How Long Until Spring?

Well, I took an unplanned little break from this blog. We were impacted by the winter storm that dumped snow & ice and left so many without power this week. We had a little snow Monday, more snow by Tuesday a.m., sleet all day Tuesday, freezing rain Tuesday night and more snow Wednesday a.m. I awoke Wednesday a.m. to the sound of limbs breaking and crashing to the ground. I looked at the clock to check the time only to realize we had no power. The roads were covered in snow and ice and there was no way I was going to attempt to try to get up the hill we live on. The Man had spent the night in a hotel near work Tuesday night because he knew what was coming and was afraid he wouldn't be able to get to work otherwise. So the girls and I put on an extra layer of clothing and made the most of our day without power. I did some cleaning in the a.m. while the girls played. We went outside for awhile even though it was still sleeting. I cleared the worst of the driveway off. Then it was back inside for the rest of the day. I had enough hot water to make some hot chocolate to warm the girls up. We ate dinner by candlelight and went to bed early hoping the power would be restored during the night. We awoke Thursday a.m. to a very chilly house, 49 degrees inside. Brr! The Man had made it home late that night and was back at work by the time we got up. The roads had been plowed the night before and even though they still looked like a solid sheet of ice I decided I was going to get us out of the house for the day. We had a nice warm lunch with The Man before heading to an indoor playplace. I had found a hotel with availability(which was hard to come by) about 30 minutes away, so we headed home around 4 p.m. to pack up and head to the hotel for the night. When we got home our power was back on. Yay! We were only without power for 32 hours and I am incredibly grateful for that. There are still many people without and it may be sometime in February before they get power restored. Not good when it's so cold. The girls did have a great time playing outside in all the snow. And all the ice was absolutely gorgeous when the sun finally decided to make an appearance on Friday. Still, I think I've had all the winter weather I care to have. And yet, we may get more early this coming week. How long until Spring?

Wordless Wednesday-A New Day

You can see more Wordless Wednesday here.

Bread Pudding

As I mentioned in my previous post, The Man wanted bread pudding for his birthday instead of a cake. I was all for that. It's been far too long since I made it. We were given this recipe by a server at the Gumbo Shop in New Orleans when we were there back in 1998. It's your basic recipe but oh, so good. I did alter the sauce recipe.

Bread Pudding:
1/2 stick butter
2 cups milk
1 qt. cubed day-old french bread
1/2 cup cubed pineapple
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten


Combine milk and butter in a saucepan and heat until butter is melted. In a large mixing bowl combine bread, pineapple and raisins. Add milk and butter. Mix and let stand several minutes to let bread absorb liquid.

Combine sugar, salt and spices. Add beaten eggs and vanilla and mix well. Pour over bread-milk mixture and stir until well mixed. Pour into well-greased(I use a spray) 1 1/2 quart baking dish or black iron skillet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve warm with sauce.

Sauce:

1/2 stick butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk with tsp vanilla(original recipe calls for 1/4 cup bourbon)

Cream together butter and powdered sugar. Slowly beat in milk/vanilla mixture until it forms a sauce.

We added a little ice cream for good measure. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to The Man!

This was birthday week for The Man. He turned 38 on Thursday. We're at the point now where the kids get more excited about our birthdays than we do. They could not wait to give him the cards they made him. His celebration request was for a dinner at home of Shrimp Po' Boys. He also asked for bread pudding but after coming home to find the girls had made him a cake in their Easy Bake oven, he decided the bread pudding could wait until the next night. He's a good daddy like that. I will share the bread pudding recipe with you in a few days. It was given to us by a server in a restaurant in New Orleans. Pretty basic recipe but so good. I, of course, am including a few pictures of the celebration! Happy 38th to The Man! We love you so much.

Friday Faves

Here's the round up of my favorite blog reads this week.

The After-Christmas Mantle--I found this mantle decor by Kimba at A Soft Place to Land to be so lovely.

Finally a Sock Solution--that works for Me(Wednesday)--Denise at Full Nest shares her clever way of keeping up with those ever elusive socks.

Thaaank You, Betty! --Check out this scrumptious brownie recipe featured at Bakerella.

When You Give a Girl a Camera--As a photography loving mama with a photography loving daughter, I love the idea behind this blog. The photos are lovely.

Wordless Wednesday-New Purple Glasses

that fit her personality!
See more Wordless Wednesday here.

Friday Faves

I'm back with my Friday Faves after a brief hiatus over the holidays. I have stumbled upon some new blogs this week so I'll be sharing some from them as well as a couple of regulars.


Word of the Year-I enjoyed Kirsty's (Momedy) take on the New Years Resolution. I have started gearing my daily activities so that they fall in line with my priorities and have found it a much more successful approach than just trying to accomplish a list of tasks.


The Life Cycle Of A Purchase - From Desired Object To Tossed Clutter- Another favorite from Frugaldad. A good reminder to think before you buy.


Hoops & YoYo Friday Funny-A fun post from The ReView From My Beach Chair just in case you could use a smile.

What is Profound in Your Life-Michelle(thepaparazzimom) reminds us to look at those profound moments in our everyday life. After admiring her sweet baby girl, take a moment to enjoy the video she included.

Quote

The only dreams impossible to reach are the ones you never pursue.
-Michael Deckman

Good Character

com·pas·sion
-Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.

As I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post, the new counselor at the school my girls attend started a new character building program. Each month they focus on a particular character quality and at the end of the month/beginning of the next month 2-3 children from each class that demonstrate that particular month's character quality and are given a Good Character Award. Yesterday Sister Girl excitedly shared with me that Baby Girl had been chosen from her class for showing December's character quality of compassion. Baby Girl was embarassed when I asked her about it but then her face lit up when I showered her with praise. I love that she demonstrates this quality at such a tender age. It is a quality I hope both my children grow up with and demonstrate throughout their lives. It is what we are instructed to do.

1Peter3:8 (NKJV)

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;

Wordless Wednesday-Rain

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Happy New Year

I hope you are off to a wonderful start to 2009. We had a fun evening ringing in the New Year. Baby Girl was determined to see the ball drop this year and much to my surprise she made it. The girl likes her sleep and is not one to put off bedtime too much so I really expected her to cave and go to bed. However, when she makes up her mind about something she's going to see it through. We started our little family party off with a dinner of appetizers: sweet & sour meatballs, pigs in blankets, nachos.....you know the really good stuff. Our main TV went out the Monday before Christmas and is in the shop so we had our party in the basement. We enjoyed our dinner picnic style on a blanket. After dinner we played the Wii for awhile. The girls were running low on steam so we decided to liven things up with the First Annual Family Wii Bowling Tournament.


Baby Girl wiped the floor with us all. The kid ROCKS at Wii bowling. Check out her form.

Celebrating her victory!

Sister Girl being all cute.

As the evening wore on there was much silliness.

And finally it was time....counting down...10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1

Unfortunately it just wasn't all Baby Girl thought it would be so she had to take a moment.Bedtime followed shortly thereafter.

It was a fun start to the new year.

You can't start a new year without setting new goals.Some of mine for 2009 are:

-Continuing to focus on saving money and spending wisely.

-Continuing to focus on spending more time in the Word and commiting it to my heart. I have already commited to Beth Moore's challenge on the LPM blog to memorize and meditate on two new scripture verses a month.

-Looking into new ways to serve at the school or in the community.

Notice there are only three. I'm not really an overachiever. Okay, actually I have more but those are at the top of my list I think so I'm giving you those.

I'm looking forward to all 2009 has to offer. I hope you are too.

Happy 2009!