Takin' a little break...

I guess that's what I've been doing. We've had a crazy few weeks. I do have a long list of blog topics bumping around in my head, but I can't seem to sit long enough to get these topics in a form that any of you would be able to decipher! I should have some more time soon...but until then, I read a blog recently that really challenged me (yes, I know, I link up to this blog often...I'm ok if you just start reading hers and delete mine off your list--she updates frequently, I'm, well, a little AD...hey, what's that over there?). Anyway, I hope that next week, I'll be back on task (and working out!).
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2010/05/10-point-manifest-for-joyful-mothering.html
(you might need to copy and paste)
Hope you enjoy this post and that it challenges you as much as it challenged me!

How Not to Wait

It's dark outside. Not night time dark. Not early morning dark. Not even the darkness of an eclipse. It's the darkness of smog, no sun for days. It's a darkness that creeps into the house. The kind of darkness that makes you turn on all the lights in the house in an effort to fight it. I find myself waiting for real Spring.

It feels, sometimes, that I'm always waiting. Waiting to grow up and go to college. Waiting to get married. Waiting to start having kids. Waiting to give birth (yeah, I did that a lot). Waiting for Tim's school to be done. Waiting to move overseas and then waiting to move back to the States. There's the waiting for babies to sleep through the night. Waiting for them to be self-sufficient. Waiting for them to finish going potty (I spend A LOT of time doing this!). Waiting for them to do their schoolwork. It always seems that I'm waiting for what's next.

I find it hard to live in the moment. I find it hard to simply wait on God. I have a hard time being still and waiting to hear what God wants to say.
So, here in the darkness of midday, I will try to "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him..." (Psalm 37:7)

Hairdos, Belly Dancing, and Other Pictures

Since we no longer have a house helper, (yes, I hear you all crying your hearts out for me) the little girls have been having to entertain themselves more and more while I do school. I came in the other day to see the girls, for once, not in trouble. Ellie was combing Lydia's hair, and for once, they let me take a picture of them.

Before you all run screaming for the hills, it's NOT me belly dancing...it's Ellie's Belly Dancing. She really likes to try to take her clothes off to get ready for bed. She hasn't figured out how to get her arms out, though.

I took all the kids to the store with me the other night, as a treat for...well, for surviving, we went out for noodles at their favorite noodle shop. They love to eat it at the restaurant. I call it a restaurant, but the more accurate description would be carless garage.

And here, FINALLY, is a picture of Elijah's missing tooth. If you notice, the other tooth has already grown in...that's not because I waited so long to take the picture, the tooth was there before the old tooth fell out.

Lastly, I've not updated on my projects in a while. I have slowly...very slowly, been working on a quilt for Ellie. I have high hopes of finishing it before we need to take the big comforters off the beds...if that ever happens. It's a scrap quilt and is a little wild! Sorry it's so hard to see on the white background. Maybe when it's finished it will be easier to see.

Simplicity itself!

We love (LOVE) veggies in our house. We like them raw, boiled, fried, sauteed, baked, and ROASTED! Roasted is probably my favorite way to eat some veggies. I would much rather have roasted potatoes than french fries. I'd rather have roasted green beans to boiled with bacon. And all I can say is, I'd rather have roasted asparagus than any other vegetable! Happily, roasting veggies is the easiest, ok except raw, to prepare vegetables. Four ingredients...yep, that's all you need!
Olive oil
salt
pepper
green beans or asparagus

Clean up the veggies. For green beans, trim the ends and cut or snap to the length you prefer. For asparagus, cut off the tough part of the stalk. Spread out on a large cookie sheet or roasting pan, drizzle olive oil over all the veggies, and salt and pepper. Toss together. Place the cookie sheet close to the top heat in a 450 degree oven. Roast until they have brown spots on them. Takes me about 25 minutes or so. I suppose the oven will determine the time. They won't be burnt, but they will look very done.
You can add garlic if you like, but it's tasty either way.

Potatoes can be done like this too...although you won't need to put them so close to the heat and it will take longer. Just wash and cut into 1 in squares (you can peel them or not). Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic or herbs. I love rosemary and garlic. I grind the rosemary into almost a powder since my family doesn't like the hard pieces. Roast them until they are brown on the bottom and have little brown blisters on top.

I mentioned a bit back about my once a month cooking...it's really more prepping than cooking, but so far, it really has made things come together much more quickly in the evenings. If it continues to be helpful, I will post more about what I do next month. Hope everyone is well.

When I Grow Up

Isabella, as a 3rd grader, has been doing more and more writing activities. Her last writing of the year is entitled "When I Grow Up." I found it amusing and thought I would pass it on. I hope everyone had a blessed Resurrection Day!

When I grown up I want to be a famer. I want pigs, sheep, chickens, turckeys, horses, cows, goats, ducks, and a sheepdog. I need a sheepdog to take care of my sheep. I want chickens for meat and for eggs. I want the cows and goats for milk. I want the horses for riding. I want the turckeys and ducks for meat. I want the pigs for meat. I want the sheep for meat and cloth. I will need my children [to help] with the animals. I will need my husband to raise mony.

I don't where or when she decided that she wanted to be a farmer. Apparently, her family will have a lot of meat! I especially love her purpose for her husband. I literally laughed out loud.

Hope everyone is well!

Once a Month Cooking

Menu Monday has been replaced (on Wednesday!) with Once a Month cooking this week! I thought I would try it to see if it would help me with some time management issues. I worked almost all day yesterday and all I really want to say is that I never want to touch a raw chicken breast again! It was a long process...more getting ready than anything else. I sent my dear husband to the store to buy 30+ chicken breasts. While many of you are imagining that this simply entailed a trip to Wal-Mart where he picks up 3 or 4 bags of frozen chicken breasts, this is NOT the way it's done here. Here the idea is fresh is best...and I do agree with that to some extent. I love fresh veggies and fruits and herbs. The ideal way to shop, according to the locals here, is just before you start to cook a meal. The idea of buying groceries for a week is outrageous! I get so many criticisms about how full my cart is when I head to the grocery store. On top of that, Tim had to pick out the chicken breasts and bag them himself. This week, they were unsplit and still had the tenders on them. So all I can say is, I have a great man who would go and do this for me!
So yesterday, I spent the day splits, cleaning, separating, and de-boning gobbs of chicken! In the end, I probably prepared chicken, pork, and beef for 15 meals. We'll see how that helps!
Last week, I mentioned my world famous (well, at least our house famous!) Baked Eggplant Parmesan. It's a great way to eat more vegetables and to save on the budget. When we were back in the US, we ate this a lot since eggplants were $1.45 each at Kroger. The first couple of times the kids picked at it, but now they eat it like crazy! Some people don't like the texture of the skin, so if you don't, just peal the skin before slicing. We can 2-3 eggplants in the US. Here the eggplants are Asian so they are different, thin and long, so we can eat 3-4 depending on how big they are. I don't have any specific measurements I just keep mixing the bread crumb mixture until I finish with eggplant.
For the breading: bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, a little salt, garlic powder, and shredded parmesan cheese (we don't use a lot because it's expensive and can only be bought in a couple of places)
I start with 2 eggs and some milk whisked together.
Slice the eggplant in half inch slices. Soak the slices in cold water for about 30 minutes, this takes the "bite" out of the eggplant. Then drain the eggplant.
Spread a little bit of Olive Oil on a cookie sheet.
Dip each eggplant slice in the breading mixture, then the egg mixture and then the breading again. Then place the breaded eggplant slices on the oiled baking sheet. When the sheet is filled up, drizzle the eggplant with olive oil and then bake at about 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until lightly browned and crispy. It takes us two cookie sheets to bake all of ours.
I serve it with whole wheat penne and a good chunky spaghetti sauce.
Hope you enjoy this lighter version of Eggplant Parmesan!

Ready for Easter

Sometimes, living overseas, I have a hard time feeling "in season." Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Fourth of July are not celebrated in the same way here. So as Easter is coming up I was getting a little mopey...no new Easter dresses for the girls and nice pants and vest for the boy. No Easter candy or seeing everything in pastels. No "displays" to remind me that its coming. Last night I was thinking about that when I overheard the kids singing in their room. Suddenly it hit me what they were singing: "What can wash away my sin, Nothing but the blood of Jesus." And now, while I still like all those other things, I am really ready for Easter.

Menu Monday

I don't have a long post today, but if all goes well, I should be posting more than once this week!
This week, I'm working on eating more simply. It's easy for me to pick meals that take a couple of hours of preparation. See I LIKE piddling around in the kitchen. But I've been thinking lately, it's ok for me to spend the afternoon cooking once in a while, but perhaps I should come up with some "faster" ideas!
This week we'll be having spaghetti and meatballs, leftover split pea and barley soup with bread, bbq sandwiches with mashed potatoes and green beans, and burritos. On Tuesday nights, Tim heads out to a local English corner, and he usually eats in the stalls near there. I usually either cook fried rice or get noodles from the corner. This week, I'm letting them eat leftovers, and I'm having pesto pasta....I love pesto! Also, we are heading to a birthday party for a couple of our friends. I get to bring eggplant parmesan. So it's starting up to be a busy week.
In thinking about faster ideas, I've been thinking about those who have a cooking day once a month and cook many meals to freeze for the month. I'm wondering if any of you do this and if you do, what kind of things do you cook, beside casseroles, I have a hard time finding a lot of those kinds of things.

Menu Monday, a New Favorite and Pictures

So my New Year's Resolution to post more on my blog has really been hit and miss. So here I am cramming a week's worth of blogging into one post. Sorry, I suppose it's a bit long...

This week we have decided to eat out a couple of times. One night we are headed to a local minority street for some "pulled noodles." It's really neat to watch the men make the noodles by stretching them out. And then we decided it was time to have some Mexican food at Peter's (whoo-hoo!). Other than that we'll be having split pea and barley soup, shrimp salads, and bbq chicken sandwiches. I figure that telling you all what we eat for breakfast and lunch is getting a little redundant. We'll also be celebrating a birthday at a friend's house.

And lastly, I'm going to try my hand at corned beef and cabbage on Wednesday. I figure that I might as well celebrate St. Patrick's Day. If it's worth eating, I'll post more details on it next week!

I have to admit that I love Rachael Ray recipes. I'm not a huge fan of her talk show, but I love her recipes. This week I stumbled upon a new(er) recipe of hers for Chicken Divan. I'm posting it below with a few changes.

• about a 1/3 sliced almonds, toasted and then set aside until serving
• 1 qt chicken stock or broth
• 1 zested lemon or 3-4 tblsp lemon juice
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, or about a tblsp thyme (I'm guessing, I didn't measure)
• 4tblsp butter, divided
• 11/2 cups white rice
• 1 1/2-1 3/4 lbs chicken breasts or tenders
• a little more than 1/2 cup all purpose flour...again, I didn't measure
• 1 tblsp poutry seasoning
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• a large bunch of aspargus (alas, I couldn't find it, we had peas with it instead)
• 6-7 button mushrooms
• 1/3 cup white wine (you can substitute chicken broth if you don't have it)
• 1/3 cup whole milk, half and half, or cream (I had whole, the other is expensive here)
• generous tblsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tblsp fresh tarragon or 1 tblsp dried
• 2 scallions chopped

Bring 2 3/4 cups of chicken broth, zest of lemon, and 1 tblsp of butter to a boil. Add rice. Cover and simmer on very low heat for 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, season chicken with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Dredge in flour. Heat in a large skillet 2 tblsp olive oil and 1 tblsp butter. Over medium to medium-high heat, cook the chicken until the juices run clear. Remove from the pan and set aside, covering to keep warm.

While cooking the chicken (if you have more than two burners, unlike me) bring about 1-2 inches of salted water to a boil in a shallow pan. Add the asparagus and cook for about 4 minutes until just tender but still bright green.

In the skillet used to cook the chicken, melt 2 tblsp of butter. Add the mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes. Whisk in about 2 heaping tblsp of flour and cook for about a minute. Whisk in the white wine and burn off the alcohol by cooking for about a minute. Then add the remaining chicken stock and the milk (half and half or cream). When the sauce bubbles and starts to thicken stir in the mustard and tarragon.

This really is one of the best recipes I've had in a long time. The only complaint I have is that I had enough meat for another adult, but no where near enough rice! Next time I will double the rice recipe. It sounds a little complicate, but it's really not. She said the recipe could be done in 35 minutes, and I think it took me about 45. I will admit that I re-wrote her directions because hers were not very clear. I hope that mine are clearer and that if you try this you will enjoy it as much as we did!

And last, but not least, here are some pictures from this last week.

Ellie's new make-up application technique. This is lipstick on the cheek.

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but Lydia's hair is very, very curly. One night after bath, I styled Lydia's hair VERY big. The 80's are back, baby!

This week I washed the girls' sheets. While they were off, Lydia grabbed the mattress saver and played with it. She was doing her "workout" on it. And when she was all done, she rolled it up neatly and put it on my yoga mat.

Menu Monday and More!

We're back to Menu Monday. Finally, our house is back to "normal" whatever that might be. So it's back to eating actual meals instead of stuff just thrown together! So here's what we're eating this week:

Monday

Oatmeal with bananas

Noodles

Lemon Pepper fish, spinach, rice pilaf

Tuesday

Bagels

sandwiches

Orange pork chops, mashed potatoes, veggies, applesauce

Wednesday

Eggs and Toast

Chinese

Chicken Divan, rice, asparagus (please, Lord, can I find some?) or peas

Thursday

Bagels

Grilled Cheese

hamburgers, fries, green beans

Friday

muffins

noodles

Broccoli cheddar soup, bread

Saturday*

Cereal

Sandwiches

Chicken Nuggets and fries

Sunday

Eggs and Toast

Eating out

leftovers

* I wanted to make a note, Saturday, March 13, is a day of fasting for our company as they are choosing a new president. Whether or not you choose to fast, please try to think about it on that day. It will be a decision that will change things all around the world! Hope you all have a great week!

Chinese food for any day

Before we moved overseas, I attempted many times at Chinese food. I found it to be entirely intimidating...and most always ended in a plate of mushy, soggy food. After 5 years, I'm finally to the point where my dishes turn out...but only if I stick to the simplest of dishes. So I thought I would share a step by step on fried rice...a favorite of our kids!

First make a big pot of pice. I usually make about 4 cups of (dry) rice if it's just the kids and me, or add another 2 cups if Tim around. Always better to have too much than too little! You can make it up to a couple of days ahead. Use whatever kind of rice you like...just not instant. I'm not sure that anyone over here even knows that there is such a thing! It just won't do!

Next, vegetables. I'm using carrots and cucumber. Cucumbers here a bit different. You can use scallions, peas, fine cut broccoli or cabbage...whatever your family with eat. You'll also need garlic and ginger. Finely chop the garlic or press it and shred the ginger. I couldn't find ginger yesterday, so I used powder as a last resort. Fresh ginger is much better. You only need about an inch piece, peeled. A little goes a long way. In the grocery store, don't be shy about breaking off only what you need. I heard Martha Stewart recommend doing that, and have done it ever since, because I only use it every once in a while.

I used one and a half chicken breasts. First, I sliced them and then chopped it more finely.

Mix the chicken with soy sauce(NOT lite), and if you can find it Mushroom soy sauce, garlic and ginger. Let sit while you stir fry the veggies.

I once heard a Taiwanese chef on tv say that it is stir fry not "stare fry." The key is to constantly move it and not to cook too long, maybe 3 minutes at most! I only used a bit of oil for this part.

Pull the vegetables, add more oil and stir fry up the chicken. Make sure it cooks through...still will only take about 5-7 mins.

Put the chicken in with the vegetables in the separate bowl. Fry up some scrambled eggs, I used 2, with a bit of soy sauce. And add to the chicken and vegetables.

Now, add quite a bit of oil. I would say a quarter of a cup to a half a cup. I know it's not low fat...nothing here is! Add the rice and stir until its been well coated with the oil.

Then add soy sauce and mushroom soy sauce (again it's not necessary, but it makes the dish look quite a bit darker, so if you don't have it, yours should look a lot lighter.)

Stir fry until well mixed, then add all your other stuff.

Mix well.

And eat!

The key is to work at it bit by bit. I hope you enjoy!

The Reason for no Menu-Monday

This week, there was no menu Monday. That's because Sunday we learned that Tim "might" be traveling. We live a life of "flexibility" that makes some things hard to plan. So I planned the menu...and then sat on it. And here it is Wednesday, and the menu has already been thrown out the window. We found out this afternoon that he would leave early tomorrow morning. So we decided to splurge (we've done really well on our budget this month!) and had Papa John's. Which, I would like to add, was well deserved after I made duck yesterday.

What a great intro to my horrific story: A Tale of Two Ducks. It is a tragedy. I recently watched Julie and Julia (or is it the other way around?) In the very end she has to de-bone a duck...which I will add is beautiful! I will try it one day...but not anytime soon. I was so inspired! I decided to make roasted duck with apple stuffing. (I know, Mom, I will never make you eat duck!) So off I went to the market. I even took my camera to show you all how said duck originally looked, but once I hit the market, it all went down hill. I knew I would have to buy the largest duck they had. After all, here they are sold with the head and feet...and everything inside! So I tell the first lady selling ducks I want the big one...it weighs about 3 lbs...I'm supposed to have a 4 lb duck. After checking around, and being told that they've never heard of a 4 pound duck, I finally decide to buy two. Once they weigh and I pay, I go about asking them to cut off the head and feet which is met with some confusion. When they find out I don't want the neck either, they just laugh at me. The lady asks me, what are you going to do with the ducks? I tell her roast them, she thinks I'm "lihai" or "clever."

I bring my ducks home and put them in some cold water until I'm ready to get them cleaned up and in the oven. What I did not realize is that the de-feathering process is not very efficient. As I start to clean the ducks, I realize I will NEVER get all the little feather bits out of the skin. So, I tell Tim, don't eat the skin. I will leave out the entire process of cleaning out the ducks...ick will suffice.

So finally they are rather clean.

Then I stuffed them.And baked them.Then we picked all the meat off the bones. Never was such a sad sight to be seen!

For the cup and a half of meat, I actually felt guilty that these birds were killed. I regularly roasted chickens in the US. It would feed our family for one meal and leftovers. I generally had the feeling of, why did they bother to kill this bird...there's nothing there.

Anyway, we will be eating this week and next, but it won't be very interesting. When Tim is gone we eat a lot of pb&j. The kids are already asking about popcorn and cookie night...so much for healthy eating. Hope you all have a great week!

Menu Monday

This week we are still eating up all the vegetables and meats we bought last week. That's great for the budget, though! I'm hoping I can find some blueberries this week. That would really make my week!

Monday

oatmeal with bananas

pb sandwiches for the kids, salads for the adults

Split pea and Barley soup and bread

pineapple

Tuesday

bagels

turkey salad sandwiches

eat out

Wednesday

bagels

pb sandwiches for the kids, salads for the adults

chicken wraps with whole wheat tortillas

watermelon

Thursday

mexican omlettes in whole wheat tortillas

grilled cheese sandwiches

Thai chicken and vegetables

brown rice

mango (can't have Thai without mango)

Friday

whole wheat waffles

noodles with cabbage

jerk chicken

saffron rice

spinach

tropical fruit salad

Saturday

whole wheat pancakes

sandwhiches

sausage and barley soup

bread

apples

Sunday

muffins

eat out

kielbasa and corn hash

strawberries or mandarin oranges

As I was writing this, I was imagining some of the reactions to Monday's meal. Most people the thought of Split Pea and Barley soup conjures up the image of pasty, baby poo looking like food. I happened to try it at one of our favorite restaurants on a trip to HK, California Pizza Kitchen. Despite being a pizza place, they have the BEST salads and soups! Anyway, someone else ordered it and let me try. I was in love! Don't buy the canned stuff, I can't vouch for that. I do know that made with fresh vegetables, chicken both, and quick cooking barley makes all the difference. It will take a while to cook, though. And about kids, at first, they turned their little noses up to it, but now they love it! And speaking of barley, I have not found a better ingredient than barley to put into soups. Both rice and pasta bloated and disintegrate into such a mess. Barley only gets better and is a whole grain! Hope you all have a yummy, delicious week!

What to do on "One of THOSE days"

We've all had "one of THOSE days." The first day back to school after break. The first day after vacation. When the police call and say that you have to come down and register...again. You go grocery shopping, and they're out of (fill in the blank). We all have these days.
This week, we got back from vacation on Sunday. I was being entirely too ambitious to think that I ought to start back to school on Monday. Add to that the police calling, and the normal 4 store trek to find all the things we use. And finally discovering, the store I usually buy flour at is out. On top of this, while you all are celebrating Valentine's Day, we have Chinese New Year's. It is the biggest holiday of the year. I kept hearing that every store would be closed. Turns out it's only the wet markets, but earlier this week I bought, like a good American, enough groceries to last a couple of weeks. But fresh veggies have to be prepared so that they don't go bad.
Fast forward to tonight. I finally started to feel like I had caught up. Around 4, I looked at my list of meals...sausage and barley soup with bread. The bread was not started and the sausage was not even made. It was NOT happening tonight.
The first thought at this point is, let's go out to eat. With the holiday, it might have been possible, but not likely. Many of you may have felt this way, too, with the economy. Ten years ago everyone just headed to Pizza Hut or Chili's. We are blessed that we have tons of really cheap restaurants, although I think when our gallbladders have to be taken out, we'll pay for it in the end! But tonight, we didn't go out. My great husband said, "I'll cook." I laughed (completely unfairly) because he's not much for following recipes...can do it, just doesn't like to. And it's not like our cabinets are stocked with hamburger helper! But fresh eyes did the trick. He poked his head in the fridge and out he came with dinner. My knight in shining armor!
We don't often keep our fridge or freezer stocked with "one of the THOSE days" meals...Do you all keep things and if you do what are your favorites?

Hopefully next week I will be adding a Thankful Thursday. I'm copying the idea from several other blogs that I've read. I am thankful this week, I want to add, that we waded through all the stuff I mentioned above and it's done and over! Happy Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year!

A Blog of Note

This is one of my favorite blogs to read. She takes beautiful pictures and really captures the ordinary in a truly extraordinary, even sacred, way. This post was particularly special to me. I'll admit a teared up just a little. So I thought I would share the link...especially good for moms!

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2010/02/of-ending-of-beginnings-goodbye-to.html

Hope you enjoy!

Menu Monday...a day late

So, I've found that when I get home from vacation late Sunday night, it's really hard to get my menu for the week up and running by Monday. So Tuesday night will have to do. We are, as many people are, trying to eat a little healthier. A feat not so simple in a country that believes that all meals should be soaked in oil. All has virtually no whole-grains...granted, vegetables and fruits are cheap and plenty--save blueberries, $3 for about a cup! Anyway, here's what we're eating this week.

Monday

eggs and toast

pb sandwiches

leftover beef vegetable soup

cornbread

strawberries

Tuesday

oatmeal

pb sandwiches (yep, not much variety, I'm working on that)

Paprika chicken, cabbage, potaoes with onion and red peppers

dragon eyes and mangos

Wednesday

omlette and toast

Chinese

baked eggplant parmesan with whole wheat pasta (yes, I found some!)

strawberry desert (not too much sugar)

Thursday

bagels

chicken sandwiches

shrimp pasta with vegetables

oranges

Friday

apple and blueberry (maybe) muffins

noodles

sausage barley soup

bread

pineapple

Saturday

biscuits and sausage (not really a low fat food, but Elijah's been begging for it)

sandwiches

chicken in whole wheat wraps with veggies

apples

Sunday

bagels

banana bread for meeting

eating out...or leftovers

baked sweet potatoes and broccoli

This week and next is the biggest holiday of the year here. Everyone is supposed to go to their home town and celebrate it with their family. This is our first year being in country during the celebration...so we're not sure how it works. We've heard rumors that EVERYTHING in town shuts down. We've recently heard that the big supermarkets are still open, but everything is more expensive. We don't quite know what to expect. I've been stocking piling food for the last couple of days and have one more store to go to before I will feel like I can survive even if everything shuts down. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post of the celebration later in the week.

Also, as I noted earlier, we don't have much variety for lunches. We have pb or our friend cooks lunch for us. I'm looking for suggestions for lunches...what do you eat or feed your kids...other than pb?

Idle Hands

A while back I read a local magazine article about the DIY craze here. Alongside the article was an interview with a group of older ladies who told the reporter that this was not a new thing. One lady said that when she and her friends were young they decided that when they all sat outside with there friends to talk at night, they would always be working on a project too. They decided they never wanted to have idle hands. I found this really interesting and thought about all that I could get done if, instead of just sitting and watching tv at night, I also kept my hands busy on some kind of project. That was in October. Since then, I have knitted 2 baby sweaters, a sweater for Ellie (who wouldn't wear, so it got passed to Lydia), a sweater for Bella, sewn 14 dresses and 3 skirts, and patched up several shirts that would probably have been put in the trash. Now, I will admit that not of those things were done while watching tv...I don't watch that much tv. But with projects going, I found that while I waited for something, I could knit a couple of rows. I have found that I don't to watch every word that Bella reads while she does her reading and can sit beside her and knit while I listen and still be perfectly free to help her at any point.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of some projects that I've recently completed.

Striped sweater for Bella

Skirt for me

Simple dresses for the girls

Dress for Bella

None of these were fancy, but they'll be perfect for letting the girls play in and tear up all summer long.

Menu Monday

I should have known this would happen. I finally decide to start something more regular on my blog and I have menu block...seriously, this almost never happens to me. Well, I've got most of my meals planned out and most likely we will have noodles or some other cheap Chinese food on the day I can't come up with anything.
Here's the true problem: I have the pre-vacation blues. I'm so excited about next week. All of the being warm, Indian food, Gloria Jeans, being warm, water parks, amusement parks, being warm, pizza, Thai food, being warm, aquarium, planetarium, TGIFridays, and of course, being warm! With all of this on my mind, everything I cook pales in comparison!
So, here's what's cookin' in the Sperduto house this week!

Monday

eggs and toast

sandwiches and popcorn

cheddar broccoli soup and bread

Tuesday

oatmeal

sandwiches and crackers

homemade chicken nuggets, roasted potatoes, green beans

Reese's pieces brownies (thanks, mom)

Wednesday

bagels

leftovers

chicken tacos and homemade tortillas

Thursday

eggs and toast

Chinese

beef and barley soup

Friday

Waffles

noodles

cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, cabbage

Saturday

pancakes

sandwiches

????

Sunday

leftover breakfast stuff

eat out

finish off the leftovers cause we are leaving!!!

Now that I've started this, I will immediately be taking a couple of weeks off. But hopefully, we get to eat lots of cereal and other stuff that's just too expensive to eat here. I'm off to clean up the table and work on my "no idle hands" projects (to be discussed in a later post!).

New Year's Resolution

Yep, I know, it's already the 14th...but I had some really good ones! One was to read the Bible through chronologically. One to be more organized, including tieing a pen around my neck. One was to lose five pounds by vacation...well, anyway. One was to start doing some more regular "work" on my blog. I've seen several blogs where people keep up regular posts. I really feel inspired to do just a little more. So my good intentions have been slow in being realized.

Hopefully, starting Monday I will be posting a Menu Monday. I'm also planning to pick up some other topics, but it might taking me a little while to realize fully!

While I try to get some things together, here are some long overdue pictures. P. S. Those are some mighty fine Godiva chocolates which I got from my sweet friend for my birthday!

Christmas

New Year's Day Feast!