Another article by Sara for Mom!

well, Christmas is just around the corner! Isn't it funny it seems like Thanksgiving was just yesterday. well, as you all know we had twenty some people in our house on Thanksgiving ! It went pretty well my nephew's friends were very nice. And all of my kids and son in law went black Friday shopping. They had a lot of fun but didn't buy much at all. Later that night I met up with them and we all went to the mall and I got some fiesta silverware! I absolutely love it! well for Christmas this year me and my family are going down to Arizona with my brother and his daughter to spend Christmas with my parents and Peter's parents. I can not wait to get back in the sun! now this week is a hectic week . Sara is serving at the Christmas banquet, Luke is going to his first Christmas banquet, then Luke is having a class party and Sara is having two friends over. so it is going to be one busy week. is anyone looking forward to snow i am not but my children can not wait for some snow and hopefully many snow days. i am counting the days till we go to Arizona. what is everybody else doing for Christmas??

Guest post ...by Sara Jo for Mom

I just recently got back from beautiful Arizona. It was simple marvelous, I went down on Monday and came back on Friday. Once I got back I found out that my daughters got me some new pillows for my living room! They go great with the new rug! Except the rug is one of those rugs where you have to vacuum a certain way, but oh well. Meanwhile Thanksgiving is just around the corner and there are twenty some people coming out to our house for thanksgiving. Two people are my nephew's friends who have never had a real home cooked Thanksgiving meal or a Thanksgiving out of the cities, but anyways that should be really interesting. I hope they like the food. Everyone is bringing something Sara is making pies, I am making stuffing,Jo is making potatoes and so on. What is everyone doing for their Thanksgiving? Is it going to be as crazy as ours? Tonight we just had potato soup and corn bread. Yum! It seems to be a perfect night for soup. Tonight is just going to be a relaxing night. We had soup, now we are going to watch a movie! It is so good to be back home. :)

SeAsOnS

It has been quite a season for me. People coming and going, some temporarily, some permanently. While most women would LOVE to redecorate and shop for new furnishings, I do not like to.
The last few months have left me feeling bereft. I tend to like order and control over go with the flow~ Oh but the LORD has been faithful through it all As the Bible would say there is a seson for everything- both physically and spiritually I look forward to the end of this season and looking a head to what's in store next.
 Fall is my most FaVoRiTe season of all. Slowly with the changing of the leaves I am feeling anchored again. I love "hunkering down"as my friend Kim would say. I love settling in, making the nest cozy. I just finished setting out the fall decorations, and I have an apple bunt cake in the oven now. It smells so comforting.
I made a CoZy chicken and dumplings stew the other day I want to share the recipe with you~your family will Love it! Plus it's easy pest to make I made mine in my LeCruset Dutch oven Just throw in the amts of ing. That suit your family size.
For the four of us, I used 1c. Cooked chicken cut up 5lg. Carrots (from a friends garden -such a treat)-chopped in big chunks 5 lg. Potatoes -big chunks 1can peas Sauté some onions and garlic 1jar chicken gravy 1can cream of chicken soup 1 box chicken broth I put it in the oven @300 for about 5 hrs - then topped it with refrigerator biscuits and baked till they were brown
Put some candles on the table and enjoy !

This & That

I took some time the other day when it was rainy to catch up on some friends blogs, and realized how much fun it is to read what everyone is doing, thinking etc... I also realized that I had not done a good job on keeping up either.

So...Project 52 has turned into Project 26 - Peters idea since we are so busy, I work PM's and we have been married 26 yrs ! Smart man.

We have read books, talked lots, went for icecream@ BJ's (love their icecream)oh and so much more... mostly simple easy - just being together stuff- We did go to Wisconsin to pick up something and then to Maple Grove to spend the noc recently. We had a grand time. It was so beautiful out...we ate at Granite City - let me just say that I LoVE the meatloaf - seriously you have to try it and you will know ! We went to the Mpls. Farmers market and had a fun time. soooooo many goodies - plants, funky clothes, cheeses, breads, fruit, veggies, herbs, people playing music etc...love the atmosphere ! I got a Hen & Chicks plant to put in my outdoor rooster planter.

We also went to Turnstyle and I found all kinds of goodies. There are lots of them around the cities. My trusty blackberry came in handy for getting us to the goods!
I can't forget that one of the best parts was that
ohhhh my, we had Whoopie Pies; they were heavenly !!
For my To Do list I have purchased (not yet planted) a pink and white bleeding heart plant, and found the perfect rug for the Dining room !

To Do

It's raining ! Yea ! This is definetly what my kids needed to help clear up their allergies.
I love rainy days. Perfect time to curl up with some craisin scones with pomegranite jelly and some cream coffee, a good book(currently The Mitford Bedside Companion). Love, LoVe days like these.
It's also days like this that get me thinking of a To Do list - not just all work, but fun things too !

So far my spring/summer to do list looks like this:

I really want to get a garden planted -I have the goods to go into the ground, just haven't the time yet.
Go biking with the Fam on the bike trail -Maybe to Dalton for ice cream?
Geocashing - sounds so fun, would love to find somewhere close to try...Who wouldn't love a treasure hunt?
Organize everyones rooms - mine included
Plant a bleeding heart - pink or white - maybe both
Refinish an antique dresser
Drop lots of stuff @ GWI
Gather the stuff to drop @ GWI
Read books with L/S
Paint the back entry
Go thru my files and purge/organize
Sand and paint the doors
Ride my dirtbike
Go to Itasca with the fam
Finish the quilt Sara and I started
Walk with my friend
Have window seat cushions made for attic
Paint drawers
Go to Grannys for "before lunch" ice cream
Hang @ the beach with friends
Go to House on the Rock with my Fam
Plant tulips -lots
Have breakfast @ the Riverside with Peter
Roast marshmellows around the bon fire
Write notes
Read, Read, Read.....
Have a summer party with lots of good friends and good food
Organize the old fridge room
Take old paint cans to the recycling center
See my parents more
Learn to make beautiful cards
Refinish the porch floors
Find the "just right" rug for the DR
LIFE = Living Intentionally For Everything
Bless you sweet friends !
How does your to do list look?

Good, Better, Best

So typical of me, to get all excited about blogging, knitting,beading, you name it.....and then to drop it. Usually its for a good reason; too busy doing other things... It's not that I necessarily want to drop it, but it's not always the best use of my time.
I have been doing a lot of reflecting on "good, better, best" use of time.
I can't go back to 9am and do that run over or 1:30 and have that visit with my special friend over. I want to be fully aware and present. I know most of you are, and are thinking what??
example, this am I was playing Farkle(love it) with the kids, when my mom calls... not really giving either the best attention and should of stopped for a minute to really listen.
I have a saying on my board that says " wherever you are physically, be there mentally"
It's a good one don't you think?
Us moms do so much multi-tasking .... talking on phone, correcting paper, folding laundry, you name it. Sometimes it gets to be too much good stuff, and not enough better or best stuff.
My friend Heather, has a Fab Five she has blogged about - I LoVed it ! and being the copy-catter that I am, have adapted it to a Fab Four for me. If I get these (Best) 4 things in each day, then it seems all is well.
1. Quiet time with Jesus
2. Excercise
3. Eat right !
4. Sleep - for me at least 7 hrs if not 8...
I guess I should make it 5 - time with my funny family is so important too!

A day to myself....

A day to my self...Whats a girl to do???
I had a sudden unexpected day to myself recently.
With everyone out the door what to do?
Workout? Shop? Clean that (those) closets out? Organize...Attack the mountains of laundry?Take a nap?
Next thing I know the phones ringing and I'm at the Y.
Walking and talking.
Next run home for a quick shower, and then back to town for lunch with some girlfriends.
As you know, Eatting with good friends is something I love !
I literally left one shop and headed to another for coffee and more visiting with friends.
And that was my day !
Quite different than the usual homeschooling, running kids to band, laundry,cleaning,work-out, go to work day...

HoMe SpUn FriEnDs

My very Favorite !


Hard work in a jar !

Summer goodness

"Roberto"

A chicken that once adorned

my grandmas farm wall

I am a cottage/country gal at heart.

I love puttin my apron on and whippin up a banana bread or having a soup simmering on the stove. I really like how cozy it makes the house smells.

I love cozy little lamps all through out the nooks and crannies making it more cozy.

I love mixed up plaids and flowers.

I love chickens and roosters ( even had real ones once...cute running around, but a farmer I am not. lol)

I LoVe, LOvE canning ! Especially when after all the hard work you have all these beautiful jars lined up lookin so good!

I love that when its cold and snowy and you forgot to get the tomatos for the chili ...Lo and behold in the pantry is a jar of fresh canned summer sun kissed tomoatos ! Yum!

I was so BLESSED today with all these goodies from a homespun friend.

Not only tomatos, but sweet relish, salsa, bread and butter pickles. Jams, wild plum and peach.

and my very favorite chokecherry syrup, oh my! Good thing I am the only one who likes

it or else I would be hiding it !

A taste of summer to cozy up this cold winter day.

Project 52

Realizing how fast time goes by, how much time we spend doing this or that for our kids.... we realized how we needed to spend more "couple time" so this is our concentrated attempt at doing just that.

52 dates this year. 1 each week.

We have went out for breakfast; leaving the kids to fend for themselves. They loved it, and so did we!

We recently had a cheese and wine tasting. After the kids were in bed we opened a bottle of white merlot, sliced the cheeses. We also had some grapes.
I love cheese, however tend to buy the same old ones again and again. Mostly because who knows what some of these funny named cheeses will taste like.
We tried a blue, a delightul champagne parmesean, Gorgonzola, soft swiss, cranberry chipolte and a port.
We had so much fun laughing and talking. We found that we now know to not order anything with gorgonzola in it. Not a favorite. However, the champagne parmesean was great. Surprisingly, I liked the cranberry chipolte better than he did.
We definetly agreed "dating" is something we like to do and worth it to take the time each week.
We hope to go biking and play cribbage and out to a new resturant in a nearby town....just spending time together connecting.
How about you, what kind of dates do you have with your honey?

Good God, Good Food, Good Friends

Good afternoon dear reader,

Today in Minnesota is a rather greyish day. Cold, not by Minnesota standards, but none the less no sunshine.

Quite frankly its the type of day to stay in your pjs, curl up by the fireplace( if you had one) and sip hot coffee with lots of cream and nibble away on lemon cookies. All the while reading a good book. I'm thinking Mitford....

I did not "feel" up to having a house full of ladies and all that entails...but alas, that is just what I did.

I heard Sally in my head- " They aren't coming to see your house. They are coming to see you".

"You don't have to cook a feast, a cracker will do" " It's about the fellowship..."

I am here to tell you it's all true!

Those who love you, well really they don't care that you haven't dusted since who knows how long, or that the childrens things are in disarray. I know I don't think twice about those things when I'm with a loved one. However, we put it on ourselves so often to have "everything just so" that we miss the opportunity to be part of each others lives; if even for a brief time.

So I put a chili in the crockpot, made some good cheesy bread and threw a pie in the oven. We feasted, and giggled and cried.....Oh how good it was to live life with some fellow sojurners on the path of life.