What Could It Be?

It's Yuuki, the wonder dog. She wrestles me for the blanket early each a.m. She loves to wrap herself up in a blanket....fleece is best but she's lost her fleece blanket.  She really, really wants my animal print, fuzzy blanket.....but I refuse to let her take it. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Michael preached today from Luke 7. This was snacky Sunday and we enjoyed a bit of fellowship before the building cleared out. 

We were tired today. It is also much cooler today - 59* as opposed to 77* yesterday. I KNOW that is NOT cold compared to places such as Alaska or Northern Japan - but it is cool for HERE. ::wink:: 

In a fit of brilliance I remembered we had a gas fireplace.  ::snort:: I did NOT realize the fireplace puts out real heat. I'm going to have to rethink some decorating in that corner.  Arielle claimed my chair and my blanket and enjoyed watching Jumanji with Michael and Nolan. I enjoyed a call with family and a nap. 

I came downstairs to a warm family room/kitchen.....Japanese music playing on the system and this.....feels like home...it isn't doing much for conquering the homesickness for Japan....but it does feel right.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Finding Fall in Grass Valley/Empire Mine

We set out to explore. My secret desire was to find green hills/meadows and fall. The weather got cold a week ago but the last few days have been in the mid-high 70's again. Perfect weather to explore. 

We debated which direction to head and finally headed out to Brown's Valley. We drove by the home we had  thought we'd move in to before it sold....and realized it was nice....pretty area....where we are is much more conducive to being involved in relational ministry. We also have a MUCH quicker drive to base. 

Next we headed to Grass Valley. I had no real idea of what we'd find there. I thought I had heard there was a state park nearby. I hoped  hiking trails, with nice picnic areas, would materialize.  We ended up in a public parking lot....I took this shot to add to my "Outhouses Across CA" portfolio.....seriously, we miss squatty potties - you don't have to TOUCH anything - but we are thankful  the places we've visited in the last two weeks have all HAD outhouses! 

Note the fall colors! 

Thrilled to be out of our subdivision! 

We enjoyed our picnic out of the back of the van (::snort::).....and set out to  investigate Historic Downtown Grass Valley.  We will be back! I will go back again someday with those who want to "shop" vs "window shop." 

 We fell in love with these sand pictures...the lady wouldn't tell me the price on the big one - always a bad sign.  There is liquid and air and sand in these and the designs are always different. Zander loved watching this.....They had some with backgrounds that were sort of fun. There was a bright one that reminded me of the Northern Lights in AK. 

All heartily endorsed the Lazy Dog  Chocolateria! The kids enjoyed hand dipped ice cream bars; Michael and I indulged in hand dipped dark chocolate covered honey comb and dark chocolate dipped toffee (respectively). 

I found the acceptable answer to the age-old burning holiday question, "What does a vegan do at Thanksgiving?"

A nice shopkeeper had suggested we drive up to Empire Mine State Park and thought there would be a lot of things the kids would enjoy there. The electricity was out today at the park. We couldn't go down the shaft....but we did walk around, talk with docents and got a good feel for the spot. We'll be back. This place will be fantastic in the summer when they have docents doing various jobs and tours. It will also be great dressed up for Christmas.  We think this would be a fun outing when all are down for Thanksgiving....though we are wondering about renting a couple of wheel chairs. 

These stamps were impressive! They were used to crush ore...and the noise could be heard from miles away.

Clubhouse

The Empire "Cottage" was fantastic. I hope we can go back during the Holidays and get a tour. It was built to look like an English Cottage - formal gardens and all. This was a great spot to get some photos - maybe we'll go back when all are here.

We didn't make it out of the compound early enough to hike the trails. There ARE lots of picnic tables here. Next time we'll have our lunch here instead of the public parking lot. 

We also drove by a few campgrounds on Rollins lake and one in Grass Valley. It was RENEWING to see TREES and GREEN meadows and fall colors. Several commented we need to do this every couple of weeks. LOL 


Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Thankful for FRIDAY

Michael gets a CTO off on the weeks when he preaches. He preached last Sunday. Today (Friday) was to be his day off.....so he came home early! I was proud of him for coming home early - then I found out the whole staff went home early to celebrate the end of the inspection. ::snort:: 

We took advantage of Michael being home to go scoop swamp water. Into my new "vintage" ball jars....with soil, straw, egg yolk...and swamp water. I'm sure wonderful new things will shortly be growing on the counters....on purpose. 

We searched out a "little branch" for this year's Thankful Tree....I'm not sure THIS is exactly the branch I will use. We'll work on it tomorrow. I'm printing leaves this year here . We've enjoyed past trees we made...all the leaves we cut out and each filled in...but this house really doesn't have a wall which we want to tape or staple leaves on.  And Ann's leaves are ready to go.....so I plan to make an arrangement with some "small" branches and hang the leaves on them.......

Honestly, we try too keep a thankful heart year round (thus Choosing Joy); but it is fun to list things out in the month of November.  Rather than leaves and/or journals, I  like the idea below this year. 

Via Facebook 

We left the river park and headed directly to Papa Murphys for a Chicago Style stuffed pizza and a Gourmet Veggie pizza - hold the cheese. ::snort:: The African Queen and Road to Bali is on our schedule for the evening.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

"Chick Pea" Tacos (Vegan)

We celebrated Michael's PT test with tacos (meat, cheese, and lots of it).  He was looking forward to this. I thought it would be an easy meal after the park. LOL  It's a good thing I've been cooking dried beans for the freezer.  As Nolan and I cooked, we discovered we had no Rosaritas. We like home-made better; but I'd gotten out of the habit of making them.   We whipped up some refried beans, started the rice steaming, started the taco meat simmering...and then I decided to try something new for Arielle and me. 

I didn't have chick peas, but I had pinto beans left....I used those and they were great. I have no idea if they would have been better with chick peas. This recipe is from The Happy Herbivore Cookbook - I LOVE this cookbook. 

Ingredients: 
1 T soy sauce (low sodium)
1 - 2 tsp lemon or lime juice
1 T chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp cayenne powder
1/4 tsp marjoram or oregano (I didn't use either)
1 15 oz can of chick peas drained and rinsed OR 1 1/2 C of cooked beans

Directions: 
Pre-heat oven to 400* F.

Grease cookie sheet - or line with parchment paper.

Whisk soy sauce, juice and spices together. Add beans or chickpeas and stir to combine.

Transfer to cookie sheet in a single layer.

Bake for 20 - 40 min until chick peas are as crisp as desired.

Spoon into taco shells and top with greens and tomatoes......

We do a Tijunga Taco here.....which will illustrate how essential the refried beans are to Taco night in our home.

Take heated tortilla, spread on refried beans, add a crunchy taco shell, add rice, greens, and taco fixins.....cover with salsa.... These little beans worked great in place of meat and I didn't miss the meat a bit...Michael said it reminded him of Chipotles.

I had thought of skipping the refried beans as we always have over 1/2 the can which doesn't get used....but they ate ALL the refried beans - all of them. I must keep making my own. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Yuuki Does Halloween

Yuuki LOVES Halloween. I wasn't home last year for Halloween. I was in Nashville, TN at the last PWOC International conference. I arrived early for board meetings and the start of selecting the last International board. Ah, the memories. I do miss the chance to connect in person with military spouses from around the world.

ANYWAY - I missed last Halloween and hadn't considered how Yuuki would respond to a parade of visitors. The ONLY time she barks or howls is when someone comes to the door. She seems to take it as her duty to warn us all......and she had a blast last night. We thought about putting her in a room...but you are knocking on our door....and it IS Halloween...the maniac barking, howling dog added to the fun for the night.

Someone would ring the bell...she would howl, race from the family room (where we were watching The Music Man) to the door, and then shower the trick or treaters with slobbery licks and wagging tail.  I tried to catch her on video but didn't really get the full fun.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Park Day

I know many of my friends in a bubble. I didn't know most of them as children. I don't know their extended families. I will live at the same location with them no longer than 3 years. Our friendships occur in a snapshot of time; though many continue long-distance. This is part of the military lifestyle. I suspect it is true of many segments of our population these days. Nonetheless, it is  a privilege to get to know a piece of a new friend's history - to meet a sibling, parent or grown child, to see photos of past assignments or childhood, to be trusted with past memories.....

Today the girls and I met Stephanie and her mom at the Purple Park.  I hope to be the Grannie who travels the world to visit grand kids someday. LOL  I enjoyed meeting Abby's grandma (Stephanie's mom).

I neglected to take any adult photos - but this time I did get photos of more than Arielle sitting at the top of the slide. ::snort::

Sarah and Arielle

Sarah, Arielle, Stacia and Abby

Adam was tuckered out by the excitement

Arielle pushed hard this week as she was set to babysit tomorrow morning. She got her school work done. I pushed hard with Alex and Stacia so I could play in the a.m. One of the little boys Arielle was to watch has the bug....and so we will have a day free of book work to fill tomorrow...though Nolan will have book work....ah, the possibilities.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...