Thankful Me

Wow.  I ran out of planned menus last week, plus we were out of town overnight.  Once the planned meals were used up, my creativity went downhill, and the food choices were basic, quick, not-as-healthy selections.  I've got a few dinners planned for this week, but I haven't come up with an entire week's worth yet.  Here's what I have so far: *Chunky Sweet Potato Stew, Green Salad *Pasta with Shrimp and Artichokes, *Crazy-About-Carrot Salad *Greens and Berries Salad with Cashew Currant Dressing, *Black Forest Cream of Mushroom Soup *recipe from Eat for Health , by Dr. Joel Fuhrman Monday:  sushi and chicken chow mein from Trader Joe's Tuesday: Chunky Sweet Potato Stew, made by youngest daughter Wednesday:  breakfast for dinner-- waffles and eggs Thursday:  Pasta with Shrimp and Artichokes--I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but how could one go wrong with shrimp and artichokes as ingredients?  Friday: Ham and cheese sandwich on E...

I got a phone call from my mom today wondering if I was OK, since this blog has been quiet over the past couple of days.  Yes, I'm OK.  I was just not home Friday and Saturday.  Youngest daughter and I participated in Disneyland's Never Land 5K on Friday night.   We were two of approximately 4,000 people (from every state, except Maine and New Hampshire) who lined Main Street, from the Sleeping Beauty Castle all the way down to the train station. While we all waited for the run to start, we listened to a D.J. crank the tunes up, and smiled for the film crew. Finally, we were off!  Disneyland sure knows how to host a fun run.  Disney characters lined the streets, and parade floats were brought out of their storage garages backstage.  Every mile brought another photo op. The lights and little fountains from World of Color sparkled in the darkness as we approached the finish line. At the conclusion of the race, ...

Thankful thought:  Thanks for a personal foot-warmer.

First of all, I'm calmed down about the plumber.  The bathroom is functional as is, and John has some more ideas on what to do to make it better.  As for the plumber, who knows what his story is?  Perhaps he is under the misguided notion that being a good plumber means making as much money as he can on each call (even if that means the company loses repeat business).  He probably does a fairly good job at that.  Anyway, I'm going to try to just let it go.  Between facebook and this blog, I've gathered several names of recommended plumbers, so if John needs help, we know who to call. My question for you, my dear readers, came to me when I was writing Sunday's post, found here .  When I was looking up the scriptural background to the ox in the mire post, I was surprised that the Biblical account didn't actually have the word "mire" in it.  I even googled "ox in mire" and the hits that came up were LDS links, or written from an LDS perspective...

The plumbing issue didn't get fixed.  No problem; call a plumber.  Two years ago, we called a plumbing company who sent Mr. Doom-and-Gloom.  Before we took the drastic measures he suggested, we called another company.  That company solved the problem with a simple snaking of the drain.  This morning, I called a company that advertises "Any drain unclogged" for a reasonable price.  Problem is, Mr. Doom-and-Gloom showed up at my door.  He changed companies.  His solution for everything is, "Let's tear up the foundation of the house!"   Based upon our past experience with him, our problem should be easily solved by calling a different plumber.  However, a tiny part of my brain is going into worry overdrive.  What if he is telling me the truth?  Breathe, Kristi, breathe.  Things could be much worse.  I really don't have any reason to complain.  Life is good. Thankful thought:  Tha...

This weekend promised to be wonderful, and started off that way when John and I went to the temple Saturday morning.  Attending the temple with John is one of my favorite dates.  After feeling the peace of the temple, we weren't even bothered by the heavy traffic on the way home.  I told John how much I was looking forward to today.  I had no church responsibilities.  No choir practices were scheduled, nor did I have to play the organ.  I don't mind playing, but I was looking forward to just attending stake conference, listening, and soaking everything in.  This morning, right before we were going to leave for church, I discovered our master bathroom was one big puddle of water.  In the book of Luke, chapter 14, verse 5, Jesus Christ explains why it was OK for him to heal on the sabbath:   "And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbat...

Here is a handout to accompany the February visiting teaching message.  Right click to save/print. The message can be found here. Thankful thought:  Thanks for children!