Gone on a little trip

Every so often my husband has a class he does for his computer work.  I went with him last time when he went in January.  This time around we decided to bring Nathan along.  We left a little after 4 am on Sunday morning.  The Hotel is pretty descent.  Not sure if we would stay in this one again.

When we got in on Sunday we got soaked going to a little sandwich shop called Jimmy John's.  I can't say that it was the best one that I have been to but it was good.  For supper, we decided to order pizza.  We ordered Domino's online and it was all great until the Manager called us to see if we wanted to cancel our order because it was going to be a three-hour wait.  YES!!  Three-hour wait.  WOWSERS.  We canceled that of course.  We ordered Papa John's and that was about an hour and a half.

Yesterday Nathan an I took a walk down to The Gallery.  It's a three almost four-story mall.  I say almost because they are still working on the fourth floor.  They had the typical stores you would find in Maine.  It was pretty inside.

I had to show that they have a Starbucks here too.:)

This was a neat display that they had as you walk into the mall.

When Mike got done with his class last night we went and got some things we needed from Walmart.  One thing about being in a city is when you go shopping expect it to be crowded and the shelves to be empty in places.  That was quite annoying.  We chose to eat out some but most of the meals I will be making here in the hotel room.  Mike and Nathan really wanted a steak.   So last night in the Pampered Chef Quick Cooker we made steak.  Mike used the sear button and added a little olive oil to the bottom.  The Quick Cooker is a new product that Pampered Chef just came out with and so far I love it.  We had steak with Mac and cheese (Nathan picked this out from the frozen section).  I have to say that it was pretty good.

Today we haven't done too much.  Nathan did school and I have been lazy.  Well, I did do a cooking video but I Mike is going to help me edit it.  I don't have clue what that will involve.  Mike and I have a social event to go to meet his teachers and classmates tonight.  Tomorrow Nathan and I plan on going to Ripley's Believe or Not.  That's about it.  I will leave you with what I made for lunch today.  I made Pork Carnitas.  I used the Pampered Chef recipe and it was really good.

 Have a great day everyone.

Been a very long time

Wow, its been years since I last posted anything on my blog.  A lot has happened in the past few years.  Since my last post, we have moved to the Western Foothills of Maine.  We live in a very old farmhouse that we have slowly been repainting and doing some major repair of.  Where we live its beautiful but, to be honest, I am ready to move to someplace warmer.  It gets really cold where we are and you can imagine what is like in an old farmhouse.  When the wind blows you can hear it through the cracks.  I do love our little house.

Since moving our Daughter has gotten married and has had two beautiful children.  Having grandbabies is so much fun.  The best part is spoiling and then sending them home.  We can't begin to imagine what life was like without them.  They make life so much fun.  Our oldest son is busy with work and substituting.  Our other daughter is working hard.  We are down to one in the house.  Our youngest son.  He is busy with school (still homeschooling), football and wrestling.  My life is so different now then what it was.  I am having a harder time then I thought I would with our children slowly starting to leave the nest.  I miss them.  The house is quiet and sometimes I feel like I am missing something.   It's all that I have known.

Since I seem to have more time on my hands I have started looking for things that I could be doing. I do sew some.  But I wanted to start making some money from home since Nathan is still home.  I thought long and hard and decided to become a consultant with Pampered Chef.    I love their products and have been using some of their stuff since my kids were little.  It's a slow start but I am having faith it will pick up and I can start helping others.

So that's it in a nutshell. 

Lessons from the Restaurant

I have been learning many lessons working at the restaurant.  I am not sure what title to give to this lesson from last night.  Maybe Endurance, patience or if I make a mistake oh well that's life.  As I was doing my devotions this morning this verse popped out to me, 
                              
                      " 3We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.5And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." Romans 5:3-5 NLT                                                    
It was a very slow night so the one other cook left early.  One call came in, this person is a regular and loves to fool around. :) Well, he wanted four seafood dinners all to go.  All of a sudden I was overwhelmed.  You have to understand I do not work well under pressure.  Four seafood dinners was a lot for me to take in.  I am still learning when things need to be put down first so that its all ready at the same time.  I started panicking.  Things were not coming together as it should.  Mike came in and walked me through it.  More than once I was ready to walk out and give in to tears.  To most who read this would laugh because one order would do that to me.  You have to understand I have never worked outside the home (other than a few little things), so this is all new to me and to top it off I have never worked in a restaurant.    I had a choice to make, either I walked out or I stayed and worked through it.  I ended up staying but it helped that Mike talked me through it and encouraged me.  I have to put a plug in, Mike is a wonderful!!  I love him to pieces.:)

Trials or problems (or in my case pressure) in a person's life can either break them or make them stronger.  According to this verse enduring makes us stronger.  Mike keeps saying that to me but I fight it.:)  I want the easy way no pressure.  When we have pressure we can ask God to help us through them or we can take the easy route and run.  But what can we learn from running?   God will give us the strength according to Phil 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me." NLT  If we tried to face the pressure, trials or problems on our own then for some it would lead to us to run.  The verse says that enduring develops strength of character.  I also believe that it takes character to stick it through.:) So I leave this post with, only God can give us what we need to face the challenge.  We can face it on our own and if we did try to do it on our own, we probably will fail and run.  Call on God He is our strength.  Have a bright and beautiful day.  

Sharon :)

Coffee can turned plant pot

This is my first time showing a craft idea.  We ( I should say dh) drinks a lot of coffee in this house.  That being said I have tons of plastic coffee cans just hanging around.  This morning I took a coffee can primed it first.  Then painted it with a cream colored textured type paint.  Once the can dried you could still see some of the name of the coffee shining through.   I decided to take scrap book paper and decoupage it on the areas that the writing was still shining through.  Tried to match the paper up with the colors in my dining room.  That wasn't easy because I do not have a lot of scrap book paper around.  I had no modge podge glue hanging around so I used a recipe that I found online through  pinterest.  It seems to work.:)  I think its still missing something but not sure what. :) 

New Recipe

Tried a new recipe today.  Sticky Buns.  The Home EC class I teach is going over yeast breads.  I had to test drive a recipe to see if it will work.  This recipe is taken from the Five minute a day Artisan bread book.  I found the recipe online ( I do not have the book yet).   Because I only have classes Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I had  to come up with a recipe that could sit in the fridge and prepare in a couple of days.  This recipe met that criteria.  I made the dough today and it can last in the fridge for up to two weeks.  I made some sticky rolls today with the  dough but I did let it rise awhile before going in the fridge.  According to what  I read the dough will have more flavor after sitting in the fridge for awhile.  I do have to come up with other ways to use up the rest of the dough.  Maybe some Challah bread.  The picture above is the sticky buns out of the oven.  The picture below is the sticky buns after being inverted onto a plate.

The plan is to make the dough on Tuesday with the class.  Let it sit in the Refrigerator from Tuesday until Thursday.  ( Unless we miss school because of a supposed snow storm heading our way.)  Friday will be pizza day.:)  If the snow storm does happen then we will do this on Thursday and make the buns on Friday.  The Pizza will have to be the following week.  I love Home EC because I get to do new things that I did not feel like I could do.:)  Sad part was it took teaching a class to help. 

Sharon :)

Menu January 16-22

I am finding that it is easier to do a weekly menu than a monthly menu.  I can stick to and not stray away from it.  Goal is not to add to the pantry this week but shop from my pantry.  We shall see how that goes.:)  May just have to get a few items like eggs and milk.  So here is this weeks menu.

Sunday- Roast beef, mashed potatoes and carrots (maybe homemade bread or rolls)
Monday-Leftover roast beef in a veggie stew kind of thing.
Tuesday-BBQ Chicken legs with Cheddar and Broccoli rice and a veggie
Wednesday-Corn Chowder in Slow cooker (http://realmomkitchen.com/5095/corn-chowder-in-the-slow-cooker/) trying a new recipe.  This is a wonderful site.
Thursday- Leftovers (may change and be the spur of the moment).:)
Friday-Chicken divan
Saturday-Pizza

Wednesday I set aside to make goodies for the kids lunches throughout the week.  Love to bake up something for them and pop it in the freezer.  So all I have to do when I make their lunches is take their treat out of the freezer and pop them into their lunches.  By the time lunch time rolls around it is defrosted.  Now if I can find cheap and easy lunches for them that would be awesome.:) Have a great week ya'll.:) I am participating in the Menu Plan Monday over at orgjunkie.

Sharon :)

Menu for the week of January 9-16

Sunday- Steak, rice and veggie
Monday - Rice Casserole from rice on Sunday
Tuesday- Taco Salad
Wednesday-Chicken and Dumplings with homemade rolls(if power stays on)
Thursday-Spaghetti and garlic bread
Friday- Haddock Casserole
Saturday- Homemade pizza

Going to try and post a weekly menu here so I can stick to it.  Have fun.:)