its whats for dinner....

Its  another week already.  I did my shopping this morning.  This weeks is pretty relaxed. Here is what I have planned.  If anything sounds yummy to you let me know and I will give you the recipe.

Monday-  LEFTOVERS

Tuesday- Rachel Ray's Mac and Cheese with Broccoli, and  biscuits*new recipe*

Wednesday- Black Bean Stoup and Monte Cristos.* new recipe*

Thursday- Perogies with Roasted butternut squash

Friday- Tex- Mex Lasagna

Saturday- EATING OUT (yippie  2 nights off in one week!)

Sunday- McCormick Bag'n Season Chicken Italian Herb Dish.  Garlic bread, green beans.

I am really looking forward to trying the two new recipes this week.

Scrap-cabinet

I was able to finish cleaning out my scrapbooking stuff this weekend.  I am so happy with it.  I went through my paper and embellishments and took out all of the stuff I will never use.  I am thinking that Melissa might be able to use some of the stuff.  I hate to throw it all away.  I still have plenty of 'stuff' leftover as  you can tell.  I have more scrapbooking to do this week.  I am still working on the Family Fun Facts Book.  I am sure working will be easier now that my supplies are organized better.

We went to Hach today like I had hoped.  Nice to get out of Misawa.  We stopped at the Statue of Liberty and took some pictures.  I posted a new photo album.  Check it out. 

Take Care.  Hope your Monday is great!!

My Step-Sister's Wedding

So my step-sister Jamie was married yesterday.  We had planned to take a trip home but Dave's leave was cancelled.  I was really bummed.  I really wish we could have made it home.  I really hate missing things like this.   I guess today I am feeling pretty crummy.  I get really homesick sometimes.  It is so frustrating knowing that we are pretty much going to continue missing everything for the next 15 years.  It is days like today that I don't think I can stick out 20 years in the Air Force.  I will probably spend the next few days trying to convince Dave that the military 'isn't for us'.  Then in another week I will be back to thinking 'this isn't so terrible'. 

The one great thing is that Dave's mom went to my sister's shower and wedding so she took pictures and sends them to me through IM the next day!  Talk about convenient!  If I had to wait for pictures from my mom I would be waiting for months.   It is nice.  When Dave's brother was married in July we got pictures the next day.  I couldn't live without my IM connection to the real world.  LOL.

Well, that's all I got for now.  Dave has tomorrow off.  Thank you Christopher Columbus!  Hoping to get out of Misawa for the afternoon. Maybe drive to Hachinohe to go to Lapia Mall.  Maybe they will have a movie there we want to see.  We haven't tried watching a movie off-base with Japanese subtitles.  I'll let you know how that goes.     

Rainy Day

Its Saturday already I cannot believe it!  This week went fast!!  I did some scrapbooking this week and I am really happy with what I got done.  I am planning to clean out my scrapbooking supplies and organize everything.   I sorted my scraps last night.  Man what a chore!! 

It has been raining here.  It rained all day yesterday, today and tomorrow are supposed to be more of the same.   There is a typhoon nearby and it is dumping a lot of rain on us.  Windy too.  The windows are whistling.  Yesterday was a great day to curl up with a book.  So that's what I did after I cleaned house.

Today we plan to run up to the bazaar and hopefully finish our Christmas shopping.  (Yippie.  We only have a couple people left to buy for. ) Tonight is Bean Night.  I woke up early to get them in the oven.  I had too cups of coffee and so far my 6 hours of sleep seem to be enough.  Dave has a cold, I feel bad for him.  Crossing my fingers I won't get it. 

Today is my step-sister's wedding day!!!  I am so sad that we are missing it.  I hate missing stuff like that. I'll try not to think about it.  Well, this has been a boring entry eh.  I'll end it quick.  Take Care!!  Have a great weekend!!

The Past Year

So a year ago I wasn't much of a reader.  I never had time and when I did pick up a book I was never able to get into it.  Then  a year ago a friend gave me a book to read.  It was so good and I really enjoyed giving myself the time to read.  I told my mother in law Melissa about the book and she picked it up at her library and loved it too.  Then we decided to read another book, and another.  Now that I am not working I have plenty of time to read.  There are so many I want to read.  I realized the other day that it was last October I started reading.  I have been keeping a list of the books I read and when I looked over it I was amazed at how many books I have read.  I laughed at how you can tell when I quit working because the number of books I read a month jumped. 

Here is the list:

Books read 2005

Lovely Bones  by Alice Sebold(oct)

Lucky  by Alice Sebold(oct)

Icy Sparks   by Gwen Hyman Rubio(nov)

The Four Agreements by 

Books read 2006


Mine Are Spectacular! by Janice Kaplan & Lynn Schnurnberger(read alone)(mar)

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik (apr)

A Girl Named Zippy  by Haven Kimmel (read alone)(apr)

The Pilots Wife by Anita Shreve (apr)

Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay (may)

Citizen Girl by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus (read alone) (may)

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (may)

Dying for Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson (jun)

Gap Creek by Robert Morgan (read alone) (jun)

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus (jun)

Love Smart by Dr Phil (read alone) (jun)

The Group by Mary McCarthny (july)

Cheat and Charmer by Elizabeth Frank ( july )

Poisonwood Bible by Barbra Kingslover (read alone) ( July )

Crazy Ladies by Michael Lee West ( Aug )    

Patty Jane's House of Curl by Lorna Landvik (aug)

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich(aug)

The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell(aug)

The Tall Pine Polka by Lorna Landvik (aug)

Two For  The Dough by Janet Evanovich (sept)

She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel (sept)

The Clothes They Stood Up In and The Lady In The Van by Alan Bennett (sept)

If Melissa posted a list of all the books she has read in the past year I bet it would be even longer.   We only plan to read two books a month but we always end up having time for atleast one extra. It works out great. 

This Week Menu

This is what I have planned this week.  I am so glad to be cooking again!!  Dave is excited too!!

Monday- Shake'n Bake Chicken breasts, Rachel Ray's Ital-tots, corn, salad.

Tuesday-  Vegetable Beef Soup, biscuits.

Wednesday- Smoky Turkey Shepherds pie

Thursday- Mega meatball Pizza, bread sticks, Caesar salads

Friday- Chicken Pesto Ravioli

Saturday- Bean night( see Melissa's blog for this great recipe)

Sunday- Grilled Halibut steaks with wild rice and steamed snow peas. ( think I made this a few weeks a go. Its so yummy)

I am trying a few new recipes this week.  The Smoky Turkey Shepherd's Pie and the Mega Meatball Pizza are Rachel Ray recipes from my new cookbook.  I am really excited to try them!!  

End of the week

So its Friday.  Yippie!!  Dave had a light week.  It was nice to have him home a little more than usual.  I spent the week catching up on stuff around the house.  Everything feels like it is getting back to normal.

We got a new sofa and a La Z Boy today.  We are so excited.  Our couch and loveseat that we had for only a year and a half were pretty nasty due to Wendy.  If you read about our Christmas than you understand the problems we used to have with Wendy.  Luckily she doesn't have accidents anymore.  But the damage to the couches was already done.  So today starts a new rule.  NO DOG ON THE COUCH!!  Dave was so upset that we needed to replace the couches, but he is the softy that doesn't enforce the rules!!  He was always complaining that he didn't like Wendy on the bed with us but he would never stay consistent with keeping her off!!  I had to train her to stay off while he was in Alaska.   The sofa and recliner were delivered this morning.  We might need to go get a second recliner because we fight over who gets it.  I am posting a picture of Dave trying it out this afternoon when he got home.  His behind hasn't left the seat for the past three hours!

Well, hope you all have a great weekend.  We got nothing planned, but I feel like there is something going on, I just can't remember.  You know how that is. Take care!!