Snow Day

We had our first real snow of the season today. Anthony got a snow day today and I was thrilled for him because he works super hard and he deserved a day off! And actually, he will also be home tomorrow because it is a workday but he gets a "wellness day" because he hasn't missed any days this year so far. I got to come home from work early since the roads were nasty in some spots.

Also a couple of prayer requests... pray for Anthony's sister-in-law, Laura. She was in a car accident yesterday. She and the baby both seem to be fine... she sprained her neck I think but the doctors said the baby's heartbeat was fine, so praise the Lord for that! Just keep her in your prayers as she is recovering in the next couple days.

Also, remember the Lawrenson's in your prayers. They seem to be doing well, but still have a long way to go. God has been using them and their story to do lots of cool things... check out their blog for more.

Now I'm off to watch American Idol that I missed while I was in class last night!

Shed Update & Recipe

So here are some recent pictures of the shed. Finally the siding is done! There are a few more little thing Anthony needs to do still, but at least our neighbors can tell we didn't just abondon it and think we are white trash! I think it looks fantastic and I am so proud of Anthony! He has done the entire thing with only a little tiny bit of help from me on the door. I just can't believe he has built this thing from the ground up all by himself! I am so grateful that I have a husband who is so handy and works well with his hands. This is not a trait I ever thought about wanting in a husband, but now that I have it, I am so glad I do! He is such a hard worker, and if there is something he doesn't know how to do, he figures it out. Lucky me! Also notice that some of the trash is gone! Anthony took some of it to the dump today and the rest is stacked in a neat pile to the right of the shed. So it looks like we are on the home stretch with this thing, finally!

I also wanted to share this fantastic recipe I made last night. I guess the domestic bug has bitten me because I've decided to start making more of an effort on our meals. Oftentimes, we just have one of those "Homestyle Bakes" meal in the box type things. And while there is nothing wrong with that, and many of them are very good, I just don't feel like a good wife when I make "lazy meals" all the time. So I decided to make a few "real" meals from my Kraft magazine. Here is the one we had yesterday:

Easy Italian Stew

2 Tbsp. Italian Dressing

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage

2 cans chicken broth

1 pkg. frozen stir-fry vegetables (white onions and sliced green, red, and yellow peppers)

1 can cannellini beans, rinsed, drained

1 can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked

1 cup Mozzarella Cheese

Heat dressing in large saucepan on medium heat. Add sausage; cook 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked through, stirring occasionally to break sausage into small pieces.

Add broth, stir-fry vegetables, beans, and tomatoes; bring to boil. Stir in macaroni. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 8 to 10 minutes or until macaroni is tender, stirring occasionally.

Ladle into 8 serving bowls. Top evenly with cheese.

It was SO good and SO easy! We will definitely be making that again. :)

Blog

I found this guy's blog somehow... can't even remember how any more. But I enjoy reading the blog, and I know they could use all the prayer they can get, so I thought I would post their link so you can read and pray for them as well. I am putting the link in my "links" section... duh! Haha. Thanks!

TV! & New Years

We got some money for Christmas, so we decided to splurge a little and buy ourselves a new TV. So the day after Christmas, after many trips back and forth, we bought a 37" Vizio LCD HDTV from Walmart. We also bought a new entertainment center to go with it. The quality is amazing! And we actually have HD channels because on Thursday we got our new Ntelos fiber optic cable. So not only is the TV amazing, but the new cable is amazing too! We have way more channels than with Comcast plus so many cool features, like the channel guide, music stations, a search feature, just to name some. I am SO glad we switched to Ntelos. And it is actually going to be cheaper than it was with Comcast! So if you are in the area I highly recommend looking into the Ntelos video (as they call it). They don't have it everywhere yet, but are working on it. We have been using our new TV to catch up on the show Lost. I have watched it from the beginning pretty much but Anthony hadn't. So we borrowed seasons 1 and 2 from Ashley (we'll have to rent season 3) and have been watching them like crazy to try to get caught up by the end of January so we can jump in on season 4. Speaking of which, I will end on that note so I can go watch some more Lost! Yes, we are home watching Lost on New Year's Eve, but honestly, there's no place I'd rather be than home spending time with my husband. Happy 2008 everyone!!!

Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas. We opened presents at our house first and then we went to Mom's and opened presents with them. We stayed over there all day and ate, played, and ate some more. Zoe got this Sing and Dance Pinkie Pie "My Little Pony". It was very annoying and actually a little creepy, but she loved it! It was the only thing she asked Santa Claus for. Ashley made her wait to open it till the last present and she was just dying to open it by that time! Anthony got an Air Hogs Havoc Heli and has been flying it constantly. Although his dumb wife sat something on top of it and broke it a little bit (I don't take total blame for it though, since he put it on the kitchen counter where there was tons of stuff piled!) it is still working.

I think I decided I'm going to get a Hallmark ornament for us every year. You can see the first 2... hopefully many more to come!!! :) We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Ice

Okay... I'm finally updating... I am doing it one at a time to simplify my picture uploading. These are just some cool pictures from when we had ice a couple of weeks ago...

Coming Soon....

So I know I stink at updating... really. Just wanted to say that I am going to give a good update soon with pictures and the excitingness that the past few weeks have held. Hopefully tomorrow! :)