My Dancing Princess

This past weekend, my daughter opened in her first play, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses". This is her middle school's production and it is incredibly fun. Sarah is April, one of the princesses and she is having a ball camping it up and singing.
The costumes are great and the set is adorable. Wish I had taken more pictures. The backdrops were painted by a professional artist who donated 180 hours making them. They were a sight to behold.
Each princess has her own personality. Princess April (as in April showers..) cries a lot.
I'm so happy that Sarah's first play could be such a good experience.

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As for the rest of the weekend, we didn't attend the St. Paddy's Day festivities on Saturday because of the cold and wet weather. Sunday, we awoke to a winter wonderland outside, with trees, bushes and homes puffy and white from a good six inches or more of snow.

I need Spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not to worry, Thursday it's suppose to be sunny and 60 degrees. Oh, I can't wait.

Are you getting Spring fever?

Elizabeth

Menu Planning Monday & Updates on Prayer Requests

Welcome to Menu Planning Monday! This week, I'd like to share some of the recipes from the menu that I posted on August 30th (HERE) .

SHANGHAI PASTA
Ingredients:

12 oz. dry linguine

3 T. soy sauce

1 T. plum sauce (I used strawberry preserves)

1 t. toasted sesame oil

1 medium green pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 cup fresh green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces (I used frozen and broke them into same)

12 oz. frozen, peeled and de-veined large shrimp without tails, thawed*

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. grated fresh ginger

1/4 t. ground pepper

2 green onions, bias-sliced into 1" pieces

2 t. toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Keep warm. For sauce, stir together soy sauce, plum sauce, sesame oil, and chilipaste. Set aside.

Pour cooking oil into a wok or large skillet. Cook and stir sweet pepper and beans in hot oil 5 minutes. Push from center of wok. Add shrimp, garlic, ginger, and black pepper to center of wok. Cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp are opaque. Stir in sauce and green beans. Stir in pasta, heat through. To serve, top with onions and sesame seeds.

BALSAMIC PORK CHOPS Ingredients:

4 boneless pork chops (5-6 oz each), about 1" thick
1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing
1 1/4 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups red seedless grapes (9oz), halved
1 box (5.6 oz) couscous mix with toasted pine nuts*

* I used whole wheat couscous and added my own toasted pine nuts

Directions:

Marinate chops in 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette for 30 minutes. Remove and pat dry. Season with 1/4 t. salt and 1/8 t. pepper. Heat 1 T of oil in large skillet. Saute pork chops 2 minutes each side to brown. Set aside.

Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth, grapes and remaining vinaigrette to skillet. Simmer on medium for 5 minutes. Add pork chops back into skillet and cook for an additional 5 minutes until internal temp register 160 degrees.

Prepare couscous according to package directions, substituting 1/1/4 cups chicken broth for water.

To serve spoon chops and grapes mixture on top of couscous.

Serve with steamed asparagus...

In large pot of salted, boiling water, place asparagus spears. Let boil 5 minutes and then remove from pot. Season with salt and melted butter.

Enjoy!

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I would also like to thank those of you who have kept my friends and family in your prayers. our friend, Jordan, is home and doing better.

My son, Robert, is to see a specialist on Wednesday. Hopefully, they will figure out what his troubles are and can set a course of action which will lead to his recovery.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Elizabeth

Commitment to Loveliness, Menu Planning Monday, Update

Dear, Sweet Friends,

I am still playing catch up from the week when I was flat on my back. My goodness, how things fell apart! So today, instead of printing out my menu for the week, I'm providing you with a link to Laura's Menu Planning Monday post and you can peruse those menus to your heart's desire. Many of the people who submit posts through Mr. Linky there include links to the recipes. Great stuff!

Also, today is the first time participating in A Commitment to Loveliness which is being hosted over at Charming The Birds From The Trees (see sidebar). My five things are:
1) Make homemade valentines
2) Have candlelight dinner with my family tonight
3) Take the time to have my hair trimmed
4) Search out a nice new hair color
5) Give myself a manicure tonight

As for an update on our situation, My husband is still looking for work, after trying out a job that was straight commission only. He has two wonderful possibilities this month. Either one would be great for us. We appreciate your prayers!

Well, I hope you have a wonderful day. I apologize for not getting around to visit for awhile. It's been really difficult recently. However, I will get to at least some of you today.

Love to all,
Elizabeth

Hello, Again!!

Hello, Dear Friends,

I am overjoyed to say that I am back from my illness and feeling absolutely fantastic!! I am thankful for your prayers and also for the helpfulness of friends and neighbors who rallied round while I was down and out.

So, what was the first thing on my agenda after being in bed for a week? Why cleaning, of course! But, first, I needed a little Thrift Shop Therapy! Off I went to my favorite re-sell shop and found the following lovelies...These are just a few of the wonderful items I found.

This small, fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand-sized basket and the coconut will hold birdnests for spring...
This tiny prism will also hold a Spring time theme...

Here is a beautiful sequined frame, a gift for someone dear...
And a lovely saying, just in time for Valentine's Day...
It says:
"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart;
And sings it to you when you forget the words.?"

Have a lovely day today. I will be visiting blogs today, so give me time if I haven't gotten to your yet.

Love,
Elizabeth

Gratitude for Prayers

Dear Friends,

I am up a little bit today and so I thought I'd try to sit at my computer and compose a note here to thank everyone who has left kind notes and who have offered prayers for me - both are greatly appreciated. It means a lot!

Sunday night, I developed a bad back ache which I thought was caused by my not stretching enough after doing a walk on Saturday. I went to bed on a heating pad. Around 2 a.m. I woke up in severe pain and when I tried to move it set off a series of incredibly painful muscle spasms. It was awful. I couldn't get up at all. I had to lay flat and not move a muscle. My poor husband was up with my all night, because if I flinched or he moved in bed I was in agony. By morning it looked like I would need an ambulance.

As many of you know we have not been employed for long and we have no insurance, so we were/are desperate not to rack up more doctor bills. Consequently, we called around to all the doctors we know at church to see if one of them would prescribe a muscle relaxant. We left messages for them to call us back. Then, a miracle happened...Dr. Vernon P, a general practitioner that we know, heard our message and - get this! - showed up at our house on his lunch hour to personally attend to me. Is that incredible or what? While he was working with me, he said that he remembered that I have kidney problems and sometimes kidney probs can cause severe cramping. It is rare, but it does happen, so we gave him a specimen culture, as soon as we could (I couldn't move off the bed, so you can see the dilemna). Again, the doc shows up at my house and tell my husband that I have a really bad infection and that my nitrate levels were really high. When a kidney can't screen out the pollutants that are in the blood, then toxins (like nitrates) build up in the body and can affect the muscles. I was really close to having to go to the hospital.

So, bless the doctor's heart, he gave us antibiotics as well as muscle relaxers and I am starting to do better.

Yesterday, when Mark was at work, the HR person told him that something very similar happened to her sister, but she didn't go see a doctor right away and so she ended up in the hospital and had to have a blood transfusion. I am so grateful that Doctor P came over and remembered about my kidneys or I would have reall been up a creek.

Kind ladies from our church have brought us meals and my dear daughter, Sarah, has taken very good care of me. More miracles.

Another bit of news...Mark's new job is over. The company that hired him and several ofher people (plus, just bought all new computer equipment) is having to shut down. That's the bad news...The good news is that Mark had a chance encounter with a music promoter. They hit it off big time and really liked each other, Mark is very knowledgeable about that industry. So, today, they are having a power lunch to discuss how Mark's expertise might benefit this music promoter's business. I am praying that, if it is the Lord's will, this will work out for us, because Mark will work himself to death at a job he hates in order to take care of his family, but oh how he would love a job like being a music talent promoter.

I will let you know how our little family saga turns out.

Again, I am deeply grateful for your prayers and kindness. God bless you this day, as always.
Love,
Elizabeth

Updates

Hello, Lovely Friends!

I am a bit harried today, rushing around to accomplish fifty things at once. Since I don't have a lot of time to put into this post, I think that I will use this time and space to update you on our lives.

First of all, this is my husband's second week at his new job. Last week was pretty tough for him. The contrast between what he had been told he would be doing and what he ended up doing made us both worry that this job might not end up being as good of an opportunity as we first thought. However, much discussion followed and his circumstances are better this week. I pray that conditions continue to improve and that this situation is a benefit and a blessing to our family. I will let you know more as I know it. Thank you again for your prayers.

As for the children...This has been a very difficult school year for my son. His teacher is not a good match up with his needs. At one point, when I had my son's agreement, I tried to switch him out of his class, but the principal wouldn't agree to that without trying to work things out with his teacher first. Unfortunately, it's still a tough situation, but Robert will not move now. I have prayed about this situation quite a lot and my heartfelt impression is that I need to keep him in school ("Please, Mama, homeschool me!"), and that he will just have to tough out this school year. HOWEVER, I am putting down my foot with the principal about which teachers I want and which one I will not put up with next year. That, I feel adamant about. Robert is striving to do his best in a difficult situation and I am proud of him (although he does come home and play "Kill The Teacher" games with his friends in the afternoons).

Sarah is "dual-enrolled" for 7th Grade this year. She studies everything at home, except Math, which she takes up at the Middle School. She is doing well in everything. When her school work is completed, she fills her time with reading (currently loves the Twilight series), writing a novel and singing and playing guitar. I am also very proud of her.

As for me, I am running to keep up...You, too? I have lots of plans for this Blog, which is my hobby, but haven't had the time to implement any of it yet. I am currently learning to knit, craft and do home decorating projects. I will share those as I go.

I don't know about you, but I watched the Inauguration, yesterday, and was quite moved by President Obama's speech. My prayer is that the Lord will guide him as he guides the future of this nation. We desperately need someone who will require us to make better decisions than we've made in the past, especially where finances are concerned, who will inspire us to do service and encourage us to work hard to ensure a better future for our children and grandchildren.

God bless us all!
Love,
Elizabeth

A Family Update

I was trying to upload a bunch of pictures of a wonderful Halloween party we attended this past Saturday, as well as a sweet, little family Halloween dinner we had for ourselves on Monday night, but there seems to be a problem with Blogger and pictures right now. So, I guess I will just make this post an update on our family concerns.

Thanks to all those who have said prayers for us during our time of unemployment. We've had good days and difficult days since Mark lost his job. The challenge has been to re-think Mark's career path, since he has decided that his days in sales are over. Even before the lay-off, Mark was dreaming of doing something less stressful than worrying about quotas and all the pressure pinning down clients. Currently, he is pursuing trying to get a job in education, on either a high school or college level. His degree in Sports Science/Exercise Physiology and his plentiful experience in coaching elite young athletes would make him a perfect candidate for a teaching/coaching position. He would love to do this for a career. There seem to be openings locally. We are praying we may find a fit.

Unforunately, teaching is not a lucrative career. So, I am currently training with Internet Transcribing Services to do transcribing of tele-conferences and seminars, etc. at home. I pray that a part-time income and my husband's full-time job will cover our bills, be somewhat recession-proof and keep us in this nice neighborhood where we are currently living.

I hope that you are enjoying your Autums. I am looking forward to visiting everyone's blogs tonight, when I will have some personal time again.

God bless you and your families.
Love,
Elizabeth