Nov. 27, 2009 - Weekly Wrap Up

Visit www.homeschoolblogger.com/threelittleladies for more wrap ups. 

 From the Heart:

Do you know someone who has lost a loved one this year?  If so, please send them a note and let them know you are thinking of them.  You will never know how much it means to them to know someone remembered that their holidays are going to be quite different this year.

 

I lost a very dear friend when I was just 15.  He died on Christmas Eve.  Since he was the closest person I had ever lost to death at that time, it was devastating to me.  Even though it has been 30 years since he died, I still have times that I struggle with the loss.  His parents attend the church we used to attend.  Every Christmas Eve service, I would find his family in the sanctuary to let them know that I love them and that I did remember their pain.

 

On the Homefront:

I was supposed to be off work on Tuesday, but before I even clocked in on Monday, I was asked to come in for four hours, which turned into 4-1/2 hours.  Anyway, once I finally got home, dd and I put up the  and got the rest of the house decorated.  We were a bit concerned about how the new  would be with the tree, but so far, so good. 

Since we were playing Christmas music and decorating the house, we agreed that we should have some cookies, so we went to Save A Lot and got some of the chocolate chip cookies in a roll and baked them.  (We were too tired to make them ourselves.)  We also made cinnamon rolls later in the evening. 

 

Wednesday we went shopping and got a new DVD/VCR player.  We still have some video tapes we need to watch, plus I want a couple of shows recorded so I can watch them later.    We bought a few more  gifts too.

 

I have to admit it -- I'm a sucker for those annual Christmas movies.  DD and I have spent a lot of time enjoying some family-oriented movies. 

 

 In the School Room:

Since I had 2-1/2 days off from work, we only did school on Monday.  I wanted to have some special mom and daughter time while it was Thanksgiving week. 

 

 To our health:

This week has been a hard one where the asthma is concerned.  I think a lot of it has to do with the change in the weather.  We had a temperature drop, wind, and rain.  I seem to notice a change in the asthma every time there is a big change in the weather.  Usually, it affects me with being more short of breath than usual, as well as my chest hurting.  The best way to explain the chest hurting is to say that if you've ever gone out on a bitter cold day, after having an upper respiratory infection, and taken a deep breath.....well, that terrible feeling you get in your chest is what I feel like when my chest starts hurting. 

 

 On the work front:

I found out I will be working the afternoon shift in ER on Christmas Day.  That will be nice in the sense that I will be here with my family Christmas morning.  However, by the time I get to work, people will have had their Christmas dinner, ate too much, have heartburn, and think it's a heart attack.  So guess where they will be headed?  You got it.....ER! 

 

I work this weekend in admissions.  I will have to miss hearing the man who is coming from Vegas to candidate for the "next generation" pastor's position.  I work with his mom in ER.  She is a rare gem.

 

In the Kitchen:

I made hot potato salad and sweet potato crunch to take to my sis-in-law's house for our  meal.  DH bought some pies to take with us.

 

Without knowing my work schedule for December, I did the best I could to work on my menu plan.  I posted how I did it on my menu blog. 

 

  Refreshing my spirit:

I spent some time doing a Beth Moore study on the apostle Paul.  It's going to take me a long time to get through this study, but it looks like a good one.

 

 In the Literary Scene:

I'm beginning to think I need to read Passionate Housewives Desperate for God a second time.  It is a  really good book, and wouldn't hurt to "digest" it again.

 

 for stopping by! 

May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you.

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 26, 2009 - Menu planning glitch

Here we are, with only 4 days left in the month and my boss still doesn't have our December schedule out to us yet.  It is time to start menu planning, but I can't because I have no idea what days/hours I will be working.

Since I was in the mood to do my menu plannning, I went ahead and took inventory on what meat was in the freezer.  Next, I sat down and planned what meals I would make with that meat, as well as coming up with my grocery list for those meals.  Now, once I actually get my schedule, all I need to do is "plug" those meals into my calendar. 

Here's an idea of how I did it:

• Chicken thighs = fried or baked chicken
• 5 meal-sized portions of Cincinnati Chili (I'm sure we won't use all of them in December or we will be sick of that one!)
• Country fried steak
• One bag of fried ground beef = Veggie beef soup
• 3 bags of ground beef = Cheeseburgers, taco salad, spaghetti
• Smoked sausage = Crock pot meal with green beans and potatoes added to it.
• 4 bags of pepperoni = 2 pizzas, eggs and pepperoni brunch, and pizza potatoes
• Diced chicken leg quarters = Comfy chicken soup
• 3 packages of round steak = Steak stroganoff, round steak and gravy in the crock pot, and BBQ round steak (I will also make deluxe potatoes to go with the BBQ round steak.)  Recipes will be posted later.
• Cubed steak = 2 meals of fried cubed steak and gravy
• 3 packages of hot dogs = Hot dogs and sauce and the other 2 pkgs. of hot dogs will be baked with baked beans and used for my lunches since I'm the only one who will eat that.
• Ham chunks = Ham and beans in the crock pot
• Small bag of chicken chunks = chicken casserole for dh and dd one night when I work late
• 2 packages of pork sausage = Sausaage, biscuits, and gravy.  The other one will be used for the pizza potatoes I mentioned above.
• One frozen meal of Chinese chicken will be used for when I'm coming off of a long stretch of working and want something easy for supper.
• 6 chicken sandwich patties = 2 meals of chicken sandwiches.

Though I have no control over when I will get my schedule, I can at least have a sense of control in knowing that it won't take any time at all to plug these meals into a slot on my calendar when I finally do get my schedule.  This leaves me with a sense of being a keeper at home/queen of my home.   And that makes this mama .  And we all know that if mama ain't happy, ain't no one else happy either. 

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 25, 2009 - Happy Thanksgiving!

I got the idea from my friend Daisy , though I should have thought of it myself.   Thanks, Daisy :)

I'm thankful for....

~ Jesus & being forgiven

~ my husband

~ my family

~ children still at home

~ homeschooling

~ cool weather

~ the holidays

~ friends

~ hot tea

~ our home

~ plenty of food

~ dark chocolate

~ popcorn

~ our church

~ email

~ my camera

~ my bed

~ good health

~ our books

~ our computer

~ laughing children

~ camping

~ the beach

~ the mountains

~ the giant trees

~ Thanksgiving at my house

~ and that I don't have to kill then pluck the feathers off the turkey like the woman in the picture is about to go do.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 25, 2009 - Great coupons!

I usually don't use coupons because I can often buy the generic much cheaper.  However, I got an email with a link some coupons I will actually use.  Here's the link if you want to check it out:

http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=13930&nid=10&zid=js37

We are going to be making homemade trail mix for the holidays.  Some of the coupons will be good for things to use in our snack mix.

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 24, 2009 - Asthma update

We got a new air purifier from Oreck a few weeks ago.  It has made a huge difference in how the house smells.  I didn't notice that the house had a musty smell about it until I saw how clean it smelled after using the air purifier. 

With the asthma, I cannot be directly in front of the purifier for any length of time because I will immediately notice that I start coughing.  I think it is because the purifier is pulling the air toward it.  So, if I'm in front of it, the bad stuff is passing by me before it gets to the purifier.

For several months, dd has been doing all of the vacuuming because that tends to really stir up stuff and causes my chest to start hurting, as well as making me short of breath.  Yet, today I did vacuum (twice), and I never noticed any problems with my breathing.  All I can attribute it to is the purifier. 

I decided to try to cut back on the herbal stuff to see if I could wean myself off of any of it.  After all, it is rather pricy.  Unfortunately, I noticed a big change for the worse within just a couple of days.  At least I know that I really do need to continue the herbal stuff.  (The types of herbal stuff I use is listed in the journey with asthma category.) 

I am still using both inhalers every day.  I have to use the albuterol inhaler three times a day; the steroid one gets used twice a day.  I cannot seem to get off that albuterol inhaler.  Though it has been rather frustrating, I have decided not to let it rule my emotions. 

I discovered another interesting thing over the weekend.  Since I was off from work, I took a two hour on Saturday.  When I woke up, I was in the middle of a nasty asthma attack.  I was really struggling to breathe.  I used both inhalers, but still continued having problems.  I remembered hearing that caffeine can help.  Normally, I will drink a diet coke (usually when I'm having issues while at work).  This time, I decided to make a cup of my instant, homemade cappuccino .  Within minutes, I could feel my breathing settling down.  It was  moment for me that left me feeling  so that I could enjoy the rest of the weekend.  And it was  too!   

Two praises:  I'm not having asthma attacks as frequently now.  And on the rare occasions that I do, I don't have the panic attacks that accompanied them when I was first diagnosed.  I'm learning what I need to do, doing it, and patiently waiting for things to settle back down to normal again. 

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

• Post A Comment!

Dec. 1, 2009 - Double Delight Peanut Butter Cookies

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 21, 2009 - Weekly Wrap Up

Visit www.homeschoolblogger.com/threelittleladies for more wrap ups. 

From the Heart: I thoroughly enjoyed having a couple of days off from work this week.  Since I've been doing so many 7-3 shifts, my body is used to waking at 4:30 or 5:00.  I decided to take a Tylenol PM one night to see if it would help me to sleep in a bit.  It was  to  in until 8:00 the next morning!  Since dh's  was yesterday, we invited his family over for some cake.  While talking with my sis-in-law, I mentioned that I would be unable to have  with my family since I have to work the day of the family dinner.  She invited us to her house on  day.    On the Homefront: I'm getting geared up for the season.  I know I will have to do well with managing my time to make sure that the get wrapped, that the homemade gifts get done, etc.  I plan to enjoy the season though.  I refuse to let myself get  or  over getting things done for . While dd headed out to a church activity on Saturday morning, I turned on some  music and wrapped a few gifts.    In the School Room: Since I had a couple of days off work this week, we did a girls' group on Wednesday afternoon.  Each girl brought something to be used in making trail mix.  I poured each item into a separate bowl.  Next, the girls could come along with a baggie and fill it with the items of their own choosing.  They seemed to enjoy putting together their own trail mix.   Since I don't know my schedule for December, I don't know if we will be able to plan any girls' groups for next month.  Because of that, dd and I bought several different Christmas mugs so each girl could take a mug home with her today. If we do have a meeting next month, we'll have to try to come up with something different.   While purchasing mugs, I decided to get for me that has a  on it.  I love snowmen, and I like that I can continue using it even after Christmas because it isn't a mug.       On the work front: One day, an elderly lady came in by ambulance.  When she realized where she was, she yelled, "OH!  You can't keep me here!  I have an appointment to get a permanent in my hair tomorrow!"    Another time, I had a patient walk in my office.  I said, "What are we doing for you today?"  The patient replied, "I'm here to get goosed," then handed me the paperwork with prep instructions.  He was there for a colonoscopy.    Starting in December, our work days will be 8 hours long instead of 7-1/2 hours long.    In the Kitchen: On Monday, I worked all day then came home and made a double batch of Cincinnati chili.  By double batch, I mean I used 2 packages of the spice mix for it.  This means I had to use 12 c. of water, 3 pounds of ground beef, and 2 cans of tomato paste.  It sure took a while, especially when I had to puree all of it in the blender.  Once finished, I put meal-sized portions in freezer bags so that we will have several meals saved back for later use.    On Wednesday, since we were having the girls' group, I wanted to do something quick and easy for supper, so I made taco soup in the crock pot.   Thursday morning, I assisted dd while she made a chocolate sheet cake for dh's  .  This is his favorite cake, so he was quite pleased when he walked in and saw it on the kitchen counter.      Refreshing my spirit: I continue to struggle in this area because I am so terribly tired when I get home in the afternoon.  Now that I am back in the admissions department (as opposed to ER), it is hard to read anything at lunch because it is always so noisy on the floor.    In the Literary Scene: I am still reading Passionate Housewives Desperate for God.  This book is a great read, even if I am working outside the home.  It has given me much food for thought.  (Thanks Bobbi, for telling us about the great deal on this book through Vision Forum.)    for stopping by!  I hope you return soon. May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you.

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 20, 2009 - 10 years old!

We had another birthday today!  B is 10 years old!  Here are a few pictures of my cutie pie.

Brand new.  How 'bout that hair!:

8 months:

3 years old, camping in Yosemite:

Age 3 years:

6 years old:

7 years old:

Ten years old!  Getting a Build a Bear puppy whom he named Dusty: 

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 15, 2009 - Baptized!

Our youngest got baptized today!  She is 7 years old, and she decided to follow Jesus in August.  Almost right away she asked about being baptized all on her own.  So when our church announced the first baptism day since then, we signed her up.  She went to a class to make sure she understood that it wasn't being baptized that saves you, only Jesus can do that.  But it is an outward symbol of becoming a Christian, and obedience to God.  So here are a couple of pictures.

Going down....

 Coming up, a new beginning!

• Post A Comment!

Nov. 14, 2009 - Saturday

~~~ Working and Homeschooling ~~~

I have been trying to get as much as possible done on the days when I do work, so that when I have the day off, I can actually relax and unwind a bit.  Unfortunately, that isn't how yesterday played out for me.  Instead of resting, here is what I did:

• a load of laundry
• posted an ad on vegsource for some hs items I want to sell
• organized a cabinet in the kitchen
• made bbq sauce
• made granola
• made soap (recipe is posted in the body care category)
• blogged
• made some phone calls
• planned a girls' group meeting for next week
• contacted someone about using their facility for our local 4-H clogging group
• swept
• made supper
• got my lunch prepared for today
• did school w/dd
• organized some hs items
• washed dishes at least 4 times 
• got all my stuff together so it would be ready for me as I got ready for work this morning
• went to bed at 7:30 because I was

While it felt good to know that I was making a lot of progress, I have to admit that by evening time, I was less-than-pleasant.  It is hard to balance keeping a home, working outside the home, and hs'ing.    And when your hormones are amuck, it's all the more difficult. 

Would anyone care to give me a nice, long back rub? 

• Post A Comment!