Winter Wonderland

Yesterday afternoon it started snowing and kept it up most of the evening. With the light dusting of snow and sleet we got the night before the snow quickly accumulated (about 6 inches per DH) This is a scene out our back door.











This is another scene in the back yard. The trees all belong to our neighbors.



DH and I came home early from work so he could shovel the driveway while it was still daylight. He had his workout, that's for sure! From about that point down to the cul-de-sac he just did a single car width. A special challenge when backing out tomorrow morning. DD17 will really have to be careful :-)








This little tree sits right outside our front door. I thought it was so cute with the snow heaped all over it like fluffy white frosting.

This is the kind of weather that I like to observe from the warmth and comfort of my home!

God's timing

I love it when things happen that reveal to me God's perfect timing. I moderate a Yahoo group that stitches squares for charities that make quilts for sick children and we often do a stitchalong for a particular theme to help the charity gather a 'stash' of squares for emergencies when a child cannot wait the 9 months or so that it takes to do a complete theme just for that child.
Recently the group decided to do a stitchalong of the EMS Baby Animals and planned to send the squares to some of the charities. The ladies really fell in love with these cute little critters and we had 20 signups in no time.
This week Love Quilts opened a new child (Breonna) who wants a quilt of EMS Babies. So we have a home for all those squares before we even send them. Some will be duplicates of what others stitch but they may have to use duplicates to get the 35 necessary to make the quilt. Any that they cannot use for Breonna's quilt will be stored in the Any Child stash for emergency cases. Only God could have known that the need would be there!
Here is a picture of the chart I am stitching- I am almost halfway done.


And these are my favorites of the ones that our group has already completed - I couldn't choose just one :-) These were stitched by Raynett (TX) and Wilma (WA).

Menu Monday

Well it is 11 p.m. on Sunday evening so I am going to go ahead and post the menu for this week. I am trying to use some of the freezer meals to make things simpler. I think I will have to keep doing the freezer meals to always have a couple weeks in the freezer. If I do 5 each week it would not be nearly the task that 25 was. I look at recipes now and say to myself - that could be done as a freezer meal :-)
This week will be a Weight Watcher challenge. With dinner out 2 evenings and Super Bowl snack food on Sunday I doubt I will lose any weight this week. I'll just be happy to not gain any!

Monday -
Smothered Steak (freezer meal)
Salad
Asparagus

Tuesday -
Spinach and Artichoke Pie (freezer meal)
Caprese Style Salad

Wednesday-
Southwestern Slow Cooker Chicken and Potato Soup (leftover from Sunday) or a large chef salad

Thursday -
No cooking - some ladies are going to a local smokehouse to encourage a friend who is going through a divorce. Her wedding anniversary is Thursday.

Friday -
No cooking - Marriage retreat

Saturday -
Southwestern Turkey Sandwiches
Baked chips
Dill pickles
Carrots

Sunday -
Super Bowl party food

Flowers in a shoe

This is the third quilt square I have stitched for the Stitchers' Challenge at Quilts for Seniors. I bought this chart as a kit and have just been waiting for a reason to stitch it. This is for the gardening theme of the challenge. I think I may have to do a second one for our purple bathroom.

Books

I love to read - especially fiction with a little romance and suspense. I think that is how I 'escape' sometimes and live vicariously through the characters. Some of my favorite authors right now are Debbie Macomber (I'm reading her Cedar Cape series), Maggie Sefton and Cleo Coyle. It is very interesting to me to notice the new genre of books - stories of multiple characters all revolving around a common theme like a hobby or locale.

The Debbie Macomber series is about a town in Washington and you meet several characters in the first book that continue throughout the series. Each book revolves around the one main story (based on the family who lives at the address in the title) but also has the other story lines flowing parallel in the book. In the second book, she added a few new characters and briefly mentioned some that were more prominent in the first book. Reading them makes me feel like part of the homey community and I want to read the next one just to find out how everyone is doing :-)




I just finished her second book, 204 Rosewood Lane. These are books that once I start, all I want to do is read. In this one she resolves the 'missing spouse' from the first book and adds some romantic twists and a couple pregnancies to keep the reader waiting for the next book.











Currently I am reading Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton. In her first book the main character has to deal with the death of her aunt, the last of her family (she thinks :-) which was the result of a vagrant trying to rob her in her home (or so the officials think). Of course it couldn't be that easy or there wouldn't be much to write about.
She quickly becomes friends with the staff and clientele at the yarn shop/coffee house next door and even takes up knitting. Of course, the main character is instrumental in solving the mystery of her aunt's death and thus begins the series.
In this second book, one of the suppliers to the yarn shop is found murdered by the main character - so here we go again. It also is an easy read with a core group of characters that continue from book to book.
I did learn a few helpful knitting tips and how alpaca farms operate. Each book has a pattern and recipe so that is also a plus.



All my reading is not just fluffy romantic mysteries though. I read The True Woman by Susan Hunt as part of a ladies Bible study this fall and winter. It was a good book and created a lot of really good discussion and sharing. Each chapter begins with a real life story of a woman and her struggle (many really hit home!). It helped me to see how God has given women a special place in His plan and that we have a great responsibility to our husband and children - but also that He has given us each other for encouragement and support. We need to be developing relationships with other women within our church family - not just the 'Hello, How are you?" on Sunday morning but really getting to know them.
Our church is starting a "Spritual Sister" program which grew out of Secret Sisters that we have done for several years. Women who wish to participate are matched up by a drawing of names and they are to touch base every week with prayer requests and accountability for their walk with God. My spiritual sister is a vibrant young mother of 3 (early teen and preteens) and very active with her children. I'm excited about getting to know her better and developing a God-honoring prayer partnership.
Last quarter, I attended a women-only Sunday School class which studied a book by Susan Hunt called By Design. It also was a good reminder of our special purpose in God's plan and ways that we minister to His people. There are some new things happening in our church community because of that.

One of the ladies is going through a divorce and her wedding anniversary is 1/29. She will be home alone that night as her ex-husband will have their daughter so some of us have invited her to go out to eat and have our own little 'encouragement party'. She was so happy to have something to do that night! And we all have an excuse for a night out :-)

Cross stitch houses

This is a house that I cross stitched for the Stitcher's Challenge at Quilts for Seniors.
There are 6 themes and each stitcher will stitch one square in each theme before the end of June.
If desired, the stitcher may stitch 2 squares for one of the themes and omit another one.

I chose to do 2 house squares and will not do one of the other themes. Both the house charts are from a kit that we used in 1994 for our family ornaments. I had a hard time deciding which 2 houses to stitch.




This is the other square. I know a lot of the older men have been volunteer firemen in their youth (or at least a lot of them that I know) and thought they would like a firehouse.

Freezer Meals

My sister came to visit last weekend and we made 50 freezer meals (25 for each of us) with the help of DD19 and DD17. We spent a lot of time chopping and dicing fresh vegetables before assembling the meals. I couldn't resist taking a picture of all the veggies before we got started.

We worked from about 8 am until 4 pm with a short break for lunch. When we got done we were more than happy to go out to O'Charley's for supper.

On Sunday morning I made a fritatta for breakfast and a spicy vegetable soup for lunch using the extra vegetables. Mostly we had onions, red and green peppers and mushrooms left over from the meals. A lot of the recipes called for diced vegetables by the cup and it is hard to judge how many cups you can get from a pepper or onion. I added some canned tomatoes (one can with chilies), frozen corn and green beans to the soup. We also used only part of a bag of frozen hash brown for the freezer meals so I used some of those in the soup. It was good - but it sure opened up the sinuses.