Sunday Reflections Continued...

We've just wrapped up the break down of Psalm 1.

Have you ever known a genuinely good person who just doesn't accept Christ in their lives? Have you heard that good person say that they can't believe that God would send them to hell because they didn't believe Christ was His Son sent to pay the debt of our sins with His own life? The response to that is: God is so gracious that he would not force anyone to spend all eternity with someone they've spent their whole lives trying to avoid. (My pastor compared it to spending all eternity with the relatives you dread spending the holidays with-God doesn't want to do that to anyone).

Hell is the freely chosen alternative for those who choose not to believe in Christ.

Lessons Learned

We haven't really had a problem with my daughter writing on anything but paper because I've just always drilled that into her brain "We Only Write On The Paper!" Tonight, she decided to write on one of her babies. She called me into the bathroom to look and all I saw was the doll on the toilet...I just said, "awe, is Lexi going potty?" Then I noticed her tears. She'd tried to get the ink off herself with sanitizer and was truly heartbroken for her doll. I didn't get onto her at all because she'd taught herself a valuable lesson and was ginuinely sorry. She actually kept trying to console her baby and was truly sad with lots of tears. I think she really loves her.

Behavior Chart and Chore Chart

We've just started these charts this week and so far they are proving to be very effective. I put a frowny face on her chart somewhere the other day and you would've thought I'd shot her. All hell broke loose...full blown tantrum-her world ended. They take these things very seriously. We had smiley faces across the board yesterday:)

Notes to "Grow My Faith"

THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."


Gospel of St. Matthew 5:3-10

Funny Ways My Daughter Says Things

My 4 year old is incredibly bright, but there are a few things she says that are just, well, wrong. She'll argue to the death about it though.

1. "See you to later"-'see you later'
2. She can't pronounce 'th' sounds so 'three' is "free";
'teeth'-"teef"
3. 'Brush'-"B-u-sh"
4. A few months ago, she'd greet me every morning saying "Look how I'm
tall" instead of 'look how tall I am'
5. Seems to be a problem with 'ch' too...ie "Tase"- 'chase'; "Tange"-'change'
6. A couple of years ago, "Lellow"-'yellow'; she really argued about that
one.
7. She argues with her Mimi that it's "Becuz"-'because'
8. From the song 'Big Girls Don't Cry'-"Bi-ig girls, they don't
cry-ry-ry..."

Miscellaneous Happenings

Well, I really do love my daughter, but I have hated my hair ever since she moved into my body. I decided to chop it all off and she suggested I go red. So I've gone from long and blond to short and red this past week. She and hubby are both pleased with the results.

My Music

Check out http://Blip.fm/srsg. I like a wide variety of music so feel free to click on my playlist and just scroll thru it until you find somthing you like. You can listen to my list, or create your own for free. If you like music, this is tons of fun. It reminds me of my childhood when I would spend hours in my room recording music.

Refrigerator Lists

I have so many lists on my refrigerator, that I think I'm going to have to put them in my blog to clear space, but to keep them permanently. The first one is from a very special book my mother gave me called "Childwise."

These are the Childwise Principles:

1. Great marriages make great parents.
2. Use the strength of your leadership early on and the strength of your
relationship later.
3. Parent now; be friends later.
4. Instill morality into a child and her behavior will fall into place.
5. Do to others what you would have them do unto you.
6. Other people count.
7. It's not enough to teach your children to act morally; they must learn how to
think morally.
8. To teach a virtue, one example (you) is better than a thousand lectures
9. Discipline is heart food for your child.
10. If learning didn't take place, correction didn't happen.
11. Allowing a child to progress into his new and expanding world in an orderly
fashion, greatly enhances learning and decreases the need for correction.
12. Constantly reminding a child to do what is expected only means you have no
expectation.
13. Verbal affirmation is NEVER redundant.
14. Wise parenting is better than power parenting.
15. An ounce of self-control is better than a pound of trouble.

Appetizers/Potluck/Desserts

SRSG Cheesy Sausage Balls

1 lb. Owens Regular Sausage
1 cup Jiffy or Bisquick Mix
lg handful colby-jack shredded cheese
lg handful sharp cheddar shredded cheese
2 stalks celery finely shredded
about 1/3 white onion chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Lightly grease large cookie sheet and lightly dust with flour (like when you back a cake...shake off excess). Form into balls and place in pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

What Do You Like Most About Your Spouse?

I'm thinking this will be a good idea to write down for the times when I'm a little irritated, I can just pull up this list and feel better.

1. genuinely good person
2. very honorable
3. very ethical
4. very hardworking
5. awesome sense of humor
6. he loves me unconditionally
7. he loves my dog
8. he loves to eat
9. has great taste in movies and tv shows
10. I don't have to revolve my life around sports on television
11. he puts both toilet seats down
12. he gets me gas
13. looks nice in slacks and a dress shirt
14. never runs around the house in his underwear
15. my daughter worships him...with good reason, he's a lot of fun
16. he's very sentimental
17. he believes in taking care of stuff
18. he's patient...especially when I'm moody
19. he's very helpful, especially when we have a lot of guests, he always cleans up and helps me serve everyone
20. he's my missing puzzle piece...my perfect fit...he completes me
21. he's very responsible
22. he plays the piano
23. I haven't come across anything that he just sucks at...he can play about any game
24. not afraid to show his feelings
25. he's creative
26. he likes music
27. I LOVE HIS LAUGH!
28. he gave me great in-laws....they are so calm, cool and collected. Stress-free!
29. he's trustworthy
30. my mother loves him
31. he's goofy like me and doesn't care that I'm goofy
32. even though he let me know early on that he's scared of spiders and snakes, he kills the spiders for me

What are your STAPLES?

What are some of the ingredients that you always cook with? In other words, what are the things that you run out of and automatically replace when you go to the store?


Some of the things I always have in my house are: Rotel Tomatoes, Hunts Diced Tomatoes, Stewed Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Tomato Paste, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cream of Chicken Soup, Angel Hair Pasta, Wide Egg Noodles, Goya Beans-Traditional Refried and Black Refried, cheese (cream cheese, shredded sharp cheddar, shredded colby jack, 5 Italian Cheese Blend, Parmesan), red and white cooking wine, Allegro Original Marinade, jar of minced garlic in the fridge, Kosher Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Bay Leaves, Thyme, Ground Comino (cumin), potatoes, celery, bell peppers, onions, apples, bananas, Goya Garbanzo Beans, Progresso Artichoke Hearts, Southern Style Frozen Hash Browns, Frozen Chopped Broccoli, Corn, Ranch Style Beans, Ground Beef Chuck, Whole Chicken, Pork Chops and Chicken Breasts.

I'm So Proud

This was a big week for my daughter, particularly Thursday. She had her first dental experience and she did really well. She met Mr. Thirsty, that would be the instrument that sucks all of the saliva out of your mouth; she got to wear the sunglasses that Cinderella left behind at her last checkup while they shined the big bright light in her face; she learned all about sugar bugs and especially loved her new floss, Arial toothbrush and blue sparkly big girl toothpaste. They told her she was the best 4 year old they've ever had. She had a great time and wasn't one bit scared.

Afterwards, we went to McDonalds and this little boy got about 1/3 of the way thru the net tunnel that connects the slides and decided he was not going to be able to go any further...I think he must've looked down. His parents were trying to talk him thru it and another lady had her child go up there and try to get him down and I saw that they just weren't having any luck and the poor little guy was really scared. I told my daughter he was stuck and a little afraid, so she went up there and tried to talk him thru it. That didn't work so she gently grabbed his arm and pulled him thru. She's pretty persuasive....her cuteness must have an affect on more than just her daddy and me.

Later, we went to her doctor for her 4 year check up. She had her vision and her hearing checked, all good-yea, and they commented what a bright child she's always been. I'm so proud of my angel.

What's For Dinner? (Recipes)

Friday, May 8, 2009

I love to cook, but sometimes I just run out of ideas. I love new recipes, so I'll try and post some periodically and hopefully some of you will do the same.

SRSG Chicken Salad-Sorry, I don't know the measurements, I cook by sight and taste.

1.Boiled Chicken (whole, breasts, or
combo...whatever the mood calls for)
2. Mayonaise to taste (quite a bit...really moisten the chicken)
3. Mustard to taste (a little for color)
4. Honey (a little to sweeten the heat of the cayenne pepper)
5. Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Pepper, Lemon
Pepper, Celery Flakes or Celery Seeds-
all to taste
6. Red Seedless Grapes-cut in half
7. 1 Apple, cored and diced
8. Sliced Almonds or Pecans, or both
9. Celery
10. Bell pepper-green and orange, diced
11. Red Onion
12. Chives-real chives if possible, if not
green onion is fine

Mix all ingredients together and chill.

Great on croissants!

What's For Dinner? (Recipes, Part 2)

SRSG Crunchy Tuna Casserole

6 oz elbow macaroni, cooked
3 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk

Add ingredients to 9x13 glass casserole dish and set aside.

1 6oz can Tuna (in water), drained
1 can mild rotels in juice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 small white onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 cup frozen, cut green beans (original recipe called for peas, can use either)
4 slices American Cheese, torn (original recipe called for 8oz Sharp Cheddar)
about 4 oz Sharp Shredded Cheddar (whatever variation of cheddar you like)
about 1/2 a jar of Hormel Bacon Bits

Mix above ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Season with garlic powder, lemon pepper, celery flakes, dill weed, salt and black pepper. Add to macaroni and mix well. Cover top with loosely crushed potato chips (I use Wavy Lays).

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

My Dog The Nanny

My dog is just beside himself everyday until my daughter gets up. He paces the floor crying and she's started sleeping a little later, so I've started opening her bedroom door and sending him in to wake her up. It's hilarious because I just hear her door shut....so she gets up and kicks him out of her room and goes back to bed. Uh oh, she's already behaving like a teenager and she just turned 4.

Sunday Reflections

Today was Mothers' Day and it was wonderful, except for the fact that my poor husband has been at work since 5:00 am and will not get home until 1:00 am tomorrow. He's the General Manager of a restaurant and if you know anything about the restaurant business, Mothers' Day is the day from hell! I guess he had anxiety about it and went ahead and got up after a sleepless night and went on to work since he was dreaming about it anyway. After such a long day, I just finally spoke to him for the first time today at 10:34pm. So the poor guy, he's there before anyone else and still has to close the restaurant and then do inventory and be back at 8:00 am tomorrow after a butt kicking of a day yesterday and today. I don't know how he does it and I really hope he knows how much we love him and appreciate what he does for our family. I watched a movie called "Fireproof" on Saturday and the message was very powerful. I would recommend it to anyone who's married or in love. I'm hoping that it opened my eyes not to take my husband for granted.

Other than that, the day started out with my daughter wanting to go to my church service instead of her class. I figured since it was Mothers' Day, maybe we could spend that special time together. She loved the music, but did complain it was a little too loud....I told her that's one of the things Mommy loves about this church...I've always liked my music loud, probably why I'm a little hard of hearing, but when the band is playing, I feel like I can just sing and no one can hear me. She did pretty good for the most part, but did tell me afterwards that her class is better. Yea, because I really need this time for me.

The general message at church today was that the Devil wants our children from the time they are born and mothers who are christ followers have a strong adversary who will fight to take their children down the wrong path, unfairly, but to never give up and to always pray. It was much more meaningful when the pastor said it, but this was the jist. The pastor also read a letter to a daughter-in-law from a woman who had prayed for her ever since her son was born. I mean literally prayed that whomever her son would fall in love with one day was being guided down the right path by her parents. Now that's planning ahead, that was very touching to me. It makes since though, I think I'm gonna try adding my daughter's future husband to my prayer list. I would like her to marry a man from a good, loving family, so why not.

After church, my daughter wanted to go to McDonalds, so we did under the condition that she would come with me without an argument when I told her it was time to go. She actually walked out of McDonalds with me without kicking and screaming....Happy Mothers' Day to me! That never happens, even if I've let her play for 3 hours. Then we went shopping to get my mom a present and a card and then we picked her up later and joined my sisters and my nephew at Mi Cocina. It was a wonderful evening and my nephew, who is 20 now, wanted to pick up the check for all of us. We were all very proud of him.