Thursday, November 25, 2010

One Dinner, Countless Gratitude

Another year, another Thanksgiving Feast. What a blessing... To have the resources and ability to create and enjoy a feast. Our hearts are full.

Summer seemed endless this year, hot and bright. Then the breeze picked up cooling the air on different days. The rain seemed to tease as well though the gardens everywhere around us were definitely grateful for the quenching drink.

Then on the day before Thanksgiving, I wake up to this...
A lovely reminder that Fall is here-- time to rejoice and slow down... After much decorating, where top and bottom were dressed as the outside...




It was time to prepare the dining room and set the stage for the upcoming feast...
So the mirrors were dressed up to be witnesses to the falling leaves dancing with the chilly wind outside... And the table was set to feed a family and two LDS missionaries with great sense of humor who again taught us that Jesus Christ is alive and here to teach us about life.
So to express our gratitude, we fed them some "home-made from scratch" dishes that even the chef and best critic of the house were impressed.
Autumn Soup (butternut squash & potato with leek and coconut milk) with Texas Toast & Cocktail Shrimp topped with Roasted butternut squash seeds; Cliff House Clam Chowder (a Maine recipe tweaked); Glazed Spiral Ham alongside Sausage & Corn Dressing (home made sausage); Oatmeal Dinner Rolls; Roasted Game Hens over Portobello Couscous. We drenched our thirst with Cran-Orange Fizz & Ice Water. It was rounded out by desserts of Sugar cookies, Pecan tarts and Apple pie, Thanksgiving Pie. It was indeed a feast... What a blessing to have such opportunity in the midst of this depressing economic trials we are facing.

We were a little down since our eldest girl is in Hawaii, but soon she'll be home with us and that helped us to cheer up and wish her the best Thanksgiving as well in her BYUH home... The ward fed them both spiritually and physically. Can't beat that...

And of course, we can't ignore our newest source of gratitude... Our new family members, our new "babies"-- Zeus Bolt & Percy Jackson! (think mythology and you'll figure out which is which)

They are absolutely a delight! They keep us on our feet and keep us cleaning the carpet. LOL

We wish and hope that you and yours... Also had one dinner, a feast over countless gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Wow!!! Amazing!!! Awesome!!!

Just some words to describe all of the great news happening within our family circle.

A brother-in-law finally getting to adopt my niece
A new house almost finished
My daughter turning 18
My daughter finally getting used to college life
Getting VT done on the first week of the month
Getting the bigger furniture out of the storage
My MIL's birthday
First Thanksgiving in our new and more permanent home
Having a house of our own to clean and beautify
My nephew in Canada is now 3 months old and giggling
My nephew in San Jose, CA racking up class awards for Reading
Our trees finally turning colors

Each day is amazing, wow and awesome... How can I not be grateful?

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

After 18 Years...

...and much prayer, one of my heart's deepest desires came true: For my eldest daughter to turn 18, go to college and that I would still be around to see it.

L has turned out to be all that I imagined her to be: Kind, stubborn, friendly, firm, sassy, intelligent, funny, beautiful and strong. She is amazing, just truly amazing...

L-Infinity
November 9, 1992
Monday, 9:35 PM
8 lbs. 9 oz.
21 inches long


Happy 18th birthday, Sweetheart! We love and miss you. Can't wait to see you next month!




I am blessed... and grateful to have a child among three who is learning the world on her own armed with the gospel and strong sensibilities that most teenagers only dream of.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Organization Rocks!

Leather Planners dot net

Planners, All manners of Calendars, Phone reminders and computer software. All help to get you organized and bring structure to your life. Who wouldn't want that?

I often find myself surrounded by papers and note pads that remind me of things I need to do, but not until I have one tucked in my purse that I actually feel organized.

I collect coupons, save receipts, remember numbers and come up with dishes on the fly, but the actual feeling of being organized is more my New Year's resolution more than losing weight. (I know, I'm nuts!)

So, here I am, sharing with you how grateful I am that I feel organized this Fall-all because I found a planner small enough to fit in most of my purses and big enough to write down all info I need to keep me on top of things. And a wall calendar for my family.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Wind And Rain...

How often do you say to yourself, "Dear Heavenly Father, I thank for the rain and windy days."? I do. Only because rain brings its own refreshing effects on this often parched terra we call home. The same can be said of the windy days that we encounter.

We have been lucky all of our lives to have had dwelling strong enough to withstand said windy days in Autumn. But now, to experience them in a home we call our own, it is a great experience. Will we eating crow when a glass explodes from too much wind pressure? No, only because I know that things happen for a reason. Will I hope that if it does ever happen, no one I love gets hurt? Of course!

I can look at it this way (if no one got hurt)- It's time to replace said window(s) or we need to prepare ourselves in blocking wind sheer against said window(s).

It's easy to blame bad things that happen, but it's much better to find a good reason for those bad things; it'll propel you to be proactive and be more educated in another life lesson you may not have been aware you needed in the first place.

So yeah, I am grateful for Autumn's wind and rain...


Thursday, November 4, 2010

Another Set of Babies For Me!

If you can imagine taking on two unbelievably adorable purebreed Shi Tzus, then it's like having two more babies in the house.

We have always talked about having a dog. For so many years, after playing with or seeing cute, small, big and gorgeous dogs, we would come back and have one unreachable gift we utter: "We should get a dog for Christmas." It was no different this year; except our Christmas wish was realized two days ago when one of Mr. Man's co-worker gave us two! Totally FREE!!! The biggest and the runt of the litter. Two balls of energy. Two boys.

Since we've been all about Mythology here later, the bigger one was named ZEUS and the little one, was named PERCY. Ring a bell? LOL

Without further ado... ZEUS and PERCY!


ZEUS (Gray, brown and white-all fluff) / PERCY (Black and white-petite)

Mr. Man introducing our cockatiel, Dexter to the new members of our family. Cece, our cat is still waiting for the verdict of she likes them or not. Hee hee...
I-Dude and J-Pony totally surprised when they came home from school and discovered the puppies! And instantly fell in love!
We are so grateful for these puppies; they are adorable and quickly made us fall in love with them. Sometimes, a family is never complete until a barking furball come scuttling behind you.

To say a big THANK YOU to Chad and his family for these cuties, I baked them Chocolate Almond Bread. Hope they like it!

Enjoy your pets! They need love, too!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A Little Update... And Gratitude Time

Ok, so I'm so behind on blogging. Let's see if we can catch everyone up.

As for Fall Desserts; I've made... Brownies and Cakes for Halloween, Smoothies and Sorbet in October.

This is our transformed Foyer, as you come in...
What awaited the trick or treaters, another table... full of sweets!

Dinner was quite colorful with accompanying "gross" menu! Perfect for Halloween! "Sausaged" Thumbs, Alien Worms, Meteorite Brownies, Moldy Quiche, Bewitched Cake Squares with Slime and Witch's Brew! Mwah-ha-ha-ha!

These were from 2008 collection at our local Kroger that I got between 75-90% off! The Canopy Red solid plates, from Walmart.

As far as Cooking, I finally tried making quiche and quickly found out that I like the basic kind, eggs and cheese only. I've also made several types of omelettes. Can you say great deal on eggs? Woot!

I've been on Shopping Hiatus on my own; only buying food items we absolutely need and it's been almost 2.5 weeks. I've made so many dishes and I'm getting pretty fast on prepping and cooking.

Tonight, I made Braised Beef Ribs with Root Veggies over Garlic Couscous and the whole meal cost me, less than $3.oo! For recipe, click on link.

Ok, since it is November once again, it is time to highlight what I am grateful for:
1. After 14 years of marriage, we finally have our own home and we totally love it!

2. We have enough holiday decor from previous years to not shop for anything new this year. How exciting it is to see our old decorations in our new home and how well they fit in.

3. My family who is loving our home as much as I am.

We feel quite blessed...

I hope you're having a great week...