Friday nights pg. 39 recipe...

simply lasagna was a hit! My home made Challah bread was delicious dipped in extra virgin olive oil and a sea salt mixture.

Isn't that bread beautiful? My brother taught me how to make it at Christmas time.

Let's get cooking..

Okay girls this is the best FREE cooking magazine out there. I recieved my copy a week ago and I 've fixed 4 recipes out of it already. I have another one planned for supper tonight :) pg.38. I have gotten them for several years and they always brighten up our dull, in a rut, supper menus. Hurray up and sign up! www.Kraftfoods.com

I've been ironing and catching up on some past radio programs. I just listened to the January 11th broadcast on Focus on the Family. I still have a lump in my throat yet it ends so victoriously. A must listen! http://www.family.org/ on the left side click on the daily broadcast and then find their archived broadcasts on the right hand side. Also check out the January 14 &15 Abandoned by God. I'm going to listen to that again. Today's broadcast was a joy, Kevin Leman on Parenting: Enjoying the process. Such rich stuff.

This is another program that I listen to. www.familylifetoday.com January 14 broadcast What a man needs from his wife and January 15 Appreciating your husband. Good, Good stuff!!

Fortunately for me our computer is in the "work" area just off the kitchen so I can listen to things like this while I'm cooking, cleaning up, ironing or scrapbooking (haven't gotten to do that in a while). Enjoy and let me know if you were impacted like I was.

I love to read...

Last year I kept track of how many books I was able to read. It has been fun to look back and see what caught my attention. I ended up reading 25 total, 11 fiction, 10 biography, 4 missionary/prayer books. By keeping track I was able to stay a little more well rounded and not go all fiction. I love biographies though too. Favorite author right now would have to be Karen Kingsbury. They are fiction but laced with biblical principles, they draw you in. I have read Gilbert Morris's "Winslow series" since it first came out (I was 15 or so) and now he is up to 40 some I think in that same series. I came across a biography "To full term" by Darci Klein in the new book section at the Library. If you know of anyone that has had a miscarriage this is a fascinating read. Fighting for Dear Life was enlightening to the real facts of what went on. I remember the days when my babies were new and reading a magazine article was a real accompliment and now I have read 25 in one year. I have installed a fun bookshelf in the sidebar. Let me know if there is a "must read" out there. I'm off to read some more :)

After taking down the Christmas decorations...

The house needed some warmth and charm. I'm an amateur when it comes to "knowing" how. I don't know what you would even call my style of decorating (anybody care to label me :) but I had fun and isn't that what it is all about? I went about the house looking for a new combination of things for the piano. The flower bouquet was flowers harvested from another floral arrangement.

This tea for one is on the coffee table in the living room. It makes me feel all cozy just looking at it. This lonely tea cup and saucer is the start to a tea cup collection :) The basket on the piano and this wicker tray were made by my parents. Indeed treasures of mine.

This is my night stand. The red floral arrangement is also "new".

I wasn't done with my snowmen so I created a fun winter display for the mantel.

There you go! Just having a little fun. It is amazing how motivating it is to keep things picked up when stuff is "new".

Ready for the second half?

After 5 nights at the cabin in Ellijay with my family we headed to South Carolina to be with David's family. We were the first to arrive of the kids. Mark and family were there by supper time. We stayed up late (1a.m.) and slept in most mornings. I loved watching our kids be with their cousins and Grandparents. We had fun game time, "intense" discussion (everyone talking over the other), build on the next statement time, good food and just being togther (like the brothers all took a nap together Sunday afternoon, every recliner was in use). I got to help Amy start her senior scrapbook project. Thanks to her we now go around the house saying the word upset like this " up se it" with 3 syllables. It has been hard on me to find my happiness again since arriving home after being with family for 10 days. I loved every minute of it. We stretched our time away as long as we could and arrived home at midnight New years day. We did run into some bad weather that delayed us

Christmas in N.C. 2008

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Where has the time gone?

I had such lofty goals of getting our Christmas decorations posted and everyone wished a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Sorry it didn't happen. Instead is a catch up post. Our family headed out to Ellijay, Georgia the Saturday before Christmas to a cabin and my side of the family.

My Pictures

My parents, my brother and his dog Max came from Kansas. My sister and her cat Charlie are from the Atlanta area and we of course came from Greenfield, In. The cabin was really nice and we made some fun memories there. The popular game this year was Mancala. It is a rather short game so it can be played about anytime. We had fierce competition in ping pong and I learned how to bake bread with the help of my "little" brother. All attempts since then have not measured up to the bread at the cabin :) Of course we took walks, some riverside and some up the mountain. The cabin was down by the river so it took a winding, up and down and very skinny road to get to it. We had 5 days together. My brother made and we ate 7 loaves of Challah bread. Somehow it was fun to cook there,eat like we were dying, do laundry there and all the normal chores of life for a family. I have the pictures ordered and ideas are running through my head for a scrapbook. Georgia and the cabin was only half of our holiday travel and family time. I will post the second half a little later.