The Night Went to the Dogs

The Husband's siblings love animals.  Each of his sister's have at least one dog.  Recently we went to The Farm, which is where The Husband's oldest sister and brother-in-law live.  They live with five dogs, two pot belly pigs, a miniature horse, and a donkey.  In the big barn are many big horses and in the indoor riding arena.

We went for supper and to visit.  Kidlet Three had such fun with the dogs.  Here are some pics from a very fun evening:

The videos are hilarious.

Once I figure out how to do some minor editing

I'll post them.

It was an amazingly fun, entertaining evening!

Glorious Day

In my car CD player you'll find Casting Crowns "Until The Whole World Knows".  I absolutely love each and every song on this cd.  For the past two days, the following has been my favorite song.  I play it over and over because I want the words to get under my skin.   Each of these words is so full of truth that I want to yell them out from the top of the highest mountain.  Since I don't live by mountains, I sing them as loud as I can in my car.  Here is "Glorious Day":

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises

One day when sin was as black as could be

Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin

Dwelt among men, my example is He

Word became flesh and the light shined among us

His glory revealed

Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me

Buried, He carried my sins far away

Rising, He justified freely forever

One day He’s coming

Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain

One day they nailed Him to die on a tree

Suffering anguish, despised and rejected

Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He

Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree

And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer

One day the stone rolled away from the door

Then He arose, over death He had conquered

Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore

Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him

From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming

One day the skies with His glories will shine

Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing

My Savior, Jesus, is mine

Oh, glorious day

© 2009 My Refuge Music/Club Zoo Music (adm. by EMI CMG Publishing) (BMI) / Be Essential Songs (adm. by Sony/ATV Songs LLC) (BMI) / Word Music, LLC (ASCAP)

Fish Tacos

We do not eat fish very often.  Unless we are at my parents eating fresh fish.  But I was hungry for fish so I started hinting to The Husband and Kidlet Three that we were going to have fish for a meal very soon.  For some reason I knew I had to work them into this idea because of the type of fish I was hungry for!  See we usually enjoy fried fish.  No, enjoy is too light of a word.  We LOVE fried fish.  What I was hungry for was fish tacos and I just knew that was not going to be highly accepted.

The night I made the tacos I gave in and fried two of the fillets for the boys.  The rest I made into tacos.  I'd picked up this recipe somewhere and I would give it a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.  It wasn't bad but it wasn't those "10" excellent fish tacos I've had in restaurants.  In case you want to try this recipe, here it is. 

Chili Lime Sauce (mix all ingredients and refrigerate)
1/2 cup fat free, plain yogurt
1/2 cup fat free mayo
zest of a lime
Juice of two limes (I used ReaLime)
1 T.chili powder
1 T. cumin (I goofed and used cumin seed but it worked..)
Salt and Pepper to taste

1/2 small onion chopped finely
2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced

6 loins any firm, white fish.  I used Tilapia.  When I opened the package they smelled fishy so I soaked them in a lime juice/water potion for about 20 minutes. 

Remove the fish from the water and lay on paper towels to remove excess water.
Season the fish to taste with chili powder, garlic powder, salt and papper. 

Pre-heat a frying pan seasoned with cooking spray.  Over medium heat, fry fish until golden brown (4-5 minutes a side for the Tilapia).

Turn and cook the other side.

While the fish was cooking, I set up my assembly line.  Including the broccoli slaw.  I picked up this bag at Trader Joe's.

With all of the ingredients for the tacos set out and ready to go, I flaked the fish (which really means chop it) in the pan.

I used corn tortillas.  I started each taco with a spoonful of the chili lime sauce, a handful of broccoli slaw, spoonful of onion, fish and then chopped tomatoes.  I love cilantro so I sprinkled dried cilantro over the entire taco.

Fish tacos.  Nummy.

Mysterious vs. Faithful

I've been thinking a lot lately.  Thinking, running Kidlet Three to hockey practices, making jam, chatting with friends, sorting out a closet and all that stuff that takes time. So I haven't posted for awhile.

But I've been thinking during all of those activities.

Thinking on how mysterious God is.  It is mysterious how the whole world and all the galaxies beyond work in perfect timing and are synchronized to move so they don't collide.  Isn't it mysterious how the human body works?  The trees in my area have had three different stages of color change this fall in preparation for the winter season soon upon us.  We have enjoyed brilliant colors.  Oh what wonderful mysteries this life is full of that we get to enjoy.

There are many, MANY things that go on in this world that I question their purpose or how good can ever come from any of it.  The mysteries of sickness, the death of a really good person, how a friend can think that divorce is an option, or how parents abandon or hurt their kids. 

This week Kidlet One was diagnosed with celiac disease.  She has been feeling so awful.  The good news is that one week on a gluten-free diet she said she feels "300%" better. 

With her diagnosis it means all three of my Kidlets have a life-threatening disease or allergy.  It makes me a little mad.  I had my boo-hoo hissy fit with God which included me saying the words "it isn't fair" and "why would You let this happen" and finally, "can't you give my family a break".

There was a little anger for me to work through, huh!

My God is so amazing.  He let me have my poo-poo time with Him and then He asked me a question.  In that little inner Nudge He asked me this:

AM I FAITHFUL?

If I hadn't been in the middle of the grocery store in the gluten-free food aisle having a melt-down at how expensive the gluten-free foods are, I would've fallen to my knees and said "YES..YES...YES...Lord, You Are Faithful.

I waited until I got to the car.

In the car I had a vision of a scale.  The type of scale that has plates on the left and right.  On the left I saw all of the mysteries and questions I had for God.  It tipped the scale down toward the left.  On the right side of the scale I saw God's faithfulness.  His faithfulness to me and His faithfulness to all of mankind.  And I watched the right side of the scale become fuller and fuller until it dipped way down, outbalancing the mysteries.

God's faithfulness far outweighs all of the mysteries in this world.

Amazing and true!

Wood...It is What We Haul

This wood pile is used to heat my parent's home.

 The wood needs to get from that pile to this window.

 And the window leads to this room.

My dad built slats that slide inside the door frame.

The slats protect the door as we throw

the wood through the window into the room.

 Dad and Mom are all smiles during the first load.

 The Handy Dandy Ranger is backed in close to the wood pile.

 And we start stacking log by log.

 Then Dad drives the Ranger to the house.

From the smile on his face you'd think

he is having fun!

 Shouldn't there be a song played

while looking at this cute buggy!

 At the house, each log...

 is tossed into the wood room through the window.

 My Dad and The Husband work on a load here.

 Notice the black insert sitting in the window.

My Dad made that to protect the window sill.

It is solid steel and "made to fit" this window.

 Between the eight loads we made,

I'd check on our progress by peering

into the window.

Can you see the top of the door?

 The room wasn't full so back we go

for another load.

 Eventually Dad went into the house and

removed the top two slats.

Mom used a metal poker to push logs

around to fill the open spots while

Dad re-arranged logs closer to the door.

 So after a few more loads, we were getting

closer to having that room full.

 From the inside of the house, you'll

see some of the slats gone so we

can check on the level of wood.

This roomful will heat my parent's home

until mid-January.

 The remaining woodpile needs a blanket

to stay warm and dry until we

visit it again in mid-January.

That is when the room will need to be

filled again!

 Tarps are brought out, strung with rope, and
spread to cover the wood.

 My parents.

Happy to know they will have

a warm home this winter!

Meat and Potato Pie

This is a quick, fun dish that I usually make for Sunday brunch.  One recent evening when I got home from work I started the usual dialog of "what should I make for supper" with The Husband and Kidlet Three.  Any food item I mentioned didn't sound good.  So I opened the freezer and stared at the contents half expecting something already made to pop out at me.  Ha!  That never happens but I stood there looking anyway.  The bag of hash browns caught my eye and I then remembered the Meat and Potato Pie recipe.  So I made it and Kidlet Three raved on and on about how good it was.  Maybe on that next evening when nothing sounds good to you, this will hit the spot!

Meat and Potato Pie

3 T. oil
3 cups shredded frozen hash browns
1 cup grated Swiss or cheddar cheese
3/4 cup diced ham, sausage or bacon
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup milk (can use evaporated)
2 eggs
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
Chopped parsley

Mix together the oil and hash browns in a 9-inch pie plate.  Press into pie crust shape.  Bake at 425 degree for 15 minutes or until crust begins to brown.  Remove from oven.  Layer on cheese, meat and onion; set aside.  Combine milk, eggs and seasonings in a bowl; beat all until blended. Pour egg mixture over layered ingredients.  Sprinkle with parsley.  Return to oven (same temperature) and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.  Allow to cool 5 minutes before cutting into wedges.  Yield 4-6 servings.

An amazingly healthy supper!

Mints Take 2

Another friend's daughter got married this past weekend.  This bride requested wedding mints, too.  Also,  this bride wanted help making her bouquet from fall silk flowers.

We made the bouquet with feathers and flowers and it turned out beautifully.

We left the mints white.  They were so elegant looking with the sugary coating.

And on the wedding table, on that silver tray, they looked really expensive!

Here the happy couple is cutting their cake.  I did see the bride munching on a mint, too!

Mint-making may be my side job with all the requests I'm getting to make them!  That would be an amazingly fun job!