He's always there!!!!

You ever have those days where everything just seems to go wrong and all you want to do is run away??? Maybe hide under a rock for a while and come out when things are all better???

Today was one of those for me.

I got up this morning, got things ready for the moving guy to come by and then waited. Right after he left I decided to make sure we had rooms available at TLF (Temporary Housing Facility) for next week. Then it started, I literally felt like I was being tested and pushed and pulled in different directions.

"I'm sorry ma'am but we have no rooms available for people with pets, you'll have to keep them in a kennel or stay in a motel off base"....Ummmm, not exactly what I wanted to hear.

Curt was still home so we started going back and forth trying to figure out what to do, we tried to move our housing inspection day and were flat out told NO.

Our only other option was to stay in a motel off base which was going to cost us $70 a night, plus $4 each dog per night. Yeah not exactly viable since we needed 5 days and are not exactly swimming around in money. It's that whole military pay thing.

I started calling around, trying to think of what to do but most of all I started praying, please please God, help us out here, something's got to give, either a room on base or housing inspection date, something, anything.

It's a very scary place to be, you feel completely helpless and out of control, but I think it's these times that God uses to teach us to relax and put things in his hands. Not easy, but doable right???

I did my part, I called around, I tried different options and then I let it go, whatever happens happens, I replayed that in my mind over and over.

Things were about to take a different turn. Curt came home and called TLF again, all of his coworkers had offered to keep the dogs at their house so that we would be able to get a room at TLF. We thought everything was taken care of, until the man on the other side of the phone told him that now they had NO rooms available anywhere on base, no rooms for people with pets OR without. You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I mean honestly, it's ridiculous.

So now we're thinking, we are in a lot of trouble we have absolutely no place to stay at all and we need to be out of the house on the 28th, guess we'll be living in our cars or shelling out way too much money for a motel off base.

We were literally down in the dumps feeling completely helpless, so I sent out one last prayer.

"Father, I've tried, I've waited with patience and with purpose but now I'm really begging for some help".

Curt picked up the phone and called Housing again explain what our situation was, and guess what....yeah I'm sure by now you're all at the edge of your seats, huge grins on your faces because you know what's coming right???? Yeah, they've moved our inspection date to the 2nd of July, the day we actually leave Idaho.

Which means, we are able to stay in our house until that day....no worrying about a place for the dogs or expensive motels etc. Our cable and phone doesn't get cut until the day we leave and since we're doing a partial dity, we'll be able to have some blow up mattresses, our computers, a small tv, our clothes and whatever else we may need for those few days.....now tell me we don't have an absolutely amazing God?!?!?!?

I'm thrilled beyond words, I'm so so blessed and so happy. Ok and now I'm going to stop babbling about it.

The good news as well is that I will be able to blog and be online, will only be gone while we're actually driving to Arizona and then while we wait to get phone and internet plugged back in :)

Anyway, it's almost 10pm and I am exhausted, nothing like some stress to wipe you out.
Hope you all have a wonderful day, I'll be back tomorrow and I'll come by and visit you all too :)

God Bless,

I don't know whether I'm coming or going!!!

Slow Cooking post is just below!!!

It's been absolutely crazy around here, and at times it's almost like I'm on the outside just staring at another mom and thinking "GOOD.GRIEF!!!" I'm sure you've all noticed that I haven't been here as much, it's just I feel like I have no time for anything, I haven't even been able to give my house the attention I usually do. It's nuts I tell ya!!!

So I'm starting today with a video from Christina Aguilera....not that I like her personally, I think she could use some more clothes on her body, but whatever, I do like her voice and I love this song, and it's my blog so "I can do whatever I want to???" right??? LOL

Anyway, I'm sitting here with a cup of hot coffee and some chocolate chip pancakes. Do I NEED the pancakes??? NO, but my hips are thrilled, they're all jiggly and happy.

Thank you to all who participated in the Holiday Traditions, I was hoping to see a lot more people, but you know how it is...even in the blogging world you need to know someone who knows someone who is popular. Since I'm not for popularity contests and clicks, I am just happy with the friends I do have that participate in all my nutty meme's LOL
So Thank you, I loved reading all about your traditions, you guys have such awesome things going on during the holidays, I got a lot of great ideas for myself from reading your posts :)

So due to Parent Teacher conferences today and tomorrow, Jasmine only has school for 3 hours each day, now my question is, why even bother then??? Couldn't they just stay home??? I drop her off come home and before I even get to start any housework I have to run back out to get her and then go back again at 1:30pm for the conference. *Sigh*


Since I've had no time for anything, I've noticed that things just get more and more crazy and out of control. See, when you neglect time with God and try to do things on your own, without His help, everything seems to spiral out of control, it keeps building up until you throw your hands in the air and plead for His help.

I'm guilty of that, I've been neglecting my time with Him, and I am feeling the repercussions. For the past two weeks, my days no longer run smoothly and I no longer have time for everything that I want to accomplish. You know how some of you asked many times how I did it all?? It wasn't just me, I had the Lord's help, and the minute I neglect that, that's IT, I'm on a rollercoaster going full speed and desperately trying to get off and slow down.

One of my favorite books is called "Diapers, Pacifiers and Other Holy Things" by Lorraine Pintus. In one of the Chapters entitled "Big Things, Little Things" she talks about our day to day and how to incorporate God into it, even in the mundane things we do like wiping our children's nose.

Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities - Luke 19:17

The message in that??? We must be faithful in little things if we expect to be responsible for big things. Let's face it, as moms we don't have the most glamorous jobs or the most adventurous (though I would like to challenge that at times), it's the small things that we do everyday, those things that don't change no matter what.

Doing the laundry
Fixing meals
Giving kids a bath
Helping with homework
Cleaning the house

AT times I do stop and think "why do I bother? I've just picked up the couch pillows 2 times in the past 30 minutes, why do I even try?". But I have to keep reminding myself that everything does count when your heart is in it and you have the right motive. Like did I make a meal for my family because I HAVE to, or did I make it because I want to give them good nutrition and because I want them to be happy??? See the difference.

So anyway, I am welcoming God back into my day to day, no matter if I'm scrubbing toilets or running errands, without Him, things just don't run smoothly.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive and inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23, 24


Well moving on, last night for dinner I made my Steaks with Pepper Sauce. It's a pepper sauce that I made even before getting married and many times my dad would as me to make it, he loves it. It's really easy to make and I've posted the recipe on the food blog, so go check it out.

I'll also be posting the recipe for my Spaghetti Sauce, this one:

Doesn't that look good??? And it's so easy to make too, so I'll let you know when I put that recipe up.

Well I'm off again, I've been interrupted a couple of times during this post so now it's already 11am and I need to get ready to pick Jasmine up in 30 minutes. Have a wonderful day everyone, and don't forget that Slow Cooking Thursday is up, come share your favorite Slow Cooker recipes :)


Right now I have Chicken Parisienne cooking in the slower cooker, it smells SO good. If you want the recipe, check out my Slow Cooking Thursday post below :)




Rachael Ray

Barry Manilow
The Fanilows go crazy when Barry's in the house! Then Dennie’s got practical “relationtips” to help keep the sizzle in your sex life, and Gretta shares her secrets for reinventing your old clothes.

General Hospital

Jason and Sam manage to evade the police as the head for a safe house;
Ric accepts Sonny's deal but wants something in writing;
Alexis wants to reclaim her job;
Elizabeth tries to keep the photos of her and Jason from Lucky;
Laura is missing

Ugly Betty

Executive producer Salma Hayek guest stars as a woman who makes an immediate impression on playboy Daniel. Meanwhile, Wilhelmina gets a surprise visit from her daughter, and Betty and Hilda face a financial crisis.

Grey's Anatomy

Derek receives a surprise visit from his sister (Embeth Davidtz); Cristina scrubs in for a rare procedure, to the envy of her peers; Addison and George treat a pregnant woman with an unusual problem; and Alex ponders his future in medicine.

ER

Luka waits anxiously for the jury to return with its verdict in the malpractice case brought against him by his former patient Curtis Ames (Forest Whitaker); Neela has a vivid dream that causes her to question her feelings for Gates.

Laundry
Vacuuming
Teacher's Conference

*SIGH* new shifts bring new stresses

When hubby changes shifts, which usually happens every three months, it's stressful to say the least. This is the thing about being a family, what one does affects everyone else, and when he gets thrown into a night shift, we're all running around discombobulated for the first few days.

I'm feeling like the lady in the picture to the left. See that??? Just that I don't have the baby, so picture it without the bottle holding baby. The two kids on the bottom are exactly like Jasmine and Nicholas when they decide to provoke each other. Something that happens at LEAST once a day. Sibling rivalry at it's best!!!

So we're trying to get used to this shift. The worst part of it, is the fact that Jasmine only sees daddy on the weekends. She gets up for school and he's asleep, when she gets back home he's already gone for the day, and then he gets home around 11pm, she's been asleep for hours. It takes it's toll on her, she misses him, she's cranky, which in turn causes fights with her brother and spats between me and her.

Here in a day or two, we'll all start getting used to this and then he goes to mid shift (graveyard shift) next week. Constant change, that's the military way of life, but you know it's well worth it in the end :)

I'm still sick and woke up with no voice today. Frustrating for me, but the kids think it's wonderful, after all, they can do whatever they wish without the nagging voice of mommy in the background.

I've been trying to get all my laundry caught up, so far it's taken me THREE days. This is what happens when you don't do anything for a week. I started feeling sick last week and really didn't have the energy to do much, other than cook meals and take care of the kids, that's all I could really manage to do. The laundry suffered, my floors suffered, but at least everyone was fed and happy.

So I stayed up late last night, sorting the laundry, putting away mine and hubby's and today I have to do the kids. I still have all the bed linens to wash and a couple blankets, plus some ironing.

It's raining outside and only 50º, I truly feel as if Fall arrived days earlier, and I'm thrilled of course. So I'm sitting here sipping Hot Autumn Pumpkin Spice Tea. It's quite delicious and makes me crave pumpkin pie, which in turn makes me crave Thanksgiving. Here's the thing, it's always just the four of us, but we still make a HUGE meal, then we spend the rest of the day eating, laughing and talking, playing games and just having fun. I can't wait!!!!

Since I'm not feeling well, I decided to have tea instead of coffee, I put in some honey too, it soothes my throat and hopefully in a few hours I will have my voice back.

Of course to finish it off, I have some ginger cookies on the side. What can I say??? I'm an Autumn kinda gal!

One thing that I really miss about autumn and winter in Portugal, is the Castanhas "roasted chestnuts". Any street you walk down, you're certain to find someone roasting these and then serving them in newspaper funnels. Nothing like it, I tell you. Here's some pictures, they surely bring back wonderful memories for me :)

I was reading my "Day by Day" book this morning, and realized that I had somehow missed the entry for September 17Th I went back to read it and low and behold.....

"The tongue is a small thing but what enormous damage it can do..." James 3:5

It brought to mind Barb's post yesterday , and most importantly, my own issues with my unruly tongue. I've said many times on this blog, that I should buy mouth guards. It's not that I intentionally upset people or say the wrong thing....it's just that sometimes, due to life, or personal circumstances, stressed and worries or even my own inability to think before I speak, I've said things that I couldn't take back, but that in turn really upset someone.

"Unkind words are easily dropped, but we can never take them back again."

How true is that??? Over the years I've learnt to curb my tongue in a way, I think before I speak and I try really hard not to gossip. We all know that we're daily surrounded by it, so and so says this, and that one did that, it's all too easy to fall into the rhythm of it and not even realize that the words were speaking are hurtful and many times untrue. I've been guilty of this many times, but with the Lord's help, I've really taken a hold of my thoughts and tongue. It's not an easy job I tell you, and I'm nowhere near being free of it....but I just keep going and when I do mess up (often I might add), I realize that I'm Human...just like Barb said.

So I leave you this morning with a prayer for the day,

Might my words about another, be ones that are spoken in the spirit of Your loving kindness, Father.






Last night I made Chicken Tetrazzini, it was SO SO good, you really need to try it, so go check out the recipe on my food blog.

Right now I have the wonderful aroma of Mushroom-Beef Stew in my slow cooker. It will be served over hot noodles and for dessert I have Carrot Cake with Easy Cream Cheese Frosting. Both recipes will be up on the food blog this morning :)





Rachael Ray - *New* UPN 12pm (mountain time)

House - *New* NBC - 7pm (mountain time)

Law and Order SVU - *New* NBC- 9pm (mountain time)

Laundry
Mopping kitchen floor
Updating Food Blog
Updating Book Blog
Knitting Scarf
Resting and hoping to get my voice back