He Did It!

My son got his driver's license on Friday! He is now able to drive alone. I am proud of him and scared all at the same time! I have spent all his life trying to protect him and now I have to let him out on the roads alone! ~sigh~ Time flies by way too fast...I am pretty sure he was just a little boy and now he is almost 17 and driving alone! I am so glad that I know there is Someone who is in control of it all. Someone who loves and cares for us, Someone who loves my son even more than I do.

Blessings,

Liisa

Wonderful Weekend!

This weekend was a very busy one but it was wonderful! It really began Thursday. I went to our church Thursday night to help set up tables and chairs for the Christmas dinner Saturday, it is amazing how even that can be fun when you are with your friends!

Friday my hubby came home after being gone most of the week....yippee! I just dread him being away and am always overjoyed when he is back home. I did some baking for the Christmas dinner - molasses crinkles, snowballs and nonpareils then I went to the church and decorated two bulletin boards for the season. That evening one of his friends came over to visit with him so I was able to go over to my sister's store and help her hand out hot chocolate to people watching the Christmas parade - it was a lot of fun. The parade is an annual town event and makes you feel like a kid again.

Saturday I made coleslaw for 120 people and brought it, my baking and some decorations over to the church. I spent all day Saturday in the church kitchen helping to prepare the dinner. We have a Christmas dinner every year. It is so much fun and is free to anyone who would like to come. The fellowship with ladies in the kitchen as we work side by side is one of the highlights of the event for me. Another highlight this year was Rev. Schwindt who performed for us after dinner. He played the violin, mandolin and his "converted whiskey bottles". He is truly a man of God and it just radiates from him. Have you ever met someone like that? I pray I will be that kind of person! He presented the gospel in a no nonsense way and I know that at least one person's life was changed last night! Praise the Lord!

Here are a few pictures from the dinner........

Lynda our Pastor's wife leading some carols.
Eunice accompanying Lynda.
Pastor Dan welcoming everyone.
Rev. Schwindt playing his "converted whiskey bottles"

Rev. Schwindt playing his mandolin.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!

Blessings,

Liisa

Never to Big too Play in the Snow

Here are some pictures of my son and his girlfriend playing in the snow yesterday afternoon. Kids will be kids!

Blessings,
Liisa

Works for me Wednesday

Today at Rocks in my Dryer Works for me Wednesday is the "What to Fix Edition".

What do you fix when you have no time and no way to get to the store and take out and sandwiches aren't an option.

Here is what I fix....

I usually have cooked chicken cut up and in the freezer for times when I need something quickly so I will make a chicken pot pie.

Chicken Pot Pie

Cooked chicken cut in small pieces (1 cup or so)

Can of cream of chicken soup (or you can use homemade white sauce)

2 cans of mixed vegetables

Mix together in a pie pan.

1 cup biscuit mix

1/2 cup milk

1 egg beaten

Mix together and pour over chicken mixture.

Bake in oven at 400 for 30 minutes.

If I don't have biscuit mix I will put the chicken mixture in a pie crust and bake until the crust is nicely done.

Failing chicken in the freezer I will make ground beef pie.

Ground Beef Pie

Crust for double crust pie

1 lb. ground beef

1 small diced onion

1 can of mushrooms

Beef gravy leftover in the freezer just enough to moisten or 1 can of beef or mushroom gravy .

Brown beef with onion and mushrooms. Drain. Add gravy and mix well.

Pour into shell, add top crust and bake until heated through and nicely browned - about 20-25 minutes at 300 degrees.

You can use mixed vegetables in place of mushrooms or leave them out all together.

If there is really a rush and I am way behind for the day I will make pork, beef or chicken fried rice. I freeze left over beef and pork cut up in small pieces as well for pot pies or fried rice etc.

Then I just heat oil in a large frying pan quickly fry an egg or two in the oil, toss in some chopped onion and green peppers (also chopped up and in the freezer) and then the meat, when that is done I will add some cooked rice and soya sauce fry it quickly and serve.

Another quick recipe is crustless quiche. You just put any veggies you like in a buttered pie plate

like onions, green peppers etc. Add in a can of ham. Whip up six eggs with milk as for scrambled eggs and pour over ingredients. Top with shredded cheese and bake at 350 until the eggs are set. You can also use chopped spinach and feta cheese and top with eggs and bake as above. My hubby' s favorite is jalpenos and bean sprouts with cheese on the top.

I almost always have spaghetti sauce frozen in the freezer that I make when the tomatoes are ready from our garden and since we buy a quarter of beef at a time I can always make spaghetti quickly as well.

My freezer saves me often!

Blessings,

Liisa

Snow Day!

I love snow. I am one of the few people I know who have winter as one of their favorite seasons. I was noticing that my music selection reflected my desire for snow....Let it Snow....Winter Wonderland.... Well we definitely have a winter wonderland now!

We got the snow squalls they promised and then some! The roads surrounding our town are all closed today and it is the second day my hubby hasn't been able to make it to work and the schools are all closed. It is a bit wild outside at the moment. Oh the weather outside is frightful.....

I am so grateful for a home where I can spend these days with my family snug and warm while the snow flies and the wind howls. I am also grateful that I am able to be home full time. I spent too many years driving in all kind of horrible weather wondering if I would be able to make it back home again. Longing to be here. Missing my family. Worrying about my son when I was at work. Thinking of all the things I needed to do at home or was hoping to be able to do for my family. I always felt like I was running some kind of horrible race and could never quite catch up. I came home full time five ago and I have never longed to be away from it again! So now here I sit my hubby has just come in from blowing out the driveway and shovelling the walks and I was able to bring him a hot cup of flavored coffee and his favorite breakfast. My son is sleeping in and when he wakes up I will be here to spend his snow day with him, make him some breakfast and bake some treats we can enjoy later this afternoon. What a blessing. Thank you Lord!

Enjoy your day!

Blessings,

Liisa

Rainy Sunday

Today has been a cold and rainy day. The weather is actually quite crazy. We awoke this morning to a ton of snow and when we went to bed last night we didn't have any. At noon the rain began and it has been raining all day. Tonight there is a snow squall warning and we could see 10 - 20 cm. tomorrow. So strange.

It has been a good day to spite the weather though! My son and a gentleman he is very fond of did the advent reading at church this morning which was so nice. Then after the service our pastor and his wife offered to drive my sister and I to the official "It's all about Dave Day". Dave is our friend I mentioned the other day who is suffering from brain cancer. His wife is an amazing woman. She decided to throw an open house and anyone who wanted to visit with Dave was invited to come over. She had a ton of food prepared and we had a wonderful time visiting with her and Dave and the absolute ton of people that came to see them. They are much loved.

When we got home I decided to make some nonpareils. I had been going through my Christmas books last night planning the things I wanted to do this season and the recipe was in one of the books. These little treats were my favorite when I was younger so I was quite excited to try making them myself. Here is what they looked like after I added the sprinkles.......

For dinner tonight we had steak, baked potatoes with sour cream, fresh green beans and mushrooms and onions fried in garlic butter. This is one of my guys favorite meals.

Now I am off to tidy the kitchen and relax with my hubby before the start of another busy week!

Blessings,

Liisa

Feeling Festive

This morning I am off to help decorate the church for Christmas and then my hubby and I are going to a nearby town to do some shopping. I hope to pick up a couple for things for Christmas. To spite the fact that I have been trying to shop all year I still have quite a few things to get. Maybe next year I will have it all together! I do love the holidays though and don't mind shopping in December so it is o.k.

I changed my music here to reflect my festive feelings. I hope you enjoy it. I just love Bing Crosby! My son says that is because I am frumpy....maybe he is right! ~smile~

Do you ever have the feeling you should have been born in another era? I do all the time. I know God has placed me here at this time for a reason and that everything happens in his perfect timing. Don't get me wrong I love my life but feel a longing for the way things used to be. I think I would have fit well in the 40's-50's. Then perhaps I would have been in style and not frumpy! ~wink~

Happy December 1st!

Blessings,

Liisa