ALMOST
My husband snapped some quick pics while we were on a little walk tonight.
Isn’t it wonderful? We have a self-walking doggie. She’s quite conscientious about holding the leash until you take it from her. 🙂
Enjoy visiting some more Wordless Wednesday participants!
This is the prompt provided by Yano for this week’s Ten on Tuesday. I haven’t thought this through, so you will receive these in the order in which they occur to me.
- It takes me a while to feel comfortable with a new machine. This is why I REALLY do not like driving someone else’s car, especially in the dark. When we first moved to our home here many years ago, my husband asked me to drive his big, clunky, manual transmission work truck. The child who rode with me could sense my nervousness and asked me if we were going to be OK.
- Dental work makes me so nervous that I either need to clutch a soft pillow to keep my hands still, or better yet, ask the dentist for nitrous oxide in order to relax and be a good patient.
- I like things in my home to be clean and orderly, but also to stay in the same place. My husband likes to rearrange things. So, rearranging happens when I am out, and I gradually get used to the new layout.
- I would rather stay in our general locale for a special outing than travel far away. Once we are on the road for our annual vacation to see Dad and Mom Taron, I am game for fun, but other than that I am most comfortable at home.
- The biggest celebrations for us as a family are birthdays. Often, especially when the children were younger, the birthday would even have a theme, such as Winnie the Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Pokemon.
- I prefer that other family members take the pictures. I have taken some of the pictures for my blog, but not many.
- I enjoy skimming through the dictionary to learn new words, and subscribe to My Word a Day online. As a family we will take turns trying to stump one another with new words, or competing to see who knows how to pronounce an unusual word.
- If I see half a cookie, I am almost irresistibly drawn to finish it. Please! Eat the whole cookie and leave me in peace!
- The best gift my husband can give me is doing work around the house, especially outside. One year I requested (and received) a dump truck load of gravel for the driveway for my birthday present.
- It is dangerous to let me begin a sewing project (which is probably why I haven’t done one in a few years) because all else (including eating and doing any other work) must fall by the wayside until it’s done. I enjoy the process, and I like to see the finished product. What can I say? Maybe a little obsessive compulsive?
Goodnight everyone. It’s been a busy day, and now it’s time to start getting ready for bed. When I signed up for Blog 365, I said I would post everyday. This hardly counts for more than a greeting. 😛 However, I do remember that I can post another lovely graphic from my friend, Storyteller.
I enjoy reading the Reformation 21 blog, but had fallen behind on reading the posts there. Last Sunday, one of my favorite authors at that site, Rev. Richard Phillips, posted a great short article on what it means to keep the Lord’s Day holy. I hope you find it as helpful and refreshing as I did. 🙂
(Image from Snapshots of Joy.)
2 pounds lean ground beef, browned
2 red bell peppers, diced, and sautéed with the ground beef
2 7-ounce cans of diced mild green chilies
2 1-ounce envelopes of onion soup mix
2 14.5 ounce cans stewed Italian Recipe tomatoes (Cut tomatoes smaller, if you desire.)
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
2 40-ounce cans unseasoned pinto beans (Drain off bean liquid.)
2 Tablespoons dried chopped onion
2 Tablespoons mild chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ to 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
Combine all the ingredients in a large (7 quart) crock pot. Cook on Low or High for the desired amount of time.
We serve our chili with shredded cheddar cheese, saltine crackers, sour cream, and pickled jalapeno peppers.
Today, after our morning worship service, we enjoyed a fellowship meal together. Most of us ladies bring something in a crockpot to serve, since oven space is so limited. This chili was my main dish contribution today. I concocted this particular recipe this morning, because I wanted to make just the right amount to fill my crockpot, and wanted it to be of moderate spiciness, since I knew a number of folks would enjoy that. Everyone’s contributions were delicious, and the time of visiting with one another was a treat as well.
There is a pretty simple way
To tell the story of my day
With eight syllables in each line.
Also, each couplet has to rhyme.
Yesterday I complained to you
Of too much rain. Today was blue
Skies overhead for quite a while.
Just looking around made me smile.
Hyacinths, tulips, daffodils,
Grass growing in good earnest fills
My mind with plans to work outside
But more than weather is my guide.
Suffice it to say, much got done
By all the fam. Now just for fun,
Since weather conditions are right,
The kids will sleep outside tonight.
Oops! It’s tomorrow already;
Time for me to go to beddy. (Anything for a rhyme)
Nothing too complicated about my inspiration for this week’s Haiku Friday:
- The weather
- The season
- Some cute photos of the three youngest children taken five years ago during similar weather
For more Haiku, visit Jennifer over at Playgroups are No Place for Children and Christina at A Mommy Story.
(Thanks to Hootin’ Anni for the Thursday 13 header.)
I found this meme over at my friend Storyteller’s Small Reflections. Thank you, Storyteller, for the fun idea!
Here is how you play:
- Go to http://photobucket.com/
- Type your answer to the question in the SEARCH box.
- Choose a graphic from the first page that comes up.
- Insert the picture into your blog.
1. What is your current relationship status? Married
2. What is your current mood? Tired
3. What is your favorite band/singer? Eva Cassidy
4. What is your favorite movie? Pride and Prejudice
5. Where do you live? Pacific Northwest
6. Where do you work? School
7. What do you look like?
(This is what happens when you search for images of yourself on photobucket that don’t exist. :P)
8. What do you drive?
9. What is your favorite TV show? Don’t watch TV
10. Describe yourself: Loving
11. What are you doing today? Some 6th graders and I played this game. Fun!
12. What did you do last night? Sleep 😛
13. What is your name?
I suppose this is appropriate, since I work at a Middle School. But I do think that I have a good vocabulary. Maybe my writing style is too simple and straightforward to be considered high school level. (sigh) 😛
A HAPPY FAMILY by Giovanni Battista Torriglia
As I was looking at other blogs this morning, I came across this lovely image posted on someone else’s blog. I found it again at Painting Place, where one may purchase artwork.
Some things in the picture that speak forth happiness, I think, are:
- The mother is smiling at the children, and the children are smiling at one another.
- The mother is enjoying her children even while she is busy.
- The mother is busy for the benefit of her family vs. self-centered or self-indulgent. Those varients see children as interruptions and burdens, an attitude not conducive to family happiness.
- The house looks clean (See the shining floor?) but not insanely neat (which drives one insane to maintain). As the saying goes, it’s clean enough to be healthy, and messy enough to be comfortable.
- The children are cheerfully helping Mommy by watching and entertaining the baby.
- The son has just arrived home from school (See his school bag on the floor by his chair?). His first focus is not on himself, but on greeting and enjoying his family. Wow!
- Subconsciously, the late afternoon lighting contributes to the feeling of coziness.
- I always wanted the cottage look, with those deep-set windows in the thick walls. Is that a hidden desire of lots of folks, which is nurtured by this homey scene?
