Autumn Happenings

Greetings and howdy doo to all who stop by to read this!

Our autumn has been rather busy and fast paced, but I must say that I like it!  I've been as busy as a bee baking up all kinds of yummy casseroles, slow cooker meals, and hearty dishes to keep me and hubby cozy and full.  Have you caught the fall cooking and baking bug yet? 

I posted some time ago (quite a looong time ago, really) that we were going on a little weekend camping excursion up towards Wellsboro, PA.  It was a wonderful time!  In addition to that, September took us to the Bloomsburg Fair to see all the sights, as well as take in an Alan Jackson concert.  It was a wonderful month filled with fun! 

I thought I would share some of those photos with you--I hope you enjoy them!   

Our cute little camping cottage! 

A rainy day at Colton Point State Park or the Grand Canyon of PA.

Sunrise on Hills Creek Lake

Walking on the Pine Creek Rail Trail

Old railroad bridge that is on the rail trail

Old highway bridge that has been bypassed at RB Winter State park

Panoramic shot at RB Winter State Park--one of the most beautiful parks in the state!

In love with each other!  :o)

The one room schoolhouse exhibit at the Bloomsburg Fair

How would you feel about using one of these as your only heat source? 

Across from the school is the Barton House, which has lots of neat things to look at! 

Can't you just picture some pretty young gal getting ready for a party in this lovely dress?

I thought this lightweight bedspread was so beautiful!

And a cozy bed for the little one!

We caught a local act on the free stage at the fair- Chris Ruble- he was really good!

The highlight of the evening- we had tickets to see Alan Jackson!

He did a wonderful job- it was a great show!

I'll leave you with this photo of part of the Bloomsburg Fair lit up at night.

 As you can see, September was filled with lots of fun! 

October has been going by so quickly.  This weekend we are going on a bus trip to West Virginia.  Both hubby and I are really excited and are looking forward to the trip. 

I am trying very hard to get the house organized and ready for us to leave on Thursday so that I don't come home to a mess.  So far, so good!  :o) 

Well, though I haven't really posted anything substantial here, other than photos, I think this will be the end of this post.  I need some sort of reminder to blog more often than once per month...  I also need some topics.  lol 

I hope you are doing well, that your family is happy and healthy, and that you feel loved.  God loves you more than anything!  He wants you to trust him- so let go of the worry and let Him take care of your troubles. 

Have a wonderful day, and I hope to see you soon!

May God bless you!

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la dee dah, la dee dah

This post, which is long overdue, sadly doesn't have anything to do with anything...except that I'm listening to this right now and it's making me happy. 

We're going away this weekend and I'm pretty excited.  I hope I'll be motivated enough to post about it when I get back.  Until then, sit back and enjoy the music. 

Good day, everyone! 

It has again been a rather long time since I’ve posted anything on this poor little blog, so I figured I’d better come up with something to say to everyone!

How has your summer been?  Mine has been going well, although I’m not quite sure how it got to be August already.  It seems like everything is just a blur- one day blends into another, a new cycle of bills arrive in your mailbox, and bam! It’s a new month. 

After 2 months of summer, I am thankful for this last 30 (okay 31) days of sunshine, warm temperatures, and fun times outdoors.  On the other hand, I will warmly welcome cool evenings, katydid sounds filling the night, and all the other little glorious beginnings of autumn that we usually start seeing in the beginning of September. 

My hubby and I planned a little trip in September.  We’ve rented a little camping cottage up around the grand canyon of Pennsylvania.  We’re planning on dragging the boat along with us and…we are going to be going on a dinner train!  The train leaves the station for a 2 hour trip and you are served a meal in a lovely little dining car while you enjoy the scenery.  I am very much looking forward to this little trip! 

Also, in the end of October our bus trip is going to West Virginia.  We have two lovely vacations coming up (well, both are 3 day trips, but still…mini vacations!) and I am very excited and ready to go relax and spend time with my hubby. 

Until then, it’s the same old thing up here in Pennsylvania.  The weather has been hot and humid, which has done little to motivate me into doing some deep cleaning.  The kitchen floor hasn’t been mopped in 2 weeks and I probably haven’t scrubbed out the bathtub in well over a month.  If the house had central air, I might be a bit more motivated, but we only have 2 window units- one in the living room and one in our bedroom.  Truly, the one in the living room is so noisy, that I really dislike having it on if we’re trying to watch television at all.

This weekend, we are planning on going to a little carnival.  I so enjoy these little bursts of fun and entertainment.  It’s not large- in fact it will take about 10 minutes to see everything available, but I don’t mind a bit!  Our local carnivals all support the local volunteer fire department, and you can’t find a much better cause, if you ask me!  All the money generated from the food stands and raffles and such go to providing training and buying equipment.  I’ll gladly spend my money to try and support my community! 

In July, a rodeo came to town and Scott and I decided to go.  I had never been to a rodeo before-- now  I’ve  seen them on TV, but it’s a lot different than being there in person.  The cowboys rode bucking broncos, roped calves, wrestled calves, and rode bulls.  The gals did some roping as well and- my favorite- barrel racing!  It was a night full of fun!   At the end of the rodeo, a band played and the food stands were open till almost midnight.  We got to the rodeo just as it was getting started, so we didn’t have time to eat until it was over at 10:00! 

The rodeo announcer was introducing the cowboys and cowgirls and throwing in a promotion for some of the food stands when we were sitting down.  He was from Kentucky and had a good old-fashioned  southern accent.  Hubby and I had to laugh when he drawled “Folks ya’ll gotta get over to the stand for some homemade haluski and pierogies!”.   lol  Only in Pennsylvania!  For those of you who don’t know, Haluski is a polish dish that consists of buttered noodles, shredded cooked cabbage, with plenty of salt and pepper.  It is very much a regional favorite- but I doubt he’d ever announced the sale of that item anywhere down south!  lol  

I guess I haven’t written much about being a busy homemaker this time around.  I have noticed a lot of cobwebs lately and have been trying to keep on top of them. 

Cooking this time of year is kind of not fun for me.  Again, we have no central air, and when I come home the house is usually around 82 degrees.  Once I turn on the oven, it goes up!  I’ve been using the crockpot some, as well as cooking food on the stove top.  All in all, I’ll be glad when the temperatures cool down and I feel like cooking again!  

Have you been watching the Olympics?  I must admit, I am quite a fan of gymnastics!  I've been tuning in nightly and as a result, I'm pretty sleep deprived.  I need to work out some sort of schedule so I can stay up to watch the Olympics, but still get more than 5 hours of sleep! 

This post is getting insanely long, so I believe that I’ll say goodbye for now.  Take care, my friends out in blog-land.  I pray that your day is happy and filled with all the things that you love.  May God bless you!

Mandy

Sometimes it's hard to juggle it all!

Talking to you as a woman with experience, I know it can be ridiculously hard to juggle your home responsibilities with your work responsibilities. 

I work 7:30-4:00 Monday through Friday with a half hour commute either way.  Essentially, I am up at 6:00 to leave by 7:00 and then don't return home until 4:30. 

Between 4:30 and 7:30, I try to get the house clean and tidy, cook a meal, clean up after cooking the meal (also eat said meal) wash laundry, if needed, and then collapse into the couch at 7:30 or so. 

It can be frazzling to keep up this pace day after day! 

My suggestion to you-  make it easier on yourself.  

I always lay my clothes out the night before.  Our tiny closet doesn't have a light and my hubby is still peacefully sleeping in the warm cozy bed (as I longingly wish I were still there, too!) when I get up in the morning, so I don't want to turn on the big, bright overhead light.  It's so much easier to lay your clothes out the night before.  That way, you pick them up, and head over to the powder room, and when you're all showered up and clean, your clothes are right there. 

Don't take yourself, your housecleaning, or your cooking too seriously.  Don't get me wrong- it's an important job.  But really, if you end up missing washing windows one week or just skip making a meal and as a result, hubby eat leftovers 2 days in a row...nothing terrible will happen. 

Take 20 minutes and make up a chart.  This has really helped our house.  I have a set list of tasks that I should be doing after work each day.  It makes sure that everything gets attention and I'm not running around like an idiot on Saturdays, trying to clean every room in the house.  I like checking off what I've completed, too.  I like lists and organization...I'm just not all that good at it naturally!  lol 

I've talked about meal planning before, and you're going to hear about it again.   For heaven's sakes, make out a menu so you know what you're cooking.  The last thing I want to do after I come home from the office is look around and see what I have on hand and try to figure out what I'm going to cook.  If I meal plan, I know that on Thursday (today!) I'm going to be making spicy shepherd's pie (recipe here) along with broccoli and bread/butter.  I'm going to open a can of peaches for dessert.  And voila.  Since I meal planned on Saturday, I know I have everything I need to make this delicious dish, and I know it will get eaten, because both hubby and I like it.  Probably too much.  I mean...it really is good.  lol 

Pray.  Don't forget about this.  God can help you through any situation, and even if it's mundane He wants to know about it.  Put your cares and burdens on Him.  He's listening and He cares!   

Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Those are the few little things I could come up with off the top of my head.  I hope one of those suggestions will help if you're in a similar situation.  

This weekend we are going camping, so I feel a bit like I'm running around like a chicken with its head chopped off.  Tonight I need to make sure that I pack my clothes and the kitchen stuff we'll need to be taking.  Hubby takes care of the tent/tarps/camp stove/pie irons, etc.  Oh!  I need to bring sheets for the airbed too.  See?  I told you I'm running around in a tizzy! 

I hope we'll all have a nice time together.  It's the hubs and I on one site, his twin bro, wife, and daughter on the next site, and his dad, step-mom, and two step-sisters on the next site.  I'm sure we'll all have a fun time together.  My in-laws are really super nice people.  :)

Till next time, God Bless you, my blogging friends.  Enjoy your weekend and stay safe!  

Summertime

We've been enjoying beautiful weather in Pennsylvania for the last week or so, and it's been amazing. Unfortunately, working full time has limited my ability to actually get out there and enjoy the gorgeous weather. What can you do?

The past few weeks, I've been really good about menu planning, and then actually following through and cooking the meals I've planned. All except today. Today was pretty much a wash out. I came home, had a tv dinner and fell asleep on the couch for an hour and a half. Yes. I was a slug. But that's okay. I'm convinced that if you are tired, and your body needs rest, take it. I slept poorly the night before and I'm fighting an ear infection, so I'm perfectly okay with my crappy tv dinner choice as well as my slug nap.

My friend/neighbor Kristin and I got together tonight and went for a nice walk. It was so nice to have someone to do something with! We must get together more often. Since we live next door to one another (actually we're in the same house, since it's a duplex) it's always like "Oh, I'll see them some other time" or something like that till we're both starved for conversation and company.

I think I need to find something to do after work once in awhile, as well. My life is rather boring and sometimes monotonous so it'd be nice to have a game plan to change things up once in awhile. The big problem with that is the anxiety that tells me I must go right home after work or else bad things could happen- namely car accidents. I'm still not really over that accident from a few years ago, I guess. Oh well. C'est la vie. I try to just trudge through whatever it is I'm dealing with. This too, shall pass.

How's your life going?

We've been pretty busy on the weekends. We went camping 2 weeks ago and had a wonderful time...with the exception of it being incredibly cold on Saturday night. So so so so so cold. I don't think I've ever been colder while sleeping. lol Other than that, it was quite a good time.

Last weekend, we went to my husband's company picnic and had quite a nice afternoon. We ran into some friends, enjoyed chatting with everyone, and rode a few rides at the amusement park where it was held. Hubby even won a nice prize- a Kindle! What a treat it has been downloading free books and enjoying them on this new toy.

This weekend, we are planning on taking our boat out to Bald Eagle State Park and enjoying a nice day there. We're planning on grilling up some hot dogs, trying our luck at fishing, and possibly enjoying the little beach area.

Do you like magazines? I subscribe to quite a few right now, but my favorites are Southern Lady and Family Life. Southern Lady is a beautiful magazine with lovely (and usually rather expensive-looking)recipes, beautiful southern scenery and so many pretty ads. I love looking through it.

Family Life, on the other hand, is a bare-bones publication put out by the Old Order Amish in Ontario, Canada. It's nothing but articles written by these folks, and ranges in topic from farming, caring for home and children, Christin living, and so forth. I always enjoy reading it, as well.

I also enjoy Ladies' Journal (another Amish publication) Keepers at Home (a Christian Women's magazine) Every Day Food (a free subscription I got...and I haven't found many recipes I want to try yet...) Redbook (my grandma sent me that subscription) and I just started receiving Martha Stewart Living today (another free subscription from...oh, I don't know, somewhere). Hubby just gets Pennsylvania Game News.

I hope that you are doing well, reader. I pray that you are healthy, happy, and fulfilled with wherever it is you are in your life right now. There is joy all around us. Look around and you'll see. Take care of yourself.

Till next time!

Mandy

PS- If anyone has experience with Blogger and could tell me why my post isn't showing up with the paragraphs I put in, please let me know. It takes my nice little paragraphs and smashes them into one big chunk of writing and I'm not sure why it would...or how to fix it. Thanks so much. :)

Finally...a new post

Well friends, it's been quite some time since my last post. Here's what's been happening since my last post: I felt better about 2 days after my last post. I knew I would. I just needed to give it a little time. It's funny how things work like that. April wasn't all that eventful. I turned 33 on the 24th of April...by the 25th, I was sick with a 104 degree fever. For the next week, I endured a very depleting flu. I am still so very glad to be done and over with that. Last week, we went on vacation with our friends Josh and Renee. We visited north western Pennsylvania. Some of the highlights included a trip to Lake Erie, feeding the fish at the Linesville Spillway, having frozen custard at Hank's in Meadville, and spending a lot of time fishing. It was a very nice vacation- relaxing and quiet. Since returning home, I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. Tomorrow will be Friday and I couldn't be happier. Work is starting to get very busy with it getting close to graduation time, and I will be incredibly glad when it is over. We have put down a deposit on Anderson Coach and Tour vacation and I am so excited to go! Our trip isn't until the end of October, but it doesn't matter- I'm excited! The thought of not having to worry about directions, car troubles, being somewhere at a certain time, having a hotel reservation, and a million other little things, makes this a vacation where I feel like I can truly relax and just enjoy our vacation. No need for worrying! This weekend our little community is having a town-wide yard sale. Hubby and I were originally going to fly the coop, so to speak, in order to stay away from the chaos, but since he found out our friends were coming down, we've decided to stay and check out the bargains. Who knows what we will find? Hopefully not too much, because I'm trying to downsize, not acquire more stuff! This is the first day this week that I haven't taken a nap. I have been so sleepy all week, and it's because I've taken an hour nap on the couch around 6:00, then I am unable to fall asleep at 10:30 or 11:00 and lie awake for a few hours before I can doze off. Below, I'm posting a few pictures from our vacation:

Kinzua Viaduct "Sky Walk"

Picture of the cabin we rented

A view of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon

Another view from the PA Grand Canyon

Entrance to the Leonard Harrison State Park (PA Grand Canyon) views

My hubby and I enjoying some time together

Well, that's just a few of the many many MANY pictures that were taken during the past week. It was an amazing time. I don't think there's anything cooler than being out in God's creation. I love the outdoors! My prayer for you this week, reader, is that God draws you closer to Him. Have a great day! Till the next time we meet (which, hopefully won't be another month) Mandy :)

What a lousy day!

Well friends, I try to stay pretty positive on here- after all, I love being a wife and I love taking care of my hubby! But I have to say- I am in a terrible, rotten, no-good, unhappy, unloved, unwanted, mood tonight.

Do you get days like this, too? When you feel like, "I'll never accomplish anything, no one will ever take notice of me, and if they do, it'll be because I've failed somehow?" I do. Every now and again. I know it will go away- it does. It's a miserable feeling when you're dealing with it though.

At times like this, I just try to pray for love, compassion, and understanding. I don't know that there's much else you can do! lol

So, if you're sitting out there, feeling the same way...I'm sorry! Have a hug on the house and know that it will pass. These negative feelings are temporary and they are untrue.

You ARE loved, you are cared about, and you are important.

So, if you're having a rough day, you're not alone and you'll be feeling better soon. (And if you're not, for heaven's sakes, see your doctor! Life is too short to be sad and miserable feeling for more than a few days at a time. They have medicines that can help!)

So, here's hoping that the next time I post, I'll be feeling more like myself and less like this lump of useless nothingness. lol

Bless all of you, friends. Take care of yourselves!

:)

Mandy

Spring is in the air!

Howdy all-

It has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL here for the past 2 weeks. We've had unseasonably warm temperatures- in the 60's and 70's. The sun has been shining and all the flowers are popping up out of the ground and making the neighborhood cheery. The daffodils are a sunny yellow, hyacinths a blushing rose or pale white, and although the tulips aren't blooming just yet, I expect them to make an appearance soon!

While browsing the internet tonight, I came across restaurant commercial that features my brother-in-law! I'll share the You Tube link so you can view it.
In case you're curious, he's the fella in the blue shirt saying "They always check my order for me, they care about getting it right." Give it a watch and see his television debut! I'm sure Karan, my nephew, will be excited to see his daddy on tv! Eat'n Park

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but to be honest, not much has been going on. I'm getting ready to start my spring cleaning and I may post a few tips on here, if I can think of anything different or relevant.

I guess that's about all for now. Take care, all of you and may God Bless you!

Have a wonderful day!

Mandy

Making the most out of your cookbooks!

Hello there!

It's been a few weeks since I made a post, and I figured I better get going and blog already!

I was looking through my cookbooks the other day, and as I organized them, I realized how MANY I had! How about you? Do you have a shelf (or shelves, in my case) full of cookbooks that are old and forlorn, covered with dust?

I like to pull one out at a time and pick 1 or 2 recipes I'd really like to try. Then, plan them into next week's menu. It's pretty simple, really.

If you haven't amassed an enormous collection of cookbooks, you can still find fun new things to try. Check You Tube for lots and lots of fun cooking videos. Two of my favorite You Tube "chefs" are Betty of "Betty's Kitchen" and Titli of "Titli's Busy Kitchen". Type what I have in quotations into the You Tube serach and you'll pull up lots of neat things.

Betty's Kitchen is great for you ladies (or gents) who don't have a lot of kitchen experience. She's really thorough in explaining each step. (Don't despair if you're a seasoned veteran- she posts the recipe at the bottom of each video and you can just use that, if you'd rather!) I think you'll really like her channel. "Lazy Day Lasagna" is one of our favorite casseroles that came courtesy of her.

Titli's Busy Kitchen is filled with lots of dishes from all around the globe! This lovely lady is from the UK, but she's traveled all over and makes many different dishes (some I'd never heard of before!) She also has a website that has lots of helpful conversions. Her sense of humor is fun and unique. Just tonight I made "Baked Courgettes (Zucchini) with Feta" and it was very very good!

So, that's my tip for today- use your cookbooks! Make those investments actually pay you back with delicious meals!

If you don't have many cookbooks, try using the web to find recipes.

Now, off topic, let's see. I hope that you're having a good day. If you're in an area of the country that's been plagued by nasty storms and tornadoes, I've been praying for you.

I want you to know that though we may never have met, I hope you feel some kind of care radiating out of this blog. I care about you and so do so many others. Reader, you are blessed because our awesome God loves and cares about you, too. He's actively pursuing you, you know. Have you noticed? :) He loves you!!

God's love and pull for you are so strong that it knows no bounds. He reaches out to you every minute of every day and is constantly searching for his lost sheep. His heart breaks when they turn away, but He doesn't give up on them. No matter what has happened in your life, or what will happen in the future, there's never a bad or a wrong time to turn to Jesus. He is here for you. All the time, 24/7, 365. No problem too big, no worry too small. He's here for you. Just ask.

And there's the Holy Spirit at work, folks. That paragraph flew off of my fingers. I didn't even have to think about writing it. It practically wrote itself. If you look at it, it's not really even the same writing style. Anyway, I digress.

My point was trying to be that I care about you and I hope you're all having a good week. Share any thoughts you'd like with me below. I'd love to know what's on your mind.

Have a great day and God bless you!

Mandy

A thought that won't leave me alone...

If, as a Christian, I am only able to get one thing right, I hope that it's to love everyone I meet to the best of my ability.

Without love, everything else seems pretty pointless.


That's all for right now. I just felt a very strong urge to write that down.

I hope you are having a marvelous day. I pray that you are finding love, comfort, and peace in your life today.

:)

Mandy

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello to one and all and a very Happy Valentine's Day to you!

Do you celebrate this holiday? If so, what do you do that makes it special?

In this household, we keep things simple. We exchange cards and do something small and inexpensive to let the other know how much we care for them. I baked peanut butter cookies for my husband, put them in a cute container, and then put some assorted conversation hearts on top of the container to dress it up a bit.

If he was home, I'm sure I'd make us a special dinner, but since he's working, it's just a regular old dinner for me tonight.

Actually, I was trying to use up some of the stuff in the fridge, freezer, and pantry, so I kind of just came up with dinner on a whim tonight. I started with 3 Italian sausage links, added in a decent sized onion, roughly chopped, and let that brown. Next, I stirred in a 16 oz can of diced tomatoes, added some water, and finally put some quick cooking rice into the pot. When the rice was fully cooked, I stirred in Cajun seasoning and finally added some uncooked shrimp that had been lurking in the freezer. It turned into a gumbo-like skillet meal. Not too bad, for just throwing stuff in on the fly! lol

Do you ever feel helpless about certain situations? I know I sure do. I keep turning it over to God, but I'm afraid there isn't much progress being made. I pray that things will turn around soon. I'm not terribly worried- God knows what He's doing and it's not my job to be like, "Hey, hurry it up already!" lol He'll do things in His own time. Humans are ridiculously impatient, aren't we?

Have you prepared your income tax return yet? My husband does ours every year with the aid of the H&R Block tax software. Our refund should be in our account shortly. Woohoo!

I'm planning a post on utilizing your cookbooks soon- using them, when it's time to get rid of them, etc. I'm looking forward to it!

Happy Valentine's Day to you. I sincerely hope that someone has taken the time to tell you how important you are to them. You are important, and you are loved! Have a great day!

May God Bless you!

Keeping the bedroom fresh in the winter time

If your home is anything like mine, in the winter time, the bedroom can be the stuffiest room of all- especially after you've been sleeping in it all night!

Here are a few easy tips to keep it smelling fresh, clean, and comfortable.

1. Crack a window open for a few minutes every day (yes, even if it's brutally cold out there- the room needs air!)
2. Change/wash your sheets weekly
3. Give your hamper a quick spray with lysol once a week.

That's it. It might not seem like a lot, but I think you'll find it makes quite a difference. We're all busy- I understand that! However, I really feel like three little things can add up to a nicer place to sleep. :)

Okay, now that the homemaking tip is up, I am afraid I have some sad news to report.

My grandma passed away on 1/26/12. I just spent the last few days at home with my family to attend the viewing and funeral. I know that she is free of pain and is happy to be with my grandpa again, but my heart aches and I miss her lots already.

The service was very nice and it was good to see my cousins, aunts, and extended family, although the circumstances were sad ones. I slept poorly while at my parents house, but last night, I was in my own bed and slept great. What a relief.

One thing that everyone brought up about my grandma was her kind and generous spirit. She always asked if she could make you something to eat, or if you wanted a drink as soon as you came in the door- and often times, even if you didn't really need anything, she'd make it for you anyway! lol

My grandma loved gardening and the flowers that were done for the funeral were gorgeous. My mom kept looking at them and said, "It's just perfect for mom. She would have loved them!"

My advice to all of you ladies is to show love and appreciation for the people in your life. You never know when they won't be around to tell. I know that may sound silly and cliche, but it's also very true.

Bless you, dear reader.

Wasting time

Wasting time- we all do it. Sometimes we feel like we just need to do nothing.

Sure. Everyone needs a break. You're working hard, you come home, and you don't feel like cleaning up the house. I understand. I'm in the exact same situation.

Here's my suggestion. Take 15 minutes- that's all- and clean up 1 area of your house. Rotate what room you do on which day. And if you're feelin' it, keep on going!

Have you ever followed the FLY lady? She's all about routines- which are a good thing! The only ones I've ever been any good at are shining my sink and cleaning up things 15 minutes at a time. It really really works.

That's my advice to you today, readers. Clean up 15 minutes a day, whether you feel like it or not.

Your house will come together and you'll feel better.

A New Look!!

Well, I can't be shy about this because I'm thrilled that I finally took the time to learn how to do it- my blog is finally pretty!! Woohoo!

Do you know, reader, how long I have wished my blog looked nice? Since I started it...before that, even, since I used to blog with brave journal and I really couldn't change much.

I actually just spent some time reading through my old journal. I was a lot more entertaining then. lol I guess I'm old and stuffy now, compared to 2005-2009.

Here's one of the last things I blogged about (talking about different types of blogs I had found and how mine wasn't quite like any of them...which is still true today!).
November, 2009

"I'm not cheap enough for the frugal blogs (and I am cheap...I just don't paint toilet paper tubes and fill them with candy as Christmas presents...because that is ridiculous)."

Yes. I'm still not cheap enough to do that- not that I'm judging you if you're saving your Charmin tubes. lol!

MASH is on right now. I have no idea what is going on, but Radar is carrying a girl through this field. Looks like she's sick or hurt or something. Now Hawkeye is driving her back (I assume to MASH).

I made something new for supper tonight- pizza chicken rollups. It was in a Taste Of Home's Quick Cooking magazine and I have to say- it was easy and really good. Just take 4 chicken breasts, pound them out to about 1/4 inch thick, throw a few pieces of pepperoni on them, then put a slice of mozzarella cheese on them, roll em up, fasten with a toothpick and top them with pizza sauce. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes (covered with foil) then uncover and put more cheese on top. Bake another 10 minutes or so, till the cheese is nice and melty.

I served mine with a spinach salad. It really wasn't hard to make. Pounding out chicken is always a pain in the rear, but hey, it produced delicious results.

I just picked up an old cross stitch project the other day- it has been a very long time since I've taken the time to work on any kind of needlework at all. However, I'm happy to be back at it. It's a nice cozy activity during these winter months. I still hope to piece together a quilt someday. Maybe. We shall see. I just have this feeling that I'd make the top and then lose interest.

I really sort of rambled off topic. Are you surprised?? lol You shouldn't be!

At any rate, to wrap things up, I am so glad to have you here, reading my blog and I hope that you enjoy the new look!

Have a great night everyone!

Mandy

Happy New Year! (A few days late)

Welcome to 2012, everyone! Now that we've been here for a few days and are starting to get comfortable, how's it going?

I can't really say that I'm big on resolutions. I sort of pretend to make one up and I think about it for a day or so, but I really don't ever get much out of it.

I did accomplish one thing last year- I read the Bible. Woot! I feel pretty good about finishing it up. I'm doing it again this year. It's free and pretty easy to do through CBN's website. You can even have the guy read it to you if you're busy doing other things. I tend to listen to it when I'm folding evaluation letters at work or opening mail. Both are mindless tasks that don't require me to focus so it's easy to do two things at once.

It's funny...I've looked through quite a few blogs on the blogger site- everyone seems to have some sort of area of expertise that they post about regularly, some hobby, craft, talent...just something. My blog is literally about what I am thinking about when I write it. I am terrible at planning things out. I like to do things off the top of my head. Maybe that could be how my blog is unique- it's not planned out, it's not really edited. It's just me being me. What you see is what you get. :)

I have a gut feeling that I'm going to get called in for jury duty next week. I hope that I'm wrong. So far, I've only been "on call" which means I don't have to report, but... I don't know. This week just feels different. I will check Friday after 5:15 like I'm supposed to. Hopefully it will still just say on call, but I have a feeling I'm going to be scheduled to show up.

You know what's funny? I would love to be a juror. There are so many bad people out there, and I'm so ready to listen and if they are bad, I am putting their butts away. I just am so so so apprehensive about driving to Scranton. I believe I've mentioned before how much I hate driving. Yeah, that hasn't changed. lol

So, what else is new? Not much. My grandma is still not doing well. She's been moved from the hospital to White Cliff Nursing Home. She has a Dr.'s appointment today, so they'll find out if the chemo stopped the cancer from growing at all. The Dr.'s aren't optimistic, but you never know. I've been praying a lot and I know that God does answer prayers. :)