Hey everyone! I hope you all had wonderful Christmas and New Year's Celebrations. My family was very blessed. We had a crazy hectic 2013 and 2014 looks to be even busier.
Both my daughters are having babies in the spring. The first in March and the second in April. I have GOT to get busy planning those baby showers!! I absolutely love being a grandma! Maybe more-so than being a mom... hmmm... ;)
I'm sure you all know about the Arctic Blast we had here in Indiana. The county I live in, Madison, has been declared a disaster state of emergency by both local and state governments. We are in a red travel alert - meaning only essential/emergency personnel can be on the roads. My hubster has just about killed himself shoveling snow - our snow blower conveniently quit working during the last snow we had. This year, I'm fortunate enough to work for a company who will let me work from home in this crazy weather. PTL!!!
I've accomplished two things so far these first 7 days - I gave up sodas and I made a HUGE pot of homemade beef/pork broth. Can't wait to see what I accomplish next!!
Just wanted to say hi. I'm not committing to posting much this year (hopefully at least once a month) but I'm still here and still kicking.
Till next time...
In His Love,
Melissa
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Call On Jesus
Driving to my doctor appointment this morning, singing along with Nicole C Mullen's "When I Call On Jesus", get to the chorus and - out of nowhere - burst into tears. ??? I don't know what to think. I've been calling on Him to calm my fears more than ever lately. To guide my thoughts and let me be a light for Him. The tears totally took me by surprise. I have a lot of changes on my horizon, some a little stressful simply because of the unknown, but mostly good changes. Maybe I had more pent up emotion than I realized and singing "When I call on Jesus all things are possible" broke through the facade of toughness I was trying to keep up. He's always working on me to make me what I should be.
In His Love,
Melissa
In His Love,
Melissa
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Birthday Letter to my Hubster
Dear Hubster,
On your 44th birthday today, I wanted to tell you just how very blessed I am to be your wife and lifelong partner. I thank God every day for giving you to me. You are the only man who has ever fought for me and stood by me through good times, trying times and downright ugly times. You have given me so much and forgiven me so much more than I deserve. You make me a better, stronger woman and I am grateful. You are an excellent father and amazing grandfather. I could not have asked for anyone better to spend the rest of my earthly days with.
I believe that God is leading us to something great in the near future and I am excited to be on this journey with you. So, Happy Birthday dear hubster!!
Today and every day, I love you and thank God for you.
Your loving wife,
Melissa
On your 44th birthday today, I wanted to tell you just how very blessed I am to be your wife and lifelong partner. I thank God every day for giving you to me. You are the only man who has ever fought for me and stood by me through good times, trying times and downright ugly times. You have given me so much and forgiven me so much more than I deserve. You make me a better, stronger woman and I am grateful. You are an excellent father and amazing grandfather. I could not have asked for anyone better to spend the rest of my earthly days with.
I believe that God is leading us to something great in the near future and I am excited to be on this journey with you. So, Happy Birthday dear hubster!!
Today and every day, I love you and thank God for you.
Your loving wife,
Melissa
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
H2NOOOOOOOO!!!
It's no secret that I am not a fan of water. There's no taste (and sometimes a nasty aftertaste). Sometimes I enjoy some ice water, but I have to be REALLY thirsty.
As part of our life changes this year, Brian (hubster) and I are always on the lookout for healthy alternatives that are good for us, convenient and taste good. I've read a million different blogs, facebook posts and articles about infused water and naturally flavored water and knew that I had to incorporate something like that to up my intake of water. So, last night I got 3 of my recycled bottles out of the drawer, put a tablespoon of lemon juice and 1.5 tablespoons of honey in the bottom of each one. Then I filled them with warm water (to dissolve the honey) and shook them up like a mad woman. :) Stuck them in the fridge overnight and brought them to work with me this morning (along with my Vi-Shake Smoothie).
As I was getting started on my project for the day, I opened up a bottle of my water and was AMAZED!! It's the yummiest water I've ever had. I've already finished one and am about half-way through the second. I doubt the third one makes it to the end of the day. There are so many health benefits in each bottle and it actually tastes really, really good! I can see this being integrated into every single day - and actually reaching my water intake goals.
So, if you're a water hater like me, give this a try and see if, maybe, it helps you get properly, deliciously hydrated!! Do a Google search to see all the benefits of lemon juice and honey. You might be surprised at just how good they are for you!
Until next time,
In His Love,
~Melissa~
As part of our life changes this year, Brian (hubster) and I are always on the lookout for healthy alternatives that are good for us, convenient and taste good. I've read a million different blogs, facebook posts and articles about infused water and naturally flavored water and knew that I had to incorporate something like that to up my intake of water. So, last night I got 3 of my recycled bottles out of the drawer, put a tablespoon of lemon juice and 1.5 tablespoons of honey in the bottom of each one. Then I filled them with warm water (to dissolve the honey) and shook them up like a mad woman. :) Stuck them in the fridge overnight and brought them to work with me this morning (along with my Vi-Shake Smoothie).
As I was getting started on my project for the day, I opened up a bottle of my water and was AMAZED!! It's the yummiest water I've ever had. I've already finished one and am about half-way through the second. I doubt the third one makes it to the end of the day. There are so many health benefits in each bottle and it actually tastes really, really good! I can see this being integrated into every single day - and actually reaching my water intake goals.
So, if you're a water hater like me, give this a try and see if, maybe, it helps you get properly, deliciously hydrated!! Do a Google search to see all the benefits of lemon juice and honey. You might be surprised at just how good they are for you!
Until next time,
In His Love,
~Melissa~
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Hey all! You thought I was going to flake on this blog again, didn't you? Well, here I am!! Haha
The past few weeks have been a little trying for me spiritually. My hubster has been off work for a long time with his shoulder injury and it is really taking a toll on him. We've been financially strapped and he's been getting depressed and angry over the lack of improvement in his shoulder. He's still weak, still has pain every minute of every day and still does not have good range of motion back. It breaks my heart to see him so frustrated and down. He feels like he's not providing for his family and is useless. It's so far from the truth, however, yet I cannot get him to see... He's been cleaning the kitchen almost nightly so that I don't have to. He's been doing my laundry (along with his) so that I don't have to. He's been running any errands that we have during the day so that I don't have to. I wish he could see just how valuable all this is to me. I pray for him every day in the hope that he'll get the healing he needs - physically, mentally and spiritually - and get back to enjoying life.
One thing that we recently started is menu planning. With an extremely tight budget and 3 - 6 people to feed on any given night, we had to get creative and frugal. I went on the search for a menu planner that would work for us. There are a BAZILLION decorative and beautiful menu planning boards on Pinterest, but I don't have the time, energy or resources to do that right now. There are printable plans - both free and paid - but I can't personalize or customize it to fit my needs and my family. Then I had a lightbulb moment... "Excel has tons of templates. Maybe they have a menu planner." Guess what?!?! They DO!!!! So I opened the template and saved it as my own, un-merged all the cells so I could list compnents of our menu on separate lines (perfectionism!!!), and started dropping in meals on each day. I added tabs and copied the whole thing over so I could plan for the month all at once (yeah right!! lol). Then, anxiously awaiting sarcastic remarks, I emailed it to my hubster to check out what I was talking about.
While waiting for his response, I found a local farm that sells whole, frozen, organic, free-range chickens for a really great price. I also found a sale on ground beef at our local grocery store. And, while perusing the website of the farmer selling chickens, I discovered a Farmer's Market that was pretty close by too. I shared all of this information with him as well and told him how it would fit into the menu plan and eliminate the need for daily trips to a store to get dinner for one night.
Then, he AGREED to it all!!! He really liked the idea of saving money and staying away from the store as much as possible. So, last Saturday we headed to Greenfield (about a 15 minute drive) and went to the Farmer's Market. We got a chicken, pork steaks, bacon and raw honey. All certified organic and free-range, grass-fed. Next, we stopped at Marsh and got our ground beef - a LOT of it!! And finally, we went to WalMart to get potatoes, spinach, kale, frozen fruit and a few other necessities. We got shakes at Steak n' Shake and headed home. Done in less than 2 hours because we stuck to our plan and we didn't overspend.
Once we got home, I separated the hamburger into 1-lb packages and prepped them for freezing. Then, he put the turkey, that we got with a gift certificate from his employer, into the roaster and "set it and forget it" and we took a nap. A few hours later, we had a 16-lb turkey that was cooked to perfection. Fall-off-the-bone tender. Then, I proceeded to make bacon and eggs for our dinner. We were alone. lol Hubster broke down the turkey and we put the meat and bones - in separate containers - in the fridge for the night. On Sunday I made 5 containers of 4-cups each of turkey stock and we STILL did not eat the turkey. We had nachos for Superbowl dinner. Monday night, we had turkey manhattans (with gravy made from my stock) with zero leftovers!! Then I put the rest of the turkey into 1-lb packages and froze all but one. Yesterday, I put a package of turkey, a package of noodles (from my last stockpile adventure) and 2 containers of stock into the crockpot. PERFECT dinner when I got home from work!!
This menu planning thing is really working out for us. It eases the financial burden, thus my Hubster's stress-level, since we're not making multiple trips to the grocery and I can tell the kid(s) days ahead what's for dinner. It means I have to cook more, but it's totally worth it. And the food is AMAZING! Tonight's dinner is already defrosted and marinating in the fridge for me to cook when I get home. That makes our nights so much less stressful! Bonus... It's Criminal Minds night! Yay!
If you want to check out the farmer I mentioned above, you can do it here. They have beef and pork, too, and plan to add honey in the near future. :)
Until next time...
In His Love,
~Melissa~
The past few weeks have been a little trying for me spiritually. My hubster has been off work for a long time with his shoulder injury and it is really taking a toll on him. We've been financially strapped and he's been getting depressed and angry over the lack of improvement in his shoulder. He's still weak, still has pain every minute of every day and still does not have good range of motion back. It breaks my heart to see him so frustrated and down. He feels like he's not providing for his family and is useless. It's so far from the truth, however, yet I cannot get him to see... He's been cleaning the kitchen almost nightly so that I don't have to. He's been doing my laundry (along with his) so that I don't have to. He's been running any errands that we have during the day so that I don't have to. I wish he could see just how valuable all this is to me. I pray for him every day in the hope that he'll get the healing he needs - physically, mentally and spiritually - and get back to enjoying life.
One thing that we recently started is menu planning. With an extremely tight budget and 3 - 6 people to feed on any given night, we had to get creative and frugal. I went on the search for a menu planner that would work for us. There are a BAZILLION decorative and beautiful menu planning boards on Pinterest, but I don't have the time, energy or resources to do that right now. There are printable plans - both free and paid - but I can't personalize or customize it to fit my needs and my family. Then I had a lightbulb moment... "Excel has tons of templates. Maybe they have a menu planner." Guess what?!?! They DO!!!! So I opened the template and saved it as my own, un-merged all the cells so I could list compnents of our menu on separate lines (perfectionism!!!), and started dropping in meals on each day. I added tabs and copied the whole thing over so I could plan for the month all at once (yeah right!! lol). Then, anxiously awaiting sarcastic remarks, I emailed it to my hubster to check out what I was talking about.
While waiting for his response, I found a local farm that sells whole, frozen, organic, free-range chickens for a really great price. I also found a sale on ground beef at our local grocery store. And, while perusing the website of the farmer selling chickens, I discovered a Farmer's Market that was pretty close by too. I shared all of this information with him as well and told him how it would fit into the menu plan and eliminate the need for daily trips to a store to get dinner for one night.
Then, he AGREED to it all!!! He really liked the idea of saving money and staying away from the store as much as possible. So, last Saturday we headed to Greenfield (about a 15 minute drive) and went to the Farmer's Market. We got a chicken, pork steaks, bacon and raw honey. All certified organic and free-range, grass-fed. Next, we stopped at Marsh and got our ground beef - a LOT of it!! And finally, we went to WalMart to get potatoes, spinach, kale, frozen fruit and a few other necessities. We got shakes at Steak n' Shake and headed home. Done in less than 2 hours because we stuck to our plan and we didn't overspend.
Once we got home, I separated the hamburger into 1-lb packages and prepped them for freezing. Then, he put the turkey, that we got with a gift certificate from his employer, into the roaster and "set it and forget it" and we took a nap. A few hours later, we had a 16-lb turkey that was cooked to perfection. Fall-off-the-bone tender. Then, I proceeded to make bacon and eggs for our dinner. We were alone. lol Hubster broke down the turkey and we put the meat and bones - in separate containers - in the fridge for the night. On Sunday I made 5 containers of 4-cups each of turkey stock and we STILL did not eat the turkey. We had nachos for Superbowl dinner. Monday night, we had turkey manhattans (with gravy made from my stock) with zero leftovers!! Then I put the rest of the turkey into 1-lb packages and froze all but one. Yesterday, I put a package of turkey, a package of noodles (from my last stockpile adventure) and 2 containers of stock into the crockpot. PERFECT dinner when I got home from work!!
This menu planning thing is really working out for us. It eases the financial burden, thus my Hubster's stress-level, since we're not making multiple trips to the grocery and I can tell the kid(s) days ahead what's for dinner. It means I have to cook more, but it's totally worth it. And the food is AMAZING! Tonight's dinner is already defrosted and marinating in the fridge for me to cook when I get home. That makes our nights so much less stressful! Bonus... It's Criminal Minds night! Yay!
If you want to check out the farmer I mentioned above, you can do it here. They have beef and pork, too, and plan to add honey in the near future. :)
Until next time...
In His Love,
~Melissa~
Monday, January 14, 2013
beet me senseless
Good morning! This is just a follow-up from last night's post. As promised, I forced myself to drink that obnoxiously disgusting citrus-beet smoothie this morning. I had a chaser to cleanse my mouth between drinks and I drank all but the last ounce of it. By that time, I was gagging and close to hurling so I dumped it. Never again. Tomorrow, we're back to the spinach, banana, strawberry and almond milk.
The beets beat me badly. They win - I will never endanger their species again. They are gross and vile and disgusting. ICK!!! I can still taste them almost 2 hours later.
I guess you can say I'm no longer willing to be so adventurous with my smoothies. I'm still shuddering from it.
In HIs Love,
~Melissa~
The beets beat me badly. They win - I will never endanger their species again. They are gross and vile and disgusting. ICK!!! I can still taste them almost 2 hours later.
I guess you can say I'm no longer willing to be so adventurous with my smoothies. I'm still shuddering from it.
In HIs Love,
~Melissa~
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Un-beet-able
Hello friends! So by now you know that my hubster and I have embarked on a journey of raw foods blending. We just got our Ninja Professional 1100W blender this past week and we've made some easy blends in it so far - blueberries one night and blackberries the next. Today, however, we decided to be adventurous and try a citrus-beet smoothie from a raw foods website I found.
First, I peeled all the components and put them in the blender. I wore gloves because I didn't want beet-stained hands.
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See how it completely PULVERIZED them? In just one quick pulse!!
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This is as it was blending. Everything rotates to get the smoothest blend possible It's pretty awesome to watch.
After it was all done, I poured it into two travel cups and did a taste test. OMIGOD IT'S DISGUSTING!!! I added agave, honey AND regular granulated sugar just to be able to stomach it. Let's just say I do not, will not ever like beets. Like, EVER!!!
I put them in the fridge because they are morning drinks and I don't have time to do all that peeling in the mornings.
Photo note: The disinfecting wipes were right there to quickly clean up any spots to hit the counter. Don't really want pink stains on the counter-top either. O.o
Hopefully the smoothies will be better cold in the morning. If not... watch out cause I'm forcing myself to drink it (even if the hubster won't).
I'm thinking I might just have to stick to my regular green smoothies and forget this adventurous junk! lol
Until next time...
In His Love,
~Melissa~
First, I peeled all the components and put them in the blender. I wore gloves because I didn't want beet-stained hands.
.JPG)
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See how it completely PULVERIZED them? In just one quick pulse!!
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.JPG)
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After it was all done, I poured it into two travel cups and did a taste test. OMIGOD IT'S DISGUSTING!!! I added agave, honey AND regular granulated sugar just to be able to stomach it. Let's just say I do not, will not ever like beets. Like, EVER!!!
I put them in the fridge because they are morning drinks and I don't have time to do all that peeling in the mornings.
Photo note: The disinfecting wipes were right there to quickly clean up any spots to hit the counter. Don't really want pink stains on the counter-top either. O.o
Hopefully the smoothies will be better cold in the morning. If not... watch out cause I'm forcing myself to drink it (even if the hubster won't).
I'm thinking I might just have to stick to my regular green smoothies and forget this adventurous junk! lol
Until next time...
In His Love,
~Melissa~
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