Life as a Family

Well, the past few months my husband and I have been nurturing this new life and learning to be parents.  Our daughter seems to have found her skin with us and has told us she does not want to move to any new homes.  That made me happy, but also broke my heart for her that she even had to think about such a thing.

Life is busy between MD appointments, Speech Therapy, Special Olympics Track practice, Karate, and soon to add swimming lessons. And with all of this we moved to the house next door to the one we have rented for the past two years.  I HATE MOVING...we often move due to my job, but someone else packs and moves us so it is not as bad.  This time however it was all on us and it about broke us...physically.  Our daughter is delighted with her new room.  She got to pick the colors and I got some great decals of flowers, butterfly, lady bugs, dragonflies and bees to put up on the walls.  We found a matching switch plate and yesterday we found these cute mushroom plaques with wall hooks attached.  It is really looking like a little girls room and she is so happy.  Daddy even put stars on her ceiling at her request...

The rest of the house is coming together slowly.

So, last night we decided to start a fire in our fire pit and roast hot dogs and marshmallows.  While we were waiting for the fire to get right my daughter and I played Snakes and Ladders, Mancala, and tic-tac-toe.  We did our hot dogs and at them and macaroni and cheese on the back patio.  We had music low, ate by candle light...the weather was perfect...it was an awesome time...We then made smores and talked an played.

It was a lovely and peaceful evening that I will not soon forget.  Only thing missing as my husband pointed out was my parents.  It was the type of evening they would have truly enjoyed.  I sure wish they lived closer to enjoy our daughter with us.

Nice evening at home

We sat in our recliners tonight with our daughter jumping from chair to chair...all the while we sang childrens songs...we were off key and did not know most of the tunes but we had a great time...one of the best evenings ever.

Rudi’s Gluten-Free Bakery | Gluten-Free Bread

Rudi’s Gluten-Free Bakery | Gluten-Free Bread

I saw this in an ad on Facebook and thought of one of my blogger friends, Mel. She must lead a gluten-free life so whenever I see things about gluten-free I think ofher.

I have begun brining more gluten-free into our lives as I figure it can't hurt...I will be checking out products from this site. Will let you know what I think when I do.

Wow...Been To Long

I did not realize I have not posted since the end of January.  February was crazy with us being iced in for almost five days in a row, then a little break and one more day.  You would have thought I would have blogged each day when I was home, but instead we watched movies together as a family and played games.

The rest of the month is a blur....I really don't know where it went...

Our girl is doing great in karate...her choice over gymnastics...She had her first speech therapy last week and today she starts in an art therapy group that should help with social skills.  I am really excited about all of this for her as I want to see her develop to her highest potential.  We are going to get her into swimming lessons for special needs children in April.  This is very important because she is afraid of the water and we have  an annual beach vacation in June that we need to get her ready for.  Her cousins will be out in the water with their boogie boards and if she is afraid she will not be able to go out there with them.

Work is not fulfilling anymore, but I can't move and I am just not seeing anything else locally...I know what should be will be, but I get a little frustrated with it sometimes.

I am almost done with all of the appointments  I need to meet insurance requirements for the surgery I will be having.  Yeah!!  Once this is done it won't be long enough in between doctors visits....

I'll catch up today or tomorrow on my friends blogs...miss reading their witty posts.

Day 28 → What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?

Well, considering that I am 41 and have never been pregnant I think the chances are highly unlikely, but if I were to find myself pregnant at this stage in life I think I would have a really good cry...and then I would be ecstatic. 

The cry would be because somewhere I must have really messed up to now have to raise a baby at this age and I will be ready for retirement when that child is going into college. 

The ecstatic of course because we have always wanted a baby, but have not been able to have one, hence the reason we are now adopting.

We would both trully be happy to have a baby, but mentally I am not prepared for a baby.  When we went into the adoption process we agreed, no babies and no toddlers.  We just feel that we are past wanting to do deal with what comes with those ages.  I know we could handle it, but if we have a choice at this stage in our life we would rather  not.

If I were to become pregnant, well...then my choice is gone...LOL 

Sunday Life

I love Sundays...they are always so relaxing to me, even with getting ready and going to church...I make sure I get up in enough time so I don't stress about making it on time.  And this was the 5th Sunday of the month so the children ran the service.  It was great.  We even got to see our daughter sing two songs.

We came home, had lunch.  I had some left over quiche that needed to be eaten.  It was very good.  I talked to a friend for a little while while Kerry napped and daughter played out back.  I started making dinner and Kerry took daughter around the block on her bike.  Great exercise for her.  The end is all up hill and she comes back totally flushed.  Dinner came out so good.  I made a vegan Picadillo Pie that I found on the Recipe for Vibrant Living blog.  I only used 2 white potatoes and not only did I use the chile, I also used tomatoes with chiles.

Now I am watching the ProBowl...a great Sunday in my book...

Picadillo Pie

1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green chile, minced (remove the seeds for less heat)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp mild chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cinnamon
1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes (I omitted the chili and used tomatoes with chilis)
1 cup salsa
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 15 oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup sliced pimiento-stuffed green olives (optional)
salt to taste (optional)

Topping
3 large sweet potatoes
3 large russet potatoes
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cayenne
pinch of salt

Peel the sweet potatoes and russets and chop them into one inch chunks.
Place them in a large pot with water to cover, and boil until tender.
Mash the potatoes in some of their cooking water, adding a pinch of each of nutmeg, cayenne and salt.

Filling
Place a small amount of water in a large skillet and water saute the onion, garlic and chil until the onion begins to soften.
Add the cumin, chili powder, oregano and cinnamon, and cook stirring until veggies are coated with spices.
Add the tomatoes, salsa corn, beans and raisins and simmer for a few minutes to allow flavors to blend.
Stir in the olives and salt if desired.

Transfer the filling to a 3 quart baking dish and spread the topping over it.
Bake the caserole in a 400 degree oven til the topping is slightly browned and the filling hot and bubbly.

Smiley Saturday

Today I smiled quite a bit...when my daughter was out on the deck practicing the recorder, when she was out jumping rope with me counting how many times she could do it consecutively, and then when she rode her bike around the block with dad walking with her, she came back so flushed from the exertion, but so happy.  All of these things made me smile today!!

Friday's Fab Five

1.What is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?   It is not the strangest, but the thing I dislike most is oysters...They are pretty gross to me.  I can't really think of anything strange right now...

2.If you could bring one character to life from your favorite book, who would it be? Stephanie Plum form Janet Evanovich's Plum series.  She is hilarious and would be a lot of fun.

3.What dead person would you least want to be haunted by? I would not want to be haunted by anyone, but least I would say Hitler, he was totally demented.

4.If you had to be trapped in a book for a month, which book would you choose? (you can also pick what character you would want to be as well)  Pride and Prejudice...I love that era.  I would miss the current day infrastructure, but I would none the less love to spend time in that era.

5.If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you choose? (you can also pick what character you would want to be as well)  I really don't know...maybe The Facts of Life.  I always thought it could be cool to go to a boarding school...lol

Day 27 → What’s the best thing going for you right now?

Best thing?  There is no best thing...it is ALL good.  Life is what you make it...and as far as I am concern my life is always good.  I can find happiness in the simplest things, my little girl sleeping in the back seat at the end of a long day, my employees at work joking around with each other, a beautiful sunset or sunrise....

Like I said it is all good...

The Message Bible - MSG - Online Study Tools

The Message Bible - MSG - Online Study Tools

Reading the bible has not always been one of my favorite things. I get bored very easily, especially if I am reading the King James Version. I also have the New International Version and it is a little better, but it still does not really work for me.

On Sunday Rev. Paul read the "Our Father" out of The Message Bible and I really enjoyed how that prayer was depicted in that bible. I will definitely be looking for that version to have hard copy, but it was great to find it online also.

I think the way this version is written I will be able to actually stay interested and maybe read the whole thing this time. I am actually excited about that as I have always wanted to read the whole bible, even started a few times, but could not stick with it.

Check it out...share your thoughts...