Christmas Cards

Have you ever received one of those Christmas cards that doesn't mention a thing about Christmas? They annoy me something awful. Why send out a generic "winter/peace/holiday/ card under the guise of a Christmas card? Years ago the Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays cards actually meant something before they became the hallmark of the politically correct. One of the local stores here actually has a special section within their vast array of "Holiday" cards to designate which ones have anything to do with Christmas.

George and I like Christmas cards. The ones that actually acknowledge the holiday we are celebrating. It's always a pleasure for me to pick out several choices of beautiful cards with a heartfelt message. We do a lot of cards every year; many are for our business customers and the rest are for friends and family. I do a few each night while we watch our favorite Beverly Hillbillies episodes.

Menu Plan Monday

I forgot this was Turkey Week Thanksgiving. It would've been really helpful to remember that before I picked up a pound of shaved deli turkey. Sooooo we will be eating a lot of turkey. My husband is trying to eat lunches during the week and right now is liking a bagel with cream cheese and turkey on it. I imagine he will be wanting to switch over to ham next week.

Sunday: Oven "Fried" pork chops, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli

Monday: Turkey BLT's, Baked Beans
(Our Turkey BLT's are whole wheat bread with turkey, lettuce and tomato and then a strip or two of bacon tossed in; a thin slice of red onion is a great addition too)

Tuesday: Taco's with all the fixin's
 
Wednesday: Turkey Pot Pie and 7 Layer Salad (We are going to my in-laws on Thanksgiving and my item to bring is a 7 Layer Salad. Whenever I make one of these salads I also make a small, one meal serving sized one for George and I. You know, as long as you've got all the ingredients out and ready to go...7 layer salad isn't something I make all the time)
 
Thursday: Thanksgiving with the in-laws. This will be my first time tasting a brined turkey. Looking forward to that; I hear they are very moist. Other than the turkey and the 7 Layer salad we are taking, I'm not sure what all is on the menu.
 
George's mom really lays out the red carpet on the desserts. No doubt there will be at least 3 or 4 goodies to chose from (and leftovers to take home). I love it when George's mom sends home goodies. We usually stick them in the freezer and then I haul them out as "emergency dessert" for those days when our weekly dessert runs out early and George is dying for something sweet after a meal. As you can imagine with a mom that lays out the red carpet on desserts, George just can conceive of a meal without something sweet afterwards. He keeps me busy baking up something regularly.
 
Friday:  Tentatively a pizza get together at our house for the whole gang.
 
My youngest sister and my little nephew are in town for a few days. And, it's a total surprise for my mom! Shhhh... Kendra and I have almost let the cat of the bag in our excitement several times now. Hopefully Mom doesn't suspect anything.

Don't Miss An Opportunity To Encourage Others

Never miss the opportunity to encourage somebody. I shudder to think how many times I've missed the boat and not encouraged someone when I had the chance. Life it too short to be the one that pulls others down or or the one that never says "good job; way to go!". We know how discouraging it is to be on the receiving end, why would we would to cause others to feel that way?

A few weeks ago I had the chance to screw up big time and let the air of my sister's sail,  and I almost did just that.  My little sister who is every bit as frugal and financially conservative as I am did the frugal unthinkable -- she rented a workspace. More specifically an art studio. To someone like me that enjoys art, but doesn't really "get it", my first thought when she excitedly called to tell me the news was "You did WHAT?! Why on EARTH would you waste good money on something like that?!"

Thankfully, after asking for some wisdom from God in how to respond gracefully, I was able to share her excitement of a dream fulfilled and encourage her. She said that my comments were the only good words she had heard that day -- whoa... and I almost said something negative and critical to crush her?

My sister has always had a natural gift for art -- as the older sister, I used to try and copy her pictures and drawings. She's gone to college to learn more and perfect her techniques and is quite accomplished, even selling some of her work.  The colored pencil of red raspberries above is one of my favorites. She created it years ago and to her it has a million faults, but I think it's beautiful! She did this completely from memory, every thorn and berry is perfect. It reminds me of those happy summer days when we picked gallons of raspberries with from our berry patch.

Menu Plan Monday

After the disastrous Stouffer's Lasagna experience a couple of weeks ago (it wasn't nearly as good as George remembered) we will be having real lasagna this week!

Monday

Homemade Salisbury Steaks, Mashed Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts (this is our new favorite supper; the leftovers reheat very well)

Tuesday

Lasagna, Garlic Toast & Garden Salad

Wednesday

Lemon Dill Baked Tilapia, Broccoli and Rice Pilaf

Thursday

Chinese Takeout (must remember to take roast out of the freezer to thaw for Sunday!!!)

Friday

Pizza

Frugal Friday: Get Some Tires

Yeah, yeah, I know, Frugal Friday is all about saving money. Not spending it. Well, I'm going to share two of my life experiences to make the point that sometimes spending money up front saves us a lot more than money down the road.

Daddy always said he never had 2 nickles to rub together. As my parents were working hard to build up our old farm, money was something that didn't come quickly enough and when we had some, it went faster than greased lightning. In spite of that we always had two vehicles. A car and the farm truck. Technically they were still vehicles, even though they were usually approaching 20 years old and usually only one of them was in running condition. You can just imagine the state of the tires. Once in a while my dad would get somebody else's used tires so we could upgrade the ones that were the worst off. But, all the tires were still varying degrees of bald.

When I was about 7 or 8 we were all piled in Daddy's truck about to make a bend in one of those old narrow country roads where one car has to pull over if another comes from the opposite direction. We hit a slick spot and started spinning, one tire slid completely off the road. Normally that wouldn't be too much of a problem, except this road is cut into a hill side and there was a 40 foot drop if we went over. Nobody breathed as we sat there teetering for what seemed at the time like an eternity. Finally Daddy, said "nobody move!" in the most serious voice I'd ever heard him say. Somehow he manged to get out and get help. A neighbor was able to pull us out with a tractor and we were on our way. Mom was quiet the whole time we were tottering on the edge, but I remember a lot of "discussion" over bald tires on the way home. That episode must have earned her a few well deserved gray hairs.

Fast forward a number of years and I'm on my own and needing a new set of tires. Money was tight and I figured, they're rubber right? Isn't rubber supposed to be grip-y" They should work fine until every last bit of tread is gone! Wrong. On one rainy day I slid all the way down a small hill through a stop sign. Thank goodness no one was there! That really scared me and I've been all about keeping reliable tires on a car since.

With snow in our forecast for this weekend, I've decided it's time for a new set for my car. George is needing a new set for his truck too. We put quite a few miles on our vehicles (one drawback about country living) and that means tires need to be replaced sooner than you might think. Fortunately one of our good friend; our race car driver of a neighbor is a manager at a tire shop and gives us a great deal. Here's a few tips he shared with us about tires to make them last longer:

1. Don't race! I'm sure this doesn't apply to 99% of us, but he and his wife both race and they go through 2 or 3 sets in a weekend. (Good thing they both work at a tire shop, huh?)

2. Rotate your tires. Every 5k-10k miles. When I lived in the city, this was once a year for me. Now that I put a lot more miles on, I need to do it more often. The first two years we lived out here I didn't and TRUST me; it makes a HUGE difference in how long your tires last.

3. Be careful of dry-rot, especially if you park outside and you live in a sunny climate. Ever see those small cracks all over the sidewalls on an older tire? Well, that's dry rot (I'm sure there is a more technical name for this). You can buy a set of 65,000 mile warranted tires and still have plenty of tread left, and yet your tires are junk because of the dry rot. So, if this is a problem for you, only buy cheaper tires where the tread wears down faster, because you will need to replace them sooner anyway. It makes no sense to pay for tires where the tread lasts longer if you need to replace them long before then.

4. Get the right tire for where you live Another example: when my little sister drove up here from San Antonio in the dead of winter, she ran right off the road, in a snow storm. The first thing the tow truck driver told her was to get some tires with more 'aggressive tread' if she was going to be here for the winter. We are just south enough that salt works most of the time so we don't have much snow pack on the main roads in the winter so we put all season radials on with aggressive tread. Up north at the lake where my in-laws live, they don't use salt, because it won't melt snow and ice much. They use sand on the roads, if they use anything. Consequently they have a snow pack for much of the winter and they use snow tires until May and then change back to radials or "regular tires". Other parts of our country, people use metal studded snow tires or chains. It's really important to find out what works best for your climate and then go with that.

This post is linked to FF at LifeasMOM

A Wedding

Not marrying until you are a confirmed lifetime bachelor runs in my husband's family. This weekend, we had the pleasure of attending the wedding of my husband's youngest brother. He married at the same age George did: 47. There is still one more brother to go, he's 49 and you better believe I'm praying for God to send him a wonderful mate that is just right for him. And, in case he's too dense to realize it's her when she comes along, I'm praying God slaps him upside the head to get his attention.

The wedding was the simplest affair, held in a beautiful little country church up north at the lake. Candles and the slanting afternoon sun streamed in through the stained glass windows to light the knotty pine interior. The bride and groom were glowing with happiness and the anticipation of a rewarding lifetime together.

So often, we are tempted to view attending a wedding as an inconvenience, (so much to prepare for, the expenses, travel) when really, we should think of it as an invitation to share in one of the most precious, important moments in a person's life. A lot like a birth, weddings are. A wedding is the formal pledge to take two separate lives and create one new life, as husband and wife. The real work of this pledge plays out in the day to day business of life. Married life is a tremendous adjustment from single life; there are fights, hurt feelings, and days without words. But, in among all the trials and adjustments of making two lives into one, you get that inward elation, of yes! we are finally doing this! we are becoming one, not just in body, but mind and spirit.