We Crushed It!

When did Wednesdays become so FRANTIC?  I need to remember they were busy at Beale too...PWOC and then a bit of school, followed by Bible Study/Youth Group. LOL

I felt hopeful this morning. By 0830 the kids had enjoyed a sit down breakfast, two instant pots were going - one with a roast (for BBQ sandwiches @ dinner) and one with yogurt, the fridge had been cleaned out, an appointment made for it to be fixed on Friday, I had two nice conversations with out of state friends,  and the kids were doing school.

Note this photo was taken at 0900 and it's just lighting up outside 

 At 1000 the kids begin Japanese lessons. 2 1/2 hours later they are finished and Stacia and I head across town for sewing club. It takes about 25-30 minutes to get there.

The elastic is in! 

Home Ec 

We have one more week of club. That sure went fast! I could have sworn we had a few more weeks left.  The leader won't be doing another sewing club - BUT she is getting a business license and will be doing private classes and lessons. I think we'll continue as it's something Stacia really wants to learn and I'm learning alongside her. In other words, I can't teach her these skills at all. LOL

Stacia and I were able to steam some broccoli, bake some fries, make some BBQ sauce, shred the beef and make sandwiches all by 5:00 p.m.

We were out the door for Life Group (Michael and I) and Youth Group (kids) by 6:15 p.m.  I was careful to note the ten names of those in the group.  We visited a bit with Pastor and a few others while we waited for the kids. It was invigorating to meet some new folks and start to sense the glimmerings of community at a new church body.

Wednesdays are doable with a bit of planning.....we can do it.

Best of all - it's the time of year when we can turn on our lights at night and in the morning. I know this as neighbors have theirs on.

The Serene and The Clamorous

It has been a new experience for us to watch leaves falling with the snow.....I tried to get a photo.

The appliance repairman came out and we finally have four burners and an oven that works!!!!! It only took five weeks and four visits. I feel like Steve, the repairman, is our first friend in the Valley. ::snort:: 

All is not quiet and serene at our home. This has been going on since Saturday....yes, we've called the home warranty....and it turns out the same company will be fixing our fridge....ON FRIDAY.

Green Beans with Garlic and Almonds (Laura M)

This is my friend Laura's recipe as found on Life at Willis Creek Ranch blog. They were yummy!

INGREDIENTS
1 T Olive Oil
5 or 6 cloves of Garlic, minced
1/3 C sliced Almonds
1 pound fresh green beans
salt, pepper and onion powder (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Heave the oil, add garlic.
 Add almonds when garlic is about 1/2 way browned.  Allow to brown well.
Add green beans.
Add seasonings.
Cover and cook on med to med high  - stirring periodically. It takes 8 - 10 min.
Add a dollop of butter for flavor as needed.

My Notes: 
I added sliced mushrooms to the garlic and proceeded to saute. 

I had trouble with sticking and added about 1/4 C of water to steam them through - "crisply steamed." 

I used our house seasoning in place of seasonings....

These were yummy - Stacia commented a bit of soy sauce would add a zing to them. 

Snowy Sunday - Church, Bazaar, Family Dinner, Family Devo/Prayer

Our house has beautiful windows - everywhere. This fact led a few decorating woes...but WOW....it paid off this morning. Look at the views...and I deleted the ones from the nook as they looked blueish. I love all the windows - they make it seem as if you are very close to nature - from the warmth of the house. ::snort::  Even Michael has agreed curtains would block the views - and so we continue - as the previous two owners were - curtain less. We have blinds in the bedrooms and they had some on a few of the living room windows - I think due to their TV. 

Living Room Windows

Kitchen Window

Dining Room Windows

1.5 inches over night....not a lot but a respectable start 

There is nothing as exciting, peaceful and serene as an early morning covered in snow....or a late evening's  snowfall.  Here are some shots from the yard.

Side yard

back yard

Looking towards the back woods 

Guessing we won't be cooking out much longer

Along the road 

I deliberately did NOT take photos of the RV....but it seems my flash was noticed.....Izaak wondered what sort of odd lightening storm they were getting. Ah, just the mother in law outside in slippers and pj's taking photos.

"Our" mountain finally has some snow on it's face....we suspect it will never be completely covered in snow because of it's sheer face. It will be fun to watch and see. 

Snow covered range behind just starting to peek through

A funny thing happened at church. My parents were being honored for 50 years of ministry at their church. My sweet Sister in law, Sherri, texted some photos. I always turn my phone down. I have a really loud, long harmonica text notification sound as I kept ignoring texts. She sent about 7 photos. I was nonchalantly moving my foot to cover the purse where the phone was....as it repeatedly went off. Michael was having none of it. He leaned over and said, "De'Etta - that's YOUR phone."  We were in one of the front rows. Good times. I'll share the photos in a new post.

Very thankful for my fur line Crocs

 Our church fauxpas couldn't have been too terrible. We were asked for info for the church directory and they took our photo. I think our church hunt is pretty much over. It was HARD to find a church which felt like home to all of us - but in the end, the majority of us feel at home in this church and all of us find things we love here.  We love the worship, the size, the community outreach, Pastor Shannon's sermons, the kids like the youth group....there is no women's ministry.

We met up back at the house after church (everyone goes to different churches). After I got soups going, we left Michael and the boys cleaning and we finally stole away for a GIRLS DAY OUT. I've been sorely missing outing with friends, coffee dates with friends, having people over to the house....and so has Bre. We hit a holiday bazaar at the Fairgrounds. Alaska has to have the prettiest state fairgrounds in the nation. ::wink:: Note Stacia and  my thrift finds - we look like marshmallows - but we're WARM marshmallows.

Gideon, Bre, Me, Stacia

As we walked through the exhibit, someone called out, "Hey, Bre."  WHUT? We know someone! And that's why we love living on base or in a small town.  It was her MOPS leader.

Larissa was sick and didn't come out. The youth at their church were on a camping trip (hope it was in cabins with heat) and so Jared was able to join us for dinner. Jamin, CoRielle and BreZaak were here too. Josiah is putting in lots of hours as he works up to leaving Walmart for his new job.  It is always nice to have a chance to get us all together. We're all busy during the week and can go days and weeks without seeing each other if we aren't intentional  - which is certainly better than months - but you know.

Gideon is a charmer @ 5 months

Bre "brought the Word" this evening. We continue to work through Philemon. The takeaway - "Let love speak loudest." It is a good seed to let germinate this week.

Izaak, Bella, Bre, Gideon 

Arielle is 36 weeks pregnant. She says she's had a long talk with Baby S and he's agreed to come on time. Gideon decided to come five weeks early....we will soon welcome our first Alaskan born Gherkin here in the valley - and life will change again. YeHaw!

Krista let us know this week she will be home after Christmas. 

This is a great perk on snowy days - an even 70*

Saturdays are for Prepping

Yes, Saturdays are for preparations.

Michael dropped Stacia and I off to do the week's grocery shopping.

He took the Jeep into Big Black Rubber to get studs on.....He was in and out in 20 min.

We baked a dessert and did a bit of prep for Sunday's family dinner.

We couldn't find a pattern for Stacia's next project - and we didn't figure out the elastic in the waistband of the current project either.

The kids went to a game night with the Youth group at Matanuska Assembly of God.

The fridge has begun making a sound like a helicopter coming in for a landing. It stops if you use the icemaker/water.....another service call to the warranty company.  We are STILL working to finish the first call (I only have two burners on the stove) and the second call - garage/vault problem.

That's a Saturday.

#WYFF - Optometrist, Meat, Bananas, Pizza and a Movie

Michael has been having trouble with his right eye.  Trouble as in it's blurry and he can barely see out of it. He also has dry and burning eyes, and sees double from time to time. The VA referred him to a clinic out here. They seem like a really great set up...number 1 in the valley. They documented he is having trouble, ran a bunch of tests, and couldn't figure out why he is having these symptoms. 

As we talked about it at dinner, I googled...."Vision problems and Parkinsons." Who knew? As PD symptoms progress many have trouble with vision. This could be from the meds or the disease itself. Symptoms include dry, burning eyes, blurry vision and double vision. The optometrist didn't think it had anything to do with PD when Michael mentioned it.....I'm not so sure. This is something we will discuss with the neurologist. 

What's a vegan doing with a mini-cart full of MEAT????🍓🍎🍠

A couple of friends (Becky and Lynette)  mentioned Carrs has weekly sales on meat. I went online, signed up to receive their sales ads and checked it out. We don't do a lot of pork - but times are desperate. 🐽  I needed to buy pizza toppings, we stopped by Carrs on the way home from Michael's appointment. He stayed in the car with his very cool glasses, and I went to check out the Carrs meat department.

It was $5 Friday, y'all!!!! They had buy 1 get one FREE on several items, $5 for others....I got a beef roast at $2.99 lb and bought two, I bought one pork roast (one free), one pack of country ribs (one free), pork loins for $5, NY fancy steak usually $12.99 for $4.77 and a couple value packs of chicken.

I moved on to produce and got wonderful grapes for $1.77 a lb, AND scored a case of ripe bananas (40#) for $10.00 - .25 a lb. I also got the name to call and talk to about case discounts. She thought they would give me a discount.

Shopping at Carrs was the most PLEASANT shopping experience I've had so far up here. The employees were friendly, helpful and talkative. The shelves were well stocked. The customers were laid back and friendly - mostly elderly.  If I shop the deals and stay out of the middle it will be fine. LOL

I decided to puree some bananas for muffins and breads, left some whole for "healthy" desserts and smoothies, and chunked up some of the medium ripe ones that had bad spots to avoid. This leaves the .89 a lb bananas for eating. Stacia helped me process them. It will be a bit of time until either of us want to make anything with bananas. 😀😜😮

We ended up with 6 gal bags of whole bananas, 8 or 9 quarts of puree, and one gal bag of chunks.

Earlier in the week, Izaak had given us pizza dough from the restaurant where he works. That made Friday night a breeze. We enjoyed our pizza.....and then watched 'Escape to Witch Mountain'...because we watched 'The Tooth Fairy' last week - we're on a Dwayne Johnson kick.

This will serve as our #WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) post - for more check the #WYFF tabs above.

Pittsburgh Pierogies

We first had breaded pierogies in Pittsburgh. The menu called them "Pittsburgh Pierogies."  I went in search of a recipe and now we call them that too. 

INGREDIENTS:
Pierogies (We use potato onion to avoid the cheese)
Panko Bread Crumbs
Nutritional Yeast (or Parmesan Cheese if you desire)
Garlic Salt or Powder
Onion Powder (opt)

You can a host of other optional spices and flavors.

DIRECTIONS: 
Prepare pierogies according to package directions.

While they are boiling, mix up crumbs, Nutritional Yeast, Garlic and Onion powder.  Just make as much as you think you'll need, adjust to your taste.

Preheat a skillet with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan for 1 - 2 minutes.

Drain pierogies and run them through the bread crumb mixture. The bits of water will make the crumbs stick.

Fry for a minute on each side in HOT oil until crisp and brown. Put on paper-towel lined plate.

Serve warm with Ranch, or ketchup, or BBQ sauce or mix balsamic vinaigrette with BBQ sauce.....you get the idea.