In the Storm

May 2015 Menu Plan

 

One might think that I missed creating an April Menu but I just didn't get it put up here on the blog. I think these days there would be mutiny in my house if I stopped creating a menu. And I would be leading the rebellion. Having a monthly menu made is key to making our lives easier.

This month, or at least the last half of the month is a key time as it is when I move to the day shift at work and I will be able to come home a cook dinner. A change that John and Jarrod are looking forward to immensely.

So, I've added a couple of new recipes during the week since it will be me attempting the recipe first. I've even scheduled our monthly tacos during the week since they've been on weekends for the past two years.

While the boys can't wait for me to go to day shift I too am really looking forward to the change as well.

 

the recipe book...more recipes

I grew up with a version of this recipe. My favorite way to eat it was over toast with butter, while everyone else ate the noodles. For some reason growing up I didn't appreciate the taste of store-bought egg noodles. I've modified Mom's recipe some but this is still one of the best poor man's stroganoff.

Because I feel sorry for my sons I've only made Broil Parmesan Tilapia a couple of times but I'd have it on the menu every couple of months if they'd let me because I love it made this way, smothered with parmesan cheese, mayonnaise (I prefer Duke's brand) and butter plus some delightful seasonings, served with rice and a salad. So good!

There's a story with this dressing. It goes like this:

Every quarter the boy scouts have a Court of Honor whereby all the ranks and merit badges are presented to the scouts and prior to the presentations everyone brings pot luck dishes to share. We normally bring homemade Caesar Salad ( a big dish of it), Green Bean Casserole, and Garlic Bread. They are our go-to dishes.

At this last Court of Honor Jeff needed to gather the boys up to go and found John and Jarrod in a circle of the scout moms telling the ladies just how easy it was to make the Caesar Salad Dressing, that it was homemade and they passed on their 'secret' recipe. Jeff got such a kick out of finding the boys sharing the salad dressing recipe with the scout moms after they raved about the salad.

Yes, smothered in butter. Delish!

My friend Margie gave me this recipe after she brought it to our small group gathering and I adored it, especially at a time when I had trouble eating desserts with my skewed taste buds.

remember this.

Super simple page of five things I want to remember from our lives, mostly homeschooling stuff, but just another opportunity to document our life. As we move into a transition of homeschooling/dual enrollment I wanted to get this documented. It actually made me realize I need to put together a complete list of all the books, for each grade, we've read over our homeschool career. When I went into our records I found partial lists of their more recent reads but I know I need to find all our 9th and 10th grade years, too.

52 gratitudes in 2015 | 18

i want to remember.

In October of last year I wrote a blog post titled, I want to remember. It was a prompt Ali Edwards had used a couple years previously, that I used for a journaling prompt myself, so one I've used before. I realized that blog post would make a great page to document what I wrote. The pieces I want to remember are such an intricate part of our life even now.

I do want to remember all of those things. When I've gone back to my I want to remember blog posts I was so thankful I had written those things down. They jarred my memory to them, and allowed me to rejoice once again in those memorable moments in our life. Plus, I've got more pages to create.

52 lists series | 52 favorite movies.

Not my typical scrapbooking pages but since beginning my 52 lists series with a different prompt for each list I thought I'd also challenge myself to create scrapbooking pages where I could rather than just post my lists to the blog. I figured if I make these pages they become a form of documentation of me, in 2015. Who I am, right now.

This is not made up of the best movies of all times - list, but instead, it is a list of movies I love to watch. Some of them I have seen more than once and others I have seen many times and have no problems watching them again and again.

Is this a complete list of favorites? Absolutely not! I probably missed a ton that I'd be able to easily add to favorites but when I was researching favorite movies most of the lists involved some form of well-made, academy award type movies and while those are wonderful they aren't the types of movies I'd call my favorites. Those movies I can easily watch again and again.

Even looking at this list I can tell you which are my favorite, of my favorites. Star Trek is easily in the top 5. Skyfall is right up there too. Can you say Daniel Craig? Yes, I love Olympus Has Fallen. Yes, it's cheesy, but, come on - Gerald Butler. After reading Pride and Prejudice at the beginning of the year I fell for the movie Pride and Prejudice too.

On a side note: I am really enjoying finding prompts for my 52 list series. Here are my others: I love the sound of...  |  20 Random Facts about Me

52 Gratitudes 2015 | 16

52 lists series | i love the sound of...

 

I love the sound of...

the crashing ocean waves in the dark of night.

my grandsons chatter in the background when I'm talking to Ashley on the phone.

Ian telling me all about the solar system and the planets.

pouring down rain as it pounds on the roof, and the thunder from a storm.

popcorn popping in a pan as the pan gets so full the popcorn lifts the lid.

laughter that makes your stomach hurt.

children singing a song, but getting it all wrong

a baby cooing in the silence

my teenage sons praying out loud in a group of older men

my students calling out the correct answer to a question because they get meteorology

a cat purring as you snuggle and scratch them

the music from violins

the star-spangled banner when it is sung without pomp and flash, just heartfelt and clear.

a 21-gun salute

the call of cadence

a heart steadily beating

a group of voices singing acapella

 

 

52 Lists series | 20 random facts about me

1. I am retired from the Air Force. It still makes me giddy to say that.

2. Swimming is the only sport I dream about. I recently returned to the pool and cried because it had been over a year since I had swam and I had missed it so.

3. I have lived on 3 of the seven continents: Europe, Asia, and North America. I had to go to another continent to meet the man of my heart.

4. I have visited Paris for a day and would like to return some day. For longer than a day. Maybe, 10 days would be enough. 

5. My favorite food is still my homemade tacos. But, homemade pizza is a close second, Italian Chicken skillet is somewhere at the top of the list, and a new favorite, Salisbury steaks with onion gravy.

6. I love my 2013 Dodge Ram white truck. It is really our truck, but I drive it and Jeff always tells people it's the wife's truck.

7. My favorite color is Turquoise. Still. For a long time now. But, I love my blue, indigo blue, and white bedroom with my red chair, too.

8. My favorite part of me is my laugh. When my hair is cut in a bob and dyed red I like it too.

9. I have rheumatoid arthritis and it is very painful. Debilitating at times. Causes tears at other times.

10. I love the ocean in the early morning hours the best. There's this little breakfast club on Tybee Island that serves up a delicious early morning breakfast.

11. I prefer savory over sweet. Except maybe my Aunt Shirley's Carrot Cake.

12. I drink my coffee with sugar and French vanilla creamer (the Wal-Mart brand, or Coffeemate - not, International Delight).

13. My favorite part of homeschooling my sons has been reading aloud to them.

14. My favorite Christian song right now is 'You Are I Am' by Mercy Me. Besides Christian music I really like '70s music too.

15. My favorite season is Winter. Because it's cold.

16. I do not like beans, except for green beans. I realized, fairly recently, it was because of their texture. They make me gag. I can eat garbanzo beans in hummus, and refried beans if they are extremely smooth.  

17. When I was in high school I had posters of Magnum P.I. hung up in my room and a collection of lions and tigers everything.

18. I have never broken a bone. Thank you, Lord.

19. I don't like being scared. When my husband played Yum, Yum, Eat 'em up with my kids (it's a scary monster, hide and jump out and scare them game) I would go into the den (with the light on and which was off limits to the game). I also, don't like watching scary movies, thrillers, intense suspense movies.

20. I am not religious. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

I love | Mother's Day gift ideas to me!

| 8-inch Cast Iron Skillet | Deep Cleaning Service | Blue Lamp for Bedroom | Turquoise Tote Bag (natural lettering) | Low Cambria Utensil Crock (Turquoise) | Clear Mixing Bowls | Shea Butter Shower Cream | Jon Courson's Application Commentaries | Retro Glider Sofa for Front Porch | Retro Glider Singles Chair for Front Porch

Each year close to Mother's Day I like to start a list of things I'd like to receive from my family for Mother's Day. I think one of my love languages is receiving gifts. Not sure that is truly a love language but I love receiving gifts, especially if they are from lists I've made of things I want. Oh, sure, the surprise or two, out of the blue are so very lovely, too!

It is no secret I love Pinterest and have tons of Pinterest boards and one of them is a WANT board where I keep a fairly up-to-date running list of pins of things I just plain want. Things I am pining away for, longing for, hoping for, desiring. I can't say needing because I don't need any of them. I just want them.

Mother's Day, my birthday, and Christmas are my three favorite times of the year for posting the same sort of WANT list, in the hopes, my sweet family will gift me with one or two or three of these things.

This Mother's Day, it is very obvious that turquoise is a common theme, but my front porch (which isn't built yet but will be started when two Eagle projects are completed), and my kitchen are common theme's as well. Oh, and I'd really love a maid to come in and deep clean my house - seriously!!!!! Spic and span clean.