Saturday is a Special Day

For those who aren't familiar with the children's song that I grew up with in church, when I hear the word Saturday, this song instantly pops into my mind. It describes all of the things that you do on Saturday to get ready for Sunday (clean the house, shop at the store, trim our nails, shampoo hair, etc). It is a fun song to sing as a kid. Our music leader growing up would always bring a Red Apple paper sack filled with objects that you need to do these tasks. Fast forward 20 years, and our music leader still brings a sack filled with these same objects, and the kids love this song. Some things never change!

As we were running around doing our errands today, I thought of this song. Saturday's are generally jam packed for us and today was no different. I took Christine visiting teaching with me this afternoon. I just had one lady to visit and it was her friend's Grandma. She loves to help, especially if it requires going somewhere. She wanted to be the one to hold the plate of goodies, knock on the door, and anything else that made her feel like she was a big kid. I loved having her with me. I wanted to share part of the message this month. It talked about standing strong and immovable in faith, and I really liked this quote.

Cheryl C. Lant, Primary general president: “Our personal conversion comes as we begin to live the way the Lord wants us to live—steadfast and immovable in keeping all of the commandments, not just those that are convenient. This then becomes a process of refinement as we strive to make each day a little better than the last.” I loved the part about striving to make each day better. Sometimes as you are evaluating goals that you have set or tasks that are before you, it seems undoable. Yet, if you focus on the things that you can do just for today, it suddenly becomes managable.

What's cooking

I thought I would post some of our dinner ideas occasionally. I generally don't suffer from "what should we make tonight?" syndrome. I make a weekly menu, which helps with the budget too. I also keep an updated list of dinner ideas. When I try something new, I write it on the list and occasionally update it on the computer. I have this print-out hanging next to where the menu is posted. Just a few ideas to try to help others get dinner on the table. Here's what we had tonight.


Migas
1 tbs vegetable oil
6 corn tortillas, cut into strips
1/2 small onion, diced
2 jalapenos, diced with seeds and ribs removed
2 small tomatoes
6 eggs beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add tortilla strips and cook until lightly golden and just starting to crisp. Add onion and jalapeno, cook for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes more. Reduce heat to medium low. Beat eggs and mix in salt. Pour into skillet and cook until the eggs are almost set, stirring occasionally, the eggs will look clumpy and wet, but not runny. Spread the cheese on top of the eggs and cover the pan turn off heat, but leave pan on burner, 5 minutes. Serves 4-6

*Notes* The salt and oil measurement are guesses and may need to be adjusted. If you want it spicy, add some of the ribs and seeds back in from the jalapenos. I have used jack cheese with this and it is good, but I usually just use whatever is in the fridge. When you reduce heat to med-low, use heat setting that you would normally cook eggs with. This does serve 4-6, but not by itself.

I didn't think of doing this until I was making dinner tonight. In the future, I'll try to have pictures to go with the recipes.

Camera Bags

For Christmas this year we got a new camera for Michael. Lately we have been getting filters, lens hoods, extra batteries, a remote for the shutter, etc. He has decided that he'll keep the old camera for a back-up. Side note - Michael would make a great farmer. He hates to part with things that he's updated. We would have fields full of "spare parts" and other things that are old and outdated that we might use at some point in time. - Anyway, because he is keeping the old camera, he needs a new bag for the new camera. He listens to a photo podcast that features 2 or 3 professional photographers. He was telling me about a camera bag that one of the guys has. It retails for about $500. I think that is ridiculous. I see no reason for a bag to be that expensive, in fact it had better be gold plated, wheel itself after you, and hand you the camera when you need it.

These guys frequently get things for free for mentioning the product, sort of like celebrities getting free bags, clothes, etc. The $500 bag guy admits he has a bag fetish. He has over 100 bags and uses them all. He said the bag he uses depends on what he is doing. I admit, I am quite naive about photography in general. I know about as much as the next person when it comes to cameras, but not nearly as much as Michael. Seriously though, no matter where you go with the camera, aren't you still just taking pictures? The bags don't hold much more than the camera and some small accessories. It sounds to me like a girl going on date, "do I need this purse that only holds my cell phone and keys, or this one that I can fit my make-up kit in?"

Out of curiosity, I looked on some e-bay stores to see if I could find something akin to the $500 bag. Most were between $25-$100, although I found two that caught my eye. One was $2060 - it was a lamb skin Chanel bag that probably held a point and shoot and maybe a pen. The other was $360, and the only quality that I thought put it above the cheaper bags was that it had a "red flag device" (whatever that is) that alerts you to any memory cards, batteries, or other electronic devices "that may be hidden in the bag." It also had a spot for a laptop.

Needless to say, we won't be spending over $100 for a bag. In Michael's defense, he has never asked for an extravagant bag, and is too frugal to do so. If you haven't guessed, I'm not the kind of girl that is into bags. Mine is a $20 bag from Target which holds my keys, phone and wallet. Shoes though, now there's something we could talk about.

SpotLight

Stud blood

The girls love any game that requires them to be on top of their dad

Michael on his latest annual backpacking trip

I thought I would spotlight a member of my family on the times that I wanted to post but didn't have anything specific to write about. So, I figured I would start with Michael - you shouldn't have bugged me to start this!
He is my wonderful husband of 6 years, although, we have been friends for over 10 years and known each other all of our lives. He is more than I could have hoped for in a husband, and all that I could have imagined for a father to my children. He is such a hard worker and does all he can for our family. When some of my friends start complaining about their husbands, I can never join in. He is truly perfect for me. I'm sure that I don't tell him enough that I appreciate all he does and that I love him. I love you sweets!

We're here!

Michael has been bugging me to start a blog. I have to be honest, there is a part of me that thinks this is silly. I don't think blogs themselves are silly when other people post them. In fact I find them interesting to read. The nosy neighbor in me likes to see what others are doing! I think it is silly for me to blog. I'm not that interesting; I have no idea what I will write on a continuous basis. Nonetheless, we're here.

My final push to start comes from my laziness in other areas. I'm not a good journalist - in fact I haven't written in a journal since before I was married. I'm not even sure that I could find it. I'm not good at nor do I have desire to try scrapbooking. Occasionally, I'll arrange some photos in an album and later I might label them, probably later though. And lastly, I have been awful with my kids baby books. Christine's is pretty much complete (the book stops at age 2), and poor Emma's hasn't been written in since she was 6 months (she's 2.5). Maybe I'll be better at this, it's sort of all rolled in one. So as I said before, we're here!