Let Me Tell You A Story

First,   thank you once again for your dinner suggestions.  I apologize for being a little late with this, but this week I have chosen to make the General Tsos Chicken suggested last week.  So, Melissa, you will be entered into the drawing for the oil warmers.

I have realized that I'm really crappy at blog giveaways and that I cannot commit myself to being consistent with my blog in any way.  I've also realized that it's kinda ridiculous of me to expect any of you to think of dinner suggestions FOR ME when it is so hard for me to even do it for myself.  SO---i'm not going to bug you about helping me any more.  I will, of course, still have the February drawing, and the one in December for the shelf, and if you happen to give me any additional dinner suggestions between now and then, I will love you forever, for sure.

Now--I want to tell you a story.

There once was a beautiful girl who had recently married.  She loved her husband dearly and was excited to love and support him.  One of her opportunities to do so came in the form of attending his hockey games.  The girl did not love hockey.  She did not particularly care for the environment and people that accompanied it and most importantly,  she did not love the fighting that inevitably erupted during the games.  Her husband was not a docile, reserved, peace maker-type guy, so she was terrified of her husband being in one of those fights.  So, while trying to be as supportive as possible, she also made clear to her husband that if ever he was involved in one of these fights, she would leave the game and never return for another.  
Well, the time came for the  girl to attend her husband's hockey game.  She sat up in the stands by a friend.  She was nervous, but enjoyed watching her husband enjoy himself.  He was a good player,  but and very aggressive.   This made her more nervous because a certain player on the opposing team did not appreciate this aggression.  At last,  this other player had had enough.  He was very angry with the  girl's husband.  He did not like being challenged.  He started to fight.  He started to punch and beat on the girl's husband.  He was really big and tall and he really scared the girl.  What would her husband do?  Would he ignore her warnings and give in to the fight?  Would he lose his temper?  She watched to find out.  She was afraid, and while she did not want her husband to fight, she also did not want him to be hurt.  She wanted to yell something really mean and intimidating at the offender.  She did her best--"Don't--hurt--my--husband!" (That was all she could come up with?)  Her husband just stood there, still.  He didn't cower.  He didn't turn away.  He did not look afraid.  And he did not look like a five-year-old throwing a temper tantrum.  He just stood there, blocking his face, until the referee pulled the offender away.   What control!  What dignity!

Oh, man!  The girl had never been so proud....until about 11 years later.

The girl's husband was under a great amount of stress.  He was overworked, sleep deprived and struggling to meet life's countless demands.  He was involved in a disagreement/misunderstanding with an associate/customer and was unsure about how to proceed.  His  wife was worried for him and had been praying and thinking about how she might help him.  One evening the phone rang.  Her husband answered it.  The frustrated customer was on the line, struggling to maintain his composure.  "This could get really ugly," the girl thought.  She listened in, worried and apprehensive about how her husband would react.  What would he choose to say?  How would he communicate his feelings?  Would he be able to maintain professionalism and still defend himself?  He remained silent for a long time.   Then he took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts, and began explaining himself--calmly and confidently.   The girl thought back to the hockey game.... Her heart swelled with pride.  She smiled at her husband and her eyes encouraged him.  She gave him a thumb's up and motioned (and commotioned) silently in whatever way she could to communicate her approval and pride.  He understood.  When he hung up the phone, he sat on the ground with his back against the wall.  He did not look up for a moment.  His wife watched him, waiting.  She knew he would not be able to look at her without smiling.  He knew he had done well by maintaining his control.  He knew his wife was proud.  Oh, man, she was!  She was proud, and impressed, and so, so grateful.

Happy Valentine's Day, Charlie Brown

Do you remember this?


And I'm so sorry to bring it up again, but I just can't get through a Valentine's Day without thinking about Charlie Brown's experience. I mean--it's a holiday special. So anyway, I've come up with an idea, and I'm calling it the Charlie Brown Project. Here's how it works: All of us decide on one person who is likely to have a crappy Valentine's Day and we do something special for them that day. Can you imagine how we could change the world together?! Just one person. Just one special something. Are you in?

I'm a little late with this, but I just wanted to remind anyone interested about the Charley Brown Project I do every year.    Nobody should feel like Charley Brown on Valentine's Day.  So don't forget to spread the love this year.  We can really make a difference.

Thank you, girls, SO much for your dinner ideas.   This week I have chosen the creamy lemon chicken recipe and the chicken quinoa stew recipe, so those who suggested those meals will be entered to win the Airwick Oil warmers this month. THANK YOU!

 I promise to write something interesting soon.

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

Dare I ask What's For Dinner?

Thank you so much, Katie, for your dinner suggestion!  You will be entered in the drawing for the Airwick Scented Oil Warmers.



What's For Dinner?

Simple Pleasures

Do you know what one of the simple pleasures of life is?  Kids doing jumping jacks.  It will never get old.

WHAT'S FOR DINNER (and the winner of the 3M Strips)

Thank you so much to those of you who gave me meal suggestions for this upcoming week!  The ones I chose  and will be making this week are:

Turkey Bagel Burgers
Hearty Lentil Soup
Asian Chicken Salad
Well Dressed Chicken


I put these suggestions, as well as those I chose last week, into a hat (well, actually, a bowl), and Jane drew the winner:


Well Dressed Chicken (which, by the way, sounds like a perfect meal for Amelia Bedelia to make :) )
Congratulations, Laura!  I hope you love the 3M strips as much as I have.  Please email me at lac1107@aol.com to give me your address and I'll get them on their way.  I love that after all these years, food is bringing us together again!





WHATS FOR DINNER?!    The winner this month will receive an Airwick Scented Oil Warmer and 2 Refills

My New Year's Resolution

My New Year's Resolution is nothing impressive, but I am super hopeful about it.  This year I am going to...........GET ORGANIZED!  It's so funny to me that I've had so many people just assume that I am really organized.  Who told them that?  It wasn't me, and it isn't true.  I wish it were true.  And with any luck, it will be at least partly true after this year.  And don't worry.  I'm smart enough to know that if my goal is simply just to "get organized", I will surely fail.  It's not, though.  I have specific, obtainable goals that I'm working on.

First, I am going to be better at keeping up with the laundry.  I finally accepted the fact recently that it isn't  impossible for me to keep up on the laundry (meaning I don't constantly have a gigantic pile of clean clothes overwhelming my laundry room), it's just that I have never made doing so a priority.   I keep a pretty good grasp on my dish situation, but only because that has been my priority.  You know what I mean?  So, thanks to my friend Erin, I have developed a better system for my laundry:  I bought four cute rectangular baskets to put on my teeny little laundry table (I would have bought more if I had more room on that table).  And every time I take a load of the kids' laundry out of the dryer, I immediately sort it into the four baskets.  Then, when the baskets are full, the kids (minus Skip) come and take their baskets to their rooms and put their clothes away.  I don't even fold their clothes.  Why would I?  They just get messed up in their drawers the very next second...I still fold the linens and roll Brian's G's, and hang all the church clothes, but still---just doing the basket thing with the kids' clothes has given me just the help i need to keep things in control.   I started this system the day after Christmas, and so far, I have kept up with the laundry.  (As long as I hurry in there right now to take care of the last load.  Yikes.)  That's FOUR weeks--a serious all-time, never-thought-it-could-ever-be-done record!  I'm so proud of myself.

Second, Brian and I are reorganizing our business.  Brian has often (and I mean often) lamented the fact that he can't just swing his hammer and make a little money.  He has to constantly worry about all the paper work/taxes/insurance/workman's compensation/licenses/permits/payroll stuff.  And I'm not exaggerating when I say he HATES it--probably more than anything else in the world.  And that stuff has always been a major source of contention for us because we have had incredibly poor communication, understanding, and commitment to doing it all right.  And recently we hit a real low spot where we both felt like giving up.  We were up half the night and I thought that in the morning, we might wake up with Brian deciding to join the army or become a police officer.  And I would have been OK with that.  He would be great in either of those professions.  But the fact is, we woke up that next morning and Brian put his tool belt back on and went back to work.  Because he really does love to build, and he's super good at it.  He is very talented and very smart.   We just need major help with the business side of our business.  Sooooo, after all these years of fighting and not doing things right, we are really going to try harder.  We're stepping up our game.  We are going to communicate and learn and improve.  Thanks to many prayers and fasting in our behalf, we have begun to experience little miracles that will hopefully start us on our way to success in managing our business better.  We had a conversation about payroll.  I was talking and sharing my thoughts.  Brian was talking and sharing his thoughts.  We were talking--to each other--about payroll--without fighting.  M.I.R.A.C.L.E.  Sigh....so anyway.... WISH--US--LUCK.

Aaannnddd, I'm going to get out of debt....again.  Remember that day when I told you I had paid my last credit card bill?   I do too.  It was a very good day.  Unfortunately, that day is long gone, but the debt is back.  I'll spare you my excuses (because as you know, excuses are like armpits.  Everyone has them and they all stink).  Let's just suffice it to say that I am committed to getting back on track.  I really love spending money, but I hate having debt even more.  It gives me high blood pressure, I'm sure.  It really does make me shake inside.  For me, debt literally makes me feel insecure.  You know what I mean?   I just cannot handle it anymore--especially while being self-employed.  So, armed with the tools and the encouragement I gained from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (I'm a graduate, you know) We are going to pay off our debt once again.  It is going to be a long process and for right now, I'm not going to focus on our house or our (empty) lot, but we are going to start with the little debts and work our way up.  

So anyway...I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Don't forget that today is the last day to give me dinner suggestions.  Again, I appreciate it SO much, and I will be drawing the winner of the 3M strips tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,

Ann