A Few of My Favorite Things

(1) My deck: which I miss so much!



(2) Insulated Starbucks cup: which I got for Christmas from the Fullens!




(3) My bike: which I also miss so much!



(4) Pampered Chef batter bowls: one of my best purchases ever. I use them all the time.



(5) "For Every Body" candles from Kohls: as good as Yankees but half the price!




(6) Coffee Grinder: I didn't know coffee was supposed to taste this good! (last year's Christmas present from the Fullens!)




(7) Tongs with silicone tips: I use them for everything!




(8) Ball stackable freezer containers: from freezer to lunch.




(9) Fridge water dispenser: LOVE this handy-dandy dispenser from Walmart. I'm drinking more water because of it!




(10) Snow!




(11) Magnetic Knife Rack: Target



(12) Sea Salt Hand Scrubs: my guilty pleasure. Bought this one at Wegmans but so far I've liked all the brands I've tried.



(13) My iPhone: I know, I know. You've heard it before.

The Other Half

After making the recipe in my previous post, I had a half of a cooked spaghetti squash leftover. Tonight I mixed it with...

onion and garlic sauted in olive oil
sliced turkey kielbasa browned in above
1 can italian diced tomatoes
garlic salt
topped with parmesan

Oh my yummmmm!!

I also discovered a unique way to bake spaghetti squash casseroles. Right in the shells! Neat, huh?

After hearing everyone's horror stories of crowded stores today, I was surprised by the emptiness of Weis. In and out with no problem.

Few of the best deals:
Whole Roaster Chicken: $4.50 (my Christmas dinner!)
Poinsettias: $3 (didn't buy any but wanted to let everyone know!)
Clementines: $4.99 (lowest price I've ever seen!)

Watching a fourth version of "A Christmas Carol" at the moment. Never tire of this story. Wish I had the book to read on Christmas day.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Today's Menu

You probably know I have Type II diabetes. Not proud of it. I don't usually check my levels but decided to this past week. Yikes...they've never been so consistently high. If my Dr knew the numbers he'd probably be doing something drastic, quickly.

You probably know I love to cook. But I've grown tired of my normal recipes. So I decided to look for some new ones. I LOVE allrecipes.com. You really can cook tasty, healthy food if you work at it. It's all about using spices and zesty vegetables (onions, garlic, peppers, etc). I'm just usually too lazy to bother.

So I'm going to try this tonight because I have most of the ingredients on hand. I'll let you know the result. Do you think this would freeze well? Should I also try the "Mock Coconut Pie" made with spaghetti squash?

Baked Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Ingredients
• 1 spaghetti squash, halved and seeded
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 1/4 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Place squash on a baking sheet, and bake 40 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat, cool, and shred pulp with a fork.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a casserole dish.
4. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until evenly brown. Drain, and mix in the green pepper, red pepper, red onion, and garlic. Continue to cook and stir until vegetables are tender.
5. Mix the shredded squash and tomatoes into the skillet, and season with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir until heated through. Remove skillet from heat, and mix in 2 cups cheese until melted. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish.
6. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and continue baking 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

What a Hump Day

I know this is painfully long. But if you want to hear how I made a complete fool of myself, you'll want to read on.

I write for a read thru the Bible blog. A month ago I decided to write all three of my December posts so I wouldn't have to think about it during the holidays. Good intentions but I didn't quite complete the goal. Instead, I started the one that was supposed to post today, completely set it up but didn't finish it. Had every intention of getting back to it. I didn't forget about it. Remember this was a month ago. Bear with me.

The post was on the entire book of James. So all I wrote (a month ago!) was, "James is a book full of rich truths in every verse. It is impossible to do it justice in one day."

So yesterday I knew that I had to finish the post. It was written on my to-do list and I had my phone setup to shout reminders to me. I didn't forget. Well, until it was 8pm and I was still at work. I had woke up yesterday morning with this...


By 8pm it was really bothering me, even causing pain in my head. So I went to shut down my laptop and pack up my office and my computer wouldn't turn off...just sat there spinning. I finally decided, "I really don't need to take it with me (uh huh). I'll just let the battery die and reboot tomorrow." You know where this is going.

I go home and it never even crosses my mind all evening that I had forgotten to post. I went to bed looking forward to closing my eye(s). At midnight my phone alarm goes off..."BLOG POST"...AAAAAHHHH! One minor detail I left out was that posts must be completed by 4am so that West coast readers can see them in their morning hours. So here it is midnight, I realize I have 4 hours to finish the post and I don't have my computer (no, I don't have a computer at home). I realize there is nothing I can do about it and it really isn't the end of the world. So I adjust my alarm to get up a bit earlier so I can get to the office to post as soon as possible. Sorry, West Coast.

I wake up in the morning and my eye is now swollen and crusting. Yep, pretty sure I had pink eye. I also had two other physical symptoms but I'll spare you the details. Let's just say, I was feeling like crap. I get to the office by 8am and I boot up the computer...no problems. Until I read an email from a friend/pilot/fellow blog writer named Paul. He wrote, "??? Was that intentional? Either way, it made me laugh! I'm in Tampa. Be home later today. We'll talk." I immediately wondered what in the world he was talking about. How could he have read my post when I hadn't pos..............AHHHHHHHH! (for the second time that morning!). A month ago when I setup that post I had even scheduled it! Meaning that it automatically posted at 4am this morning even though it wasn't finished. And remember what it said?...

"James is a book full of rich truths in every verse. It is impossible to do it justice in one day." Period. That's all. Out there for everyone to see.

Well, I don't know if anyone on the West Coast read it but it certainly gave Paul a good laugh. I quickly "unposted" and set to work on finishing it. But first I shot Paul a quick email saying, "Computer issues, pink eye, female issues, intestinal issues...need I go on??? What I really want to say is, 'Shut up! You're in Tampa!' :P"

post finished. scheduled at 9:20am. done. sigh.

Now I was free to address the eye issue. Dr says it's not pink eye but he wasn't sure what it was. Said I had an abrasion and infection. But it's treated the same as pink eye anyway. So to end my Hump Day, I head to the pharmacy after work this evening to pick up my prescription that was called in at noon. They don't have it...out of stock but it will be in tomorrow afternoon. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? DON'T YOU OWN A PHONE? YOU COULDN'T CALL ME TO TELL ME THIS SO I COULD GET IT SOMEWHERE ELSE?

I leave for PA tomorrow and will just have to hope they have it in time. I was about to post a plea on facebook asking if anyone has drops on hand when a friend texted me and asked if I needed drops!

Happy Hump Day to me!

"We Need to Talk"

A friend and I were talking about that dreaded phrase this morning. She's a principal and hears it from both teachers and parents. In my world it comes from volunteers, team members, family or coworkers. It never means anything good, does it?

I told her that I wondered if it's possible to change the trend. What if every time WE said, "We need to talk", that our talk contained nothing but praise, encouragement and appreciation. After awhile those who worked with us might actually look forward to the phrase instead of dreading it.

My friend even took the effectiveness one step further. She said if she took the time to call a parent to simply rave about their child, the number of "We need to talk"s may actually decrease! The power of the positive is so effective yet we tend to under-utilize it.

I'm hoping I can prevent "We need to talk"s this coming year.

Revision...

Make that five headaches in a week. I've decided to do something I vowed I'd never do...get a massage.

A Week in Review

• Totally enjoyed last weekend's snowfall. My neighborhood was incredibly beautiful.
• Was blown away by last week's message on Atonement. God's plan is mind boggling.
• Wrapped loads of presents for two families this week...11 kids worth. Backache.
• Spent four hours on Friday organizing the food pantry and bagging Christmas meals at NESAP. I'm totally hooked on this new found love. Had to force myself to stop. I apologize in advance for future posts repeatedly raving about this hobby.
  
• Saw Disney's "A Christmas Carol" in 3D last night. Very awesome. Ate too much popcorn which wasn't even good.
  
• Made pretzel kisses for a cookie exchange tomorrow.
  
• Made two more batches of Baked Oatmeal (see below). Gave one away.
  
• Attended a Christmas brunch this morning to meet a Moroccan woman. She never showed but we had a great time regardless.
• Have had four headaches in a week.
  
• DRYER FIXED!!! Doing laundry tonight at home for the first time in a month.
• Garbage disposal fixed, too!
• Made a return at Kohls. Wasn't in the mood to shop so didn't buy a thing.
• Was doubly blown away by tonight's message at LifePoint, Part Two of Atonement.
• Watching "It's a Wonderful Life."
  
• Praying for snow.
• Would love a Starbucks right now.
  

It's Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas

Bing's White Christmas
Tree lit
Candles burning
Presents wrapped under the tree
Snow covered lawn

The perfect setting for some holiday baking.


I've been craving warm chocolate chip cookies but really don't want a whole batch sitting around the house. But a friend, who is a mother of seven, is stopping by this afternoon (to drop off her kids' presents so I can wrap them!!!!). So I decided to whip up a batch of tollhouse this morning so I can send most (but not all) of them home with her.

As they were baking, I started cleaning out a cupboard and came across a container of oatmeal that was almost empty. Oooooooo! While the oven is hot, I'll whip up some Baked Oatmeal! If you've never had it, you are missing out on a wonderful Lancaster County comfort food. It is like a crumbly cake that you serve warm with fruit and milk for breakfast. Suggestions: raisins, apples, peaches, cinnamon, blueberries, etc. Great for Christmas morning. My favorite is peaches (with some of the juice, of course) covered in milk and warmed in the microwave.

Bing's White Christmas
Tree lit
Candles burning
Presents wrapped under the tree
Snow covered lawn
AND FRESH BAKING SMELLS...

...the recipe for a perfect Tuesday. Now off to work.


Baked Oatmeal

1/2 c oil
2 eggs
1 t cinnamon
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 c milk
1 c brown sugar
3 c oats

Mix all ingredients. Pour into 8x8 pan. Bake 350 for 30 minutes.