Another Christmas is over

Oh goodness, another one down. And I'm kinda glad to tell the truth. I felt like I was running in a hundred different directions for the last several weeks with too much to do and never enough energy to get it done. But it all did get done, though I always am left feeling like I just got sucked into the materialism of Christmas and never really take enough time to appreciate the holiday. I always feel a little relief when the tree is taken down, the house is cleaned up again, and it's back to work as usual. Is that super strange???? I barely took any pictures this year. I just wasn't in the mood, and that is so out of the ordinary for me. My emotions have been all over lately, and I'm hoping to bounce back soon. One of the ways I'm hoping to do this is participating in a Scripture challenge during this upcoming year!

As you know I'm a blog hopper. One of the blogs that I have enjoyed is Patter Cross's (love the name!). She's a Christian mom of identical triplets. She has hosted a Scripture challenge during past years. I have followed and enjoyed what others have come up with, but have never actually participated myself. Here's the jist of it:

1)She posts a word a week (like peace, love, or something Biblical in nature). This year she's posting a word every other week so people can keep up easier.

2)Then she encourages you to search the Scriptures during those couple of weeks finding passages with the given word. Then you are to create a small page or card with the Scripture that speaks to your heart.

3) Finally she has a forum to post results so we all can draw encouragement from one another.

I am looking forward to this challenge. I am fearful that I won't be able to keep up as life gets so busy and hectic. But I am planning to create a small page of some sort- either to keep in an album or perhaps a rolodex form. I'm still deciding on that part, so hopefully the small size will keep this manageable. Anyone else want to join in? Let me know if you plan to participate! Here's the link to Patter's blog.

http://triplethescraps.blogspot.com/2009/12/announcing-scripture-challenge-2-for.html

my favorite holiday recipe right now

I would have to say that my favorite thing to bake is probably breads and muffins. I found this recipe in Quick Cooking several years ago, and it is SO moist. It has a very mild fruity flavor. I have baked about 14 mini loaves of this bread so far this Christmas season and am giving them to neighbors and tutoring families. Enjoy!



Plum Quick Bread

3 eggs
2 jars (6 oz. each) plum or plum with apples baby food
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs, baby food, oil, and buttermilk. Combine dry ingredients; add to the egg mixture and beat just until moistened. Transfer to two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool before removing from pans.

how we spent our snow day

(I just noticed that part of this collage got cut off due to the layout I have on my site- you can see the entire collage if you click on it- just as long as you'll excuse my no-makeup- no- haircurling- dressed -like- a -bag lady look)

Living in Iowa all of our lives, we are used to snow. But this storm was the worst one we've had in decades. They had begun forecasting it last week already, and the weathermen got it right! Monday night it began snowing lightly with a couple of inches on the ground by Tuesday morning. The boys went to school, but school dismissed at 1 PM as the snow was intensifying. By the evening commute, it was snowing pretty heavily and continued to do so throughout the night. School was called off for today by suppertime on Tuesday. The boys and I stayed up late watching TV. Gary went out to snowblow a couple of times in the evening so it wouldn't get so piled up. At first, we were forecast to get 6-10 inches, then it was up to 10-12 inches, and finally they were up to above 12. I didn't want to hear anymore! Wednesday morning we woke up to several inches, but the worst part was the winds that had begun to blow overnight. Gusts up to 50 mph made it impossible to clean off roads. Travel conditions were horrible. I knew that was the case when Gary didn't even try to get in to work today. That has never happened in the 17 years we've been together!! He has always set out to work, no matter what the conditions were! So we were in for a day at home- all four of us! I took some pictures throughout the day documenting our activities. I did a lot of baking, Bradley did a lot of texting and laptop playing, Brennan did a lot of computer and video games, Gary did a lot of snowblowing and resting (he had a headache for a good part of the day), and the kitties looked for warm laps and spots to sleep in! This evening the boys both beat me in Scrabble and we're staying up late as they don't have school again tomorrow! We found that out by 4 PM today, which has never happened before! The news said tonight we ended up with somewhere around 15 inches of snow! Now the winds have finally died down, but the temps have plummeted and the wind chills will be dangerous for the next day or so. So the boys and I get one more goof off day at home!