Happy Veterans Day

Today is a very important day. A day that should mean more than just the day off school or work. A day that every American should consider and observe. This is the day we honor those who serve our country. Who make many sacrifice's and ask for little in return. People who lose valuable time with their families and sometimes their lives protecting the rest of us. I believe we should consider them and thank them every day of the year, but especially on this day set aside for us to honor them and their courageous commitment.

My father spent 25 years serving our nation in the Army. Life in the Army isn't always easy and is never predictable. Being an Army Brat I was exposed to many different places, cultures and beliefs. I was resentful at times that someone else got to make decisions about our lifes... where we would live, when my dad would be home and how long we could stay. My dad was in Vietnam when I was born and didn't get to meet me until I was almost a year old. I don't feel like I missed that time (I was a baby) but I know he does. As I got older, I realized that there was great benefit to living our life in the Army. Not many kids get to do many of the things we did living in Germany and we experienced so many great adventures that now overshadow the moving around. I only wish the technology of today was around then.. with facebook and email -we could have stayed in touch with so many people who are fondly remembered from the places we have lived.

I am grateful that my father believed in our country, that he was (and is) passionate about this country and that he did such a great service for all those years. I am very proud of all he accomplished for our country.

Thanks to him, and to all of the others, all of our veterans, for preserving our liberty and our nation. America is much more than just a spot on the map, or a nationality, and you all represent the best of it.

Menu Plan Monday

This is a super busy week. That said I have our menu planned down to the last item to make it easier and to be sure we eat well and healthy each night!

Monday: Homemade Chili Dogs (dogs and chili in crockpots), tater tots, brocolli
Tuesday: Fried Chicken Legs, rice and peas
Wednesday: Salisbury Steak (crockpot), mashed potatoes corn
Thursday: Italian Beef hoagies (Crockpot), green salad
Friday: really hoping for a date night out!
Saturday: Meatball Sandwiches (crockpot), potato salad and fries
Sunday: Roast Chicken (crockpot), stuffing, peas

So it is finally Sunday night...

It's been a looooong few days... Thursday the book fair was delivered. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the book fair -it is at the elementary school and I have been in charge of it 2x a year for the last 7 years (this is year 8... book fair #15). It is ALOT of work. My mom is my co-chair and she helps out a bunch.. I don't know what I would do without her. This is our last year.. next year another pair of ladies are taking over (they are helping & learning this year) and we will assist them their first year ... which is our family's last year at the elementary school It means 7 days of being at school 8 hours a day.. without even getting paid! It is long and tough on my body... but so worth it as I talk with the kids about books and stories and reading.. plus my kid wants me to do it.

So Thursday we were to the school at 11:45 for set up. We received 12 cases and 60 boxes of books.. we hefted and moved those boxes, got the cases set up and unloaded everything.. transforming our school's library into a book store. Usually we have about 6-7 people for set up .. this time there were 5 of us.. and we did it in record time ..2 hours. Then at 2:30 the teachers started previewing and making their classroom wishlists. We were there until 3:45 then hightailed it to the middle school for Steven's basketball game. The team won and he played several minutes near the end. Then home and got dinner for everyone and Jackson and his dad headed to karate. I headed to the grocery store and then got things ready for the morning that weren't done yet.

Friday I spent the day at the school... Jackson and I left home at 7:35 and went to Starbucks.. meeting my mom at the school about 8 a.m. We finished up with what needed to be done and classes started touring (new class every 20 minutes) at 8:50... school got out at 12:50 and the day had flown by... Jack was back and we continued selling and labeling books until 3:30 p.m. We left to go home and the boys headed off with my mom for a sleepover. This was the first Friday in months Steven hasn't had baseball practice (because it is dark at 5) and they took advantage of that to go to their grandparents. So, not ones to miss an opportunity... my sweetie and I headed to a late matinee of Role Models. We enjoyed the movie for the most part.. right up until the power went off at the theater 3-4 minutes before the end of the movie... the whole theater, the strip mall across the street and even the traffic light we all out... no power anywhere (good thing for cell phone screens/batteries when exiting a dark theater with 200 other people). We stopped for chinese food, then stopped for dog food and headed home. I was in bed at 8:45 and I am sure asleep by 9... so exhausted and every part of my body hurt. Whether from the setup and moving all those 40 lb boxes of books or standing all day and twisting and turning... I hurt.

Saturday was gray and gloomy. We got up, took the dogs to the park and then headed out to see Ciera play softball. We were only able to catch about 3/4 of the game and she was on first base the whole time. We did see her hit once and she really hustled. Then everybody headed home and I left again immediately to go to a cooking class. My weight watcher leader offered a class on cooking, meal planning and freezing food. I learned lots about spices and foods you can freeze that I never expected.... Stopped to pick up some prescriptions, saw they were giving flu shots -what the heck, got mine.... then realized I should go ahead and pick up Steven's contacts that come in... did that and finally got home, quickly had dinner ready and then settled in with Steven and Jonathan to watch The Two Towers... we only made it thru one disc and decided to watch the other 1/2 later. I was tired again.. and headed to bed at 9.

Sunday Steven headed out to an early practice for baseball... 9:30 a.m. and I enjoyed my coffee and the paper. About 11 I went out the park to watch them practice. Once we got home we got the laundry going and I set about cleaning house. Jackson was so sweet and helpful --he did half the sweeping and mopping for me.. so much help! I finished that and took Steven to pick up his new glasses at the mall then stopped at Sams for some groceries. Came home and went crazy! I turned the meat we bought at Sam's into 3 meatloafs (one for dinner), 2 meals of meatballs, Salisbury Steak patties, Shepards Pie, sloppy joes. I made 10 lbs of mashed potatoes (although I didn't have to peel the potatoes, my sweetie offered to!) some for tonight and some for later. Got all the dishes washed up and then watched the Amazing Race with the family.

Now I am off to bed and ready for the week to start.. book fair -here I come! I may be scarce this week.. but I hope to get some photo's from the weekend posted .....

What a day....

{This post is long and you may not agree... however this is my opportunity to document for my family the feelings of the day...If you don't agree, that is ok. I ask that comments not be political.. thanks for understanding!}


Tuesday, November 5th 2008 started the same was as all other days. We got up, I packed lunches, kids went to school, I worked in Jackson's class..... then I had book fair stuff to do and dinner to make. I made chicken parmesan (enough for us + my parents for dinner and 4 more meals!) which took a couple hours to do. At 2:52 when Jonathan got home I was making a cup of tea -hoping to finally get a chance to sit and drink it while relaxing for a moment. I had been on my feet and going for hours at that point. It was a dream not meant to be... we had to leave almost immediately so we could exercise our right to vote on the way. So we headed off to the Grace Church on Baseline (a new voting place for us) and after giving our address to 4 people, each telling us to move to the next one... we signed our names and took our ballots. We, in Placer County, have scantron like forms, we must bubble in each and every bubble -so it took a bit of time. After placing our votes and getting our I voted stickers... we headed off to Steven's basketball game.

The game did not go so well. The team lost by 7 points to their rival school.. it was a much more intense game as this was against the rival team -you could tell by the change in our coach. Last game he sat in his chair, leaned back, leg crossed at the knee ... this game he stood, he paced and he squatted at the edge of the court --and he yelled. We could hear him (heck, everyone could hear him). He had words with the refs a couple of times (but they both had attitude) when blantant fouls on our boys were not called. Our defense just wasn't what it needed to be. Unfortunately, Steven did get the chance to help with that -as he (and 3 other kids) didn't play. Maybe tomorrow's game will be better? I hope so --the coach had told the boys that this rival team would probably be the hardest they would face.. so I can hope the other "easier" team games will be less intense.

So we headed home for dinner... my parents were able to join us which was nice. The chicken was made, so I put it in the oven and turned the water on for the spaghetti. It took FOREVER to boil.. I realized too late because I had the burner on medium instead of high... my bad. So it took almost an hour.. but then we had chicken parm, spaghetti and garlic french bread and it was yummy.

After dinner Steven and I were watching last weeks 90210 when Jonathan yelled down that the race had been called for Obama. So we turned on the election coverage. After a bit, Steven decided to head to bed (his mind reeling from the election discussion we were having I'm sure) and I continued to watch, unable to turn away from the screen.

I watched John McCain speak and I believe he was sincere.. but the words weren't right. They sounded off coming from him plus he was reading the words. This is something I have felt over the course of the campaign.. that his speech writer just has a different "talk" than him and it shows. I appreciated the tone and message of his address, I'm glad I got to see it live and in the moment.

When Obama spoke I was moved. I have always liked him, enjoyed hearing him talk in interview and recognizing the passion he has for making the world a better place. Also, I liked Hillary, so my initial concerns were based on his lack of government experience and whether that would hinder him in fixing what the current administration has broken. Over the course of the campaign and debates, I have come to admire him. I find him to be a very thoughtful speaker. I was told he writes his own speeches -which would make sense to me -as he always seems to me to be speaking from his heart, without pause, without awkwardness. His speeches are absolutely in his voice, the same way you hear him speak in interviews. Obama has always seemed to me to be highly intelligent and well spoken. His wife has shown in interviews that she is also very intelligent and passionate about the same things.

I may not agree with all of his positions, but I am struck by his vision. He reminds me of JFK -in the way he speaks, acts and inspires the people of his generation. He is only 10 years older than me (which makes me feel old, because the president is usually much older than me) and had kids who are younger than mine... that puts in a certain sense of solidarity for me - that maybe his ideas, causes and actions are that of someone living a life in the same stage as me. Which is how many felt about JFK in the books I have read on him.. he was the people's president in that way.

So while I was not certain, I was not a follower or believer before... I will say that today, I believe we are on the right path... I believe that this historic election will change the course of our country forever, for the good. I am proud to be an American and I believe we can!

Menu Plan Monday

This week looks to be a busy one. I have planned out our meals to help keep us on track. We have lowered our November food budget to $200 --to see if we can do it! I think I can --my goal is to feed us healthy meals and snacks for the entire month.... I have made a menu of all breakfast, lunch and dinners with snacks included... so the challenge is on....

Monday: Shepards Pie, Green Beans and salad
Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti, glazed carrots and salad
Wednesday: Pork chops, rice and peas
Thursday: BBQ chicken sandwiches on homemade rolls, tater tots and brocolli
Friday: Meatball Sandwiches, oven fries and green salad
Saturday: Penne and sausage, french bread and raw veggies
Sunday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn

Now we may switch the nights or eat out of order.. but this is the plan for this week.

For a ton of other inspirational weekly meal plans, be sure you head over to Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie’s site. She saves me each and every week by holding this event- makes me feel like I’m forced to menu plan, and that’s a fantastic thing! You can participate too if you like- even if you don’t blog. And if you don’t blog- you really should! Even if you only menu plan once a week, imagine looking back at two months worth of menu plans at a glance- that could be very helpful!

Halloween 2008

So this was the seen at our house this year. Jackson was a killer clown, Logan was Scream (without the mask) and Steven and friends didn't dress up. We started with a pizza dinner. Brian, Cyn, my mom and dad, Logan and us. I also made Pasta e Fagioli soup for with dinner -just my mom and I had that. Then the kids got dressed and went trick or treating. My dad and Cyn took them around.. they stayed out until it started pouring rain, then they returned. My mom and I sat on the front steps to hand out candy --so Sammy wouldn't go completely crazy hearing the doorbell ring. Since Steven and his friend Kevin as well as Brian and Jonathan were inside, the dogs were pretty calm.

Steven invited a few friends over. They came after dinner. After hanging out for a while, they sat down to watch Gremlins with Brian and Jonathan. We popped some microwave pop corn and they watched the moveie. Logan and Jack watched when they got back (you can just see them in the background behind the couch). It was a fun night overall, ending with everyone safe and happy.

Remembering my Gram....

My grandmother's birthday was on Halloween. As my mom and I sat talking, handing out the candy, I realized that my post about her had not gone up. I know this is a few days late, but I also know that she would understand. The following is what I wrote while back home for Gram's funeral. I was sitting in her house, with my laptop and as I wrote the tears flowed down my cheeks. As I read this last week, contemplating posting those same words, the floodgates of my tears opened again. I miss her everyday and reading those words reminded me of the changes I made in my life after she was gone. I only wish that she could have known how she inspired me... and everyone else. Wow, more tears..... but happy, remembering ones.


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My Gram was an amazing woman. She could make a meal out of almost anything. She was always ready for fun –be it teaching me to cook or playing hide & seek. It wasn’t often she said no, or later. Unlike most grown-ups I knew she always made the time to
do whatever I wanted to do. I loved to see her sitting in her chair reading a book. I believe that her nightly reading encouraged me to do the same –every night I sit down to read at least a chapter of some book. My Gram lived a simple, yet full life. Instead of filling her home with lots of possessions she filled her heart with many precious memories. I have many of memories of her being there, always kind and warm and loving.

I want to be more like her. I want to live each day according to my beliefs, never being negative towards others or myself. I want to fill my heart with happy memories of my children doing ordinary things in ordinary ways. Not every memory has to be filled with achievements or accountings. It is the little things that matter –my Gram taught me that by the way she lived her life. While it didn’t sink in when she was with us, now in her house without her I sense it. I feel the joy she felt, the comfort and security of this loving place and I see the truth. It is not the things that matter – it is the people. So what if your carpet is old or stained, at least you have carpet. It doesn’t matter if your couch is one day old or ten years old it is still a place to sit.

What does matter is what you meant to those around you, how they know they mean everything to you. Why spend precious money or time searching for something that is right there waiting for you – your family. I will never again groan that I could be getting something done at home while watching my boys play baseball. I will not choose to be working when my children want to play. I am going to try to stop saying in just a minute –when that minute never comes.

BC 6-6-04

On this day.....

39 years ago.. my parents were married in New Jersey. Today we are on the other side of the country, but they are
still so happy together. I took this shot of them last night... so it is a really a day early (and it showcases my new photoshop
skills... ) but it's them and I wanted to honor them today.

Growing up, it seemed to me that people got married and were married forever. Today that is not always the case, but it is
what I was looking for. My parents were my inspiration in married life.. and that still hasn't changed. They got married, had my
brother and me and lived thru our childhoods. That in itself is a milestone. Now they are there for their grandkids and us, every
day.

I just wanted to say Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad.... we all love you!




PS... Halloween pictures coming tomorrow... the anniversary post has bumped them a day.