Don't forget

I just wanted to take this opportunity to stand on my soapbox. *Just move it over to the left a bit... no, right... okay.. ahem. *

Haiti.
I think its getting easier for us to set aside what's going on. The news stations for the most part have retreated. The initial outpouring of support is slowing down. It gets easier to forget. It seems as though its worlds away. But its not. This little island country is integrated into our lives here. You don't have to go far, especially in our area, to know someone personally connected to Haiti. My friend, Ana Lydia, who had to come to the states to safely have her baby, while her husband is still working in Haiti.
My friend Sara, who is trying to patiently wait right now as the Prime Minister meets with the ambassador to hopefully clear this up. Her baby boy is now sick and praying as only a mother can for her baby to be in her arms at last!
 And more friends have adopted from Haiti, we along with our school sponsors Mission Haiti, and it doesn't take long to see there is still plenty of heartbreak out there for Haiti.
So my point is this... Don't forget. Keep praying. And check out this awesome video. Praise God for all that has been done already and for what we know He will continue to do.




*Stepping down now*

Please Pray!!

Please will you all join me in praying for my friend Sara?
Her and her husband are in Florida right now awaiting the arrival of their son Albert to come in from Haiti. He was supposed to come in yesterday, but complications arose when the plane was ready to leave and these orphans are now being held.
Urgent prayers are needed and any verses you can offer them at this time showcasing His promises and faithfulness would be much appreciated!!
Storm Heaven's gates!!
Here is their story at Van Zee Blogspot

A whole lot of not much, followed by lame excuses

Yes, I am here, I am alive and kicking, and even healthy. We made it back from Phoenix after a wonderful vacation with great weather and fun times. Yes, I realize that pre-posting for the first half of my vacation while not posting the 2nd half, or when we return home defeats the purpose of even bothering to pre-post. But I don't care, its my blog and I'll do what I want to.

I do have excuses too... we got home late Wednesday night- thankfully came home to good interstates despite it being closed the day before we came home. And then, well, life resumes and people need me to do all sorts of things for them. Such as er, um, unpack? Well, I washed half of our dirty stuff.. and the clean stuff is patiently waiting to be well... unpacked. Laundry- yes, I already said I did that, so why was my husband hollering  calling from the bathroom last night at 10:30 (as I was in the middle of Real Housewives mind you!- the nerve of some people) that someone clearly came in and stole all of our towels as there were none in the bathroom? I can't tell ya, I guess I forgot to wash those before we left. No worries, I stormed  happily strolled downstairs and took them from the guest bathroom- those are nicer anyway!

And well then, there was the need for groceries, which for whatever reason prompted me to really clean the fridge out as all my groceries sat out on the counter waiting to be put away. Of course this may have been a ploy for me to avoid unpacking.

And I need to get to my Wii Fit because well, its been awhile again and I just can't wait for the stupid looking scale thing to smart off to me and let me know that it has been 14 days since I last logged in and don't I know that if I really want to attain my goals I should log in once a day and blah, blah, blah. He doesn't even give me the chance to explain! It doesn't care that I was on vacation and forced to walk up hills and run and sweat and hurt muscles I didn't know I had. It doesn't care that my Great aunt Martha was in the hospital- I don't have a Great Aunt Martha, but if I did, that stupid talking scale wouldn't care anyway. And then to top off the humiliation, it grunts when I stand on it. Because I needed that. Stupid Wii Fit.

And - I swear last excuse- I am on my second bloody nose of the morning. Super. Could be altitude change, or it could be all the ibuprofen I consumed due to the afore mentioned walk of death.

And this last thing is not an excuse, its an apology to anyone who saw the super nice comment from the friendly chinese fellow on my last post. You can all thank the Asian with too much free time during the Chinese New Year for me now implementing "comment moderation".

Okay, I am off now... I promise to return next week with actual trip highlights and other useful useless information!

Winter Fun?

What do bon fires, spot-a-pots, lakes, sunshine and hot-dog roasts sound like?

Winter games of course!!!

A few weekends ago we stood out in the cold on the ice.

On a lake.

Outside.

Yes, I realize that lakes generally are outside and that in order to stand on it, it must be ice. And to have ice it must be cold.

And it was. See all the vehicles, those are on the ice too. So you know its been cold because that's a lot of weight on the ice. Yes, this is something I thought about once or twice. Both of those times were when I was inside the spot-a-pot. That is a life altering experience on a normal day. Try it when it shakes as the person nexts to you steps aboard and you are trying to peel back all of the layers you put on that morning, thinking of warmth, not potty breaks. That's when you start to question the depth of the ice and hope and pray with all of your being that this isn't the moment that the ice is suddenly going to be overcome with weight and you are going crashing into the lake in a spot a pot. Wouldn't that be a dreadful end.

In Iowa you have to be tough to survive the winter. Right Jackson? Jackson...

You okay bud?!

Look at this kids breath.

He is happy by the way... I was just trying to get a picture of the steam coming off his hat. He didn't appreciate the timing of my humor. Rarely does he.

 Despite the frozen toes, the numb fingers, dodging drunk snowmobilers, and the spot-a-pot experience, this weekend was great! The memories were priceless. A game was played where nothing but fun mattered- this was evident by the fact that the home team was short players- by approximately a  team, and so half our boys went on their team. And won. It was fun.

Even the sisters of the players had some fun!

Some get pulled on a lake behind a boat, we go behind a parent tied to a rope.

What do you do for winter fun?

Do you have an abundance of warm weather so you go out and play?

Or do you stay couped up inside like the bears until the snow goes away?

Mad Photography Skills...emphasis on "mad"

Two years ago, my husband and I were awarded a fabulous trip of a lifetime. Hawaii! Our airfare, hotel, much food, paid for. It was with a large group of people that sell this brand of buildings and if you sell enough, you get to go on this fabulous trip.

Knowing my camera was gying and the batteries would no longer hold a charge, we decided to purchase a new one before we left.  Nothing special, just a point and shoot Hp photosmart.  This was the view outside our room:

And this is the two of us at the luau... not such grand picure quality is it? I know, the very kind guy who offered to set aside his 15inch lense, to use our supberb point and shoot couldn't have been more excited abou this!

And then we have our dinner at the Kona Brewing Co. Like our friends?

What's that? You can't really make out any faces? That was my 7th attempt my dear friends! Imagine me not so thrilled with our impulse purchase at this time. And yes, I politely chose the picture in which my husband is cut off (that's his knee and partial arm on the bottom right) because it showed a look of disgust at his wife who is taking so long to get 1 snapshot! (remember that hockey post where Jackson was rolling his eyes at me... wonder where he gets that from!)

And its not at all limited to the glorious trip of a lifetime. Christmas program at church?

This one actually turned out decent, if kept small. Don't try to print it, its as if you are looking through an hourglass with all the grains!

And last but not least, Christmas Eve in front of the fire.

I assure you that the whole living room is not on fire, despite what this picture may show!

So, I am fed up, and now in the market once again for a new camera. I am hoping hoping hoping, to use up our Cablela's points to buy a very nice one. Of course this limits me to what Cabela's carries, but I am going to suggest that those outdoorsman take their picture taking seriously and have some nice camera's out there!

So, I am curious- what kind of camera do you use?

Is it a point and shoot? Does it point and shoot a good picture?

Are you a hard core SLR camera kinda gal? ( I hope to be!)

Does your camera go "click" and you wind the wheel to advance the film?

Camera woes out there? What do you stay away from?

The Winner!!!

You all had such great entries! It was a lot of fun to see what others would do with a little mad money. As women I think it is a stretch for most of us to think of spending it on ourselves, yet we definitely know what we dream of.

This activity reminded me of two years ago when my son was in 1st grade and they were asked the same question in school. The answers were posted on the bulletin board outside their classroom and the answers just cracked me up! Jackson said "I would buy a huge mansion and a pool and give the rest to God" Others said, "Give it to God", "build a pool",  "buy a limo", "get a race car", " a John Deere Combine"...on and on.

It was just so fun to see what they would all do with their $100 and how in their little minds it was just as good as 1 million dollars!

Okay, I know you are all here to see who the lucky winner is of a grab bag of 100 items!
The winner is.....

GENA!!!!

Congratulations, Gena!! You can email me your snail mail address at alicias(dot)journey(at)yahoo(dot)com

Please allow two weeks for it to arrive as we leave for Phoenix tomorrow and I won't get it sent off before that.

Thanks again for all your entries!!!

Super Bowl Sandwiches

Are you having a Super Bowl Party? Do you even know who's in the Super Bowl?
We like to have a Super Bowl party and this year, I can't even say who I want to win, so its a win-win all the way around.  I like to have people over solely for the food and fellowship... and the commercials!

This year I am making my favorite sandwiches- so easy! So, I though I would share the super easy recipe for all of you fabulous readers out there in case you are in a pinch and wondering what to serve. These are great party food, and anytime food!

Mock Prime Rib  Sandwiches

1 lg Boneless arm roast
2 cans French onion soup
1 packet Au Jus mix
1 pacet Italian dressing mix

Dump in crock pot in the morning and let simmer aaaallll day. Shred the meat apart with meat forks as you are able- usually an hour or two before serving. Serve on a bun, any bun will do.

Like I said, these are sooo easy, but everyone loves them!
Don't forget to enter in the Week of 100 giveaway from earlier this week!
Have a great weekend!!!

Week of 100!

***Contest is now closed and winner will be announced on Monday sometime - I have been having computer difficulties so bear with me if its a little longer! Thanks to all who entered!!!!***

Okay,

I promised ya'll I'd be back with a giveaway and here I am! After posting this morning I had to laugh because it is also the week of 100 at school as the 100th day is Friday - who would have thought that they'd ever get to it with all those snow days?!

So, its 100's week at school, and it (was) my 100th post.

And thank you Holly for commenting on how very cool I am for timing that just right... I know I am, but its nice to hear it from my peeps too! :) haha!

Now, who wants free stuff?!

1.)All you have to do is comment and tell me what you would do right now with an extra 100 bucks.

Would you pay bills, buy a fabulous pair of jeans, buy stuff for the kids, save it? WHAT?!
2.)Want an extra chance to win? Become a follower of my blog- or if you already are, that counts too! You DO have to comment to win however...
3.)Another chance? Blog about it and leave the link in the comments.




Winners will be drawn and announced after the contest closes- no kidding- via my kids pulling your name from a hat. Because that's the fair and honest way to go.



And NO! you aren't getting $100 from me, wouldn't that be nice though?
Are you wondering when I am going to let you in on it?


Okay, I will give you a gift basket of 100 items. Yes, 100 items. I will count them myself and for the most part, will be useful (not 50 toothpicks or something) However 100 Dove Dark chocolate would do wonders for me....

....okay, I'm back!
So! Enter to win!

You have until Saturday at 11:59pm to enter.

Sweet Satisfaction

I know that its hard to tell by this picture, but that's my fully scooped driveway! This driveway is normally cleared by my dear husband with a skid loader. Unfortunately he is in Indiana. So, this dumping of 4-5 inches on my driveway looked daunting.  But we did it.

Yes, it did snow another 1/2 an inch or so after we finished, but that's not important. What's important is that after school my dear sweet wonderful 9 year old son helped me shovel. And we finished it! His dad even told us that we earned a puppy... we'll see if he sticks to that! :)

Just like life, the harder something is, the sweeter the reward when we're all finished.

**I just realized that this was my 100th post!! (You would think it could have been a better one, right?!) So, I am going to come up with a give-away in honor of my 100th post, because I'm corny like that! I'll be back later today to let you know what I've come up with!

Mondays

Today is Monday. All the children go back to school... because there was no snow day! yeah!

My dear husband is gone, not yeah, but during the day yeah!

Its snowing. Still after all this time, so beautiful.

I am sitting by the fire, catching up on my Bible study lesson, wearing my favorite slippers.

Life is good.
Happy Monday.

***Edited to add that by the time this post actually made it I was crabby after shoveling snow for 45 minutes and accomplishing zilch. Just a disclaimer for those who have had to be in contact with me and are reading this going "This is soooo not the person I talked to today!" Somebody light her a fire and bring her Bible back to her!"

I am nothing, if not honest.

Thankyouverymuch.