What a sweet boy……….gotta love em!

Today is my 37th Birthday.  That seems so weird.  We won’t even get into that!  Hubby is taking me and the kids out to one of my favorite restaurant tonight!  We have reservations at Bucca De Beppo.  Love it!!  Maybe he will even take me to a movie this weekend.  I still have my Christmas gift for a movie out from hubby.  I had wanted to see PS I Love, which is actually still in the theater.  But I would love to see the movie, Atonement.  I really liked the book. 

We need groceries in our house.   I don’t think I will be able to get them so my hubby will be doing that for me tomorrow.  I planned my menu a bit different this week.  I simply wrote down what meat I had in the freezer and planned 14 meals based on that.  I don’t necessarily have a certain meal planned for a certain day, etc.  I will play it a bit by ear depending on when I am able to return to work.  Bu this should get us through until January 11th and by then I should be able to go shopping.   We are having visitors that weekend so hopefully I am doing better.

Recipe for Upcoming week

Chicken Filets in Buns – Fries – Movie Night – – MADE

Creamy Potatoes N Keilbasa – crock pot (low 6-8 hours) – Good Add To Website – MADE

Ranch Pork Chops – Rice – Veggie (Bake 375 for 35 minutes)

Rotiserrie Chicken  – Potatoes – Veggie – Cockpot – Apple Crumble – (low 4-6 hours) – MADE

Teriyaki Pork Roast (crockpot – low 4-6 hours) – Noodles – Veggie – MADE

Chicken Broccolli and Rice (stove top – 15 mins?) – Good Add To Website – MADE

Beefy Mac – Crockpot (low 6-8 hours)– MADE

French Dip Sandwiches – Crockpot (low 8-12 hours) – MADE

Ham and Cheese Wraps/Pasta Salad (15-20 minutes?)

Chicken Nuggets and Fries (20 minutes)

Soup / Biscuits (15 minutes) – MADE

Slow Cooked Steak – (Fix it and Forget 5 ingreds pg 88) (Low 6-8 hours)

Beef Barley Soup (Crockpot) (8-10 low or 4-5 high) – MADE

LEFTOVERS

I was able to finish one book this weekend.  The cold weather sure makes me curl up in bed and read. 

Leap Days – Katherine Laphner – (3/5)

It was an average read.  I finished the book so that says something……It is the selection for my book group this month.  I should finish the book I am listening to today as well. I will then start the new one my sister gave me for Christmas.

Well believe it or not I have finished my second book of the year already!   It is the one positive thing about not being able to sleep.  *smirk.    This book initially was very intimidating to me and I was not thrilled it was selected as our book for book group.  I think I always feel like this each time a classic is chosen for book group.   It took me a bit to get into this book, but I really enjoyed it!!!   I am very glad I read it!

Tess of the d’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy – (5/5)

I suppose I should do a bit of housework as I have been reading quite a bit this weekend.  What a rare treat!!!!  But laundry does call……

Well believe it or not I have finished my second book of the year already!   It is the one positive thing about not being able to sleep.  *smirk.    This book initially was very intimidating to me and I was not thrilled it was selected as our book for book group.  I think I always feel like this each time a classic is chosen for book group.   It took me a bit to get into this book, but I really enjoyed it!!!   I am very glad I read it!

Tess of the d’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy – (5/5)

I suppose I should do a bit of housework as I have been reading quite a bit this weekend.  What a rare treat!!!!  But laundry does call……

I have finished my 1st book on 2008.  It was a great read.  A perfect way to put an end to my  reading slump.  

Lottery – Patricia Wood – 4/5

Gotta love a book that makes you cry in public.  I was finishing the last few chapters today while wating in the public library for hubby and Tommy to finish making their library selections for the week.   After the library we headed off to have lunch at the Olive Garden and use up some old gift certificates .  YUMMY!

Hope you are all having a great day!!  I think I am all off to curl up under my electric blanket and start another book.   I love lazy Saturday’s like this!

I have to share the list of the Best Books of 2007 according to Bookmarks Magazine.  In the Literary category the following were some of the Favorites of 2007

The Aeneid – Virgil

After Dark – Haruki Murakami

Against the Day – Thomas Pynchon

American Youth – Phil LaMache

Black Girl/White Girl – Joyce Carol Oates

I’ll Steal You Away – Nicolo Ammaniti

In The Country of Men – Hisham Matar

Lost City Radio – Daniel Alarcon

Mistress of the Art of Death – Ariana Franklin

My Holocaust – Tova Reich

Nada – Carmen Laforet

Nineteen Minutes – Jodi Picoult

Only Revolutions – Mark Z. Danielewski

Out Stealing Horses – Per Petterson

The Raw Shark Texts – Steven Hall

Then We Came to The End – Joshua Ferris

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini

What Is The Want – The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng – Dave Eggers

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Only three of these titles are on my To Be Read list.  I have already read one of them, A Thousand Splendid Suns.  Since I am listing books here, I might as well share the titles that interested me out of the New Book Guide.  These might not be at our library yet, but generally they are on order already.  I also listed behind the book how many stars Bookmarks Magazine gave it.

Away  – Amy Bloom ****1/2

First Among Sequels – A Thursday Next Novel – Jasper Fforde ****

The Rest of Her LIfe – Laura Moriatry ****

Run – Ann Patchett ****

The September of Shiraz – Dalia Sofer – ****

Forgive Me – Amanda Eyre Ward ****

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I turned on my heating blanket about 15 minutes ago so I am sure my bed is warm and toasty for me by now.  Time for me to snuggle into bed and read for a bit.  Hope you all have a great night.  Let me know if you have read any of the above books. I would love to hear your review of the book! 

YESTERDAY

I went to the library in the afternoon and drove the car for the first time in over two weeks. I picked up my book on tape and the latest copy of Bookmarks Magazine. It is my favorite issue, the best books of 2007. I will share the list later when I have a chance to type it up. Once home I worked some more on the laundry and cleaned up a bit. I am still finding it a bit difficult to walk and need to take frequent breaks. After supper I did my bedtime routine!!! It really felt good to get back on schedule. Hubby helped out by putting Tommy to bed while I finished up dishes. I headed to bed early to read. I started a new book that I am really enjoying. It is called Lottery by Patricia Wood. I was still awake at after 11:00 so I took a benedryl in hopes of sleeping. I did get alot of the book read!! Our local library has an adult reading program called “Cold Nights, Hot Read”, until February 29th. You receive prizes after reading 4 books and after 8 books. I signed up to do that again this year. I am nearly done with my first book so I might have a chance at finishing 8 books in two months.

TODAY

I actually slept all through the night and Tommy stayed in his bed all night!! I was so happy. Not that I don’t enjoy my nocturnal chats with you all, but I do need some sleep. Today I returned to work. I was up early and completed most of my morning routine right on schedule. I am all showered and dressed and go to put on my shoes….yikes….We have a problem here Houston! My only winter shoes for work are dress boots or shoes with high heels! I put on those shoes and could barely walk….argh…. So I had to go buy new shoes before I could go to work. We have a pretty strict dress code at my work. I am breaking it a bit, but they will have to allow it while I recuperate. So I am wearing black tennis shoes for work, so not me! I am doing ok at work. I should have brought my crutches as I am experiencing alot of pain from all the walking. I am trying the best I can to just sit at my desk and combine any walking that I need to do. I don’t just walk to the printer once I print something….I wait until I have printed alot and then make only one trip. Or someone usually takes pity on me and brings my stuff to me. I will not be doing home visits for the next two weeks. I will only be working in the office until I experience less pain with walking. It is a good time to get caught up with paperwork anyways. Our next busy time will occur starting about February or end of January.

GOALS FOR 2008

I have been thinking about my goals and priorities list for 2008. I am tempted of course to take on too much, but for the next 3 weeks I am only going to focus on a few things. Some of these are connected but I am going to work on the following as my first priorities.

*Daily Time with God’s Word – I will read my bible either as part of my morning routine as planned or if that doesn’t happen I will read my daily reading online at work while I eat lunch. I have to admit my devotional habits are a bit weak and inconsistent. I hope to change that this year.

“You’ll go forth a little stronger
With a fresh supply of grace,
If each day you meet the Savior
In a secret, quiet place.” – Adams
* Establish a Better Sleep Pattern – up by 6:00am each morning
* Complete Bedtime and Morning Routine Each Day
* Make and Take my lunch to work each day

Today – I completed three of these…I completed my bible reading, did morning routine and brought lunch to work.

HOW I SAVED MONEY TODAY….

Hmm…I had to think about this. I actually spent money as I had to buy shoes for work. But I did bring leftover pork roast, carrots and cheese to work for lunch. So I probably saved $4.00 by bringing my own lunch of leftovers from home. Actually using up the leftovers is a great money saver. I end up throwing away too many leftovers sometimes!

Has anyone else had strange footprints on their blog today???  Starting around 3:26 I got numerous international footprints ranging from the Russian Federation to Republic of Molodovia, most of which were international.   I ended up with over 100 footprints today.  That is very strange….has anyone else experienced this?? 

Since this was probably a search engine or something inventorying my site, I won’t freak out too much.  But since alot of the things viewed were picture of my children.  I have changed my privacy levels.   I am only allowing access to logged in Xanga users.   I apologize if that is not the best options.  Please let me know how you guess all set your privacy levels. 

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.