Happy New Year!

I love the beginning of the new year. Just when it feels like the old year is all used up and worn out like a tattered pair of sneakers, we get to start fresh with a brand new one!  At the start of a new year optimism rules; we want to save money, be more organized, lose weight, and finally tackle those issues that have been dragging us down for too long. It's a great feeling!

Of course we have to be realistic and realize that just because we tore the wrapping off a new calendar we aren't going to totally reinvent ourselves. Still, it's nice to have the feeling we can make at least a few positive changes. We can make changes at any time of the year, but there's something about the start of a new year that makes it seem easier and more doable.

My big thing at this time of year is cleaning and more specifically organizing. Oh, how I love to dream this will be the year I finally get the house, our business records and every scrap of paper organized into a perfectly neat and orderly fashion. I dream about knowing the whereabouts of every single thing we own. And, is it too much to ask that all clutter and unwanted/unused items are eliminated?

Oh How Happy You Will Make Me --- Perfectly Organized Bathroom Vanity

This year the seasonal organizing bug bit me earlier than expected and I've been straightening up a storm the past few weeks. I wasn't sure how long this tremendous urge to purge junk, clean, and organize would last so I thought it best to take advantage of it. Trust me, normally I'll let a lot of stuff go so I needed to jump on this feeling. Perhaps I can find a way to bottle and sell this energy, it is that amazing!   A couple of weeks ago I found myself happily rummaging around under the bathroom vanity. Before long I had emptied it of every single item, thoroughly cleaned everything, threw out all the junk, lined the drawers and yes.... even cut paper towel to perfectly line the part that's under the sink.  As I was cutting and fitting the paper towel, I thought to myself that I sure hoped that none of our Christmas company would look under there  and feel bad about their own cleaning skills (or think I'm a total nut) because I would never be that particular under normal circumstances.

Does the "Let's Start Fresh In January" cleaning and organizing but bite you?

The We Are So Done With Holiday Foods! Menu

As great as it was to eat all those yummy once or twice a year foods like sweet potato casserole, baked pineapple and ham and Christmas cookies I am so tired of them! After a few days of leftovers no traditional holiday food sounds even remotely good anymore.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Tuesday: Layered Spaghetti, Garlic Toast, Coleslaw

Wednesday: Tacos with all the fixin's

Thursday: Almond Chicken Casserole, Brussel Sprouts

Friday: Take Out Pizza (thank you to friends for a gift card)

A Very Merry Christmas....... Sort of....

I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you bright new year.

This Christmas wasn't a Christmas we would like to repeat anytime soon as it was spent all day in the emergency room. But in several ways, it was a good Christmas -- just not one we want to repeat.

George had been having quite a bit of lower back pain lately but he felt pretty good Christmas Eve. We had a great laid back Christmas Eve dinner with my sister and her family and George seemed like everything was fine. Later that evening after our company had gone, a cough did him in. Who would've thought a simple cough would be the nail in the coffin so to speak? But it was; that one cough caused something in his back to go off kilter enough to pinch a nerve. He was in horrible pain and barely able to move. Something like this (only much less painful) happened one other time since we've been married and it greatly improved in a day or two, so we didn't go to the hospital right then thinking it would be better in the morning. Christmas Eve night was one long miserable, sleepless night.

Looking back on the matter, I should have insisted George go to the ER as soon as I knew he was suffering like this. If you are ever crawling on the floor in agony, unable to walk it's probably not the kind of pain that will go away on it's own. Go to the hospital for help (and the good drugs) sooner, rather than later.

So, Christmas morning we went to the ER and called our in-laws to cancel dinner. George really lucked out with medical personnel in his family; both brothers and his mother are nurses. So was his grandma. While George clearly did not get the nursing gene passed on to him, he is very grateful that there are so many in his family that did. One of his brother's met us at the ER; it's a real comfort to have some company in there with you and especially good to have someone that knows something about medicine.

After a round of the good IV pain medication an exam and a strong exhortation to follow up with George's family doctor on Monday we left.

As miserable as George was and the inconvenience of spending a day in the ER, on the way home mulling the day, over almost at the same moment we both expressed how grateful and blessed we were.   What first made me express my gratitude was the realization that I could've been driving home alone from the hospital. I mean I actually thought -- "what if I were going home, alone and leaving George there? And, not to recover. How many wives have had to make the long lonely trip home because their husband died? When you look at it from that perspective, anything short of that is a good day. We got to talking over the day and decided we were so very thankful that we had caring, supportive and helpful families, that we had health insurance to help with the cost, and there was a hospital to go to and that we won't be without food or shelter because George won't be working for a while. We are truly blessed.

Christmas night when I closed my eyes to sleep nothing came to mind but all of our blessings and how good God is to us  Sure, our day didn't go as planned and George had an awfully long, hard time of it, but honestly that wasn't what came to mind. Only the good things.

A More Exciting Menu

Well, I'm still lacking inspiration for cooking; but I did plan two meals this week that sounded very tasty that we haven't had for a while and they were delicious! Just what I needed. I'm planing to do a pantry challenge this January to clean up some older stores of food in my pantry and freezer; so I sorted and organized everything in our pantry last week. Surprisingly once everything was all neatened up and organized there wasn't as much extra stuff hiding in there as I thought!

Here's our menu for this week.

Sunday: Cheeseburgers, Sweet & Sour Coleslaw
Monday: Egg Pie (as George likes to call it) & English Muffins
Tuesday: Chicken Cutlets, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Green Beans
Wednesday: Leftovers from Mon & Tues (good thing George isn't picky)
Thursday: Goulash, Coleslaw
Friday: Christmas Eve Dinner (details in a separate post)
Saturday: Same deal as Friday

How to Have a Merry Christmas: Reduce Your Expectations

A disclaimer: I already know that I need therapy for my issues  and if you ever come visit me, I promise to try really hard to act normal. : )

I am a control freak. And a really big neat freak -- according to people that have children. I don't really think I am (a neat freak; I KNOW I'm a control freak) because I've only, always lived with myself and a husband that's the same way, so I don't notice it much. Do you know Kate of Kate Plus 8 fame? Well, I would be like her x10 with only one or two children. Don't laugh; it's true.

Cooking Baking Day

We had started out planning an actual cooking baking day. But, we didn't have very much time to spend together and because we wanted to do the fun part -- the decorating, we changed the plan from making 3 kinds of cookies to just one and I baked them the day before so we could all frost them together and then have a quick bite to eat for lunch. Just because you can't do everything you start out planning doesn't mean the event is a bust; even doing a little bit can be fun.

Knowing my  control freak nature you will completely understand that inviting a group of people over for a cookie baking/frosting day is like begging for a stroke -- even if they are all adults and don't plan on shoving frosting up their nose. But, I really wanted to bake some cookies and have fun visiting with my mom and sister while doing it. We seldom get some girl time like this and we all wanted to do it. It's proof they love me; even knowing how I am, they were willing to come over and use frosting.

In preparation for today's fun festivities I prayed. Yes. I. Did. It went something like this: Dear Father; please help me to lower my expectations and not get mad when people are not decorating cookies like I think they should (yes I really said that!) and help me to not get irritated if they get frosting somewhere other than on a cookie. 

Holiday Meals

We are hosting back to back family get togethers on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I might like to serve something fancier, have better seating for our guests and better gift ideas than gift cards and a few odds and ends that have all the creativity of a limp noodle.  But, honestly if I look at from the perspective of those being my worst problems then things are looking great! We all will have a great time visiting with each other. Thank God we have a family on both sides where we all enjoy each other (we're not counting the ones that are in jail : )  It's not the end of the world if some of us end up sitting in kitchen chairs in the living room  or the plates don't match. Whatever it is you are stressing over this season... chances are if your family is happy and healthy, (even if they can't make it to visit) then things aren't so bad after all.

Holiday Events

George and I don't have issues with a multitude of holiday events to attend, but if we did that would be a big problem because we are such homebodies.  A lot of my friends and some family members struggle with this and it makes me sad to see them run ragged going here and there and everywhere when they most want to be home. For any family, there will always be a certain handful of "must do" or "really, really want to do" events. All I can say is pick and choose very carefully and do not allow the expectations of others dictate what is the best way for your family to spend your time during the holiday season or any other season. Once you've decided to manage your own family's calendar DON'T start feeling guilty about it and caving in to last minute pressures -- unless of course it's something that you will really enjoy doing and won't wreak havoc with the rest of your schedule.

People

They say the holidays tend to bring out the best and worst in people. Thankfully I usually see the best in people at our family get togethers.We try to be gracious guests and hosts, and we work with each other to not create overly complicated and perfect expectations for the holidays. So, based on my personal expectations there probably isn't a lot of encouragement I can share with you if your whole extended family is a bunch of nuts. If that's the case, try to find a quiet corner and hide until the festivities are over.

On a more serious note: Establishing good family relationships requires discipline, love, mercy and forgiveness day in and day out all year long. Often times we try to reap the benefits of this type of good relationship at the holidays without putting in the work that's needed the rest of the year. You can't make a withdrawal of something you never deposited. We don't know whats in the hearts and minds of others. Many of our loved ones and possibly ourselves are mourning the loss of loved one, a job, a marriage. This Christmas things might not be the same as they always have been; and that's very unsettling for most anyone.

To give you an example from our family; this is the second Christmas since my grandma's passing. As in most families; the older women tend to be the "coordinators of the holiday festivities" my Grandma was the one person that seemed to hold the whole extended family together. This year we are all missing her and my aunts are having a challenging time carrying on in the role of matriarch for their families. They are now the ones that will hold together their own growing brood of extended family. The only problem is that it doesn't look or feel anything like what they are familiar with. That's got to be so amazingly difficult!  My heart goes out to them.

In this season of celebrating how much Jesus loves us, let's purpose to make our focus be on loving others. Let us show love, kindness, mercy and grace to our loved ones, even if they don't respond they way we want them to and even if they never do the same for us.

Our Weekly Menu -- Not

I've been seriously lacking in cooking enthusiasm lately. In other words I'm in a rut. I want to make delicious meals -- try a few new things. It's not that our old stand bys aren't tasty, they are. It's just that my schedule/work load has been so hectic lately that I find myself falling back on the old, super easy meals that I know my husband and I both like and that I can pull together in a few minutes. After a few months of these meals nothing is sounding good.

We have a plan for tonight's supper and tomorrow's.  Chinese takeout and pizza.  Some plan, huh? : )

Got any ideas for me?  

Why We Need a Garage Fridge

Worms. We have 'em. We have lots of worms.

Don't let this affect your answer to an invitation to our house for a meal or anything. Ahem.  We like to fish and so that means we usually have worms on hand. After all, you can't waste perfectly good worms.  The other day George asked me to "consolidate" his worms for him into just one container. Oh joy. At least they're not leeches. Thank goodness George doesn't think leeches are the best way to catch fish like his dad does. You can always count on his folks to have a couple of containers of leeches in the fridge -- I can't imagine my mother-in-law being all that keen on consolidating containers of leeches.  But at least they are kept out in the garage fridge.

Menu Plan Monday

Sat: Lemon Dill Perch, Augratin Potatoes, Green Beans


Sun: Sloppy Joes, Leftover Potatoes, Green Beans

Mon: Taco Bake with all the fixins

Tues: Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwiches, Tomato Soup, Fresh Veggies & Dip

Wed: Oven Fried Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes, Mixed Veggies

Thurs: Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garlic Toast, Garden Salad

Fri: Homemade Hawaiian Pizza

As a fisherman's wife I did the unthinkable this weekend. I bought fish.

We are nearly out of our stash of walleye, which is one of our favorites. We have one walleye left and it's not enough to make a meal. George wants me to save it until he can catch another one which will probably be this spring.... Maybe I'll have to cook it up as a snack for him. While doing my every couple of months stock up trip at Aldi I came across their fish and picked up a couple of packages of perch.  Even at Aldi's prices it's a whole lot cheaper to catch your own! The perch was a little strong tasting for my preference; I'm so used to the super mild flavor of the walleye, but George liked it okay.

Frugal Friday: Buy Another Turkey, or Ham

The holiday's are usually a time of year where we spend and then spend some more. So, today's Frugal Friday tip is to actually spend a little more. I know, I know that's the last thing you want to do.

But, here's why you might want to think about it. Right now with the great specials most grocery stores are running on hams and turkeys you can pick one (or two or three) up pretty inexpensively. Or you could by an extra large one and plan to have lots of leftovers.

Because we don't have a huge crowd for our holiday festivities, I usually choose to buy a larger ham or turkey. We leave enough out to eat leftovers the next day, (sometimes two days), and pack up the rest for the freezer.

You can see some of my favorite leftover ham recipes. And, here's my favorite turkey salad recipe. I love to put this turkey salad on whole wheat crackers and top each with a tiny spoonful of cranberry relish -- so good!