Menu Plan Sunday

Last week's recap:
We had to switch our meals around a lot this week and some got skipped because I forgot to buy the pork chops when they were BOGOF and we had so many leftovers. The Asian Beef Stir-Fry was good! The crock pot chicken parmigiana was DELICIOUS! (Will use two jars of pizza sauce next time though because we served it on ziti.) The SS cookout was fantastic!! Great food & fellowship! Katie Skelton has GOT to blog the Paula Deen Chocolate Chip Cake she made = YUM-O..

Sunday - Lunch - No Peek Beef over pasta w/salad (this is one we never got to last week)
Dinner - Leftovers

Monday - Leftovers (Nick has school and won't be coming home in between so this will become a norm for Mom, the kids & I on Mondays.)

Tuesday - Grilled Pork Chops (I always season lightly with dry steak seasoning and my family LOVES them), Cut & Boiled Red Potatoes, Salad

Wednesday - Dinner @ Church = Meatloaf

Thursday - Grilled Chicken Breasts (usually marinade in Italian dressing), Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Friday - Basic Beef Tacos w/all the fixings

Saturday - Leftovers

Happy cooking!!

First Day of School

Me & my school boys..

Roman's a 4th Grader, Dallon's a 1st Grader

Dal w/Mrs. Hutchens
Roman w/Ms. Seldomridge
I think my boys got the prettiest teachers in the school...

Almost Wordless Wednesday

This is what happens when Dallon asks, "Mommy, can I play with your hair?" And I say, "Sure!"

Menu Plan Sunday

Last week's menu went pretty well for the most part. You have to be flexible and ready for change so here is my opinion on some of the meals. We always love the crock pot lasagna! It's the only way I'll make it now. The Creamy Poppyseed Chicken is also a 'redo', YUMMY. It reminded us of my No Peek Beef recipe which I'll share this week, it's like beef stroganoff. Tuesday we had Nick's spaghetti and it was delicious as usual, and I sure enjoyed not having to cook! Wednesday I found out mid-morning that we would be having out of town family so I doubled the mac-n-cheese recipe. None of us were impressed and it will not be a 'redo'. This is not really what you want to happen when you have guests either. Wasn't bad, but wasn't worth doing again. I'd like to know if any of you may use a different recipe for it, I'd be willing to try a different one. Thursday's Chicken & Rice was yummy, as usual, it's an old faithful. We never got to the Chicken Parmigiana so we'll be doing that one this week. We had steak cooked on our new grill instead! Here's what we're planning for this week:

Sunday - Leftovers

Monday - Asian Beef Stir-Fry (Bought a big bag of the frozen stir fry vegetables, marinate 2 steaks in teriyaki sauce and saute, let sit 5min. then cut in thin strips, add vegetables.) Think I'll skip the rice this time.

Tuesday - Grilled Pork Chops (I always season lightly with dry steak seasoning and my family LOVES them), Cut & Boiled Red Potatoes, Salad

Wednesday - Chicken Parmagiana w/steamed squash

Thursday - No Peek Beef over pasta w/salad
1 1/2 - 2lbs lean stew beef cubed
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3/4 can milk
Preheat oven to 350.
Put beef in sprayed casserole dish.
Mix soup & 3/4 can (soup can) milk together then pour over beef. Do not stir. Cover & bake for 3 hours without peeking! Serve of rice or pasta. I'll be cooking mine in crock pot on low all day, about 6hours. (I have a friend that substitutes one can of the mushroom soup for one can of cream of celery.) A friend of mine made this for me when Roman was born and we have enjoyed it ever since!

Friday - Cook out Sunday School Fellowship @ Buchanan Park 6-8pm
Local couple that doesn't have a Sunday School class? Join us!! Bring the kids!!

Saturday - Ham Steaks on grill, Mac-n-cheese, Green Beans

Happy cooking!!

Lord of the Rings...The Fight

Nick and I have been teaching a marrieds Sunday School class for a little over two years now. We absolutely love these couples and consider it a privilege to be entrusted this responsibility by God. The name of our Sunday School class is Lord of the Rings. We primarily teach younger couples that have been married five years and up.

Several weeks ago we finished up a great marriage series with the engaged couples/newlywed class called Happy Hour, 2 for 1. Gotta love these names!! After the series we decided against going back in to the study all the other classes were doing and instead let our class vote. The options were to do another study focusing on marriage in our class or save that for special study times and choose from some short studies on our faith. The class voted to save the marriage series for our special times and focus on why we are Christians and how we can Glorify Christ. I was kind of surprised, I thought they would choose the marriage series...Nick was right, he thought they would choose these studies. Either way, can't go wrong.

So Nick has been teaching on a book written by John White called The Fight, A Practical Handbook for Christian Living. Back cover: There is joy and triumph in the Christian life. But the victory can come through struggle. John White knows this balance and give us encouragement to persevere. Here is the guide through the basic areas of Christian living we wrestle with throughout our lives: faith, prayer, temptation, evangelism, guidance, Bible study, fellowship, work. In this very personal book he offers new Christians sound first steps and older Christians refreshing insights into the struggles and the joy of freedom in Christ.

Christianity Today said: "If praying, studying the Bible, getting guidance, getting along with fellow Christians, witnessing, and the like are struggles for you, here's your book."
This is only one of the three covers I have seen this book with. It has been in print for many many years but you wouldn't know it. The forward:

"As you live the Christian life, you may have periods of darkness or of doubt. You may encounter painful struggle and discouragement. But there will also be moments of exultation and glory. And most important of all, you will become free."

Not everyone in our class has the book and it's not necessary to have it. But we have plenty of people at our church that own it and I'm sure they would be willing to loan it out. Or it only costs $10.50 and we can order it for you with free S&H at the church office.

Last week we learned about Satan's temptations, his deception and his devourment.

Are you a sinner? Do you believe God's son, Jesus, died for your sins? Do you believe He was raised back to life three days later? Have you asked Jesus to forgive you & help you understand all of this? What are you doing for God? Not sure where to begin? Are you part of a Sunday School class? We would love to have you! We're having a class party at Buchanan Park, here in Hilliard soon for our families . Come join us!

Class starts at 9:30 on Sunday mornings at:
First Baptist Church Hilliard
15850 County Road 108
Hilliard, FL 32046
845-3614

I love these people!

So many of you have heard Nick talk about his mom & siblings. So I thought you might enjoy these. So glad he got to visit with them a few weeks ago in CT.

Our nieces Gabby & B-Bop (Adrianna)..

These are the ones that spent last night with us because they were passing through from SC to Tampa. They are getting ready to move to Australia for a while!! They belong to Jeff & Teri. Teri is the one with her hand on Nick's right shoulder.

This is our niece Frankie, she lives is CA.

Isn't she just gorgeous?!

Here's Nick with his dad & brothers.
And this is my favorite!

Menu Plan Sunday

(Copying a friend! Thanks friend!!!)

This is a little comical because our oven, grill & crock pot went out during remodeling. The stove still works, we have a toaster oven & microwave. The crock pot was new so I emailed the company & they had a new one to me pronto! New stove will come when we decide what kind we want, new grill will come this week because we found one we love @ Home Depot 1/2 price! The old one was a gift that Sears gave us for our wedding. (Nick was an employee.) It lasted a good long 11 years! Especially considering we use it 3-4 times a week!!!

Sunday: Crock Pot Lasagna
http://mimismakingmeals.blogspot.com/2008/11/crock-pot-lasagna.html

Monday: Creamy Poppyseed Chicken on rice, Green Beans, Salad
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/chicken-crock-pot-recipes/poppyseed-chicken.htm

Tuesday: Nick's Spaghetti w/Garlic Bread & Salad

Wednesday: Crock Pot Mac & Cheese w/ham added, Steamed Broccoli
http://mimismakingmeals.blogspot.com/2008/08/crockpot-macaroni-and-cheese.html

Thursday: Chicken & Rice w/mixed veggies added

Friday: Chicken Parmigiana, Steamed Squash, Salad
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/chicken-crock-pot-recipes/chicken-parmigiana.htm

Saturday: Leftovers

As you can tell, we LOVE salad! Hope everyone has a great week!

Looks & feels a little better today!

My war wounds... Man-O-War that is..

Warning, not for the weary.

I know I know I am a big baby when it comes to this kind of stuff. Please, just let me whine..

Monday 7/27 I was stung on our 3rd day of vacation at Flagler Beach..it hurt like a grease burn for 2 hours.. It was really OK for 5 days then BAM! The venom kicked in and I had an allergic reaction. Who knew that could happen? Now I'm on Steroids, Cipro, Zantac, Zyrtec (have taken this for 11 years for my freaky skin allergies), Vinegar soaking, Caladryl, Aloe. Don't use any 'caines' on these stings.

Moral of this story... If you get stung by a jelly fish or manowar have your hubby, son, brother, male friend, whatever...PEE on it. No women though because they are more likely to have a UTI and it will make things worse.. If my boys had done this for me the odds are it would have simply gone away. I asked but they had nothing. You may say 'NO WAY!' now but trust me, when you've experienced this itching and pain you'd change your mind.

If you wanna see this freak show in person I'll be at church tomorrow night. Here are some pics of my left arm the last few days.. (My left leg got it too.)

I go back to the doctor Thursday..

OK, I was heavily dosed with Benadryl earlier..

I have gone to my last blog entry and corrected spelling errors, added a few things, etc. By the way, here's a pic of the stings today.. Since I took these this morning small blisters have developed. I'm thinking my normal freaky skin allergies are reacting and flaring up. (I was stung Mon. 7/27.)

There are more on the back of my leg but it gets a little private..

Flagler Beach 2009 (172 photos), by Becky Mirando

• Saturday had difficult checking in, wasn't left unlocked for us and when maids arrived to let us in it hadn't been cleaned yet. Couldn't find the washer/dryer & realized the condo didn't have one, they have a laundry mat. Saw two roaches and two spiders in condo so now I have the heebie jeebies. Ate dinner at a horrible restaurant called Martin's.


• Sunday woke up early enough for Roman & I to catch the sunrise. Then we all went to the Fort & Alligator Farm. Had lunch at one of our favorite little places in St. Augustine, The Cheese Wheel.


• Monday I got stung by something while holding Rocco on the shore side of the sandbar during high tide. Won't be going in during high tide again. It's still giving me problems! Think it was a Man-of-war.. Went to St. Augustine outlet mall & bought SIX pairs of Vans for $75!! Each boy got tennis shoes and nicer shoes for church. GREAT DEAL!!!


• Tuesday we took the boys to eat at The Oasis then we went to Ripleys. The boys LOVED Ripleys! The Oasis was alright..


• Wednesday we went in to Daytona, did the lighthouse (thanks for the tip Darlene) and ate at a great place called Down the Hatch. We fed the birds then saw a sign that said not to! But we did ask our waitress first! Didn't sea any sea life from their deck but a family we sent there the next day saw 5 manatee and 30-50 dolphin! Boys said, "No fair!" Saw some kite surfers on our way home. Stopped by Maui Nix but everything was way over priced.


• Thursday & Friday we spent at the beach/pool/around the condo. Thursday we ate at Finn's = YUMMY! Friday, Chicken by the Sea, not impressed..


• Saturday we caught the sunrise then packed up & headed home. Met Mom in Jax for a much needed pedi after the sea had ripped off all my polish. We all ate at Cracker Barrel first. CHICKEN-N-DUMPLINGS! Yum-O

Each day we visited the beach and the pool. If the water was safe we would spend several hours on the beach then cool off in the pool. The tide was very rough when it was high. We saw a lot of dolphins & some really cool BIG birds each day. We made some friends from Gainesville & Atlanta. Roman learned how to boogie board. Hope I haven't forgotten anything! Overall we liked the condo, it needs a deep cleaning, some repairs & updated furniture. But the location, spaciouness, security & views were wonderful! Click on the link below to see a slideshow of only 172 of our 600 pictures..lol

http://www2.snapfish.com/fbshareredirect/p=17321249244450072/l=2924949013/g=131978597/redirectURL=share/otsi=SALBBL/AlbumID=1878325013/a=131978597_131978597/usercomments=I_xqd%20like%20to%20share%20my%20Snapfish%20photos%20with%20you.%20Once%20you%20have%20checked%20out%20my%20photos%20you%20can%20order%20prints%20and%20upload%20your%20own%20photos%20to%20share./counttext=172%20photos/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish