After Ladder Stand
Jun
19
2013

Tackling Home Projects

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I don’t think I’ve been this productive completing projects since my pregnancy days. Usually days are filled with a continuous cycle of kid activities, feeding kids, cleaning up after kids, reading to the kids, laundry, rinse then repeat from the beginning. There’s never a dull moment and little projects I’ve set aside to complete get put on the back burner month after month and some even year after year. Well, I’ve decided to strategically conquer these “To Do’s!” They will not sit another month undone! Today I completed three projects! I’m so proud, and not ashamed to say so! I [...]

Monks Mound
Jun
14
2013

Field Tripping: Cahokia Mounds

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Welcome to Cahokia Mounds! The Cahokia Mounds are located less than 10 miles from downtown St. Louis and if you’re visiting the Gateway to the West, this field trip is a must! St. Louis is a unique city featuring beautiful architecture, the St. Louis Cardinals and many field tripping opportunities. This year, one site topping our list of field trips was Cahokia. Just a few miles from the hustle and bustle of downtown is a vast, quiet, open space dedicated to the oldest known civilization north of Mexico. Known as the home of the Mississippian culture, Cahokia boasted between 10,000-20,000 [...]

Chicken with Peanut Sauce
Jun
13
2013

Chicken with Peanut Sauce (Zaire)

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I think it’s fair to say I have global cravings. Most recently my cravings were for Indian food, but today my inner crave moved to Africa. All morning I thought of rice and peanut sauce. Mmmmm….. African cravings are hard to satisfy at a local restaurant, so time to get cooking! This recipe for a Zaire version of Chicken with Peanut Sauce comes from Extending the Table… A World Community Cookbook by Joetta Handrich Schlabach. If I haven’t already mentioned it, I received this cookbook as a wedding gift over 20 years ago. It’s proven a GREAT gift! I’ve made [...]

Jen Hatmaker
Jun
11
2013

On Meeting Jen Hatmaker, Honestly

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Yesterday I posted about my brief meeting with Jen Hatmaker. Last night, as I was trying to fall asleep I pondered the meeting and thought I should clarify a couple things. 1) I live in Chicagoland and received an email announcing a women’s conference featuring Jen Hatmaker at a church in Orange County. 2) I really wanted to go see her! 3) I asked a friend if she wanted to fly out with me to attend. We read 7: An Experimental Mutiny on Excess last year for a book club we were going to start. Sadly, our book club never [...]

Jen Hatmaker and Me
Jun
11
2013

Meeting Jen Hatmaker

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When I told friends I wanted to go to Southern California to attend a Jen Hatmaker women’s conference, many had no idea who she was. They said, “Jen who?” I then proceeded to share with them little tidbits of her book 7: An Experimental Mutiny on Excess. Well, after Today, as in The Today Show, more and more people may learn about Jen Hatmaker. She was on the popular show this morning. Click here to view. She wrote a blog post about being overwhelmed with end of the year school expectations that went viral. Here’s the post. So this morning [...]

German Chocolate Cake
May
31
2013

German Chocolate Cake

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I had one birthday request. Homemade German Chocolate Cake made by my littles. A couple days before my birthday I pulled out our Cake book and opened up to the German Chocolate Cake page and instructed my family, “This one. Please.” The cake book is a family favorite. When it’s your birthday you can choose whatever cake your heart desires (every once in awhile someone picks a cake from another source) and we will make it. Our cake book is Country Living Great Cakes. The recipe for this cake can be found here. And the Frosting here. You may think this [...]

birthday
May
28
2013

Another Birthday

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  Today’s my Happy Day. I’m 46 big ones on the downhill slide to the big 5-0! I feel about half this age and can’t believe I’m here already. When my mom was my age I was married and I thought her to be fairly old. How can that be? My perception of age has definitely changed over the years. I feel young and in a way still like I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to be when I grow up. I’ve lived across the states and abroad and would like to finally settle. We’re moving back to [...]

Chick Pea Curry
May
26
2013

Indian Food Obsession

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When I was pregnant I had food cravings that were a bit on the crazy side. Squid, runny fried eggs with sourdough bread, beef ribs (not pork ribs) to name a few. The last few weeks I’ve had another food craving….Indian Food! We have a favorite hole in the wall Indian grocery store we frequent for their homemade samosas. Every time I walk in the grocery the shop workers look at me like I’ve just turned the wrong way down a one-way. I know they’re shocked to see us walking across a cultural line and I love seeing the expressions! [...]

Wilson
May
23
2013

It’s Official… He Loves Me

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Remember the first time the man of your dreams told you he loved you? I do. It was the first of two times I’ve ever seen my man shed a tear. He cried one other time, but he stayed in a bathroom until it was over so I never saw it. That third cry in 25 years was when we first moved to Illinois. He got stuck on a train from the city and had the overwhelming sense he strongly disliked this Illinois adventure. But, this post isn’t about living in Illinois, it’s about L-O-V-E! Can you say that with [...]

May
22
2013

Surviving the Chopping Block

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Today was a tough day for me.  I spent most of the morning feeling like a failure and beating myself up. Unlike Sodom & Gomorrah, it looks like this blog will not face destruction.  I was able to find a couple people who restored my faith that this is a worthwhile venture, even if it’s only for me and three others. It’s a personal reflection and perhaps, some years down the road, I’ll be grateful I stuck with it. A couple reasons why I’ll keep it up: 1) Writing helps ease my overactive mind.  It calms me. It fulfills some [...]