What’s for dinner?

What’s the most often asked question around my house… especially by the girl?  That’s right… what’s for dinner?!  Just three little words that can send shivers down my spine and drive me nuts all at the same time!

We have a long list of things we eat regularly.  Just about everybody does.  I’ve heard different people say most people buy the same hundred or so ingredients at the grocery store over and over again.  Aaaaand that would probably be because they eat combinations of the same foods over and over.

And the key word for us is combinations.

I have lots of cookbooks.  Granted most of the cookbooks I have, feature quick and easy meals, but face it, that’s what most of us eat every day, isn’t it?

I love magazines…..

but food magazines are my favorites…..

But here’s the deal… the actual low down on eating at my house.  Yes there are tons of fancy recipes in all the magazines I get the in mail (but…).  So yesterday I was reading my new Southern Living magazine, which is a feast for the eyes, if not the tummy. And I turned the page and look what I saw….

One of our very own… The Pioneer Woman and an article about her cookbook.  I’m sure every one of her recipes is is delicious.  But….

we can’t eat like that.  We each have our issues.  From cholesterol problems (hubs), to needing to lose weight (ME!), to problems eating certain foods (Boo Boo AND me!).

So strolling through the recipes provided in the magazine just brought that gnawing question back to my mind… what’s for dinner?  Granted, these recipes are lovely. But there is a lot of beef (which I can’t cook much of, because of Miss Boo) and a lot of dairy * (which Boo and I can’t tolerate) and fat… which hello… NONE of us need to eat a steady diet of that.  And I don’t mean to pick on PW here, it’s everywhere.  Decadence… butter, oil, cheese.

So what is one to do? 

How about convenience foods?  I told hubs the other day that it would be a lovely thing if just every once in a while, I could just pop open a box of something from the freezer, nuke it, or bake it and call it dinner.  But we can’t. Just about everything in the frozen section is forbidden to us for one reason or another.  (sigh)

So, I have my grocery list with the things we’ll eat this weekend… simple things.  I am always on the lookout for recipes, new combinations of the things we can eat, so we can have creative, delicious meals. Sometimes I succeed. 

And sometimes I don’t. 

* Regarding the dairy. I know there are alternatives.  Boo uses rice milk in her cereal (and takes calcium chewables also).  But it doesn’t work in recipes very well… like exchanging rice milk for regular milk in something like corn bread, for instance.  It ends up doughy and as Alton Brown would say, that’s not good eats! There is also soy milk, which she and I drank for a few years before it started to ahem.. not work out for us.  Even some of the ‘fake’ cheeses still have a milk base.  Believe me, my eyes are wide open to substitutions. And I am constantly strolling the health food store for other options.  It just seems like they usually don’t work out for us.

And now I’m off to buy a few things for the weekend, including the ground turkey for the chili we’ll enjoy tonight and tomorrow.

Random Dozen # 9

1. Tell me something about your favorite teacher.  My English teacher in 7th grade (I think it was 7th) encouraged me to write and drew me out of my shell a little bit, since I was very shy.

2. Tell me about one pivotal moment in your life.  Well, coming to know Christ is one. Of course that changed my whole viewpoint on everything. And our son’s illness/death was definitely another. That took us into another world we never thought we’d enter. That also really changed our viewpoint on things.

3. About favorite colors--a lot of people will ask you what it is, but I want to know why it is. What feeling or memory does it evoke?  From when I was a little girl, I’ve always loved pink. It’s feminine and girlie, I guess.  I like to wear it, but I don’t have anything pink in my house. If I were choosing…say… an iPod Touch cover… I would want the hot pink! : )

4. What's a sure sign that you're getting older?  Gray hair. bifocals. Wanting to sit while I do my hair.  Forgetfulness.  Taking naps.  (Oh wait.. you said “A” sign… oops, sorry!)

5. Please don't sermonize, but Halloween--is it a yes or no for you?  It’s a no.

6. What's your favorite musical?  I don’t know very many musicals so maybe Mary Poppins.  Does that count? 

7. Are you more of a city mouse or country mouse?  Probably at heart, I would be a country mouse unless there are bugs.  And no Walmart.  (This answer provided by my hubby since he read over the questions while he was putting on his shoes. And he was correct, so I let him answer this one!)

8. Did you know that it is possible, for a small fee, to name a real star after someone? (It's true! Google it!) If someone were to name a star for you, would you appreciate it for its whimsy and romance, or would you say, "Are you kidding me? For $19.95 we could have gone to the movie and actually bought popcorn."  Would rather have the movie and the popcorn at this stage in life.

This question comes from Paula at His Ways Are Not Our Ways.
9. What's the craziest thing you've ever been doing and texted during it? I only thought of this b/c I was about to try to text during my walking video but I didn't.  I hardly ever text. And I stink at it.  Hey… maybe that’s another sure sign of age.  So I haven’t texted while doing anything else ever. It takes my full attention.  LOL

10. "It's not a party unless _______."  …there is food and laughter and friends.

11. When you're stuck in traffic or a waiting room, what do you do to pass the time? PS: There are no magazines available.  Bring my own book and read.  Or pray.  Or boring things like counting chairs and people watching.

12. If you weren't yourself, would you be friends with you? I think so. 

There ya go, y’all.  Another Random Dozen. To see how other people answered these questions, check out Linda at 2nd Cup.

distressed stool, a DIY

Since I’ve gotten, shall we say, a little more advanced in years, the idea of plopping my little butt tail end down while I blow dry my hair and put on make up is becoming more and more attractive.

Enter the plain ole little stool I bought recently when we make a trip over to Ikea.   There it is sitting under the test glass door for the other project I did recently.

I couldn’t decide how I wanted to paint it but then decided I’d kinda like to paint and distress it.  So I did.

I’m not original, but I know how to copy things I’ve seen tutorials of. So that’s what I did. I used the products the girls at Shanty 2 Chic recommend and checked several of their projects to kind of figure it all out. 

I painted it with Rust-oleum American Accents spray paint in a cream-ish color.  Then I sanded the edges a tad.  Then I used Ralph Lauren faux technique glaze in tobacco (in hindsight, I think I bought one shade too dark for me).  It seemed a bit heavy even after wiping the glaze back off, so I ragged some more of it off with a damp cloth and it came out perfect. 

When I was happy with the way the glaze looked, I decided to seal it with polycrylic.

This is old stuff I used for a project a few years ago. I didn’t know if it was any good or not, but I gave it a shot.  When I used it a few years ago, it seemed effortless to use.  So easy.  But maybe the stuff was a little old, because it was making bubbles when I used a cheap paintbrush. So!  I sanded some of that down, and put a couple more coats on using a lint free cloth and it did fine.

Turned out really cute, don’t you think?!

Just the right amount of color and distress.

Love it.  This was a nice practice piece to see if I liked the colors and technique. I have a bigger piece that may or may not get redone at some point. 

becoming more

I was in the bookstore the other day and came home with this.

I had been hearing about it and looking for it and was thrilled when I saw it sitting on the shelf at Mardel.

*squeal*

I have only read the first chapter. But I can already tell it’s going to be so good.  Really the whole idea behind this book is what my story was… wanting to be more than the girl that goes by the rules and tries to do the things she’s supposed to do.  I was like that and yet I was very empty inside.. I wanted to “become more than a good Bible study girl”.

I remember when I was very young, the church we went to sent home offering envelopes with my name already printed on them.  There was a place on the envelope for me to put check marks by:

• Present  That one is easy… yes I am here!
• Offering  Yes, I was always given a quarter to put in the envelope when I was young and gave my own money when I started working.
• Study lesson  Most of the time I did that. The lessons weren’t very long.
• Bible read daily.  I tried to… I remember making time to sit and read something so I could put a little check in the box every week.
• I’m sure there is something I’m forgetting.  It seems like there were always five boxes.  Well, whatever it was, I tried to check it.

I can remember feeling particularly good about myself when I had done what I thought I could to fulfill the requirements laid out before me.  And yet,  I was just going through the motions of doing a lot of things trying to make myself right.  And it was a futile struggle because I couldn’t  make myself right.  I could do a million things and yet still be in the same struggle wondering why I couldn’t feel Him at all.  I have so been there.  And then I realized that  “they must be done with the greatest expectation and heart cry for God to lead us into a deeper and more life-changing connection with Him”.*

*quote from chapter one.  There were so many things I could have quoted from chapter one, but just stuck with that one thought since it is such a key statement.

I’m excited to see what Lysa has to say in the rest of the book.  : )  

lazy day cat

Today has just been a lazy day. 

Except for the part where I make the bed and do laundry.

As usual.  

Typically there is just this one spot on the bed that the cat favors.

This one. Riiiiiight up next to the pillow.

But I was doing laundry. So…

You can forget about the pillow business when there’s LAUNDRY around.  Zzzzzzzzzz

Don’t let me bother ya, cat.

last night’s dinner

So last night I made this little breakfast casserole thingy. It’s good. It has bell pepper, onion, potato, (turkey) bacon and egg (beaters, in my case).  Of course, you have to mix all of that stuff together in order for it to, ya know… taste good.

Everybody in my family claims to like it so every once in a while when I’m feeling lazy, we’ll have it since it’s so easy to throw together.  Nice little breakfast casserole and a bowl of fruit really isn’t a bad dinner.

The only problem is… my husband doesn’t like green peppers.  So his plate ends up looking a little bit like this when he is finished.

And Miss Boo can’t stand potatoes, so her plate ends up looking a little bit like this when she is finished.

And then there’s my plate.

At least *I* liked all of it.

here we go again

I wrote this Tuesday, but I’m just now getting around to posting it.

We knew today was coming and we’ve tried to make light of it with Miss Boo. But we found out recently that she has a vitamin deficiency and would be in need of some injectables to get herself back in line. Not a big thing, so no worries. It sounds much worse than it is. That’s not even really what this post is about, though.

It’s more about the ugly flashback that came along with it. I can’t believe I’m giving another child shots now! I can’t believe I’m talking it all up to her about how it’s not a big deal and all that jazz. And I’m having to remember how to give a little arm a shot. (She’s a very petite little thang.) I can’t believe I’m moving things in the frig for shots again. It just feels all too familiar and it makes me a little sick. But as I said, this isn’t a big deal and I’m just going to stay with that thought and we’ll all move forward.

I gave her first shot right after we opened the box…at her request… to just get it over with. And this is what we’ll be doing every other day for sixty days. One down, 29 more to go…..

Whether we like it or not!