been searching Times Square for me since 4:30 with no success. He called his parents back in TN to get advice and finally decided to call NYPD. He honestly thought someone had kidnapped me, hurt me, and left me laying on a side street somewhere. Well, after he reached me on the phone, he quickly took the subway back to Queens and into my arms. He cried for an hour and couldn't speak more than a few words. If I ever in my life doubted his love for me, that was all erased in that moment. After we returned home and recounted that story to friends, I started thinking that if Jeff loves me that much, how much more does God love me? I am thankful that God providentially orchestrated that whole day from start to finish because not only did I see Jeff's love for me, I saw the love of my Heavenly Father.

Another vacation that comes to mind is our family vacation to Panama City Beach, FL. I think that was in September 2003. It was a long drive but worth every minute. It was beautiful, lots of stuff to do, and not very crowded. We took a two hour cruise on a "pirate ship" and got to see dolphins swimming around the ocean. That was really cool! The kids met a nice little girl from Kentucky and they were pals the whole time we were there. They enjoyed the pool and loved going to Gulf World. Jeff talked me into snorkeling for the first time and it was unbelievable. We went out into the ocean where it was about six feet deep and put our goggles on and man the things I saw! It was beautiful and scary! There were schools of fish swimming everywhere and little crabs walking (and digging themselves down) in the sand. Did you know that we step all over them when we go swimming in the ocean? They just kind of laid there until I got off them! LOL! We stayed in a hotel right on the beach that was cheap (about $60 a night) but had a nice pool, was clean, and even had a little kitchen in it! Because we homeschool, we always take our vacations the week after Labor Day so we miss all the crowds and this proved to be to our benefit. Low rates + no crowds = great vacation!!! That's a vacation we still talk about to this day!

This is what I enjoyed every evening...the beautiful sunset of Panama City Beach:

This is Caroline and her new KY friend:

I'll stop with these two vacations but I have alot of the same childhood memories that many of you have. It seems like when I was a kid, our family went to Myrtle Beach, SC every summer. Along the way, we'd play slug bug (my fav because I could hit my brother!) and the alphabet game (look around trying to find things that started with each letter of the alphabet). Being a kid was fun and I had a great time but it doesn't even begin to compare to the joy and fun I experience on vacations with my own husband and children!

Thanks to Annie for hosting Time Travel Tuesdays! To join the fun, visit her blog!

Sunday Seven #1

I saw this over at Carrie's and thought it would be a good way for me to take time out to think about and share with you seven things I am grateful for this week. I am grateful for so many things and I pray this will help me to really remember, specifically, seven special things each week. To read more about the history of Sunday Seven, go here.

1. I am grateful for my husband who works very hard to provide for our family. He works harder than I give him credit for sometimes and I really appreciate that about him. He's intelligent, funny, lively, and just a good ole' boy. I think my life would be very dull without him to keep things interesting.
2. I am grateful for my daughters. They are wonderful children with many gifts between them. I am grateful for Logan's willingness to do anything we ask of her. She is shy yet fun to be around. She is giving and obedient. She is a hard worker and there's nothing she wouldn't do for her family. I love that lately she's been attentive to her younger sis and has tried to help her understand math concepts and memorize math facts. Caroline is entertaining and witty. She keeps us on our toes. She loves to please her daddy. She is becoming a very good reader. If there were a local comedy show for kids, Caroline would be perfect for it. She keeps us laughing so there is never a dull moment.
3. I am grateful for Jeff's family. My FIL and MIL have been there for us every second of our married lives and would do anything they could for us. My FIL has worked very hard helping us around our house for the past few months while my MIL took time to teach the girls to embroider last week. This allowed me a day to rest and get other things done. My BIL has also worked very hard helping us around our house lately. Since he's not in the best of health, we are even more grateful that he has dedicated himself to helping us.
4. I am grateful that my mom came for a quick visit last weekend. She had safe travels both coming down and going home. We were able to get out a little bit and window shop, which she loves to do.
5. I am grateful for the home God has blessed us with. I love being at home and I love that we are making it ours.
6. I am grateful for the wonderful local homeschool support in our area. I've been struggling with some decisions in our math curriculum for Caroline for next year. I had about twelve people from our local homeschool group email me and give me their opinions and comparisons of a few possibilities. This helped so much! It will save me the internet research I would have had to do since they provided reviews of these things in their emails.
7. I am grateful for the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on my behalf and has fully paid for all my sins. He has called me to Himself and I belong to Him. He is faithful, even when I am not.

Hosted by Sunday Seven.

Weekend Reflection # 18

Time for another run down of a week in the life of us! I know you are all excited but please, try to contain yourself!

Monday: This is becoming a habit. I'll let you guess what I did first thing Monday morning....go ahead. YOU GUESSED IT! Another cat had to go to the vet. Tell me again why we "saved" all these poor kitties? Oh, right, because we love animals. Ok, back to the cat story. This time it was a different cat, my favorite cat, Mr. Tumnus. We call him Tum. He came home Sunday night with a banged up leg and couldn't put any weight on it. Jeff and I ran him down to the vet and were told that it was just bruised and swollen. The poor thing got two shots and we came home with two more shots of antibiotics. Thankfully, this vet is an older gentleman (just turned 80) and runs his business out of his house. He provides low cost care and is funny as all get out! He only charged us $15 for everything! That included his exam of Tumnus, a shot of an antibiotic, a shot of pain medication, and two shots for us to bring home. I love this man! In case anyone forgot, our dog had an allergic reaction to shrimp and it was $95 to fix her up.....different vet, closer to home, it seemed more serious and we needed immediate attention for our doggie.

Tuesday: Ballet for Caroline and then the girls and I were able to go to Bible study. Jeff has bagpipe practice every Tuesday night so it was just us girls.

Wednesday: Both girls went to my MIL's house after lunch. She was working with them on some embroidery projects because we want them to learn. I don't know anything about embroidery so she was kind enough to work with the girls for about six hours. Hopefully they will be able to start their own projects soon. Jeff is taking private bagpipe lessons and will do this each week on Wednesday nights. The man is a bagpipe freak!

Our deck also got finished! All we have to do now is lay outdoor carpet in the covered part and clean things up a bit. We are already enjoying it although the heat has been NUTS!!! It's been in the upper 80s and low 90s for a few weeks. We finally did get a few days of rain and we really needed it. It hadn't rained in over a month here! Our grass looks terrible! Wednesday night, Jeff and I watched Deja Vu'. It was pretty good, which is saying alot since we are not huge Denzel fans.

Thursday: Ballet and piano for Caroline. Jeff worked really late and didn't get home until around 10pm. The girls and I made pizza and enjoyed eating it on the deck.

Friday: Logan went to babysit all day and came home around 6pm. I took a nice long nap in the evening and was just lazy! Made an awesome meatloaf for supper and then took it easy the rest of the evening. Jeff and I watched The Painted Veil and by the time we got to bed, it was almost 3am. Oh, Caroline insisted that I tell you she removed two splinters from her hand on this day. She's scared of needles and does not like it when I hold her down and prick the skin in order to remove a splinter :-) It is a huge deal to her that she was able to remove these all by herself. How's that for exciting! LOL!

Saturday: Caroline and I took off to do some "shopping" (which translates into looking around!). We were hoping to make a trip to the Amish store about an hour from our house to buy some dried fruit, spices, lecithin, and some homemade sweet breads. We didn't make it. We had a few stops beforehand and I just couldn't bring myself to drive any further. Hopefully I'll get to the Amish store next week. They have wonderful dried pineapples that are very cheap! I love to get several bags of them for snacks. This is probably my favorite snack!

My BIL, FIL, and hubby laid the outdoor carpet on the deck. Now we are all ready for new furniture! That will come soon my friends! The girls and I intend to start doing some of our schooling out there before the heat runs us back inside. Made another yummy dish tonight. It is called Mile-High Salsa Pie and was pretty tasty. I'll include the recipe below. The only thing I would change is that I would use black beans in place of the kidney beans. I didn't have black beans to use this time but it tasted good with the kidney beans. I simply served chips and queso with it since it was a heavy dish. Yummy!

Shawna made my day by sending me Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers! I was so excited to go to the mailbox and find it! Thanks Shawna! I can't wait to start reading it, which will hopefully be next week after I finish Even Now by Karen Kingsbury.

Mile-High Salsa Pie (An Old El Paso recipe)

1 lb. ground beef or chicken breast (we used beef)

1 Old El Paso Soft Taco Bake dinner kit

1 cup water

1 can (16oz) kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 jar (16oz) Old El Paso Salsa (any salsa will do)

1 cup (4oz)shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used 8oz because we LOVE cheese)

1.Heat oven to 400. Brown beef in skillet; drain. Stir in seasoning mix, water, and half the cheese sauce (from the dinner kit). Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add kidney beans and remaining cheese sauce; heat until hot.

2. In ungreased 2-quart (8x8) casserole dish, place 1 tortilla. Layer with 1/2 of the salsa, beef mixture, then cheese. Repeat layers, using up ingredients and ending with cheese.

3. Cover and bake 17-22 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes.

Makes 6 servings

I hope you had a good week. I look forward to reading about your week so head over to Judi's place to join in!

Score One For Kraft

Kraft foods may have just redeemed themselves. Don't get me wrong, I like Kraft products. I buy Kraft products. I eat Kraft products. However, I don't use Kraft recipes very often. They just don't have enough "flava" for our family, namely, my hubby. He likes lots of flavor in the foods he eats. The more things taste like beef, the more he likes them! Last night when he asked what we were having for supper and I announced salisbury steak, his facial expression said it all. I knew what was coming next....the ole' "I'm not really in the mood for that" statement. That's his way of gently nudging me to make something else, so I went to the kitchen and pulled out my trusty cooking magazines. I decided I would use a meatloaf recipe from the Kraft magazine I had. It sounded pretty good and I had never made meatloaf with these ingredients before. In this house, we love us some meatloaf. Well, we all love it with the exception of my picky 8 year old, who I refuse to cook special meals for! I make traditional meatloaf alot, or I used to, until I found a nice BBQ meatloaf recipe that was the bomb!! Anyway, this Kraft recipe was different and I wanted different.

An hour and fifteen minutes later we sat down to dinner and I was sure hungry! Now, when I use a new recipe, I always wait for the family to take a bite and swallow it before I say anything. I can gauge their like or dislike of the item this way. I'm happy to say that everyone liked it, although I think I liked it best. I was happy, thrilled, elated, you get the picture. FINALLY, a Kraft recipe I can add to my recipe book! It's a keeper and I am already thinking about how good leftovers will be after church on Sunday! I knew I had to share this recipe with you because if you love meatloaf with flavor, then you'll love this meatloaf!

Favorite Meatloaf

1 cup finely chopped onions

1/4 cup Kraft Zesty Italian Reduced Fat Dressing (I didn't have this so I used Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Dressing)

2 lb. extra lean ground beef

3/4 cup ketchup, divided

1 pkg. Stove Top Stuffing Mix (chicken)

1 cup water

2 egg whites

1/2 cup Kraft sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook onions in italian dressing in nonstick skillet on medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Combine meat, 1/4 cup ketchup, stuffing mix, water, egg whites, and onions; mix well. Place meat mixture in 13x9 inch baking dish; shape into oval loaf. Spread with remaining ketchup. Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour or until cooked through. Sprinkle with cheese; bake 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Makes 8 servings.

(Courtesy of Kraft Food & Family magazine 5th anniversary edition)

How funny, while typing the recipe up, I realize I didn't add the cup of water! So, you can use the water or not! I imagine if I had used the water it would have made the stuffing mix soft but I liked the crunchy texture it had. Also, the Sun Dried Tomato dressing is wonderful if you like zesty type stuff. It's not quite as zesty as italian (IMO) but it's really tasty. (Remember, I am pretty much a Ranch or Raspberry Vinaigrette kinda gal so it was a stretch for me to try this new one). I believe the stuffing mix and the onions cooked in the dressing is what made this recipe so tasty. I can't wait to have a crowd over so that I can fix this. It is sure to be a hit.

Score one for Kraft....

 

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Love About My New Deck

We've been super busy for the past few weeks trying to finish up the construction on our new deck as well as other small projects around the house. We are now finished with the hard part and only have decorating left to do. So, in celebration of being able to use the new deck, here are thirteen things I love about it!

1. IT"S DONE!!!! What could be better than this! No more building to do!
2. It's big enough for large crowds to gather on! We love having our church family over and we've had the problem of limited seating until now!
3. I have two sections. One is covered and screened in and the other is open. Man, the choices!!!
4. I get to buy new furniture for the covered section! Jill recently bought some cute furniture that I love!
5. Birthday parties! This will be perfect for the girls to have guests over on their birthdays!
6. No more tools laying around!
7. Chili Pepper Lights....My hubby is obsessed with getting chili pepper lights! I hope I'll be able to find some soon!
8. No more mosquitos, bees, or flies can bother us since we can opt to sit in the covered area!
9. I can sit while I admire my little garden! The garden is to the left of the deck so now I don't have to walk all the way out there to see what's popped up! I can look while I enjoy a big glass of diet Sunkist!
10. Tiki torches! Love these and now we can actually have some and enjoy them since we have a place to put them!
11. Great place for a Bible study! If only I could get Jenny and Kasi to make their way over here! LOL!
12. A new environment for learning! The girls and I are really excited that we'll be able to sit out on the deck while doing their lessons!
13. My FIL and BIL can finally rest! They need it! They've worked really, really hard on this project and I'm ready to see them relax for awhile! Thanks guys!

For more TT's, go here.

 

I'm So Excited, And I Just Can't Hide It!!!!!

I'm so excited that I just can't contain myself about this! In case you haven't heard, Nan is hosting Apronpalooza this week and it is going to be a blast! I have found myself browsing through vintage aprons every time I've been in an antique store lately. I love aprons and I love wearing one when I cook. Nothing that I have even comes close to some of the aprons Nan has given us a peek at! They are gorgeous!

She will be posting three contests PER DAY all week. I'm telling you, if you like to cook and you love aprons, you'd better jump over to her blog and enter! This is a wonderful contest and I love that apron makers have been so generous with their donations for this contest! All of the sponsors have beautiful items and any woman (ME, ME, ME!!!) would be fortunate to win one of their aprons!

Menu Plan Monday June 4-10

I haven't posted a menu in a few weeks because I've been lazy! We've had company this weekend and we are trying to finish up a few things on our deck this week. Because of all of that, it's been a little distracting and I'm going to wing it this week. I'm hoping to use what I have on hand and then grocery shop this weekend! My cousin, Missy, always makes fun of me for posting my menu. She says she doesn't have enough time to do that. I've found that I have to start taking time to do it EVERY week. I know I spend more money on groceries when I don't have things mapped out. Therefore, I must do better. Even though this menu will be somewhat thrown together, I will do better next week! BTW, this is a picture of my cousin (I hope it embarrasses her!) who always gives me a hard time. She is also the one who snatched my purse at the mall this weekend! Don't worry, you know what they say about paybacks! You'd better watch yourself Missy! LOL!

Monday: Lasagna, salad, garlic bread. I have to take a cat to the vet this morning so I need a low maintenance supper tonight! It seems that I am always taking a sick animal to the vet! This time, one of the cats came home with a lame leg. Not sure if it's broken or what but he won't put any weight on it and he can't climb stairs very well. Sheesh!

Tuesday: Sloppy joes, tater tots, beans. This is Bible study night so again, I need something that is easy and fast to make.

Wednesday: Hamburger Steaks with Onion Gravy, Savory Grilled Potatoes (Thanks Carrie!)

Thursday: Salisbury Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Green Beans

Friday: NY Strip, baked potatoes, salad

Saturday: Eat Out

Sunday: Soup beans, Cornbread, Fish

Check out more menus at Laura's!

As a side note, I just have to poke fun at my hubby. He was catching up on reading my blog the other day and ventured over to Carrie's place (I didn't know it at the time). When I sat down to my computer in the evening, I noticed that there were several recipes on my printer. I pulled them off and noticed that they sounded familiar. Turns out, they were from Carrie's menu last week! He's so funny! I asked him if he had been "stalking" Carrie's recipes and he quickly admitted that he had! I appreciate his help in finding recipes and I think this was his way of telling me he wanted to eat something different this week! LOL! Thanks for the recipes Carrie!

Weekend Reflection # 17

We had a very nice week last week. Since there was a holiday mixed in the week, it gave us an extra "day off" to enjoy each other and do fun stuff! We took full advantage of it too!

Sunday: We enjoyed worship and then grabbed a quick bite for lunch. Jeff had to take off since the band was playing for an early Memorial Day function. Logan wanted to spend the day with her dad so Caroline and I decided we'd stay home and lounge. After the Memorial Day function, Jeff and a few other bagpipers were off to play a wedding. He and Logan rolled in near midnight but they had lots of fun. Caroline and I enjoyed watching the 1968 version of Yours, Mine, and Ours.

Monday: Since it was Memorial Day, Jeff had the day off and he drove, with a friend, to Linville, NC. That's only about an hour from us and it's also where the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games are held each year in July. The guys were going up to take the owner of Everything Scottish out to lunch. They had a fun time and Jeff got home early enough for us to invite his parents and brother over to grill out. We enjoyed burgers, cowboy beans, chips and salsa, salad, and some kind of brownie concoction I whipped up. When it started to get dark, we fired up the tiki torches and Jeff wooed us on the guitar with some old country songs. We had fun talking about the music we listened to growing up. We had fun remembering some songs by John Conlee (Rose Colored Glasses), Mac Davis, Don Williams, Conway Twitty, Porter Wagner, and a few other people I'd never heard of. We sat out on the deck until around midnight and then everyone went home. It was very relaxing.

Tuesday: Caroline had ballet class and that was the most we did all day really. Jeff didn't have bagpipe practice so he was home all evening! We made shrimp scampi for supper and ate out on the deck. Our dog started to get very sick and she was really itchy. We started looking and noticed she had all of these raised marks on her belly. She's a mini-schnauzer and normally a very happy go lucky kinda dog. We had all her hair shaved off for the summer so she wouldn't burn up. I'm thinking now that this was a mistake. Turns out, she it so itchy because she has poison ivy! Yep, you read that right. My dog has poison ivy! She must have ingested some of it and that was making her upchuck. She was feeling just terrible and looked pitiful.

Wednesday: Took the dog to the vet because she was still throwing up when I got out of bed. About an hour and $95 later, she is feeling much better. The vet gave her two shots and sent her home with two meds. She only threw up once today so that's a good thing! After talking to the vet, we determined that instead of poison ivy, it could have as easily been an allergic reaction to the shrimp tales she ate out of the yard. Seems that it is possible for a dog to have a shellfish allergy! Go figure. There's no real way of knowing whether it was poison ivy or a shellfish allergy. I'm just happy that she's not throwing up anymore!

Thursday: Pretty normal day. Caroline had piano and ballet class today. Ran some errands and found some scrapbooking stuff on sale at Michael's. I found a scrapbook and some supplies for my sister-in-law. She and my brother are expecting a baby girl in July.

Friday: Caroline and I took off and went to the mall for awhile. We had fun looking around and we had lunch in the food court. While we were eating, someone came up behind me and picked my pocketbook up out of the seat beside me. When I turned around to confront them, I found my cousin laughing as hard as she could! We don't see her much because she lives about 1 1/2 hours away. It was nice to run into her although I must say that I was ready to tackle her before I realized it was her that picked up my purse! LOL! My BIL and FIL worked more on our deck. They were able to get the gutter up and the soffit as well. It's looking nice! We are waiting for the vinyl siding to come in and once it's up, the screened in part is going to look like a million bucks! Friday night we had a quiet night. We stayed in and made pizza and watched a movie. Oh, and did I mention that Jenny and Kasi (who doesn't blog) bailed on me again so we didn't get to do our Bible study today?!!! Looks like I'm gonna have to go pick these gals up myself! LOL! Maybe they're trying to tell me something!

Saturday: I worked for several hours on getting our church directory ready to print. Besides the fact that my eyes are crossed from looking at the Excel file for so long, I am almost finished! Yay! This has been a bit of a challenge but Jeff and I have managed to pull it together....we think! LOL! My day got even better when I received an email from Jen informing me that I'd won the free blog design from the contest she was having! Another big Yay! I am still shocked but very happy that I will be blessed with one of Susie's designs! I really like her work and can't wait to see what she comes up with for me! My hubby did my current design and I love it. However, because he custom did it, it doesn't work like most other designs. I don't know how to explain all the technical stuff but basically it's harder for me to add things to my sidebars, etc. without breaking the design. He worked very hard on this for me and I really appreciate it. I think it'll be easier for me to use a design that does work with blogger so that I will not have to bug him every time I want to change something. I feel like a nag (he'd argue that I am! LOL!). Thanks honey! I really do appreciate all the things you do to please me!

Jeff also put up a new light in our hallway today. We finally got rid of the 80s fixture that was hanging in there! Oh boy, was it ugly! My mom is on her way down to visit us for a night or two also. She should arrive around 7pm tonight. We were unable to attend a feast with our church family this evening since mom is coming down. When children in our church are born, the parents usually hold a feast at their home a few months afterwards in celebration of the birth of that child. It is a wonderful time of celebration, fellowship, and thanksgiving to God for the blessing of children. We are sad to have to miss this feast but are thankful we'll be able to spend some time with my mom. It's rare that she is able to come down and stay overnight so we enjoy it when she is able to. .

That's about the sum of what's been going on around our house this week. I hope you've had a great week and have been able to accomplish many things. Hop on over to Judi's to see more WR's.