Bag O' Lasagna and Routine

Finally - Job2 is over for the season. And now I realize just how much time I really do have in my life, even though I do work. Working two jobs leaves almost no time at all for anything. Yesterday I finally got to Walmart for some major grocery shopping and have meals planned for quite some time. I have missed cooking and eating at home - who knew I'd ever say those words???

Last night I made lasagna and used a new recipe for a garlic bread spread. We ended up not being thrilled by the spread, but it does have possibilities and we'll play around with it to get it where we like it.

The only problem with this fabulous meal was the massive amount of leftovers! Being an empty nest now it's been a little bit of a challenge to change my cooking over to just the two of us. After dinner I was sitting outside on the patio talking to mom and she told me how to freeze the leftovers. Place servings on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about an hour to flash freeze them (I had two cookie sheets full!).

Next place the lasagna in the bags and run through the Food Saver. I do have to say that the Food Saver is one of my absolute favorite kitchen appliances. We've had it for several years now and it has helped us to save so much money. I buy meats in bulk and freeze them and they thaw out to be just like fresh. Here's hoping the lasagna does as well!

When I finished getting all the lasagna ready to toss in the freezer I sashayed out to the living room where Keith was watching hockey (GO STARS!) and told him that if anybody asks him if he has bags of lasagna he can now answer a resounding yes! :)

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Another nice thing about having all this extra time is I can now get my eating back on track. While working Job2 I gained back two of the pounds I lost. *sob* I had lost a total of 31 pounds on WW and with running, but there has been no running lately....except through fast food drive-thru's. I am very happy to get back on track and eat at home again (did I already mention that??? - LOL!). I also have my running gear with me at work so that I can change clothes and hit the track on the way home today. Ahhh....sweet blessed routine. :)

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I'm going to try to start posting menus again, mostly to try and get some more organization to my life. Evenings go so much better when you already know what you're going to cook for dinner.

Monday - grilled pork chops, fresh corn on the cob, steamed little bitty potatoes (cause it's all right to be little bitty....)

Tuesday - Baked hot chicken strips, celery and carrot sticks with ranch dressing

Wednesday - leftovers (gotta do it now that we're only two!)

Thursday - Savory Stuffed Green Peppers

Friday - out with friends! :)

Family at the Art Festival

Ah, sweet Saturday with family - oh I love days like today!

Mom, my brother Gary and sister-in-law Michele came to town to spend the day. The first thing we did - well, after having lunch! - was to head to a nearby art festival. We were blessed with picture perfect weather and great shopping in the square. One of Michele's friends had a booth there, so we set off to find her and view her art. We found a bench for mom and Loni and Brooklyn stayed to entertain and play.

There were awesome art cows all over the square and Michele and I had to pose with one of them. We had such great fun together today. It was another example of wishing that all my family could live closer together so we could enjoy more time together. Of course, the flip side of that is that we do treasure our time together so much now.

No blog entry filled with family pictures would be complete without a photo of Brooklyn. This picture tickles me because it almost looks like she sees some art that she just can't believe what she's seeing and is adjusting her glasses to see it better!

2008 Backyard Roses

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today." - Dale Carnegie

We have a tremendous crop of roses in our backyard this year. These roses have the most incredible scent and when you stand next to the bushes in the backyard I swear it carries you away.

Lunch With An Angel

I'd like you to meet Baby J. His grandma works with me and today at lunch 3 of us went up to the hospital with her to visit him. Baby J is 4 months old now and has lived all his precious little life in the hospital. But wonderful blessings - he recently had a heart transplant! I wish this picture showed his big, beautiful smile, but when we got to the room he was sleeping and just woke up in this photo.

He has a ways to go before he's released from the hospital, but he has already amazed his doctors with how well he's responded to the transplant.

Glory Be! :)

Amazing Bible Truths

Today was one of those days at work where a person runs around in circles so much and so fast that I swear I could see the back of my heels while running! It was really not a bad day, just so very busy and a lot of different irons in the fire.

In the midst of the busy I had to stop and work out the best course of action on a problem. I looked up and saw this book sitting on my desk and immediately the word "Peace" came to mind.

This book was given to me by an incredibly special person in my life shortly after one of my surgeries. It is filled with Bible verses and vignettes and I never fail to find one that speaks to me right at that moment. I dearly love to just open it and see what is there. Today, in the midst of my busy and starting to get frustrated with myself, this is what I saw:

"Jesus can turn water into wine, but He can't turn your whining into anything." Do all things without murmurings and disputings. Philippians 2:14

Thumped me right between the eyes I tell you! Bible readings never cease to amaze me as to how relevant they are. And the naysayers that say the Bible doesn't apply to current times have apparently not read much of it. When you stop and think about how long ago the Bible was written and how it speaks so vividly to us today it can truly send you to your knees in thankful prayer.

Brooklyn Spends the Night

We are such lucky grandparents - J&L wanted to go to the movies Saturday night with another couple, so they asked us to babysit. Unfortunately I had to work, so Grandpa kept Brooklyn and they had a great bonding time. When I got home from work the little angel was asleep in her pack n play.

The next morning I got out of the shower to see this scene - Grandpa feeding Brooklyn her breakfast! I want you to pay close attention to the bib that he chose, which he claims was totally random. I don't think so, but it sure is cute that he put that one on her!

This is the new highchair that we bought for her. I know I'll sound old when I say this, but I am constantly amazed when in the baby section of stores at how much has changed. This chair is perfect for a grandparent's house and will even pull up to the table without the tray when she gets a little older. You can tell by the picture that she gets distracted by the dog a LOT!

Shortly after she finished eating it was time for a bath. Of course I don't have a baby tub, so I put a hand towel in the bottom of my kitchen sink and she took a bath that way. One of our favorite family stories is when Lynne' was a baby and we were up at the lake cabin. The cabin only has a shower, no tub, so we bathed Lynne' in the kitchen sink. Mom always told Lynne' that she was going to be dishes, so of course that's what I told Miss Brooklyn. She just happily splashed around in the sink and was perfectly happy carrying on the dishes tradition of her Aunt Lynne'. :)