January Goals - How'd I Do?

I can't believe the month is already over!! Let's see how I did:

Fun:
Host a party {COMPLETE! - Sam's 25th Birthday}
Read 2 books {COMPLETE! - Surrender Bay by Denise Hunter, The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis, AND The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe too!}
Sponsor another Compassion child! {COMPLETE! - His name is Manoj from India, he's precious.}

DIY/Crafting:
Start my "Family Tree" project with Mamaw {COMPLETE! - Well, complete as in "I've started", which is all I set out to do this month. :) }
Print Holidays in Hand book {COMPLETE! - I am so glad to have this done. It is packed away with our Christmas stuff, ready to discover again next year.}

Home:
Finish un-decorating from Christmas {COMPLETE!}
Install and organize pantry {FAIL - we have all the stuff, our walls our just being uncooperative... we need stronger anchors!}
Organize office {FAIL - it's better than it was, but not "organized" like I want it to be.}
Go through 4 boxes in the basement; either keep, sell, give, or toss {COMPLETE! - now only 30+ more to go...}

 Cooking:
Try two new recipes {COMPLETE! - pot roast, meatloaf, AND banana muffins!}
Bake a cake! {COMPLETE! for Sam's b'day}
Make homemade bread {COMPLETE! As of yesterday!}

Wellness:
Establish more consistent nighttime routine {COMPLETE! Though this needs to stay on for next month... I always need to be reminded of this one.}
Take vitamins {COMPLETE! whoo hoo for gummies!}
Eat more fruit! {COMPLETE! We've got bananas, grapefruit, pears, peaches, plums, and an orange in our fridge as we speak.}


Not too bad, if I do say so myself. :) I definitely think that having written goals (especially posted here!) is really great for accountability. Take my books goal for example: two books this month was definitely no big exciting goal, but for me, it was acheivable, and look - I read three!

Did you get to check off any of your January goals? All of them?
If you decided not to do January, Feb is right around the corner!

For Real? I Made Bread!

So it was on my list for December too and I never got around to it, but I FINALLY made bread. (And with only one day to spare...)

3/4 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp shortening

1/2 cup milk

3(ish) cups all-purpose flour

In large bowl, add the warm water. Slowly stir in dry yeast. Continue to stir until yeast is dissolved.

Add salt, sugar, shortening, and milk to bowl. Stir.

Mix in the first 2 cups of flour. Begin adding more flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough "chases the spoon around the bowl", as the recipe said.

I don't know how much flour I ended up using, but it was definitely more than 3 cups.

Place dough on floured board and knead, adding small spoonfuls of flour as needed, until the dough is not sticky to the touch.

Put dough in buttered bowl, turn dough over so that the top of dough is greased.

Cover and let rise in warm spot for 1 hour.

Place dough on floured board and knead.

Preheat oven at 375 degrees F.

Form dough into loaf and set in buttered bread pan. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Cut three slashes across the top with a sharp knife.

Put in oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

SWEET!!! I MADE BREAD!! :)

And oh is it good... especially with this apple butter. YUM!

So did you complete a goal that you didn't think you would?

Tomorrow I'll be back to let you know how I did on my January goals!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Many Saturdays we go out for breakfast/brunch at IHOP or the Wa-Ho, but today, of course, we can't. So we had bacon, I knew that, but we didn't really have any yummy sweet food. With some crescent rolls, sugar, & cinnamon - I improvised! And got the thumbs up from Hubs.

Mmmmmm...

Our patio snow is starting to melt a bit. I think that last night we had a little over 3 inches on the table.

Other beautiful sights:

Oh and guess what? Jason was able to get our cars home! Both of them! :)

Now, on to HP4!

Walkin' In A Winter Wonderland

We came home to THIS today!!!

...Luckily for us, Tommy finished putting the glass in our new front door this morning BEFORE the snow.

This little guy was HAPPY playing in it!

"Okay, I'm ready to go in now."

The only bad part is that we couldn't actually get home. Our street is on a hill, and let's just say my car did not want to cooperate.

WE STILL LOVE YOU SNOW!!!!

A-Door-Able: Part 2

Before:

Now!!

Before:

Now!! (if you can't tell, there's no glass in the storm door yet.. haha!)

Before:

Now!!

We just love the glass at the top. It's gorg. We are SO PUMPED to have a new front door!!! WHOO HOO!! :)

A-Door-Able: Part 1

BEFORE: (as in... now.)

AFTER: ...coming soon.

Lost Love.. and Hopes to Find It Again

I love to sing.

I'm pretty sure I've been singing since I learned how to talk. I just love it and I got that love from both sides of the family. I sang in plays as a little munchkin (no pun intended, since I was in the Wizard of Oz), children's choir ("I've Got an Elephant Up My Nose" anyone?), then when I joined the youth group, I was so excited about the Youth Worship Service where I had my first solo in church:

"Let the people praise you, O God,
Let all the people praise you,
Let the people praise you, O God,
Let the nations be glad ::screech:: and sing ::screech:: for joy ::screech::!"
Think 13 yr. old boy screech. Except I don't remember how old I was. And I'm not a boy.

I was fortunate enough to sing with the praise band at Signal Crest for basically the whole time I was in youth. We called ourselves "Grounded". We were AWESOME. And we knew one song - "In the Palm of Your Hand" by Alison Krauss. (Just kidding; it's just the main song that we did for a while.) These were some of the best times I can remember, just spending time with friends and enjoying music. 

THEN I started working at camp and that was AMAZING too. I was fortunate to get to sing with Nick (among many others) and I loved it. Could not wait for worship each night, couldn't get enough of it, would spend my whole life in "the Bob" just singing my heart out.

Well, that was almost 3 years ago and the only time I have sung since then was at Alex & Forest's wedding in August of '08. I know that I could join a choir - I'm sure there are several opportunites out there right now, but I guess that today I'm just mourning how singing/music has influenced my life in the past and how those opportunities are not available in the same way now. Does that make any sense to anyone but me?

So maybe someday my dreams of becoming a hugely famous rockstar (not) will come true. Until then, I will continue to sing in the shower. And in the car. And loud at church. And while I'm cleaning. And...

Sam's 25th Birthday Party

Last night we had a family birthday party for Sam!! It was so much fun!

Nick made Sam the funniest card and ended up giving him $20 bucks and a pineapple! We all cracked up. That kid is funny. :)

Jason made some AMAZING hamburgers and we had all the fixin's.

25 candles, enough for a small fire. But no worries - Sam's a firefighter.

He's got some lung strength! He said that he's "very good at putting out fires". And we all cracked up. That dude is funny. :)

But wait! There was still ONE candle. It went out, then came back to life. It's okay though, we decided that it was still enough to make his wish come true.

I LOVE MY BIG BROTHER!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMBO!