I had one eggplant left over from produce two weeks ago that I planned on using tonight. I've never cooked nor eaten eggplant, so this would have been an experience. When I mentioned to DH what I planning on making tonight, he said that he wasn't impressed with eggplant when his father made it years ago. I asked him if he could be "impressed" with what I made so that the kids might like it. LOL

Fast forward to tonight. I slice the eggplant open. Um, not totally white looking, but there are um, some brownish markings. Not wanting to use produce that had already gone bad and not knowing if it had indeed gone bad, I threw it out.

Now here's where I decided to "punt". I already had ground beef thawed for the above casserole and rice was in the middle of cooking. So being in the "punt" mood, I decided to do a spanish rice version. Granted it doesn't taste as good as my moms, but then when does something taste as good as our minds remember.

As a side to the spanish rice, we're having coleslaw....again. I picked up the produce basket and there was another cabbage in it. I still had one in the refridgerator from produce last time. So I used half of that one and will still have more cabbage for more coleslaw for months, er weeks to come.  My official coleslaw taste tester, AKA Caleb, said that it needed cinnamon. He was definitely mistaken. I added more pepper, salt and paparika. By the way he doesn't like Rush's (the hamburger joint) coleslaw. He only likes Mama Jean's and of course mine. At least he better like mine.

Here's the scene - Joshua asks if he can read an oversized "Life" book on our bed. Sure. I ask where is his brother. He declares he's outside "baptizing leaves." Um, okay.   So I go to find Caleb and his "baptizing leaves" and thankfully the leaves were all safe.

But I noticed Dixie Grits in the yard looking like she was chewing on something. My first thought was a bird. Yes, if that was the case, my first call would be to my mother in law for any kind of HELP. Thankfully she left what she was chewing on alone. When I looked at the specimen, I thought it was a lizard. She has been known to um have a little lizardy snack, even though I thoroughly discourage such snacking.  Upon further inspection of said specimen, I see that it's not a lizard.

Oh no, what ever could it be?

Yup, you guessed it --  A - (gasp) S N A K E......

Thankfully it wasn't much longer than my wrist to my fingertips so I didn't freak, but those that know me know I could have serioulsy FREAKED and I'm not afraid to call my Dear Hubby to come and rescue me from ugly reptile creatures. I remove the SNAKE from the now "snake eating" dog. The "snake eating" dog has now finally earned her keep.

So I find Martin and tell him what I've discovered about our "snake eating" dog. It was then that Joshua pipes up from looking at the "Life" book and tells his Daddy - "I need some education."

Have mercy!!!!!

Today is a wet, rainy and apparenlty chilly day here in South Carolina. But that's okay - we need the rain.

We have our Boys Club co-op in about an hour, so this morning I had to actually think of what to make for dinner, that would literally be cooking itself while I am gone.

In the big freezer I went and found some beef for stew. How awesome. Pulled out a pack and quickly defrosted it while I did our Sonlight reading. While I cooked up the stew beef, I put one of the pie pumpkins into the oven so the flesh (or whatever it is called) will become soft. Then I decided to try using this French Bread recipe in regular loaf pans. I normally don't bother with a bread recipe that requires it to rise twice, but I'll make the exception for today. Because we have our produce co-op tomorrow and I still have at least 2 or 3 heads of cabbage, I think I need to do something to use at least one of them. I won't have time to make up a dessert, but I think this meal will be good and filling on a beautiful rainy day.

So Monday nights menu:

Beef Stew

French Bread

Coleslaw

I'm sure others are posting it on their blogs....

Here's a link to the Chris Klicka Caring Bridge site:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/chrisklicka/journal

Here's the actual post - don't know whether Megan was able to leave on time as it's already 8:10 PM here in South Carolina.

PRAYERS NEEDED ASAP FOR A FLIGHT -

TRANSPORTATION ISSUE!

Dear praying friends,

We would be so grateful for your prayers right now for our daughter Megan. She is scheduled to fly out of Atlanta at 6:55 into Denver, but the weather is bad here (icy, 22 degrees). The flight out has already been postponed until 8:30pm, but they may need to postpone it longer.

If there are no further delays, she will now not arrive until 10pm, and it's a 2 hour drive in less than optimal road conditions (my trip up to Denver to pick up Ben & Bethany this morning took an extra 45 minutes because the roads were icy).

Megan is trying to get here before her dad passes away, and we know this would be VERY hard for her is she misses him (Chris took a distinct and definite turn for the worse this morning).

Please pray for the following:

1. That God might just miraculously clear up the weather in Denver, allowing Megan to fly out here sooner, rather than later

2. That she would not get stuck in the Atlanta airport overnight (she's all by herself; is this not a mother's nightmare?)

3. That Chris would hold on until Megan can get here and be able to connect with him.

4. That Chris' breathing will not be so labored that we'd have to put him on Morphine to smooth it out. It has been very labored on and off today. Once on Morphine, he will not be able to engage with any of us, including Megan.

5. That God will grant safety and good road conditions tonight for Bob (in a good 4-wheeler, pick-up truck), who is bringing Megan back to the Springs.

6. That I might not be anxious for Megan or Bob (okay, I already am); that I might keep my eyes fixed on my Lord in all of this and trust that His timing is perfect and He is holding everything together!

7. Some of our other children are agitated; I think they sense my concern and are also concerned--it just looks to me, however, like fussy irritability to me, garbed in teenage vocabulary and I'm having a little trouble being patient with them :)

THANK YOU for praying for us!!!

God IS good...ALL the time,
Tracy, for Chris and the Klickaclan

I believe based on the calendar that it is Autum. I have made chicken broth and thrown in two things of kale that were left over from our produce shopping. Caleb and I have been enjoying the formerly healthy kale that has been cooked in chicken broth. Yum-OOOO!!!

But from the livingroom I'm hearing "Little Drummer Boy" -- and before that it was Rudoloph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. If we are going to listen to Christmas music, let's bring out the Grinch!!! It just ain't Christmas unless the Grinch is here!!!!

Just moments ago Caleb gave us his weather forecast. It's too cute not to share.

"The temperature is rain."

"Wet and Lizardy"

Think we might need to do a tad more on our weather studies. LOL