Snow Day #2

Well I was completely unproductive on snow day #2 and I don't feel bad about it at all.

My accomplishments:

• Slept in until 11:30 am
• Made tomato soup & grilled cheese for lunch
• Watched part of the What Not to Wear marathon

• Played outside with Capone (in my robe)

• Nap
• Shower
• Made peanut butter cookies
• Watched the 1st half of Pride & Prejudice

• Started to watch the Miss America Pageant but couldn't take it

• Watched a Hallmark movie instead which was good

• Talked on the phone
• Facebooked

Went to bed thankful for the relaxing weekend, doesn't happen very often! One day left!

End of Snow Day #1

So the power decided to go out at appx. 8 pm last night(1/29). I was just about to plug in my phone charger and of course the house goes black about that time.

Great.

I called & reported it to PSO through a pretty good automated service they have.

Mind you I'm still in my pajamas & robe. Yes, I had taken a shower but still looked like I just gotten up. I found the flashlights & was trying to decide if I should leave or wait a bit. I decided to wait 30 min.

It came back on at 8:15 pm. Nice work PSO!

THANK GOD.

So I watched some junk on tv, and later was wishing I had tuned into 20/20 which covered John Edwards awful behaviors. Bummed I missed that one.

Around 11 pm I finally decided to start my DVR recording of Emma which is the current Masterpiece Theater feature on Sunday nights on PBS.

Note to all: I LOVE Jane Austen everything. Eric does not love it :)

I want to live in one of those lovely homes in small town England. And I love their clothes & the way the leading male always appears riding up on his horse looking perfectly dapper while not smiling at all.

There are two more Jane Austen movie adaptations in the coming weeks, Northanger Abbey & Persuasion. You should tune in if you feel inclined :) Click here for the schedule.

Snow Day #1

Today I took the day off work so I could just stay in & not have to deal with driving in our latest ice/snow storm. I thought the Christmas Eve blizzard was the last of crazy weather for some reason, but luckily this storm isn't quite as bad as we thought, thank goodness! I said a prayer that the power would stay on & that the storm would be calmed once it got here. And those prayers were answered!

Eric is gone, so Capone & I are enjoying the day together. I made Pioneer Woman's Sour Cream pancakes this morning, so good. I usually don't succeed at pancakes, but these turned out perfect, so it must be the recipe, ha! :) I did substitute in whole-wheat flour, light sour cream, light butter, and sugar-free syrup to make them a *little* healthier :)

I put on a fire & am still in my pajamas and plan to watch bad daytime t.v. & nap on & off the rest of the day. Its great! And I still have Saturday & Sunday to enjoy doing nothing, yay!

Here are some shots around the yard. I think the leaves & berries covered in ice look so pretty!! There are icicles around our entire house also, lovely!

Eric's Pasta

Here is yet another area where Eric & I balance each other perfectly.

When I cook, I have to have a recipe. When Eric cooks, he makes it up as he goes.

I am just not that creative or gifted to come up with my own fabulous dish. I am the one saying, "we're out of everything, I have to go to the store". Eric usually comes back with, after surveying the cabinets & fridge, "no, I'll figure something out". I questioned this technique in the beginning of our marriage and he got to where he wouldn't even tell me what he put in things until I tasted it because he knew I would make my you-are-insane face. This face came out one time when I had forgotten to get pepperoni for our pizza we sometimes make ourselves, and he pulled his version out of the oven which was Pickle Pizza. Um.....that really did not look appetizing! But it was actually good.

Really.

And pretty much everything he has randomly made up has turned out good. I'm so jealous he has this skill!

One of our recent favorites he did we both really liked. He even asked if I would post it on the blog, ha! So I made him write down the recipe & here it is, his exact version. Sorry I don't have a picture :(

Eric's Pasta

1 box of whole-wheat pasta of your choice (he used penne)
1 can low-sodium petite-cut diced tomatoes
1/4 cup butter
1/2 onion, diced
"Alot" of Italian seasoning
3 oz olive tapenade
1 cup low-fat mozzerella cheese
1/3 cup low-fat parmesan cheese

Combine first 6 ingredients to cooked pasta & mix together until thick. Add cheese last & cook until melted and combined.

Prayer for Haiti

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18

I have been thinking of the people of Haiti all day today & feel inclined to pray for them as much as possible. I have no idea of the magnitude of damage, but it must just be awful from what I've read & pictures I've seen. And a place with limited medical care & resources makes it all the more difficult. Please remember to lift these people up prayer.

Here is a link to a blog a friend of mine posted on Facebook--its a missionary family based there & reporting on the tragedy through their blog. They can't get any news reports so this is all first hand reports through them.
The Livesay (Haiti) Weblog

Also, Red Cross has made it easy to donate:

American Red Cross Pledges Initial $1 Million to Haiti Relief
Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
You can also make a donation by calling 1-800-REDCROSS or go to www.redcross.org

SHOW US HOW YOU LIVE - New Years Resolutions/Goals

Five things I would like to improve in 2010:

1. Be healthier
I am pretty healthy for the most part, but I need to cut the junk out & start going to the gym regularly (We go regularly for a while, and then stop). The metabolism isn't what it was 5 years ago, so this has to be done! And it needs to be a lifestyle, not a diet. We just need to be eating healthy & taking care of the precious bodies God has given us!

2. Finish reading the Bible
We started a program last summer at church that was supposed to be a 90-day reading schedule. Well....needless to say we didn't finish. I got stuck in Isaiah and I'm not sure where Eric left off. But I have no good excuse, I really do enjoy reading it & I'm starting up again asap :)

3. Stop worrying
The older I get the more I worry. I am not happy about this! I just hear all these freak stories & it makes me worry what if.... Well that is just not a way to live or think, so I have to eliminate this thought process. Eric is so calm & positive and is always having to calm me down! I need to learn from him & just go with the flow & trust God with everything. The moment a worry creeps up, I pray. Seems to be helping, obviously :)

4. Get our new house
House hunting will start spring-summer, so we are very nervous & excited. Praying about it & hoping all works out!

5. Become a mommy
I can only do so much in this regard, so lots of prayer going out over this as well!

2010 is the start of hopefully a very exciting decade for us! We are so blessed already & are putting all of this in God's hands. Here's to a great year!!

Mele Kalikimaka

Merry (belated) Christmas (in Hawaiian) :)

We've been crazy busy over the past month, so I've had limited computer time. But life is back to normal now, so I'm playing catch up.

Eric was traveling yet again in early December to Kauai, Hawaii. He had enough miles on AA to fly me out, as well as a guest. I wanted so to take my mom because she never gets a break hardly since she started taking care of my grandmother 2.5 yrs ago, on top of working full time. But she didn't feel comfortable leaving my grandma for that long. So, I took my sister who had never been to Hawaii & who's best tropical experience was in Mexico--I had to change that!

Eric was staying at the Grand Hyatt in Kauai, and was able to get a free suite upgrade with his hotel status, so we tagged on to his nice room. It was lovely! We were there 7 days/nights and it was starting to feel like we were living there by the time the last day rolled around :) We had a great time and relaxed ALOT. Eric also turned a year older on Dec. 13, so we were glad we could be there to celebrate.

Here are a few pics of our break from the cold Oklahoma weather that rolled in the day we left :)