Prayer Request

Just something to keep in your prayers, please. 

My brother is leaving today for a TDY* in the Middle East.

Please keep him in your prayers for safe travel and safe mission.

*tour of duty

Five Question Friday

The questions for this Friday's 5QF are fun, so I'll join in!  You can click here to visit my friend's site- the creator of it all...
If you want to participate, copy the questions, answer them and post!  You can also link up on Mama M.'s page if you want...  but not manditory.  :)
1. What's your "comfort food"?

Sugar, sugar, sugar.  I'm actually in day 2 of sugar detox...not my favorite state of mind.  Ugh.  12 days to go before I'm free of sugar!  I noticed that I bacame a little surly last night.  Thank goodness Dave went to be early (he had to plow at 1) so he didn't have to deal with me.  :)

2. Do you send Thank You's (handwritten or email)?
  Yes!  Handwritten, thanks.  I was raised old school....and old school I shall remain.  :)


3. If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you choose?

That's easy....The Biggest Looser.  Although, I'd like to be on it for more than a month....but I'd take what I could get.
4. What is your favorite online recipe site?
cooks.com  Dave and I will occasionally go on there and search for a recipe with ingredients of whats left in the fridge.  Many of them can be easily modified to make gluten free.    Either that, or Rachael Ray...love her cooking.

5. If you had to choose: "Friends" or "Seinfeld"?
If I were in collage, I'd say "Friends"  but now I love "Seinfeld" more.  Kramer cracks me up.

A Love Shack Limerick for you...

There once was a man from Nantucket

Who had some wood in a bucket....

He took out his hammer and saw,

Nailed them to the wall,

And his wife said, "honey, I think I like it!"

Resolutions ..... and a little help from my friends.

So, ok...I'm not one for resolutions.

I'm not that great at follow through, and my attention span is one of a gnat.

 But, there's a few things that I've been wanting to improve for a while now, and there's a few friends that are working on it as well

(yes, I'm a sheep...baaaaa)

 so with a little help from my friends- here's a few things that you'll be able to help keep me accountable on:

1.  Get the house clean and organized.  My bloggy friend, Clean Mama, has put together a challenge of Zone Cleaning.  Four zones of your house- and divide those zones into quarters.  Every day set the timer for 15 minutes, clean your quarter for that time.  When the timer goes off, you're done.  She describes it better than I do- you can check her out here.  But, my first zone is my work area (which, in Love Shack terms is just part of the kitchen....but WHO'S COMPLAINING?!?!?!?  #*#$^@)#$(#@*;!  NOT ME!).  So, this is my before picture(s).

2.  Make a schedule.  For just about everything. 

I'm disorganized and tend to fly by the seat of my pants. 

While this may be fun and "adventurous" to some, it really doesn't bode well for my family (who are VERY schedule based).  One of these areas of work is on dinner preparation.  I have a pantry full of half-meals and non-perishibles, but nothing to show on the kitchen table for them.  I was making the same old non-balanced meals simply because I failed to think about dinner until 4...ish.  :) 

So, here's my plan:

At the end of every month, I sit down and write out a plan for dinners for the entire next month.  (The list #74!)  Some fill-ins are easy- we have family pizza/movie night every Friday and on Tuesday nights I have a nutrition class and get weighed, so the boys eat a nice pasta meal- since I'm not dining with them.  There's a few standards that we eat once (or twice...) a month- hamburgers, roasted chicken and tacos.  Then, I pick ONE cookbook (for each month) from my (dusty) cupboard and start leafing through.  I find ones that look good and write them down.  Every 5 days I leave a night for left overs or a yo-yo night (you're on your own).  Here's my Janurary:

By the way, the Taste of Homes Quick Cooking books are some of my favorite- lots of pictures, easy recipes and cheap ingredients.

Why only ONE cookbook, you ask?  I'm keeping it simple.  It's not fun to make a grocery list if I have to dig through six books.  In addition, I figured this will be a great way to weed through my current books.  If I can't find many great, balanced meals in one book- it will get pitched.  Next month, I'll pick a different book- perhaps some recipes this month will become staples next month...but if I can't do them from memory, they will have to wait until this cookbook comes back to the top of the rotation.

I'm hoping this will help me stretch our grocery budget- instead of having to increase it this year.  So far, we're 5 days into the new year and I'm really enjoying it.  I can prepare some things ahead so its not so crazy during the "witching hour" (4-6pm), and I tend to enjoy dinner a lot more with my family.

3.  Get healthy.  I took a nutrition class (and weight loss challenge) last fall, and will be taking it again this winter.  There was so much information in this, it blew my mind!  This time I'll be taking notes, doing some additional research and hopefully sharing some things that I've disvocered with you on my blog.  Why the additional research?  Because I don't want to regurgitate something that someone else says.  I want to make it my own and really gain some understanding of the things I learn.  (The list #28!)

4.  Pray more.  After my 15 minutes of cleaning, I'm going to be setting aside a few minutes to just sit quietly in prayer.  I need to do that more, and have been missing the connection with my Father.  In addition to that, I'm hopefully going to be more mindful to think of him more often as I go about my day.

5.  Update y'all on the list!  Looking throw there, there's a lot that I covered last year and never blogged about...ugh, sorry 'bout that.  So, consider yourself forewarned- a long update w/ pics coming soon!

There's a few others in there...but they are small...so I'll start here. 

Not Me! Monday

HA!  Yes, we'll start the New Year of blogging off to a great start with a little Not Me! Monday post!  How sweet it is.  Click here to see the creator of this carnival and what everyone else has not been doing this week/month/year.

• I was not dreadfully embarrased when my toddler not only took off his coat upon our arrival at church yesterday, but his shirt as well.  While it should have bothered me that I had a half naked child in the sanctuary, it did not.  I was more embarassed by the amount of ink pen scribbles all over his tummy that I was unable to scrub clean in the bath.  I certainly do not leave my toddler unattended with an ink pen.  I have proactively taught him that coloring all over himself is not acceptable.  And, my son knows the meaning of modesty- especially in church.
• I did not let my toddler drink the rest of the sparkling grape juice that we used on NYE.  I for sure did not allow him to drink out of the bottle.  The following picture was never taken.

I would never allow this.  Not only am I not contributing to a predisposition to alcoholism, but I'm also certainly not allowing a social faux pas like drinking directly out of the bottle.  This kind of parenting ensures delinquency.  Something I definitely do not do.

(And his cap is really not crooked.  He does not look like a total thug here.  Glad this never happened and the picture was never taken.  Geez, some people.)

• 
  
  I did not take down all of our Christmas decorations on the day after Christmas.  I was not sick of looking at them after only having them up for three weeks.  I did not feel like a grinch while quickly tossing everything I could into boxes while C. was napping.  I do not move like the wind while he's slumbering simply because I'm too tired and lazy to chase him around.  I am not a lazy person by nature.  I do not hide events- like the dismantling of Christmas- which would leave them completely perplexed upon waking.  Nope not me!
  
  
• 
  
  I did not promise my husband a massage if he would go to the store to pick up some brown sugar.  Agan, I'm not a lazy person.  Nope, not me!  I would never dangle something my husband loves in order to get out of heading to the store.  He did not totally fall for it.  I am not still grateful for that.  I'm totally not trying to figure out how to get him home from work and run to Costco for me this afternoon.....
  
  
• 
  
  Our couch is not in dire straights.  Not only is the material ripped and gashed (which have been slip covered), but now a few springs have not totally busted.  I am not trying to convince my husband that this now means God wants us to purchase a new couch.  I am not totally obsessed with finding a terrific deal that we can fit into the envelope budget. 
  
  
• 
  
  I am not bragging that I now have 14 friends and family expecting in 2010.  Well, ok...perhaps I am bragging!  And that's just up through July!  I am totally excited for these families...and even more excited that its not me who is pregnant!  (Really, its not!)
  
  

Have a great week, friends!

NYE- Hop Style

Dave and I aren't much for doing the whole "going out" thing for New Year's Eve.

Well, except for the Y2K NYE...because we had been dating for a total of 6 weeks, and since it was the beginning of the 2000's, I think attendance was manditory at parties....

...at least, that's what we tell ourselves...

but, I digress.


We sure have come a long way from those two love birds on that Dec. 31, 1999 night.

(right now, the song Memories is crooning in my head)



So, this year we had our own little party at the Love Shack.

We hauled out our new Big City Slider Station and let A. assist in cooking some sliders.
Dave requested we do finger food- with cheese and crackers (his favorite appetizer of all time).

I put out some pepperoni- as a gluten free snack, but the boys ended up eating the whole little bowl before I had 3.

Artichoke/ Garlic salsa and chips- yum!

Dave and I also steamed our first artichoke- pretty darn tasty, but a lot of work for a little bit of eats- will probably buy canned hearts from now on.

We had sparkling grape juice w/ clear glasses- and did a family toast.

The boys raced cars in the addition (Dave almost threw his back out running and bending over at the same time).

Family picture on the "new" staircase.

C. in bed by 7:30 while Dave and A. constructed a Lego Front Loader.

A. in bed by 8.

We were asleep by 11.

Woke back up at midnight- when the jerk up the road lit off a 8th stick of dynomite.
Heard fireworks.
Went back to sleep.

Ahhhh, welcome, 2010.
Happy New Year from the Hops!

Merry Cricut! Christmas! REVEALED

Ok, as of yesterday, all Cricut gifts have been delivered...so, here's my unveiling.


Remember when my brother and his family were in town this summer and we had our pictures taken by my photographer friend, Renee?

Well, I loved a few of the pictures....I loved them so much that I made them into gifts. 

Here are my two absolute favorites:

So, then I had to make them into gifts:

Then, I had to play off my dad's hat for the next one.  Everyone knows my dad's felt hat.  Everyone.

Each of his grandsons are wearing his hat (or one identical to it- it is a long distance collaboration, of course) in each picture.

Then, to my friend, Erika, and her girls who are always playing games (especially Memory):

I took out their last name- since she doesn't list it on her blog.  But, it does begin with a V.  I pulled all kinds of old pictures from my memory cards from birthday parties, baptisms, or just getting together.  I made 38 cards to match.  I actually didn't have any pictures of her husband or brother- so I offered to add them if she'll send me the pictures.

And my absolute favorite....

(Can you tell I'm very proud of the last one?!?!?!)

I was actually watching the Cricut infomercial (twice...in a row)  while Dave was hunting.  It gave me a great idea for Christmas gifts...

This one wasn't featured on the infomercial.  I saw about 2 minutes on glass etching, and my mind took off.  I grabbed my 40% off coupon and headed to the nearest Michaels.

And did this:

The white is all etched in the glass and their last name is in vinyl on the front of the glass.  Sorry for the light reflection in there, it's not easy to get a picture of transparent glass with auto focus camera.

This will look great hanging on a colored wall- or if they don't have one, they can simply put colored paper between the two glass pieces and have an instant background.

I ended up making one for my mom's principal, but forgot to take a picture- I love that one too!

What I found awesome about this gift was that I was able to really think about these families and what I love so much about them.  It's a fun (and awesome!) way to pay someone a permanent compliment!