Keen on Quinoa and Finally Forty

I just discovered Quinoa (keen-wah) recently. It is easy to make and very good. It has many health benefits as it is high in protein and other nutrients. It is not a grain; it is a seed. We eat it at least once a week. YAY, my girls will even eat it. Have you had it before? Here's the scoop on it:

I buy it out of the bulk bins at the grocery store. You can also find it boxed in the rice section of the store.

I usually buy about a scoop plus a little more at a time. Before you cook it, rinse it thru a fine strainer. Then add it to your pot of water. If you are using a cup of dry quinoa then put 1 1/2 cups of water in the pot. Toss in some salt. I also add a bouillon cube for flavor. You can add mushrooms, spinach or whatever you like to this too. Bring to a boil, lower heat low and place the lid on and let it absorb the water. It is done when you see a white little rim form around each seed.

This is what it looks like when its cooked.

It makes a great side dish.
a>

My other favorite side dish: Sweet potato fries. I just cut up sweet potatoes or yams in to fries. Toss with olive oil and then sprinkle with chili powder. Lay out in a single layer on a pan and bake. I have a convection oven so at the end I turn on convection roast to get them a little crispy. They are sooooo good.

Finally, I share this:

My friend Karen is FINALLY FORTY! I flew to Birmingham, Alabama last weekend to attend her birthday party and celebrate. Our other friend Janet surprised us by flying in from Virginia. Trust me when I say SURPRISED! Karen and I were sitting at her kitchen table in our pajamas drinking coffee and eating bagels (and bacon) when the phone rang. It was Janet. She was at the Birmingham airport. We jumped in the car still in our pajamas and drove to get Janet at the airport. These are two of my dearest friends. We met over ten years ago when we lived in the same neighborhood in Birmingham. I'm blessed to have them in my life.

Joy, Karen & Janet

Happy Birthday Karen!

Coupon Clipping is Back In Style Article

If you are visiting my blog after reading the article from The Houston Chronicle and Ultimate Woodlands

Welcome!

I'll give you a quick tour of my blog so you can go straight to the post you came here to read.

If you are looking for ABC's of Couponing go click here.



If you are looking for the recipe for homemade laundry detergent click here.



If you are looking for the post on how to save money on your electric bill click here.



Other money saving ideas can be found at each of those links.



Feel free to take a look around.



If you come here often and wonder what is going on. Well, go read this article about my couponing efforts.



If you have a money-saving idea. Write it in the comments.

A Wedding in New Orleans

Last weekend Buster and I drove to New Orleans. We attended the wedding of one the men from his office. It was in beautiful, Historic St. Patricks Church in downtown New Orleans. This church was founded in 1833. I forgot to take a picture of the outside of the church and found this on the church website:


The interior of the church: Isn't it a beautiful church to be married in.


This is a picture of the Port of Baton Rouge where the bridge crosses over the Mississippi River.
You have to drive over a lot of water when your driving thru south Louisiana.

The Atchafalya River Basin: It looks like that for miles and miles.

(from the internet)

The Beautiful Bride Noelle:




Me and my groom:

Keith and I don't go to many weddings anymore. I guess we're at the age where most of our friends are married. So it is a real treat for me to attend a wedding, I love weddings.

We wish Josh and Noelle a happy life together. Thank you for letting us share in the beautiful beginning of your marriage.

Fourteen

My sweet Paige turned 14 on Monday.

I wish you could meet Paige in person. She is such a blessing to know.

She is growing into a beautiful young woman.

I'm so proud of you Paigie-pooh.

Please indulge me as I take a stroll down memory lane.

Paige at 8 months old:

Paige at 4 years old:

Always has time for Daddy:

Wasn't she just the cutest. OK. back to the here and now~

Paige at 14 years old:

Leah giving Paige her gift

(a day early because she couldn't wait):

It's a Snuggie!

She had a great birthday at home with us and tomorrow she

is lunching with friends to celebrate some more.

Happy Birthday Paige!

I Love you,

Mom

Fetch - A - Prayer

Have you prayed today? So many times we get busy with our lives and forget to take the time to pray for ourselves and others. Sometimes prayer seems overwhelming and we just don't know what to say.

God gave us a promise in Romans 8:26.... that His Holy Spirit will help us in our weaknesses, because sometimes we don't know what to pray, but his Spirit interceeds for us. (Remember in our weakness He is strong.)


I have a new widget on my sidebar from Prayer Central

It is called Fetch-a-Prayer.

You just fill in the information on the spaces provided and it searchs out a scripture and composes a prayer for you to pray. The photos that are included with the prayers are beautiful and reflective.

Give it a try.



Prayer Central is a great prayer resource. Go have a look around.

Artist in Residence (or a few doors down)

This is Amy ~ my neighbor. She's an artist and her painting was chosen to be on the Wildflower Festival poster this year. The Wildflower Festival is an annual event in our community. She also has an Etsy shop with lots of pretty paintings in it too. Go check it out:

http://www.haveart.etsy.com/.

The Lion's Club copied her painting onto a poster and all the proceeds from today's sales went to charity.

It was a beautiful day in Texas. Hope you had a great weekend in your corner of the world.

OK. I just realized I'm wearing the same shirt in the last post too. I do have other clothes really. But this is one of those go-to shirts so comfortable and brown. Yes, brown I'm loving it right now. It goes with everything plus this is Texas and if the temperature drops below 80 degrees we just have to wear our long-sleeved shirts or shirt in my case.

So I was sitting in this meeting

and my hand goes up like this:

And then I end up with a bunch of this in my garage....

Also this totally unrelated event happened:

I have this thing about volunteer opportunities.....I fall for them.

Over the last few weeks, I've been pretty distracted by other things.

Our community decided to change National Night Out to October because well, you know, it's so blazing hot in August in Texas and it seemed like a good idea. Except this October day we broke a record heat temperatures. It was about 95 degrees with 90% humidity, but we had a nice NNO anyway. This past year I volunteered to be the Neighborhood Coordinator. This was our neighborhoods first time doing any National Night Out event. (The stuffed shirt on the table represents Buster who was away on business that night.) I kept it pretty simple and just asked everyone to bring a snack or dessert to share. We had 25 adults come out and a bunch of kids running around. So I was very pleased with the first event. A representative from our Community Association and a Sheriffs Deputy came by to visit us and talk about crime and being safe and I heard somebody mention taxes and you know that kind of stuff.

Then I go to a meeting at Paige's new school and raised my hand. That is how the stuff ended up in my garage. I volunteered to help coordinate class craft projects for an upcoming dinner/auction fundraiser. I don't have to actually do each of the projects. We have some great room moms to help, but my new friend Robin (who also raised her hand) and I sat down and came up with the ideas and then went shopping. The picture you see is just some of the projects we purchased. I'll show you the finished projects when they get done and ready for the auction. They are going to be so cute.

There's been lots of other great stuff going on....Like helping Moms in Touch groups (Yippee) get started for the new school year and planning some events.

Oh, and I'm starting a new business. I am establishing a Mobile Notary Service business. More on that later.

So all that to say this...

I love doing all of these kinds of things, just can't seem to get my blogging in when I'm in the middle of them.

Don't think I'm giving up on blogging. I'll post when I can and if I've missed a post or two of yours I do apologize. I'll catch up. Oh, and if you happen to see me in a meeting, will you please gently tell me it's ok and to put my hand down. :0

It's all Greek to me

Up until this weekend just about everything I knew about the Greek Orthodox religion and Culture I learned from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. ~ Love that movie.



But this weekend I asked Buster to take us to the Greek Festival in Houston. The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Houston, Texas hosted it's 43 Greek Festival. This is a four day event and thousands come. They claim it is the original Greek Festival in the United States.

This Houston Greek Orthodox community began with a handful of Greek immigrants back in 1917.
We had a great time watching the Folk Dancers, eating Greek food, touring the Cathedral and shopping in the Greek market.

Here are some pictures from our afternoon enjoying all things Greek.



Inside the Cathedral...


A member of the church gave us a brief history of the Greek Orthodox Faith. It was so interesting. She was so knowledgeable of early Church history. I would love to talk with her more.

Beautiful stained glass:

Looking up you see this:

The Greek Folk Dancers:

The non-Greek food eaters having pizza:

Mine and Buster's Gyro's: Yum Yum!

My purchase from the Greek market... This apron was only .99. I love aprons anyway and when I saw this one for 99 cents I couldn't pass it up. It has some olive brand advertisement on it. It's all written in Greek, but I thought it was fun.

We heard lots of OPA's!!! and had lots Fun!

Buster even missed an afternoon of College Football on TV to go. He wasn't real happy about that. But we went to Pappa's Burger on our way home after the festival and the Houston Texan's cheerleaders were there. So that made up for it I guess haha.

Trust me he wouldn't have been shouting "Opa" if he stayed home and watched his team play. Let's just say the Georgia Bulldogs were........the ηττημένος. *

* loser

Bod Squad

As most of you know I am the mother of two girls. They like to shop at tween and teen stores. It bothers me when I see clothing that is so not appropriate for young girls.

I heard Dannah Gresh on Focus on the Family Radio the other night and she was talking about a petition she is presenting to the Council of Fashion Designers of America regarding sensual clothing targeted to tweens. Anyway you can read it for yourself and if you would like to go her website and sign the petition. You can also find out about Dannah and her ministry to moms and daughters.

This world sends so many messages to our girls and boys and it's our job to filter these messages and point them towards the truth.

I thought this petition was a great idea to let the fashion industry know how we stand.

http://www.secretkeepergirl.com/Bod_Squad_Petition.aspx

See You at the Pole

Today all around the world students gathered around flagpoles in front of their school to pray. Here are some pictures from my daughters intermediate school. It was so sweet to hear some of them pray.


This is a picture of Leah with Eric, the Children's Pastor from our church. One of her school teachers came out and prayed too with her daughter. I'm so thankful that my daughter has these godly people in her life.





A picture of some of the kids praying around the flagpole. Another area children's pastor and quite a few parents were also there to support the kids.

********

Last Sunday Leah went with other 5th and 6th graders from church to deliver these beautiful plants to an area nursing home. The kids brought the plants in and decorated the pots and made cards. They walked into the rooms at the nursing home and talked with the residents and prayed and left each of them with a pretty plant for their room. This was part of September Serve at our church.

The theme verse for See You at the Pole this year was:

I Timothy 4:12 Do not let anyone treat you as if you are unimportant because you are young. Instead be an example to the believers with your words, your actions, your love, your faith, and your pure life.

I witnessed so many kids being great examples by their faith and actions this week. They are such a blessing.

September Memories

Last September we experienced our first major hurricane. It was quite an event for me even though I grew up on the west coast of Florida. Hurricane Ike came ashore in Texas and boy did things look different around here after he left. Thankfully, we were only without power four days at our house. A little cool front came and kept us cool. Each night we had 12-15 people at our house to eat. I had a generator keeping one of our refrigerators going so neighbors would bring me food from their freezers. We all ate really good.

This is how things normally look around here:

After Ike this is what we saw when we walked out side:

The park near our house looked like this:

Another Memory:

I know we all thought back to the day of September 11, 2001...where we were and what were were doing. I remember seeing something briefly on the TV about the World Trade Center being hit by the first plane. I turned off the TV so it wouldn't scare my daughter and we rushed on out the door to go to school. I drove across the street to pick up my neighbor's son who carpooled with us. She walked out and asked me if I saw the Pentagon had been hit by a plane. I told her "No, it was the WTC. Not the Pentagon." Sadly we were both right.

Speaking of Memory:

I received this from our Community Association Office last week.

They forwarded this man's picture. He has amnesia. He was found beaten up and left for dead in Richmond, Georgia. He has very little recollection of his past and no idea who he is. Linguist have determined from his accent that he could possibly be from Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana or Colorado. Someone out there has to be looking for him. I felt sad for him and decided to post him on my blog. You never know.

Here is the link for more information regarding him:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1007umga.html

~~~

Lastly, I wanted to share with you about Dr. Margaret Nikol. Paige and I heard her speak today and share memories of her life growing up as a Christian in Communist Bulgaria. Her mother, father and brother were all martyred for their faith. I wish you could hear her story in person. She has speaking engagements all over the U.S. Check out her website http://www.intl-impact.org/. She will be in California, Oklahoma, Texas and Illinois between now and the end of the year. You have to see her if you can.

She still has such a burden and a heart for Bulgaria. She translated the entire Bible into the Bulgarian language and in 1993 took over the first copies of the Bible that those churches have had in years. She's has since provided Bulgarian believers with over 600,000 copies of the Bible in their language. One memory that she shared touched me so much. She told of her mother's death. The Communist had poisoned her and brought her home to die. As she lay dying, Margaret and her younger brother were with her and she told them that the prayers she had prayed for them would follow them their entire lives. They did. She prayed that Margaret would be a musician and she was. By the time she was four years old she was playing organ and piano in their church. She prayed her brother would be a Pastor and he was. He was martyred two weeks before the Berlin Wall crumbled. Both of his sons are still pastors in Bulgaria. The story is incredible. I wish she would write a book. I'm glad Paige could go with me to see this Hero of the Faith and hear her memories.

A Stitch in Time

It's September and I have to say it has been sweet so far. Our temperatures here in Texas are a little milder this week and boy are we loving it.


September is also Libby's anniversary of joining our family. Five years ago we found her at a rescue and brought her home.

A post or two back you saw Libby in dire need of a beauty shop appointment. Well, here she is sporting her less woolly look:









Instead of taking Libby to her the groomer, my friend Terry offered to help me groom her.

Well, she did most of the grooming and I watched and hopefully learned. She has a Schnauzer named Moochie and she grooms him. Libby looks great. Thanks Terry.

Now for the stitching part of the post:



Paige and Leah took a sewing class this summer. They made some cute things I wanted to share with you. I'm so proud of them. I wish they could continue their lessons with this teacher, but it will be hard with school to fit it in. Our favorite project was the pillow case they each made.

Here is Paige and some her projects.

Paige also made this cute little doggy:

A close up of her pillow case and stitching.

Leah made a pillow case too:
They also made scrunchies. Not sure if they will ever be used, but it was a good project to learn from.

Paige and I are adjusting to her new school schedule and absolutely loving it. I love having her home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm suppose to be a co-teacher, but really they should call me a co-learner.

Women's Bible Study started back up today. I'm studying the Book of Romans at a Precepts Bible Study by Kay Arthur. I meet each week with a wonderful group of women. We learn so much together.

Check out Moms in Touch

This is a short video clip we show the moms at the beginning of each school year.
I want to share it with you.

Then and Now...

Then:

2004 - Third grade and Kindergarten:

Now:

Eighth Grade and Fifth Grade

No more Butterfly and Hello Kitty backpacks. My chickadees are growing up. As you can see Leah likes to take all her key chains to school with her.

We are so excited for both of them. Leah starts Intermediate School this year and is at a new campus. She has a locker and changes classes each period.

This year Paige is excited to begin a new school too.

She will be attending a University Model School that is a Christian Preparatory School. This style of schooling was completely new to us. When we discovered this school we knew it was the answer to our prayers.

The University Model School combines the best of both worlds...Traditional school and home school. Paige will attend school three days a week and work from home two days a week. All new materials and concepts will be presented by her school teachers; then homework and projects will be done at home on the following day. A parent's role is to support and encourage and co-teach when necessary. This model of education gives students the tools to prepare for the future using a college type schedule in a Christian setting. They become independent learners and managers of their projects and work.

There are University Model schools in thirteen states right now with more schools transitioning to this model. Take a look at the website http://www.naums.net/ to learn more about University Model Schooling.

I'll be posting more about this as Paige, Keith and I experience our first year of University Model Schooling.

Sorry, I usually like to keep my post short, but....

One more thing. When it comes to schooling, there is an organization that is near and dear to my heart ~ Moms in Touch. I have been prayed with Moms in Touch groups since Paige was in 2nd grade. This year, 65 moms came for a special Back to School prayer time. If you would like to know more about Moms in Touch International, let me know in the comments section or click on the link. MITI is world-wide.

♥

Oh Say Can You See....

Poor Libby. Will someone please call the groomer so she can see again.

Turning Ten

My Leah is 10!

She had a fun birthday party with some friends over to

Swim/Eat/Sleep

and

Celebrate!

Blogger for some reason is not letting me move my pictures around.

So they are a little out of order.

Are any of you having problems with that?

We are so proud of Leah. Her sweet personality and compassion for others is a joy to see.

She has taught me so much over the last 10 years and I thank God for her each day.

Good-bye Godet

You know when God gives you daughters He also gives you live-in fashion consultants. Mine can be brutally honest about my choice in clothing sometimes. A few post back I showed you a picture of a skirt I attempted to sew this summer. All I wanted was a simple cotton skirt to wear during this hot, humid summer we're having. I wasn't happy with the way it turned out. It was way too long, it was way too full and I felt "frumpy" wearing it. Plus my youngest fashion consultant said I looked "Duggerish". If you watch TLC you know what that means. That's all I needed to hear; I decided to re-work my skirt. I took out 3 of the godets. I shortened it by 4 inches. Now I'm more comfortable wearing it and my fashion consultant doesn't think I look like Ma Dugger anymore. Whew....





Also want to give some Happy Birthday love to Buster whose birthday is today and to my sweet dad who is celebrating on Saturday. Then on Sunday every person in our house will be double digits. Yes, my Leah will be 10. She is so excited.

♥

Scripture Memorization Leah Style

I've been trying to memorize more scripture this year. Leah and I decided to memorize I Corinthians 16:13,14 together. We used the Holman Christian Standard Bible for Kids translation. I highly recommend this Bible for 7-12 year olds. It is colorfully illustrated and very kid friendly.

We came up with some hand motions to help us remember. Here we go:

That's all folks.....

Semi-Homemade Pizza

My Semi-Homemade Veggie Pizza:

This is my Grilled Veggie Pizza. It has zucchini, red bell peppers and mushrooms on it.
I usually just purchase a frozen cheese pizza and dress it up with these toppings and added some more cheese and Italian Seasoning on top before I baked it. This really turns out yummy. You can add any veggie or topping you like to a frozen pizza and they taste so much better.

Hey Hey We're the Monkeys

My family: They make me smile.