Monday, January 19, 2009

I have a dream!

What a great day to write about your dream. I got the idea from the Meme Express and decided to go for it. I have many dreams; some are big, some are small, some are personal, and some are dreams for the world to share. This will be nowhere close to the beautiful speech that Martin Luther King delivered and unfortunately not as inspirational but it is important to me to think about what my dreams are so that one day I can say, I accomplished my most sought after dreams.

For myself I dream that my children will grow to be successful adults and maybe by some far off chance I will have played a positive roll in their success. I dream that I will be able to travel the world, nothing extravagant, just enough to learn what is out there and to satisfy my curiosities. I dream that I will own my own house, nothing big, in the middle of enough acreage that I will be able to frolic naked without the blinds closed or my neighbors thinking I am crazy (although they will probably be right). And I dream that one day, as an old woman I will sit on the porch of this house in the mountains of North Carolina with a man that I love and we will be able to talk about our life and realize that I have accomplished what I set out to achieve and all is complete. What more could you ask for then that.

For the world I dream big and while I can't control whether these things happen I can dream and pray for them to become reality. We live in a time of great adversity. We have much to overcome and I dream that things will become easier in my lifetime. There will always be strife and conflict but I dream that my children will grow in a world where there is less of it. I dream that our soldiers can soon come home to their families. I dream that less people will have to worry about how they are going to pay for their next meal. I dream that the world is a kinder and more peaceful place to live. I know that everyone says these things but the more people that dream and hope the more it is possible to overcome.

The next question in the prompt asked whether I believed if dreams came true. To answer this I must point out the dream of the man we celebrate today. A dream made in a time where people felt like there was no hope and no justice. And look what has become of that dream today. One day after we celebrate the man who dreamed big for those of all races, we will swear a man in as President of the United States of America whose comes from not only a race other than white but he is biracial. So can dreams come true? The simple answer is of course they can. Will all my dreams come true? Only time will tell!


Where I've Been & Where I'd Like to Go!

I would love to be able to travel more in my life. I always said when I reached fourty and the kids were out of the house I would travel as much as I could. I have decided that I don't want to wait that long and I am going to try and start marking off my lists as soon as possible.

I found this super cool program where you can list all the places you have been, lived, and would like to go. I added the places that I would most like to go. There are more that I want to go to but if I did that they whole map would be green. So here it is, my list!

Menu Plan for the Week

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Working to better organize my house and my life... The next step... Dinner!

Monday ~ Hamburgers w/ French Fries
Tuesday ~ Rosemary Pork Tenderloin w/ Ranch Roasted Potatoes & Greek Salad
Wednesday ~ Beef Filet with Bacon and Gorgonzola Butter
Thursday ~ Jessica's Chicken Nuggets, Mash Potatoes, and Mac-n-cheese
Friday ~ Pizza
Saturday ~ Pork Chops and Potato Casserole
Sunday ~ Mediterranean Chicken Alfredo

Some of these I have made before; some of them I have not. We will see how it goes.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

StumbleUpon #1

Since I don't already have enough to do I have gotten addicted to StumbleUpon. I button that is now on my tool bar that allows me to come stumble upon web page after web page. At times I will run across a page that I really want to share so what better place to do that then on my blog!
Stumble Upon Toolbar

So five sites that I ran across while stumbling tonight.
1. A Rainbow Cake ~ How cool is this! I can't wait to try this at the next kids birthday party. Never seen anything like it!
2. Bomomo ~ No idea what is up with the name or what the real point is but it is fun to play with the colors and shapes!
3. 26 Cakes Perfect for Geeks ~ Not sure what is up with the cakes tonight but these are hilarious!
4. People Bucket ~ You seriously have to be wondering what people are thinking when they are writing the programing for some of these silly internet games.
5. Face your Pockets ~ This is a pretty cool project! Wish I had a scanner and something interesting in my pockets or my purse to make mine really cool but I have neither.

Recipe Index: A work in progress...

My blog is going to be a little bit of everything that I am working on in my life and also things I can share with others that may also help in their lives. So tonight I am starting on my weekly meal planning. I have started this 4 or 5 times and never get it done like I want it. So maybe sitting here in front of the computer I can accomplish at least making an index of a bunch of recipes that I know the kids like or that look good and I want to try.
The idea came from...
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Check her out! There is a lot of great information on here.

Beef


Chicken

Pork
  • Pork Chops and Potato Casserole - Eh, it was so so. Not a lot of flavor but the kids ate it.
  • Zataran's Jambalaya w/ Sausage, Corn, & Tomatoes
  • Pork Tenderloin w/ Mash Potatoes, Broccoli
  • Breaded Pork Chopped w/ Green Beans & Roasted Potatoes
  • Rosemary Pork Tenderloin w/ Rosemary Roasted Potatoes & Greek Salad - Good

Meatless

Seafood

The house...

before we moved in!

The kids loving the new place!!!
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Are the a great looking group of kids or what?!
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The living room...
living room 2

The office...
my new office

The dinning room...
dining room

The kitchen...
It has a dishwasher which is probably my favorite part of the house. After 5 years of washing dishes by hand I am loving it!!!
kitchen wish DISHWASHER!!!!

The laundry room...
laundry room

The downstairs bathroom...
Oh and the second bathroom is another big plus.
downstairs bathroom
closet in down stair bathroom, I love all the space!!!
The stairs...
The picture of the duck was from the previous owners. Still haven't taken it down. LOL
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The upstairs bathroom...
Love the big mirror and all the drawers!
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it has a kids size sink

The kids room...
girls room I think

The cubby holes....
All the bedrooms have one of these. The kids have build a great little hideout in theirs!
another closet

My bedroom...
and one of my favorite rooms in the house. It looks over down town Saluda! I love being able to wake up and look out at the town I love!
my bedroom

The third bedroom...
Right now Kara is in this room but it will eventually be Riley's room.
Riley's room

Hopefully I will post pictures with the place all put together in the next month but right now I still have lots of decorating to do!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

A year later...

Well it has been exactly a year since I wrote my last blog entry. There have been lots of change in my life and I think this would be a good time to start writing again. I have been preaching to myself about the chance for a new beginning for a couple months now. While many of these changes have caused much more heartache then I ever expected to have to endure in a lifetime, they are also giving me the chance to start over.

The exciting changes begin with a chance to start over with a new home. We left the negativity and clutter of the old house and moved to a new place in the heart of the town a love. My bedroom even looks over the town so that when I awake in the morning and am feeling lonely I can look out and remember all the people in this town that love me and are looking out for me. The kids love being in town, close to their friends, a walk away from the park and school, and closer to family. So although it was a little more of a financial burden it has caused a lot more positive changes then I ever thought it could!

As far as those I am surrounding myself with, my new motto is "Never make someone a priority, when they only make you an option". I have felt betrayed by a lot of those that I considered to be good friends and have decided to let this too go. New beginnings, new friends! I am going to surround myself with those that will be there for me like I am for them. I would not have made it through this with out a couple people who have stayed true and really been there for me. I could not have survived without Jamie. She has come to my rescue more then once and listened every time I needed a friend.
Then the ladies at 3ML! Although many of them I have never met I would have been lost without their kind words and their wisdom. Whether I am a military wife or not I know that I can always count on them. Also my extended family at the restaurant has been so wonderful through this all. Lots of thank yous go out to all these people.

A change that I am still a little reluctant to talk about is a new friend in my life. Don't want to ruin anything by making to big deal about it but he is a great guy and whatever it becomes we will at least be great friends.

Some quotes that help defined some of these changes:
"Whenever God Closes One Door He Always Opens Another, Even Though Sometimes It's Hell in the Hallway."
"I will not live the life that someone else thinks that I should live!" ~ My own personal quote
"Never make someone a priority, when they only make you an option."
"Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has yet to come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering."