Where The Wild Things Are

Here we go again! Nothing too crazy on the schedule for this week, unless you count my baby turning 9!!! I just can’t believe it! How on earth can she be 9?! She is literally counting the days until her birthday. We’re not doing too much until Saturday when she’s going on a big shopping trip (she decided that she would rather go shopping than do something like bowling with friends). We’ll do her birthday dinner then too. Right now she’s still saying she wants to go to Golden Corral, but I might convince her to switch yet

No new pictures for the last 2 days. I stole the batteries out of my camera to put in the Wiimote in a fit of Tetris induced craziness and just haven’t managed to replace them yet. With Lauren being sick for the last 5 days, I haven’t really felt like taking them anyway! I did try a new recipe though. I made some sort of cauliflower pasta stuff that we saw on Rachael Ray. Joe was really into it, so I gave it a shot. I give it a “meh” at best. It was okay, but had very little flavor. If I try it again (I doubt it, but you never know!) Joe wants me to add some sausage to it. I think it needs more garlic and onion and certainly something more salty (possibly some more cheese? better cheese?) I definitely want to make that beef stew again. I keep thinking about it. Yum! I think it would be a great thing for me to make to eat for lunch all week. The enchiladas I made weren’t great either but I think they have potential. I found a 3 Cheese Garlic Pasta recipe that sounds good and I still need to drum up some bread machine recipe to try.

Joe made it home from Virginia with no issue. Work is really rough for him right now…this may be a good time for me to start working on that prayer warrior thing! He’s working so hard to keep a good attitude. I so admire him for that. Hopefully, things will calm down for him and he can enjoy the job again!

Wow, we’re getting so much snow…I’m ready for it to stop! Joe is in Virginia and is supposed to come home tonight, I sure hope he makes it safely!

I’m doing okay on my Project 365 project. I’ve missed a couple of days, but I’m really enjoying capturing little moments from my day. I’ve taken several pictures of things that I might not have before, but I think it will be really neat to see it all together at the end of the year. I’m uploading them all to my flickr account at the moment, but I still want to put them up here eventually.

I’m making progress on my Bible reading as well. 17% finished! I’m finding Deuteronomy to be pretty slow reading, but I’m going to persevere! There have already been several things that have made me stop and think, and that’s always good!

I still haven’t finished Little Bee yet. We got a ton of snow the night of our book club, so they moved it out a week. Unfortunately, I had 2 other meetings that night, so I didn’t get to go after all. Mary Ann and I are supposed to get together next week sometime to discuss it among ourselves, so I still need to get through it! It will also help toward my 12 novel goal! I’m currently reading Made to Crave as well so that will work toward my non-fiction book goal. I need to finish the Dana Gresh book as well, but I’m trying not to do too much at once! Still working through Esther for Bible study too!

So I haven’t figured out how to make the pictures show up…but I’m still trying! I’ve been uploading them to my flickr account, so I am still making progress! I definitely haven’t been getting up at 6:30 but I’m going to work on it Still on schedule to finish the Bible in November (yay!) and I’m trying to work out how to become a prayer warrior. Lots of other goals to work toward still!

I have book club on Tuesday, so I have 2 days to read Little Bee…that will get my first book of the year out of the way during the second week of January! I’m not reading the February book (Still Alice…too sad!) but I’m going to have to start Pillars of the Earth if I’m ever going to make it through it! I am also going to read The Grace of God by Andy Stanley so that will be one of my non-fiction choices for this year It really does help having a list of goals to complete rather than just floating through the year!

Tara lost her 3rd tooth yesterday (so cute!!) and the Colts lost their playoff game, but otherwise all is the same as usual here

I’ve been doing well taking my pictures, now I just have to pick 1 (soooo hard!) and post them so I don’t forget about it!

January 1. It’s been a tradition since before I married Joe that the Neals gather with family friends the Meyers to have lunch or brunch on New Years Day. Vicky always makes egg rolls in addition to all sorts of other goodies. It’s always a fun time and yummy food!

January 2
We had the chance to get together with the Bradys for an early dinner. They were visiting family in Ohio and were flying back to Arizona through the Indy airport. We had a great visit and the kids loved seeing each other again!

January 3
Lauren, Tara, and I worked on the 4H display at the Lawrence library. The girls spent most of their time playing cards with Caroline (another 4Her) but we got it all done and it looked really good!

January 4
Today was all about Freddy. Lauren went to feed him right before she left for school and found him floating at the top of the bowl. She of course burst into tears and was thoroughly devastated. After she left for school, I decided to take care of the “funeral” before Tara got up, but when I went to scoop him out, he was still breathing! I decided to take a chance and change his water. After about 30 minutes in the clean water, he was fine! According to a friend who knows fish, he had ammonia poisoning. He’s still fine at this point!

January 5
Today was my day in Lauren’s classroom. I’m always reminded of how much I love kindergarteners when I’m in there! The kids had such a great day and are really coming so far in their reading and writing. Watching them play is still my favorite part, though. This week they’ve been talking a lot about snow. Mrs. Roberts had them unroll a whole roll of toilet paper, shred bars of Ivory soap and then add some water…snow! They were having a great time making indoor snowmen, etc. Yay for developmentally appropriate kindergarten!!!

I’ve never been one for making resolutions, but this year I felt like I should have some goals to work toward for 2011. One of the bloggers that I read frequently came up with about 100 things she wanted to do in 2010 and it was fun to see her check those off of her list. Some were big, important goals and some were just those little things that get lost in the daily shuffle. Inspired by her, I wanted to come up with a list of 100 things…but I only managed 50 (so far…I reserve the right to add to the list as the year goes on!)

For good measure, here are my 50 Things I Want to do in 2011

1.Read at least 12 books (novels) this year.
2.Lose 30 pounds
3.Read the entire Bible
4.Use my bread maker
5.Stick to our budget
6.Help get the truck paid off
7.Get a job!
8.Go to Kings Island with Joe
9.Go to Indiana Beach with the girls (and Joe)
10.Make 30 scrapbook layouts
11.Sew pajamas for Tara
12.Teach Lauren to play scales on the clarinet
13.Memorize the books of the Bible
14.Do Project365
15.Make korker bows for Tara
16.Make bracelets for both girls
17.Redo Lauren’s room
18.Redo Tara’s room
19.Become a prayer warrior
20.Hang at least 6 photos up in the house
21.Frame and hang at least 1 piece of art from each girl
22.Own an apron
23.Develop a housekeeping schedule I’ll stick to
24.Redo our bedroom closet
25.Organize our linen closet
26.Take the kids camping at least 3 times
27.Visit 5 state parks
28.Menu Plan each week
29.Try 1 new recipe each week
30.Actually compile my 25 Christmas book box
31.Load up and stick with my Advent calendar
32.Prepare and use my advent readings with an advent wreath!
33.Plan at least 3 projects for the girls each week
34.Create a chore list for the girls
35.Get up at 6:30 during the week
36.Be in bed around 10ish during the week
37.Do something nice for Joe every day
38.Read 3 nonfiction books this year
39.Do something outside at least once a week (as long as the weather is okay!)
40.Read all the Narnia books with Lauren
41.Actually use my cloth bags when grocery shopping
42.Eat out no more than 1 lunch and 1 dinner per week (average)
43.Have a new family portrait taken
44.Take the girls to Conner Prairie
45.Take the girls to Symphony on the Prairie
46.Go see the “big” fireworks
47.Go to the Christmas eve candlelight service
48.make giant bubbles with the girls
49.Blog at least once a week
50.Return to daily devotionals with the kids.
51.Read more with Tara