Our new deck

Finally, I'm getting a few spare minutes to sit down and blog about things I've been wanting to write about all week! And share the pictures that I wanted to share last weekend . . . Anyway, here are 2 views of our lovely new deck: a daytime one and an evening one. I absolutely LOVE it. I look forward to spending many happy moments in the sunshine out there this summer! Sam loves it, too. Ever since Jim finished it, Sam has spent as much time as possible outside. :)

Decluttering/Decorating Challenge--Week 1 :)

Well, I didn't officially plan to give myself a decluttering and decorating challenge right now, especially since I am heading into the last weeks of pregnancy, and energy is at a minimum. However, I did have one day this week where I did some decluttering (filled up a whole garbage bag, in fact!) and a bit of decorating in the bedroom, so I wanted to share. I'm not going to set specific goals for myself at this point in time, but when I do get something profitable accomplished in my home, I will share it. Hopefully I'll have time to do a little something every week. I cleaned out under the bed and reorganized stuff under there, making it a lot neater. I also straightened up one corner of the bedroom--"my" corner, where I have my beautiful Amish rocker and a few other feminine touches. I just hung up the lovely lace wallhanging that a dear friend sent me for my birthday, and I think it ended up looking really nice there. Here's a picture:

We had some good friends over tonight for supper, and that was lots of fun. The kids all had a great time playing together. I'm so thankful for good Christian friends who we can share fellowship with!

I'm tired now, and heading to bed . . . Hopefully tomorrow I will get a chance to post some more pictures. I want to show off our new deck, and maybe show the progress Jim is making in our guest bath, as well as post one or two pictures of Sam's most recent haircut. It made him look older! But for now . . . it's been a long day, so nighty night! :)

For NBBC alumni . . .

I recently added a new links section to my sidebar, of NBBC alumni blogs. These are either people that I knew at college, or people that I didn't actually know personally, but later met through blogging. :) There are bunches more blogs that I've discovered in my link-clicking, so if any other alumni would like me to add you to the list, please comment and let me know! I'm not wanting to leave anyone out . . . but there are so many whom I don't personally know, and haven't had time to comment on their blogs to introduce myself . . . and I don't want to add links without first checking with the blog owners. So please, let me know if you want me to add you! :)

More blessings!

I am joyfully praising God today for allowing my sweet hubby to figure out a little area of our taxes that had him stumped. :) He bought a new(er) truck this year, which should have been a big deduction, but for some reason Turbo Tax had been giving him trouble and that deduction wasn't showing up. It was telling us we would owe the government a rather large amount of money . . . YIKES! Anyway, last night he was working on it again and was able to get everything straightened out, so now we end up owing much, much less. Now of course we would rather not owe anything--but this is way better than the first number!! Next year, maybe we will even get a refund, since we will then have two dependents instead of just one. :)

I'm also thankful that God gave me the energy I needed this week to accomplish a couple household projects that I had been putting off--a thorough fridge cleaning, and getting my kitchen floor mopped (it was in dire need of it!). I also have been working on cleaning out a dresser and filling it with freshly washed baby clothes. :) We have had this dresser for most of our married life (it was a hand-me-down from my inlaws), and we had managed to load it up with all kinds of papers, letters, pictures, computer manuals, etc. etc. (mostly my junk). Yesterday I got a good start on sorting through stuff and emptied 4 drawers, throwing away much of what was inside. I am a terrible packrat, and it sure felt good to pitch some things! I am really hoping to pare down our "stuff" throughout this year. As I sorted, though, I had many memories come flooding back. Many of the letters were from my mom (written to me at college), my dad, my grandparents, and various friends. I was reminded how very blessed I was to have a family who communicated with me so faithfully. I wish I could save every one of those letters, but it would be silly to do so, since I would never have the time to re-read them all! I did save a few, though, just for the reminder of the sacrifice of time and love that went into writing them. I also found sweet cards from Jim (my then-fiance), and also all the cards from my bridal shower which my friends gave me at college. It was a lot of fun to go back and read through those! I saved them to add to my wedding scrapbook (which I still haven't finished!!). Anyway, there are still a few more drawers to empty, but I found room for all the baby clothes, as well as room for some of Sam's clothes. It's very exciting to feel like I'm getting more prepared for the coming little one. Here's a picture of the dresser (with hutch on top) in Sam's room. The top of the dresser will be used for a changing table when the baby comes along.


I'm in the process of downloading the Firefox browser, in the hopes that I will have more success using some of the Blogger features, such as the picture uploader, which doesn't work for me with Safari. So far I think it's about 1/3 of the way finished downloading.

Jim is working on building our deck, and I'm very excited about that, too! It's coming along great. I am thrilled to think that I'll be able to sit out there this summer . . . Sam can play with some outside toys, I can sit and nurse the baby, and we can all get some much-needed sunshine and fresh air. It will also be a great place to eat supper sometimes on those hot summer evenings. I'll just have to request a picnic table next . . . :) Like Jim doesn't have enough other projects to work on!!

From Streams in the Desert

I have loved using the little devotional book Streams in the Desert as part of my quiet time, off and on for a number of years. It's full of Godly wisdom from different writers, compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman. I was just reading the selection for today, and it was so good I had to share it here. It really hit me for some reason . . . I hope someone else may benefit from it, as well!

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me (Hab. 2:1).

There is no waiting on God for help, and there is no help from God, without watchful expectation on our part. If we ever fail to receive strength and defense from Him, it is because we are not on the outlook for it. Many a proffered succour from heaven goes past us, because we are not standing on our watchtower to catch the far-off indications of its approach, and to fling open the gates of our heart for its entrance. He whose expectation does not lead him to be on the alert for its coming will get but little. Watch for God in the events of your life.

. . . Alas, a great many people play at praying. They do not expect God to give them an answer, and thus they are mere triflers. Our heavenly Father would have us do real business with Him in our praying."

~C.H. Spurgeon

A haircut and other blessings

I asked Jim if he could trim my hair a bit on Saturday--it had been a while and was getting kind of scraggly on the ends! Now I know my hair would be much healthier if I didn't use a blow dryer and curling iron on it . . . but frankly, I'm not crazy about the way it looks if I don't use them. So, the price I pay is split ends and unhealthy hair! Anyway, I mention every once in a while that a bigger trim would be nice (like more than 1 inch), but he loves my hair long and this is one way I can really please him, so I don't push the matter. As he was getting ready to trim my hair, I was joking around that he could "chop it off" for me . . . next thing I know he had cut off about 4 inches! It is really nice to have it a bit shorter for a change and it was so sweet of him to do that for me. I think the last time I had it this short (just below shoulder length) was about 4 years ago or so. It comes at a nice time, too--getting ready for a new baby, so I'll have less time to put into hair care, plus summer will be here before long, so it will be cooler. Yay! And thank you, honey!!!

We had a great day at church on Sunday. There were 2 really good messages from a special speaker, plus we are taking a parenting class during the Sunday school hour, which is really awesome. I really appreciate being able to learn from older, Godly parents and glean all we can from their wisdom. On Sunday night, a men's group sang special music, which happened to be an arrangement of one of my favorite hymns, "Victory Through Grace," by Fanny Crosby. For any of you who aren't familiar with the words, here they are. I think they are so inspiring!

Conquering now and still to conquer, rideth a King in His might,
Leading the host of all the faithful into the midst of the fight;
See them with courage advancing, clad in their brilliant array,
Shouting the name of their Leader, hear them exultingly say:
Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race,
Yet to the true and the faithful victory is promised through grace.

Conquering now and stil to conquer, who is this wonderful King?
Whence are the armies which He leadeth, while of His glory they sing?
He is our Lord and Redeemer, Saviour and Monarch divine;
They are the stars that forever bright in His kingdom will shine.
Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race,
Yet to the true and the faithful victory is promised through grace.

Conquering now and still to conquer, Jesus, Thou Ruler of all,
Thrones and their scepters all shall perish, crowns and their splendor shall fall,
Yet shall the armies Thou leadest, faithful and true to the last,
Find in Thy mansions eternal Rest, when their warfare is past.
Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race,
Yet to the true and the faithful victory is promised through grace.

I just love the imagery in the song; it's incredible when you think about how it was written by a blind lady.

Well, my sweet hubby just arrived home with 2 early birthday surprises for me: a bouquet of 3 yellow roses, and Narnia on DVD!!! Since this is an icky, rainy day, and Sam is down for what will hopefully be a long nap, I think I will stop here and go watch it with my sweetie. Hopefully I will have a chance to write more later!

Spring Fever

We're still holding our breath, but it may be safe to say that spring is slowly making its way into the Granite State. I saw bunches of robins along the roadsides today as Sam and I were out doing errands, and weather this week has been in the 50s and 60s, and nice and sunny. It's been wonderful! The only bad part is that now that the weather is warming up, I'm running out of maternity clothes . . . I have a few springy shirts, but only 2 are short-sleeved. So I may hit our local consignment store soon in search of a few more to add to my collection. Hopefully I only have 5-7 or so weeks left of pregnancy, which will mean the weather shouldn't be too terribly hot by the time I'm done.

I sent in my application for that blogging job yesterday--so we will see what happens. Even if nothing comes of it, I had fun writing up a few sample posts, and I also appreciate everyone's input as to blog posts that I could link to. I used Sam's birth story, the one about children's rooms, and one I did way back last April (I think) which was called "Spring Musings."

I've been really inspired this week to do some spring cleaning and a bit of decorating, too. Hopefully I can get some pictures posted of my spiffed up house, once I get more done. I've found a couple really neat blogs that have inspired me in this area--both ladies had posted decorating challenges for themselves recently, and one is also doing a decluttering challenge right now. Both challenges sound like things I would like to do! Here are the links for those who would like to check them out: Pleasant View Schoolhouse and The Sparrow's Nest. For any of you who really enjoy vintage things and lovely decor, I think you would enjoy both these blogs.

Well, I had hoped to write a bit more tonight, but I'm slow on typing and thinking, and I want to go spend a little quiet time with hubby before bed. So maybe tomorrow or Saturday I'll have a chance to update a little more.

Calling all readers!

I've been thinking over the past few weeks and months about ways to earn a little extra income from home. I've been inspired by reading the stories of other wives and moms who are following their dreams and being real "Proverbs 31 Women," using their talents and resourcefulness to contribute to the family finances. I am hoping that one of these days, I will be one of them, too! I used to teach piano lesson from home before Sam was born, but felt led to quit that when I became a mom. I'm not sorry I did, but I do miss the bit of income that came in from that little business. Anyway, I am still thinking and praying about it, and I'm sure eventually I will find my "niche" if God wants me to have a home business of some kind. I recently heard about a paid blogging opportunity that I have decided to apply for, from ClubMom. You can read all about it here. Maybe some of my readers would be interested in applying, as well! Now I know for sure that there are a lot of ladies out there who are better writers than me, and I also figure the competition for the blogging jobs (only 10!) will be pretty stiff. I am also not much of a "go-getter," and often don't have much faith in my own abilities. I'm also not sure if I could be disciplined enough to blog five times a week, which is one of the requirements. However, my husband is encouraging me to apply, and I figure "nothing ventured, nothing gained." If this is something God would have me do, then He will work out the details, including giving me the time to put into the job.

Now, this is where I would like some reader input. For the application, they want me to link to 3 of my past blog posts so they can see what my "writing talent and voice" is like. I know I mostly write just about daily life, not really anything profound, but if any of you can think of any past blog entries that you especially enjoyed or think would make a good one to include in my application, could you please comment and tell me? I'm going to be looking back over them all over the next week or so, and if I come up with some possibilities, I will do a post with links to them so you can also give me input on those. Any help that anyone can give me on this would be most appreciated!

Reflections on a year of blogging . . .

It suddenly occurred to me today that I've had this blog for a whole year now. My very first entry was on March 14, 2005. I started blogging for several reasons: I felt it would be a good way to put my love of writing to good use, and I also thought it would be a great way to keep family and friends up-to-date on our life. As time went by, I opened the blog up a little more so that I could get comments from people I didn't know, as well. As a result, I have gained some new friends in the blogging world! When I started my own blog, I really wasn't into reading others' blogs; I didn't really know anyone who had one, actually, besides my brother-in-law and a couple ladies I had "met" on other websites. Now I have found several that I really enjoy reading, and I keep stumbling across other new ones, as well. It has been fun over the past few months (thanks to Katie Bruno) to discover more NBBC alumni blogs . . . I don't personally "know" a lot of these people, but it is encouraging and exciting to me to read about their lives and see where God has put them, and how they are going on to serve Him in various areas. I especially love reading about the day-to-day lives of other young moms (and moms-to-be) since that is the stage of life that I am in personally.

I hope to continue with this blog for a long time to come. It is a good outlet for me and I really wish that I could make more time to write here. I think I really need more self-discipline--if it's going to happen, it will only be because I make it happen. However, it's not just blogging that I need more self-discipline for! It's every area of my life--my personal devotions, my housework, my time spent in training my child (soon to be childREN!), my attention to my marriage relationship, etc. And all of those other areas must come first, before my blog. :) But, if I can get myself more disciplined and organized in these areas over the next year, including having more time to write (both here and in whatever other opportunities God gives me), I will be very happy. It will be more of a challenge once the baby comes along, that's for sure!

We are all in various stages of a cold right now . . . hopefully we can get rid of it soon. For now, we are trying to rest up as much as possible, and of course, drink lots of fluids. :) Sam is napping right now and has been for nearly 3 hours--he will probably be in a very bouncy mood when he wakes up! We laid around the house and watched old movies most of this weekend, which was fun for a change. One we really enjoyed (that neither of us had seen before) was Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Jimmy Stewart has to be one of our favorite actors, and he was as great as always in this role. He was so good at playing the part of a down-to-earth, honest-as-the-day-is-long kind of guy--seems like that must have been his character in real life, too. Anyway, I'd definitely recommend this movie. It got off to a bit of a slow start, but it had a very thought-provoking and compelling storyline.

Well, I want to make one or two separate posts in addition to this one, so I will sign off here . . . have a great day, everyone!

A hodgepodge post

We are enjoying a lovely spring-like day, with temps in the low 50s. Our road is once again turning into a mudhole! But it's so nice to be able to go outside in lighter clothes and feel the sunshine and warm air for a change.

Jim and I have been busy this week trying to get our financial records all in order to do last year's taxes. Yes, we are procrastinators in the worst way! I think we have everything almost all recorded and ready to plug into Turbo Tax. Hopefully we'll be getting a bit of a refund again this year, rather than having to pay anything in. Last year was our first year to actually get a refund since we've been married (thanks to Sam)! Oh the joys of self-employment. :)

Sam had a rough night for some reason last night--he usually sleeps straight through and gets up around 7 am or so, but he woke up crying around 12:30 am and was out of his bed when Jim went in to see what was wrong. Jim got him settled back down, and he slept well the rest of the night, but was up for the day at 5:30 am, although he did snooze in our bed for a few minutes after that. I finally gave up trying to sleep (or get him to) at 6:30 and got up with him. Fortunately he is now taking a nice long nap. :)

Around the Blogosphere:

In my blog-surfing (which I try to not spend too much time on, but there are so many interesting blogs out there!) I've come across some great topics, both recently and in months past. Here's a sampling, for the fun of it:

~Check out my mom's blog, Across My Kitchen Table, for recipes and more. My mom is one of the best cooks I know and has many tried and true recipes to share! Here's a great post that she did a while back about saving money in the kitchen.
~Erin has recently been posting about frugality, especially in regard to meals. She also had some great comments in response to her post about packing creative lunches for her husband. I always enjoy Erin's blog; she is a blessing and encouragement!
~Alicia posted about cloth diapering and got some good comments, as well. I used cloth some with Sam, and I hope to more with the next baby. I just need to motivate myself to put in the little bit of extra work that comes with washing and all. I think this would help us save some money over the next few years, hopefully! I also posted a little bit about some cloth diapers I got way back last year, if anyone is interested. Crystal also has an informative post about cloth diapering here.
~Here's another one for those who like to cook: the Recipe Swappers blog features a different topic every month (this month's is main dish salads), and there are some yummy looking recipes on there!

I'm sure once I get this posted, I'll come across more blogs that I could have linked to--but I 'll have to save them for another day. :) It is a lot of fun to see what others are writing about, and get a peek into their lives.

I had a good shopping spree at Marshalls a couple days ago. My sister-in-law had told me they were having some great clearance sales right now, so I headed in there to look at clothes for Sam for next winter. I came out with more than I intended . . . 3 boys' winter jackets, an Eddie Bauer shirt for Sam to grow into, and 3 baby girls' items: one jumper, one little one piece outfit, and a sweater. I doubt that we are having a girl, but at the kind of prices these things were going for, I couldn't resist. I figure I can either pass them on to someone else with a girl, or sell them on Ebay and make a little money. That's what I plan to do with the 2 extra winter jackets I bought, only I figure I would want to wait till next fall, when more people will be thinking about winter clothing. Anyway, I got all 7 items for $12.70; these were marked down from $25, $15, etc. The most expensive item was a Timberland jacket for $5. The cheapest was the baby girl sweater, for .70. I love deals like that! :)

I tried a new pizza dough recipe last night, which turned out really good. So far I have found two yummy recipes for making dough in the bread machine. Just in case anyone else would like to try them, here they are:

Pizza Dough

1 c. water, room temperature
2 T. olive oil or veg. oil
3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. active dry yeast

Combine all ingredients in bread machine pan in order suggested by manufacturer. Use the dough setting . . . when finished, roll out to desired shape, put on pizza pan, add toppings and bake 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and it looks how you like it. :)

Wheat Pizza Dough (this is the one we tried last night)--originally from the May/June 2000 issue of Quick Cooking magazine

1 c. water (70-80 degrees F)
2 T. olive or veg. oil
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. dried basil
1/4 t. garlic powder
2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
2 1/4 t. active dry yeast

Comine all ingredients in bread machine pan in order suggested by manufacturer. Use the dough setting; check after 5 minutes and add 1 to 2 T. of water or flour if needed. When cycle is complete, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Punch down; cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Roll out to fit two 12" pizza pans, or one larger (14-16") pan. Add toppings; bake at 400 degrees F. for 18-20 minutes or until the cheese is as brown as you like it. :)

Well, I suppose I should go ahead and get this posted before my little guy wakes up and I get interrupted. :) Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!!

Sam's Birthday Party

Thanks to all of you who left comments with birthday wishes for our little guy! He had a wonderful time at his party, as I'm sure you will be able to tell from the pictures. Not only was "Thomas the Tank Engine" the theme for the party, but he also received a bunch of Thomas and train-related presents, so he was one happy camper! I may not remember everything he got, but here is at least a partial list: Thomas sippy cups, a "Take-Along Thomas" sawmill (so cute!), more straight wooden track, 2 engines--Diesel 10 and the Big City Engine, Thomas sneakers, 2 Thomas coloring books, a Thomas t-shirt, and a train puzzle, and a book of Thomas & friends Railway Rhymes. I'm sure I've probably left something out . . . he also received a shirt and shorts outfit and a book, "Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny," which were NOT Thomas themed! Oh, and another outfit from us, as well as his bunkbed, which was his big gift from Jim and me. As well as a number of cards and some birthday money. So, he definitely made out like a bandit. :) He has been having a blast playing with all his new things over the past couple days. It was so much fun to watch him getting excited about his birthday party. Jim took him out of the way for the morning, so I could decorate his cake and set the table, etc. He thought it was pretty cool when he came in and noticed the Thomas tablecloth! When the party was over and everyone had gone home, he kept saying, "More Day-day Party?" and "More Happy Day-Day?" Tomorrow night we will be celebrating my niece Sarah's birthday (she and Sam share a birthday, only she turned 5 this year!) and it'll be interesting to see what he thinks of going to someone else's "Day-day Party." Probably he won't care, as long as he gets to eat cake and see some of his favorite people. :)

Here are some pictures from his party:

The cake



Sam opens Diesel 10



"Blowing" out the candles--he had to have a bit of help from Daddy to actually blow them out!



Enjoying a BIG bite of cake and ice cream

Sam is almost 2!!

I can't believe that our little boy is going to turn two on Sunday. Whew! Where did those 2 years go? We will be having his birthday party tomorrow, complete with Thomas decorations and a Thomas cake (assuming I can pull it off and have it come out looking the way I've drawn it on paper). :) We are just having family over to celebrate this year--I'm not into doing big parties every year--and I'm sure he will have a wonderful time. It will be fun because he should "get it" a lot more this year than he did last. Last year he wasn't even into eating his cake. Now that's one thing that will definitely be different this year!!

I thought it would be fun to post a few of Sam's 2 year old milestones and some of the cute things he says and does.
* Slept in his bunk bed for the first time 2 nights ago (but didn't want to last night--we didn't push it, but are hopeful he'll go back in it tonight!)
* Can now put together a "real" puzzle (albeit a 12 piece frame tray puzzle) of Pinocchio without help. He calls Pinocchio "Iyo-Pico."
* Is developing a longer attention span--He will play with his trains and track for long periods of time, and also loves to be read to for long periods of time!
* Has started "reading" to himself--give him a book that he knows well and he will turn the pages and say some of the words on each page.
* Had his own "devotions" this week--he imitated the family devotions that we do with him at night. He was sitting on the couch looking at his children's Bible, then he put it down and did this little sing-songy thing (supposed to be "Jesus Loves Me", which is what we sing with him), and then closed his eyes tight and said "Pray!" It was so cute.
* Sleeps all the way through the night, usually 10+ hours, on a regular basis (took a long time to get him there, but thankfully we made it before baby #2!)

Well, I had planned to write more, but it's getting late and I need to have some cuddle time with hubby, who just arrived home from a long day of work a little while ago. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Our Wedding Day--Part 3--Scenic Pictures

A special kiss in front of a lovely background of mountains


This is my absolute favorite photo from the whole day--I know I've shared it here before (on our anniversary), but just couldn't resist posting it again. This was one of those pictures that wasn't even posed, but was caught at just the right moment, and I love it!! Sometime I want to have it enlarged to poster-size, framed beautifully, and hung above our bed.


Me with my attendants and flower girls


The whole wedding party

Our Wedding Day--Part 2--Reception Pictures

A close-up of our cake . . . it had a sort of monogram of our initials around the sides of the next-to-lowest layer.


Eating the cake--it tasted as good as it looked! :)


Riding away in our getaway car--it was actually an old restored Ford pickup that one of my dad's friends lent for the occasion! (We didn't go far in it--just a few miles down the road.)

Looking Back 6 1/2 Years to Our Wedding Day--Part 1

I've been inspired by Erin, who recently posted pictures from her wedding on her blog. Today I scanned in a selection of photos of our wedding day, and hope you may enjoy seeing them. I hope I don't annoy anyone by posting so many--I got a little carried away, LOL! Looking at our wedding pictures always makes me feel nostalgic . . . I can't believe it has been over 6 1/2 years since we "tied the knot." :)

We didn't actually hire a professional photographer for our wedding, but instead asked three of my uncles to take pictures for us. Between the three of them (who are all good "amateur" photographers!) we ended up with some very nice shots.

My sister arranges my veil before the ceremony


Preparing to walk down the aisle with my Dad


P.S. I must apologize for the hugeness of all these pictures!! The amount of KB per photo is actually rather small, but in the translation from Photobucket to here, they came out BIG!! (I use Photobucket to load my pics because the Blogger picture thingy doesn't work with Safari on my computer, for some reason.) Well, at least no one will have to squint to see them, LOL! :)

From Spring . . . to Winter . . . to Spring again . . .

This has been one very strange winter so far. A couple weeks ago, we were having temps in the high 40s. Last week was cold, and then we got snow over the weekend. I just went out to check the mail, and it's in the high 40s again, and muddy. If Sam wakes up from his nap before the sun goes down too far, we may just have to take a walk and take advantage of the gorgeous day.

It's nice to have some quiet time to write here, enjoying the sunshine pouring in the windows, and enjoying the fun sounds of my Dean Martin CD, "Dino," crooning in the background.

We had a lovely Valentine's Day. Actually, Jim and I got to have our own "date" on Monday, as well. Following my appointment with Sherry, we went out to eat at a diner (neither of us was dressed for a fancy place, especially Jim, who was still in work clothes :)). Then we went and did a tiny bit of shopping. We enjoyed checking out the new Lowe's in the same town where we ate, and we found a nice rug for the bathroom there, as well. It's a very nice store! I found a tub I wouldn't mind having (dreaming, dreaming), and of course Jim had fun looking at all the tools. :)

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time straightening up the house and preparing our special dinner, which I will share the recipes for below. I made Herb-Roasted Game Hens, Twice Baked Potatoes, and homemade crescent rolls. For dessert, we made simple ice cream "parfaits" with Blue Bunny "Peanut Butter Panic" ice cream, Oreo crumbs, peanut butter chips and white chocolate chips, and hot fudge sauce. Jim and I each gave each other a nice romantic card, as well. Sam obliged me by taking a 3 hour nap in the early afternoon, allowing me plenty of time to get things ready ahead of time. This really helped cut down on cleanup time after supper! When he woke up from his nap, he was raring to go. I put him to work, "helping" me make the rolls. We made a big mess, but he sure had fun "cookin," as he says! :) Here's a pic:

I also must highly recommend Martinelli's Sparkling Apple-Cranberry juice. We enjoyed it with our dinner and it is super yummy, and 100% juice, as well! A litte pricey at over $3 for the bottle, but worthwhile for a special occasion!

This morning, Jim surprised me with a gift--two 14" deep dish Bakalon pizza pans! Now I can make the deep dish pizza the proper way! I'm going to try out one of them tonight, which I know will make him very happy. :)

Here are the recipes I used for our dinner:

Herb-Roasted Game Hens (from the March/April 2001 issue of Quick Cooking magazine)

2 Cornish game hens (20 oz. each)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning

Place hens, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Brush over hens. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until juices run clear. Yield: 2 servings.

Butter Rolls (from my bread machine cookbook)

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup water (room temp)
1 egg
7/8 cup milk (slightly warmed)
1/4 cup butter, softened

1. Measure all ingredients into bread pan.
2. Select dough setting.
3. Press Start.
4. When cycle finishes, press Stop and remove dough.
5. Shape as desired.
6. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

I shaped them into crescent rolls. I just rolled the dough into a 12" circle, brushed it with butter, and cut it into 12 wedges with a pizza cutter, then rolled them up starting with the large end and ending with the pointy end. The book said to let them rise till doubled in size, but I missed that part and just went ahead and baked them, and they came out huge and beautiful, so it was a good thing I didn't let them rise any more. However, I had also had some "fun" with the dough--I doubled the recipe and added too much water, and then I had to add more flour after it had finished its cycle--so that may be why mine came out nice and big anyway. You would just have to see how yours looked, to determine if they needed to rise more or not. Anyway, these came out really yummy and I would definitely make them again!

Twice-Baked Potatoes (from The New Best Recipe cookbook)
(I cut this recipe in half since only Jim and I were eating them)

4 medium russet potatoes (7 to 8 oz. each), scrubbed, dried, and rubbed lightly with vegetable oil
4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 medium scallions, sliced thin
1/2 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper

1. Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet until the skin is crisp and deep brown and a skewer easily pierces the flesh, about 1 hour. Setting the baking sheet aside, transfer the potatoes to a wire rack and let cool slightly, about 10 minutes. (Just a note: I baked the potatoes for about 1 3/4 hours at 350 instead, since everything else I was cooking had to bake at that temp.)
2. Using an oven mitt or a folded kitchen towel to handle the hot potatoes, cut each potato in half so that the long, blunt sides rest on a work surface. Using a small spoon, scoop the flesh from each half into a medium bowl, leaving 1/8 to 1/4 inch of the flesh in each shell. Arrange the shells on the lined baking sheet and return them to the oven until dry and slightly crisped, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mash the potato flesh with a fork until smooth. Stir in the remaining ingredients, including pepper to taste, until well combined.
3. Remove the shells from the oven and increase the oven setting to broil. Holding the shells steady on the baking sheet with an oven mitt or towel-protected hand, spoon the mixture into the crisped shells, mounding it slightly at the center, and return the potatoes to the oven. Broil until spotty brown and crisp on top, 10 to 15 minutes. (I found that even using my low broil setting, it only took about 5 minutes, so watch them closely!) Cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm. Serves 6-8.

Here's a picture of our feast:

Plans for Valentine's Day

For any other married ladies out there, I was wondering how you plan to honor and spoil your husband for Valentine's Day? I was blog-surfing a bit a few days ago, and came across this contest on the Choosing Home blog. (Hat-tip to Crystal for letting her readers know about this!) I don't know if I'll come up with anything creative enough to participate (and I definitely won't be creative enough to win a prize--I know this, because I'm having a very hard time coming up with ideas that will be a really fun date for my hubby). If it was spring or summer, then I know he would love a shooting date in the backyard, or going to the swimming hole at the river together, or going for a hike . . . but winter is a hard time for me to think of ideas. If I wasn't pregnant, then a cross-country ski outing or going skating would be fun--but I'm too nervous about falling to want to do either right now. Anyway, here's what I have planned for V-day so far: Make him a special breakfast, serving it to him in bed if he likes. Or maybe take him out for breakfast (unless he takes me out to dinner on Monday night, which is a slim possibility--I have a midwife appt. that afternoon, and we're leaving Sam with my parents, so it's possible we may go out, but I'm not counting on it.) Tuck a love note in his lunch box. (I usually do this anyway, but this time I have a special love note that I made in our Sunday School opener a few weeks back.) If he happens to be home for lunch, I'll just prop it up against his glass at the table. Make a special dinner. I already have the main course planned: Cornish hens. I had asked him what he would like for V-day dinner and he hadn't decided; then I saw the Cornish hens on sale last week, so we both thought that would make a nice (and easy!) dinner. I will make twice-baked potatoes and salad to go with them, and probably rolls. Then I still need to come up with a special dessert. After that, hopefully an early bedtime for Sam, and then plenty of snuggle time--maybe I'll bring out the dessert then, with candles and sparkling apple-cranberry juice. It will be fun to have a special date! Oh, and I'll plan to dress up a bit, hair arranged nicely, jewelry, perfume, etc. I'll also get him a mushy card for him to open that evening.

Now, I would love to hear others' plans and ideas--maybe I'll even borrow some of them, LOL! :)

Not a good week for pinching pennies!

We haven't intentionally splurged this week, but it's been a weird week in a couple ways.

On Monday night we discovered that we had accidentally deleted all the pictures stored on our computer--I say accidentally, because although we deleted them intentionally off of our iPhoto program, we thought we had them safely stored on our external hard drive. Sadly, being the non-computer-experts that we are, we were mistaken, and WHOOSH--they had vanished off the computer!! We hadn't yet gotten around to putting them on a CD (our own fault--procrastination) and now over 1000 photos from the past 18 months (mostly of Sam) were gone. We were very sad, to say the least! But fortunately, we do have relatives whom we had emailed many of the cutest pictures to, who would be willing to make a CD of them for us, so at least we wouldn't lose the entire record of Sam's past year and a half.

Then we found out through Jim's brother (who is a computer expert!) that there was a program we could download that would probably be able to retrieve most of our pictures. This program costs around $100, but we decided we had to try; that it would be worth that to get our pictures back. We downloaded it--it scanned our deleted files--it found TONS of stuff, but so far we haven't yet found our pictures. We are still hoping they are hiding somewhere among the retrieved files, but after searching through stuff most of the day on Weds., Jim decided he needed to take a break from it and go back to it later. So that was our first big expense of the week.

The next thing that happened (yesterday) was that we received a credit card bill for our Amazon credit card, which we thought we hadn't even activated yet! We had never even opened the bill we got from them last month (because I in my blonde-ness thought it was just a credit card ad) and here we were socked with a $15 late fee, bringing our bill to something around $99. WHAT? For a card we hadn't activated?? After a little checking, we discovered that we had used the credit card for our last Amazon purchase, without realizing it--apparently it is all too easy to activate! It was an order Jim had placed, so I'm just guessing at what happened (because he doesn't remember), but I'm assuming they have one of those drop-down boxes for you to choose your payment method, and apparently the Amazon Visa was probably the one already selected. Not looking closely at that (since we have a Visa debit card too), one would probably just assume that it was our debit info. there and place the order. Oops. Not that I am blaming my dear hubby!! I have no doubt the same thing would have happened to me if I was placing the order. But that was our second big expense of the week. Of course, if we had been on the ball, we would have remembered to record the charge in our checkbook, and then would have had some question marks going up when it didn't show up in our bank records . . . but as is all too often the case with us, we forgot to record it at all. Thus, the surprise of a bit more money dropping through the holes in our pockets . . . :(

Oh well, some weeks are just like that.

On the upside of things, Jim is hard at work making a bunk bed for Sam, and it's turning out beautifully! And speaking of our little guy, he is a continual joy to us (as well as a continual challenge!) Here is a picture of him sliding down our old mattress after we replaced it with the memory foam one. This was one of his greatest delights until yesterday, when the mattress finally disappeared from our bedroom. Mommy was happy to see it go--but I think Sam and his daddy will miss the slide!! Anyway, I love the expression of sheer delight on his face here:

Recipes for your enjoyment

I was craving Chinese food this week, so I ended up making my own! Unfortunately I didn't have time (or ingredients) to make some of my favorite things, such as egg rolls or crab rangoons . . . but I did make some Sweet and Sour Pork and Fried Rice. I love how colorful everything looked on the plate! Here are the recipes:

Sweet-and-Sour Pork (from the September/October 2005 issue of Quick Cooking)

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup cider vinegar
2/3 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 pound boneless pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, cut into chunks (I left this out for Jim's sake--he prefers most things without onions)
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 medium green pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 can (8 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained
Hot cooked rice, optional

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup and soy sauce. Pour half into a large resealable plastic bag; add pork. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 30 minutes. Set remaining marinade aside.

Drain and discard marinade from pork. In a large skillet, cook pork in oil for 3 minutes. Add the onion, carrots, green pepper, garlic and ginger; saute until pork is no longer pink. Add reserved marinade. Bring to a boil; cook for 1 minute. Stir in the pineapple. Serve with rice if desired. Yield: 4 servings

Homemade Fried Rice (from my mom)

1 cup uncooked rice
2 1/4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 slices bacon, diced (I just cook them first, then break them up into smaller pieces--seems easier to me that way)
4 eggs
4-5 scallions, sliced
soy sauce
any leftover meat, cut in tiny pieces (optional)

Combine rice, water and salt in heavy saucepan. Bring to boil; cover, reduce heat and cook on low for 20 minutes.

In heavy skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Add scallions and cook till tender. Drain off some of the bacon fat, leaving a bit for flavor (or if you're not using a non-stick skillet, you may want to leave more to help with cooking the eggs in the next step.) Slightly beat eggs; add to skillet. Stir to scramble eggs. Add cooked rice and optional meat; mix. Add soy sauce until rice is as brown as you like it. Cook over low heat 15-20 minutes. Serve piping hot! Yield: 4-6 servings

Here's another recipe that I made last week. It turned out yummy, but I did have a little trouble with it. The recipe called for a 9" springform pan. My smallest one is 9.5", so that's what I used. I STILL had too much filling for the pan, and some of it ran over and burned on the oven floor. So, I personally would recommend using at least a 10" pan, or maybe even larger, if you have one! This is from the December/January 2006 issue of Taste of Home magazine.

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake
Prep time: 20 min.
Bake time: 55 min. + chilling

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup crushed Oreos
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

FILLING:
3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, divided
6 peanut butter cups, cut into small wedges

In a bowl, combine cracker crumbs, Oreo crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 in. up the sides of a greased 9 inch (I recommend 10+ inch!) springform pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack. In a microwave safe bowl, heat peanut butter on high for 30 seconds or until softened. Spread over crust to within 1 in. of edges.

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and sour cream until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in vanilla. Pour 1 cup into a bowl; set aside. Pour remaining filling over peanut butter layer.

In a microwave safe bowll, heat 1/4 cup fudge topping on high for 30 seconds or until thin; fold into reserved cream cheese mixture. Carefully spoon over filling; cut through filling with a knife to swirl. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer.

Microwave remaining fudge topping for 30 seconds or until warmed; spread over cheesecake. Garnish with peanut butter cups. Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan. Yield: 12-14 servings

Please excuse any spelling errors I may have made here--I was typing in a hurry, trying to get this posted before Sam wakes up! :)

Why I love living in a place with four seasons . . .

Sometimes you get to enjoy beautiful scenes like this!