This week’s plans and menu May 5, 2008

Good Monday all!!  I hope you had a terrific weekend. 

1.  ~Even more laundry.  Like it will ever end!

2.  ~Grocery shopping.  I shop every two weeks and today it the day.  I will go right after my Dr’s appt today. 

3.  ~Gardening- the last of the succession planting will happen this week.  That includes corn, beans, squash, lettuce and more.  I picked up some herb plants this weekend that need to go in the rock garden. 

4.  ~Homeschooling.  More work on their basic books and finishing up subjects.  We will also be doing a lot of planet gazing this month and planning a field trip to Amicalola Falls.  I will see if anyone wants to carpool to help with the price of the gas to get there.

5.  ~Spiritual Health-  I am reading Elizabeth George’s book A Woman After God’s Own Heart.  It is such an awesome book.  I also have the study guide with it.  I like the way she guides you by asking you particular questions about what you read and what you thought.  Very inspiring!

6.  ~Projects- We will work on gathering rocks and building the walls of the rock garden.  The garden is outlined but most of the walls have not yet been built.  I am also going to finish the last of the t-posts.  I couldn’t get to this last week because of a hand injury.  I need to get a fresh bale of hay in the chicken house, ask my neighbor to backfill the retaining wall Mr. Muscles finished and build a second chicken run. 

7.  ~My cleaning zone this week will be the kids’ rooms.  Our May assignment for Organizing Junkie’s Monthly Round Up is kid’s rooms.  I am very excited about getting their rooms done!

On our yummy menu this week is:

  *Herb breaded chicken with black eyed peas, asparagus, fresh sliced veggies.

  *Roast with sweet potato casserole and green beans.

  *Tuna Salad (nice cold meal on a warm day)

  *Veggie pizzas

  *BBQ Chicken stew

  *Hamburgers with potato salad, corn and Greek salad.

  *Saturday night is the night Mr. Muscles treats us all to dinner out.  Woo hoo, no cleaning that night!

All meals are homemade and if you are interested in a recipe just let me know.  I will post it with next week’s menu. 

For more Meandering Mondays visit Tiany and for more Menu Monday visit Organizing Junkie.

Ya’ll have a very blessed week and don’t forget to leave me a comment.  I love them and then I get to come visit you!

~Rhen

Thursday Thirteen #20 May 1, 2008

My TT for this week is 13 things I won’t eat or don’t like to eat.  I know it doesn’t match the theme but, I had this one ready to go!

1.  Sushi.  I don’t eat bait.  Just can’t do it.

2.  Grits.  Nasty little things that reproduce like crazy when a couple of them get in your dishwasher.

3.  Brussel sprouts.  They are slimy little cabbages.  Eww.

4.  Kalamari- see the bait issue at #1. 

5.  Pork.   You are what you eat and pork has more parasites than other meats.   I have a rule about hosting no or, as few as possible, parasites!

6.  Black eyed peas.  They just taste like mud.

7.  Shrimp.  I like shrimp but they are the filters of the sea.  They are used to check the toxicity levels of the water.   No thanks.

8.  Crawdads.  That is just nasty!!  Those little eyeballs lookin’ at ya are just too much.

9.  Okra.  Mr. Muscles and most of the kids love it but it just feels slimy to me. 

10.  Insects.  I have seen stores that sell chocolate covered insects as delicacies.  Well, I might try chocolate covered ants.  Maybe.  Especially if it was dark chocolate.  LOL

11.  Most crackers.  I have no idea why I don’t like them. 

12.  Cheese sandwiches.  When I was little and had to stay with a baby sitter for a little while, she fixed cheese sandwiches.  It was the sandwich, per se, that was bad but rather the ingredients she used.  The mayo was some really bad tasting stuff from England and the cheese was not cheddar or anything like that.  She made me eat every awful bite.  I guess I was scarred. 

13.  Radishes.  I know they are good for me and, I have really tried to like them.  So far I have not found a variety that I can stomach.  I am growing a new variety this year.  Maybe it will be a good one. 

So, what don’t you eat?  Is there something that you just can’t choke down?  Leave a comment telling me what food(s) just don’t make it onto your plate!

Do you TT?  LOL Thursday Thirteen that is!  Pop over to Thursday Thirteen to see more.

 

My Monday Plans and Menu April 28, 2008

I love doing the Meandering Monday thing.  It helps to lay out what I want to get done for the week and when I put it out there in front of ya’ll it gives me more of a sense of accountability about it.  I told ya so now I have to!  It works really well.  I charged on with last week’s list and this week will be just as long.   LOL 

What do I have to get done?

1.  Laundry (duh- 8 people= a mountain of laundry that I could easily smother under)

2.  Gardening- I need to get more planted in the big veggie garden.  It is a fantastic idea to plant your beans, corn and such in succession planting.  That means to plant some each week so you are harvesting some at a time instead of being overwhelmed by it all.  I also need to get my fruit trees, vines and bushes mulched. 

3.  Projects- Mr. Muscles hung the new gate to the pasture.  Yes!  That means the big railroad tie post that needed to be in so I could finish putting the t-posts in is finally in and concreted into place.  I will get the rest of the t-posts in and we can start on the actual fencing part this weekend.  Lord willing!

     Also on my projects list is for Mr. Muscles to backfill the retaining wall.  I will give ya’ll an update with more pictures and such on the retaining wall area.  Anyway, once he gets it backfilled I can then rake the leaves, reattach the lower garden fencing and build the small stone wall to seperate the strawberry bed. 

4.  Homeschooling- this week we are taking a trip to a plaster/ pottery store.  Each of the kids will learn how the items are shaped and made.  Then they will each get to paint something.   We are finishing up several of our books and focusing more on others.  This is the time of year we do more painting and art projects as well.  Ms. Firecracker (7), Ms. Serious (11) and Short Man (9) have all almost finished their Wordly Wise books. 

5.  Spiritual Health-  I am reading Elizabeth George’s book A Woman After God’s Own Heart.  It is such an awesome book.  I also have the study guide with it.  I like the way she guides you by asking you particular questions about what you read and what you thought.  Very inspiring!

6.  My cleaning zone this week is my master bedroom.  It has been for this month for good reason.  Organizing Junkie is hosting the Organizing Round Up each month and April is master bedroom month.  Ya’ll, I have made some killer progress in my master bedroom too.  I am so proud.  Tomorrow for my Tackle it Tuesday I will be showing you guys several before and after pictures of what I have done.

Menu planning takes a lot of the stress out of preparing dinner.  I have already made a list of choices and purchased what I would then need for those dinners so all I have to do is decide which to fix.  Meny planning has also saved us a lot of money!  My menu for this week is:

Breakfast with turkey sausage, cheesy eggs, toast and homemade gravy.

Veggie pizzas and a Greek salad.

Creme Chicken with asparagus, corn and a salad.

Turkey Noodle Bake.

Vegetable Stew.

Hewbrew National hot dogs, coleslaw, beans.

For more Meandering Mondays visit Tiany and for more Menu Monday visit Organizing Junkie.

Ya’ll have a very blessed week and don’t forget to leave me a comment.  I love them and then I get to come visit you!

~Rhen

We have a winner! March 25, 2008

     The winner of

     is………..(drum roll please)…………. #5 She.  Congratulations!  I am emailing you now. 

I am having another book giveaway.  For more details and a chance to win click here.

Meandering and Menu Monday March 10, 2008

Our Family’s Time with God

  ♥I am reading A Woman After God’s Own Heart by Elizabeth George.  It is an excellent book.  I also have the study book to go with it and so far I am loving it!

  ♥Continue with prayer journal.  If you are in need of prayer you are more than welcome to leave a comment or email me.

  ♥Sacred Marraige bible study with Mr. Muscles. 

  ♥Continue daily devotions with the kids (these lead to such intense and fantastic discussions!)

 My Must Do List (this list is beyond my normal cleaning, laundry, homeschooling and such)

  ♥The work on the pasture fence is coming along great.  I have to concrete in the three posts we got put in last week. 

  ♥Dig 3-5 more holes for posts.

  ♥Finish attaching the fencing around the big veggie garden.  We are almost done! (This was on last week’s but instead of working on the fence we fell 4 trees and cut them up.  We also took down about 150 feet of wood fencing.

  ♥Move more stuff that I am not using out to the upper shed.

  ♥Transplant some crepe myrtles.

  ♥Start building the rock garden by the front gate.

Cleaning Zone 

♥My zone this week (again) is the dining room.  I am participating in Organizing Junkie’s Organizing Round Up and March is dining room month.  Our dining room is also our homeschooling room which means all of the teacher’s books, papers, books, and such that I need are usually in piles on the floor or covering my end of the table.  I now have a plan in motion to organize and clean up this area!  Woo Hoo!! 

Homeschooling This Week (in addition to our normal schedule)

  ♥We have several art projects we are doing this week.  It is so beautiful outside that we are taking the easels out there to do some landscape pictures.  One of them they can use brushes on and the other they can only use their fingers.

  ♥Rock collecting and identifying this week. 

  ♥This week also I am going to spend some time planning our spring field trips.  The other homeschool parents and I have come up with some great ideas and I am going to correlate them with the lessons we are working on.  A few are ceramics class, gold mines, museum, waterfall and state park. 

For more Meandering Mondays head over to Tiany’s to check it all out and join in! 

Here is our menu for the next week.  

♥Curry chicken and rice with fresh sliced veggies.

♥Turkey noodle bake.

♥BBQ chicken stew.

♥Roast with Greek salad, potatoes and pineapple.

♥Hamburgers, baked beans, cole slaw.

♥Homemade mini veggie pizzas.  The kids are fascinated by these.  LOL 

♥Mr. Muscles treats us to dinner out on Saturday night.  My favorite night of the week!! 

All recipes are homemade with fresh ingredients and I am more than happy to share my recipes.  If you have any recipes for the above dinners please share them in a comment.  I am always looking for new ways to prepare our favorites!  If you ask for a recipe please tune in for next week’s MM and I will post all requested recipes here. 

 Turkey helper: 

I am going to pare down the recipe for a family of 4.

1 lb of browned ground turkey, 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 package of cream cheese, garlic, oregano, onions, salt and pepper.

Brown your ground turkey and then add half a chopped onion and the package of cream cheese.  Allow the cream cheese to soften from the heat.  Then add the tomato sauce as well as the spices.  I add spices to flavor so if you like a lof of garlic like me then be generous!  Allow this to simmer on low for about 20 minutes.  Stir in periodically to get the cream cheese worked all the way through.  I also add about 2 cups of cheese to the top and allow it to melt.  Scoop and serve. 

This recipe is easily altered by spices.  You can make this take on any flavor you like.  You can also add 1 cup of water as it cooks if you would like it to have more “juice”.  I do.  Hope you enjoy this!

Meandering and Menu Monday January 21, 2008

  

My Time With God

   ♥Daily Bible reading (a Proverb and I am reading the book of Mark again.)

   ♥Continue with my prayer list

Must do- (not need to but must do)

   ♥Buy more chicken feed

   ♥Mail off some packages

   ♥Oil the wood in the house

   ♥Clean out and organize the laundry room

   ♥More laundry (like this ever ends!)

   ♥Reorganize the games and other junk in the hall closet

Cleaning Zone

   ♥My zone this week is the kitchen.  I have several cabinets that need to be organized. 

Train Them Up

   ♥Continue daily devotions

   ♥The oldest 3 (10, 9, 7) are working on a new study workbook.  I bought the GIG- Grow In God workbooks from CBD.    They have a lot of fun with them.

   ♥For Ms. Banana (5) she received a new coloring book for Christmas that I am using to help her study her new Bible.  It starts with Genesis and goes all the way to Revelation.  I also got this book from CBD.

Homeschooling This Week 

   ♥We, of course, are continuing with our usual lesson plan.  Several of the children are getting very close to completing a couple books each.  From there we will move on to reviews and other subjects.  We have a new health curriculum I am looking forward to doing. 

   ♥Ms. Firecracker and Short Man are both working on spelling lists.  I have them reviewing their spelling lessons they have done so far this year. 

   ♥In our Spanish lessons we are working on a list of nouns.  I have put up little memo notes all over the house labeling different items.  It has been a lot of fun and the kids are learning!

   ♥This week we are starting sweet potato vines indoors.  The kids will chart their growth.  We will put them in different areas of the house to see what kind of light and such they will grow the fastest in. 

   ♥One more thing I want to include is an article on Huckabee and homeschooling.

For more Meandering Mondays head over to Tiany’s to check it all out and join in! 

 

Here is our menu for the next week.  

♥Meatloaf with sweet potatoes, beans and fresh veggies

♥Salmon w/ oil, lemon and dill as well as a greek salad and corn

♥Chicken Fajitas with refried beans

♥Veggie Pizzas

♥Lentil Soup w/ dark rye crackers and humus

♥Roast, mashed potatoes, peas and pineapple

♥And one night out to dinner.  Yay!  No cooking or clean up for me.  I am thinking my favorite Mexican place

All recipes are homemade with fresh ingredients and I am more than happy to share my recipes.  If you have any recipes for the above dinners please share them in a comment.  I am always looking for new ways to prepare our favorites!

For many more yummy dinner ideas and recipes head over to Organizing Junkie.

Leave me a comment with a link to your MM so I can come visit.  Don’t do Meandering Monday or Menu Monday?  Come on and join in!

All for His glory,

~Rhen

Meandering and Menu Monday December 31, 2007

It is time for another !!

Our family has recovered from the wonderful craziness that is Christmas.  Now back to the grindstone. 

Bible Study/ Devotions

   ~Daily Bible reading (a Proverb and I am reading the book of Mark again.)

   ~Continue with my prayer list

   ~I am researching what the next Jewish holiday is.  Our family is trying to observe the Jewish feasts and festivals.  We worship the same God and the miracles He performed affects the followers of Christ as well.  After all, we have been grafted into the vine!

Must do- (not need to but must do)

   ~Finish driving in the fence t-posts for the big veggie garden (4 left to do)

   ~Repair the fence to the small veggie garden

   ~Make the gate for the big veggie garden

   ~Start putting up the big veggie garden fencing

   ~Pound in t-posts along the property lines (this will be done tomorrow)

   ~Start the pasture fence posts

   ~More laundry (like this ever ends!)

   ~I have a box of papers that needs to be gone through

   ~Start clearing the property lines (makes putting the t-posts in much easier as well as maintaining the property lines)

   ~Finish mailing out thank you cards.

Zone

   The zone for this week is my bedroom (yet again).  The madness of last week made Mr. Muscles’ and my bedroom the store-all.  Time to clean that all out and take back my room!

Train Them Up

   ~Continue daily devotions

   ~The oldest 3 (10, 9, 7) will be starting on a new study workbook.  I bought the GIG- Grow In God workbooks from CBD.  I am looking forward to getting into them and seeing where the conversation takes us. 

   ~For Ms. Banana (5) she received a new coloring book for Christmas that I am going to use to help her study her new Bible.  It starts with Genesis and goes all the way to Revelation.  I also got this book from CBD.

Homeschooling This Week

   ~We start back schooling on Wed.  We will be going back to our normal schedule and adding in time for the microscope lessons and a scavenger hunt outside for a list of 25 things they have been studying about in Earth Science.  Our 5 acres holds many, many things to discover.  A lot of it will be brought back to check out under the microscope as well.

For more Meandering Mondays head over to Tiany’s to check it all out and join in! 

 

Here is our menu for the next week.   The mediterranean chicken and taco soup are new recipes and I have high hopes! 

Mediterranean Chicken, fresh apples and oranges sliced, as well as a few veggies and organic ranch dressing for dipping.

Hamburgers, potato salad, fresh broccoli and carrots.

Meatloaf, sweet potatoes, great northern beans.

Chicken fajitas, refried beans.

Taco soup (new recipe).

Roast, garlic mashed potatoes, pineapple and black eyed peas.

Chicken with cream sauce, corn, green beans and some fresh fruit.

All recipes are homemade with fresh ingredients and I am more than happy to share my recipes.  If you have any recipes for the above dinners please share them in a comment.  I am always looking for new ways to prepare our favorites!

For many more yummy dinner ideas and recipes head over to Organizing Junkie.

Have a blessed week and a wonderful start to 2008!

Leave me a comment with a link to your MM so I can come visit.  Don’t do Meandering Monday or Menu Monday?  Come on and join in!

All for His glory,

~Rhen

The Story of Stuff December 20, 2007

See this link I have highlighted right here?  Click it.  Actually, you can click any word in this entire post and it will take you to an amazing piece of video that will really have you thinking about our consumerism.  

 Feel free to share, share, share.

Merry Christmas!

Menu Monday November 19, 2007

 

I just want to start my menu out by saying have a safe and blessed Thanskgiving! 

Now onto the business of food.  We will be spending Thanksgiving with our families so there is minimal cooking for me and most meals will be spent away from home.  I will be providing some cranberry bread, sweet potato casserole (with melted marshmellows, of course), hubby’s homemade cheesecake topped with blueberries and corn on the cob. 

For the other dinner we will be eating here we will have:

Turkey Noodle Bake w/ roasted herb potatoes.  (in the recipe I replace the powdered milk and water w/ real milk)

Baked chicken (not sure what spices I will use yet) w/ peas, asaparagus and hominy.

For more menus and yummy ideas head over to Organizing Junkie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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There are several giveaways I have posted about down below.  Check out my giveaway. 

If you like Pampered Chef and are interested in placing a Christmas order- click here.

Say, Apples! November 15, 2007

It is apple harvesting time here in the deep south and I am taking advantage of it.  :)  

Here is what I have been doing with them.

Here is my dehydrator full of Stamen Winesap apples.  They are very delicious and are great for baking or eating.

Here is my apple/ corer/ peeler in action.

 

and here is what they look like when they are fully dry and canned.

I am working on my 6th quart jar of them.  There are roughly 9 medium apples per jar.  If you include the apples I have drying right now I have 1 bushel dried.  I plan on picking up a couple more bushels and drying them but I want to get different varieties.   Once they are dried all you have to do is put them in a jar with a fresh lid and ring.  Tighten it down and then retighten about an hour later.  When you open them to remove some apples just make sure you tighten the lid back down well.

They are delicious to snack on dried (apple chips).  You can dunk them in carmel or just eat them plain.  They can be very filling so only eat about a handful until you know how much they will fill you up.  We also use them in pies and other baking.  As they cook the rehydrate and make a wonderful thick juice in turn overs, pies, cakes and any other yummy recipe you have. 

I was also able to render some tallow and now I have to go shave a leg of lamb for the gyros we will be having sometime this week. 

PS- These also make a great Christmas gift for someone.  Just tie a pretty bow around them and a handmade label.   This idea goes along perfectly with my Christmas- Made With Love, Part 1 post.