Be Strong and Courageous

So we have been in the house for nearly 5 months and decided to start making it our own , since it is our own. The carpet is called River Moss and is very green with hints of chocolate brown. So On the living room, entry, and stair way walls, and last friday finished the powder bath as well, it is right off the stair way, we did a cyprus grass green. I love how it makes the white wood work and our Blue furniture just pop. In our bathroom we did a mushroom beige color, there is lots of grey and brown in the floor and tile on the tub. This the before the contractors white is so very bright. I cannot wait to do the kids rooms.

Our 2 story house has 9 people dwelling in it, we have 5 bedrooms, and 3 bathrooms which is a blessing and so much more. We have 3 meals and 1 snack a day which equals out to 32 portions of food that God provides daily. As well as the 32 dirty dishes and counters of pots and pans and my favorite the 16 plus cups of day that enjoyed a gallon of milk and much more clean fresh water - All God given. There are 6 beds in our home that lend to cozy nights of sweet dreams for most - :) as well as long laundry days trying to keep them clean, and oh yes the 6+ showers of the day and the loads of towels that come with it! Most (?) of us wear only one outfit a day well 2 if you count pjs and that lends to 120 plus outfits a week that use about 12 loads of laundry, we are talking 1000s of gallons of water a month. There are 3 Tv's that don't get much use, (a good thing) and 5 bookshelves of nearly 100 books each that get plenty of use - everything from Dr.Suess to Laura Ingalls to the grea...

Well since making the dinners a few weeks ago, we as a family have had a chance to try the Chicken A La King (like I said last time not my fave but kiddos loved it), Manderine Orange Chicken ( we ommitted the mushrooms as called for and everyone love it), Sweet and Sour Chicken (served over brown rice - super big hit), One of our Spinach Lasagnas (My Emma said it was the best lasagna she ever had - wow better than Olive garden). We have yet to try any of our steaks or the london broil, but we did make both our meatloaves. I know that having them bagged and ready to go has helped, it means that neither my mom or sister have to try and duplicate my recipes to my kids likings and there is a bit less mess in the kitchen that night ( of course with 9 eating here now, the mess is twice what I am accustom to yet. We are getting a bit better at the dish and laundry cycles though. The daily vaccuming of the house is no longer happening, but I am getting over that ( well trying to ;( ! ). I kno...

So my girlfriend Nancy and I decided to try our hand at once a month cooking and we even tried new recipes, to spice it all up. All together we made 33 meals of 4 servings. So 9 meals for her family (of 3) and 12 for my family (of 9). Our portions are 2 time bigger than hers so you can imagine what a day of cooking we had. In total we made 10 things and I am looking forward to trying them all. We made London Broils, Tritip steak strips, some regular steaks, 4 pans of lasagna, Sweet and Sour chicken, Manderine orange chicken, chicken a la king, lemon pepper chicken, Pork Loin roasts, lots of Meat loafs. It was fun to hang out for the day and then know that there are now 12 meals in the fridge that require only pour and heat or throw on the grill for prep time. I love it. Why have I not done this sooner. I think the next time we do it we will i will do a few of our family's stand bys. I was not impressed with the Chicken a la king, but the kids loved it, even with peppers in it Emm...