Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Food for Thought

I read this on the Good Morning Girls blog this morning. I'm posting it here, so I can find it later. I seriously need to ponder this list some more.


1. Be the type of wife you’d want your son to be married to.

2. Smile at him.

3. Be forgiving.

4. Be direct……but kindly. Men can’t read minds and neither can we.

5. Be excited to see him when he comes home.

6. Allow him to have alone time.

7. Be an encourager.

8. Don’t nag…honestly it doesn’t work and only hurts the relationship.

9. Give him grace, you aren’t the perfect wife and he isn’t the perfect husband.

10. Pray for him and allow God to work in his life.

11. Remember you are not his Holy Spirit

12. There is only one “Prince Charming” and his name is Jesus…release your husband from the burden of fulfilling all your needs…..he can’t. Only Jesus can.

The person who wrote this list was thinking back over the 12 years she had been married to her husband and made a list of things she had learned. Some of these I am doing fairly well, most not. I also liked this quote:

Our life isn’t perfect and neither are we, but I love seeing where God started us, where He has taken us and I look eagerly to the future with my Lord, my husband and my children.

Baking Day

The past few days have been pretty cool. Today was in the low to mid-60s. It's supposed to get into the 70s again though, so I figured I had better use today to bake. I didn't accomplish everything I had planned to make, but I did make at least accomplish something. That's saying a lot considering I had to get up at 6:45am for a doctor appointment that was canceled!!! Oh well. We rescheduled for tomorrow, meaning I'll be up at 6:45am two days in a row. Imagine that! :-) Anyway, here's what I made:
One regular sized loaf of Whole Wheat bread, 4 mini-loaves, that were still pretty large, Pepperoni Rolls, Cinnamon Rolls and French Bread.
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You'll notice there is a mini-loaf of bread missing. We ate it for dinner. I grabbed it off the cooling rack before I snapped a picture.
Someday, I'll have nice pretty counter tops to photograph my good eats on, but alas, that day is not today.
Here is my French bread...
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Please don't laugh. It's flat, that I know. I think I should have added a bit more flour to it. It was the first time I had used this recipe. I'm sure MrsMamaHen makes it MUCH better than I do. We're still going to eat it though. I think it'll work nicely for some stuffed bread? The real point of this picture though, was the pan. Don't you just LOVE that super cute French Bread pan? I've had it for a few weeks now, and just now got around to trying it out. It makes a really nice crust on the loaf, that is for sure.
The mini bread loaves were a test run. I think the kids are going to LOVE them. They fit in the toaster perfectly. My larger loaves are too tall. Plus, it'll be much easier for the kids to cut the mini-loaves as well. I think I'll still do a couple of regular sized loaves, but the mini-loaves might be my go to size for a while. Plus, they just look so cute made up as a sandwich!
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DISCLAIMER: No, that is NOT fresh lettuce and tomatoes from my garden. We are making progress, but still no edible veggies as of yet. I might have seen a baby zuchini the last time I looked. The jury is still out.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

My Birthday Present

In March, when I went to a scrapbooking retreat in Healy, AK, I found out Trace Adkins was coming to Fairbanks for a concert. I called Mike, who was home with the kids, and told him I would like to go. Within an hour, he had bought me 2 tickets. Not just two tickets, but two floor seats!!! He's good like that, eh? :-) It was a TON of fun. I wish Mike could have come with me, he totally would have enjoyed it, but I know he takes great satisfaction in the fact that he was able to send me and my friend Heidi. This concert was just a few days after Mr. Adkins house burnt down. There was a little bit of worry as to whether or not the concert was going to take place, but thankfully it did. It was a fun night out!
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Not a great pic, but I couldn't resist...arms are kind of my thing...
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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Garden Progress

When we moved into this house, the people who lived here before us left TONS of garbage for us to deal with. However, they left a few things we were pretty excited about. Four things in fact. Raised beds....
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Pay no attention to the dirt and weeds underneath the bed. Our backyard is a nightmare. Anyway, we kept two beds, and I loaned 2 to a friend of mine to try out. I actually only planted one, 'cause I am a bit of a procrastinator. Plus, I really didn't know what I was doing. I planted broccoli and a couple of different kinds of lettuce. The broccoli is actually doing pretty well, considering we started it from seed. The lettuce needs some sun. We've had so much rain, it's kind of stunted its growth.
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Here is my sad tomatoes and one good looking pepper plant. Something seems to be eating my tomato leaves, but I can't figure out what it is. I can't find any bugs or caterpillars. I think I'm going to have to get something to sprinkle on the leaves lest they be eaten all gone!
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I also planted cucumbers and zucchini, which was a total experiment. I think the cukes will be an epic fail, because the zucchinis are monsters!!!!!
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This is a total experiment year for us. I have no idea what I'm doing, and Mike is gone. Next summer, when he is here and we have a little more growing experience under our belts, I totally plan to fill all 4 raised beds. After all...I'll have the resident farming expert back home with me!!!!