What am I thankful for?

A lot. But here are a few...


THE CROSS. For my Lord and Savior dying on it and saving me from my sins. He is the reason I am alive, the reason I breathe, and the reason I am able to do anything in this life. He reigns now and forevermore, and I thank Him for paying the price so that I may live.

ISAAC. For his love for Jesus, his devotion to our family, and his service to our community and country. He forgives me of my failures and has grace for my struggles each and every day. He's not bad looking either...

LEVI.  He is a miracle and a pure delight to have for a son. So thankful that God granted him to our family!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Missing a little piece of Tennessee.

This post was going to be about how I had what I'm calling a pasta fest from the two main dishes I made for dinner last week. And how I was going to correlate it somehow with the Chili-Cook Off in Gatlinburg that my sisters, John, and Isaac and I went to in October of 2009. 

I was going to say that having the "pasta fest" reminded me of this very "chili fest" we went to three years ago.

I was going to insert pictures from the trip (which included zip-lining and chili-tasting and jacuzzi fun). BUT...I cannot find the pictures ANYWHERE. I'm ticked!

Isaac and I have come to the conclusion that their lives were taken at the hands of  the "Ol' Bessie" crash. i.e. Isaac's Mac book. I'm picturing these photos in my head, as we speak, envisioning that weekend and those nights like we were there yesterday: early morning coffee on the deck overlooking autumn trees, gliding across the peaks of the smoky mountain ropes, giggling up and down the town as we tried all the different kinds of chili and bounced from store to store to find perfect memorable sweatshirts.

As Isaac and I sit here now he tells me "they're on a CD somewhere."

"Did you label the CD, hun?" I said.

"No, I don't think so."

"Well where is it?" I probe.

"I dunno."

So that concludes my looking for them any further. At least for tonight.

What I WILL post are photos of that pasta extravaganza last week and a few other things. I don't know why I decided to make two pasta dishes in one week, but I did. Needless to say, I am a bit pasta'd out. Although I did make a mean baked ziti, as the photos of Levi smothering his face with it will tell.

 Baked Ziti

 Bath had called shortly after.

 Pepperoni Pasta Bake

 

We also had a lovely date night on Friday. Mom watched Levi so we could go out for a movie. It was our second one only, since Levi was born! My my my, does life change. We watched "Lincoln." It was a good history lesson for me, but I must admit I'd rather have watched a lighter movie, on a Friday night, for a date night I haven't had in months.

Daniel Day-Lewis was spectacular though.

Gosh Isaac looks tall. And we really look 30ish here. I'm holding on to my last four months of 20s until depression starts, though.

And lastly, I made two desserts: one last week and one today. 

I am now the "birthday person" at work, which means I have to provide the cards and "treat" for each person's birthday in our department as the time arises. 

I made a Caramel Glazed Applesauce Cake on Thursday night and it was a big hit! I was mad the caramel glaze didn't look the recipe picture though. In fact it doesn't even look like the CAKE! But at least it was moist.

And Libby's Pumpkin Roll...

As I finish this post, we have just come home a few hours ago from a membership class for church. We sat at the table at our pastor's home with other joining couples, investing in fellowship and drinking coffee.

What a great way to wrap up the weekend. And it's a short week ahead, folks. Woo-hoo!!

It is finished, but I have discovered a whole new world.

I've discovered online grocery shopping.

Not that I haven't known about it before: I used to shop through Peapod and get my groceries delivered to my house. But since THAT'S not an option anymore as Giant has closed, I have taken a different route.

Harris Teeter Express Lane.

For the working mother, this is gold!

I actually like this method better than Peapod. And I didn't do Peapod all the time, just when we were in a time crunch. I've used Harris Teeter three times now and each time I love it more and more.

Harris Teeter is one of those "expensive" grocery stores, as they say. But time is money. Time I'd like to spare and money I'd rather spend to have it. It only costs me $4.95 to shop online and have it ready for me at the Express Lane, which is like a drive-through McDonald's. How 21st century is THAT?! You pick a time slot for pickup, you get a call you if there's an issue, and they are not allowed to accept tips when you pick up.

This has become so convenient for me. I don't have to get Levi out of the car or waste my time scouring the aisles. And you can even save your grocery list for future orders.

I truly love it. And I am loving Harris Teeter more and more. There are always a ton of specials, their produce is fresh, and I love how clean and organized everything is.

Though I love it, my heart still saddens each night I drive home from work and see this empty lot, and it's counterparts seemingly dwindling away:

IT IS FINISHED:

MY NEW WORLD:

I love the way they use paper bags with handles, and how they label our stuff with our last name. I know. I'm so dorky, but I can't help it.

 

"Greshim." 

 

Downside: accidentally ordering the wrong quantity. Two huge tubs of butter, lol. Oops. Looks like I'll be doing a lot of cooking and baking this season!!

 

I made French Toast Saturday morning. It was so good! And much better than this picture looks.

And we went to church this morning. This is Levi's "Praise the Lord" pose.

And this is him lounging around afterwards. For some reason he was cracking me up in this outfit today, especially with his hair getting bushier. 

Belly!

Talk to yen later.

I don't want to be a fairweather American Patriot.

I'm not a very political person. I don't follow every nook and cranny of political statistics or try to pretend that I have a clue about the ins and outs of each party.

I don't. I never have and I probably never will. 1.) because I'm too impatient to sit and read about all of it, and 2.) because I'm not savvy in that way. I tend to think of myself as simply, logical: and this is how I base most of my decision-making.

I don't normally write about politics, either. 1.) because I don't debate very well, and 2.) because I don't want to come across as judgemental.

But there comes certain points in my blogging career when I just can't hold it in. When I have to let something out, whether it contains a positive spin or one tainted with depression. We are allowed freedom of speech, are we not?

Overloaded with Facebook blasts and media commentary, photos and speeches of the victorious...it makes me explode with emotion. Emotions of sadness, of hurt, of pain for blindness.

I have to make no bones about what I stand for, because if I don't, my insides will end up withering away from keeping it in, and I will forget how I felt in this moment. And I don't want to forget how I feel today. I want to remember it. So I'm writing it.

After all this is over, and excuse my "French," but are people still calling Romney a "douche?" I'm flipping my Facebook lid. Is this really necessary? I love Facebook for many reasons, but last night and today it's really getting on my nerves.

[End smaller rant than I thought would be. Was that it?]

 

A few years ago, I went through a silent storm. It was a tough road to healing, but it gave me fresh eyes for the long term. These new lenses have allowed me to learn more about love and grace for others.

And this is why I am unsure about how to express my feelings today, and about yesterday's events. I know that I want to say something, but I don't know exactly what or how.

I want to use phrases like "I'm devastated beyond belief" or "I am sad and upset and worried about our future." In fact, I am feeling those things, but I'm not convinced I need to write a whole exerpt about it.

Indeed, I am utterly heartbroken for my party, for my hopes that were shattered, and for what could have been. I reaaaallly wanted a Republican victory.

And I think I might be so hurt that I'm numb. Maybe that's what it is.

I want this blog to be some profound script of my disbelief and sorrow, and my turned hard heart. And before I got to this point in my blog, I think that's that it was going to be.

But the longer this day goes on the more I am strangely replacing the former emotions with grace and love.

Am I devastated? Yes. Am I worried? Yes. Have I lost hope? No.

God is good. He loves you, and me, and our president. And even though my logic answer is not the choice America picked, I have to believe that God will ordain our steps. That we will find peace again. That we will choose to love eachother and choose to love our country.

Isaac once told me I was a fair-weather Redskin's fan because when they were on a major losing streak I couldn't take it anymore.

I don't want to be a fair-weather American patriot.

Nay, I want to stay the course, even if it means at a slow pace and against the grain.

So today I state that, in my opinion, logic did not win. Popularity did, on the basis of four-year historical trends.

But we must believe there are better days ahead. And we must extend love and grace to our fellow brothers and our leaders regardless of the challenges we face.

Sunday Evening Dinners are my Favorite.

Sunday night we had Baked Stuffed Pasta Shells and Spiced Honey Cake for dinner and dessert.

I love Sunday night dinners. When Isaac is home on the weekends one of my favorite things to do is make a nice meal for all of us to enjoy. It brings me unprecedented peace.

Before I share those pics, here are a few with Keeks and Leaves on Saturday night. She came over on a whim after she and Phill purchased a new (for them) truck. We grilled sausages and she read Levi one of his favorite books...

Dinner Spinner: There's an "App" for Everything

I just found a new "app" on my iPod from allrecipes. It's called "DinnerSpinner."

Basically, there are three sections you can spin to find a type of dish you want: Dish Type, Ingredients, and Ready In. You scroll through each section and it finds several matches for you. How awesome is that?

It will search recipes in any amount of time you want to cook them in, and even pull up Slow Cooker recipes, which is great for the current season. 

It even makes a spinning, click noise, which makes me feel important and organized while I'm looking through. How dorky am I?

For some reason I stopped getting daily recipes in my email, which is fine because I can just google stuff anyway. But this DinnerSpinner is hot.

Why do I like it so much? Because I don't have to log on to my computer to find something. Granted, I can only access most of my apps when I'm connected to the internet, but if I'm playing with Levi or in another room with him and not in a position to look at my computer, I can pull this up on my iPod and search for recipes there. Then, I simply add them to the Favorites or Shopping List section and Voila! No need to type the needed ingredients into my grocery list.

A lot of the grocery stores, especially Wal-mart, do have internet access now through a built-in McDonald's or other nearby store. So if I'm at the store and do need to look up something, I can just log on to my iPod from there. Technology has really come a long way and is amazing.

I made two dinners this week from REALSIMPLE:

Chicken Spinach and Noodle Casserole and Garlicky Baked Shrimp.

After I make them I've been pinning them to Pinterest so I can keep track of all the recipes I've cooked. I've also grabbed some from AllYou (which has become one of my favorite magazines), some of which I have not pinned. Pinning is actually a great way to save favorites and look up something you've made in case you've forgotten about it. Who knew life would come to this one day?

I really don't want to be one of those people who blogs about recipes, because aren't there enough of those out there? But it's fun to incorporate some of what I'm doing into my blogs.

Bon Appetit!

I wish I had a better camera.

 

Chicken Spinach and Noodle Casserole

Garlicky Baked Shrimp.

Isaac actually loved this (although it WAS a bit too garlicky. Next time, I'll add less).