Ta da! Pics of the sock monster I sewed Honor for his birthday. Honor named him Scary Gary. He is pretty dern awesome, if I do say so myself.

one silly boy picture for good measure:

I was looking through my recipes to make sure I had all the ingredients written on my grocery list for Enchilada casserole and I found a list of meal ideas I wrote when we first got married. I thought some of it might be useful/funny. (Add your suggestions too!)

Potato soup
jamaica jerk chicken
vegetable pitas
grilled portobello mushrooms
roasted chicken
black bean soup
fajitas
chicken pot pie
manicotti
lasagne
tuna & white sauce (recipe to follow)
pot roast
tuna casserole
enchilada casserole
stir fry
calzones
pizza
french dip
steak with sauteed bell peppers and mushrooms
chicken salad
kebabs
fried burritos
chicken devan
chicken noodle soup
frito pie
pasta salad
taco crockpot dish (need to find that recipe, it was yummy)
chicken spinach tetrazini (ooo, need to find that one too!)
chicken gumbo

Monday
Pizza

Tuesday
Enchilada Casserole

Wednesday
Vegetarian black bean chili

Thursday
Spaghetti with turkey italian sausage

Weekend
Shredded beef tacos
coconut & beef curry
minestrone soup

Lunches
Hard boiled eggs
quesadillas with sour cream and salsa
pickles
cantaloupe and honeydew
baby corn
celery & peanut butter

Tuna and white sauce is something that my mom made when I was growing up. It’s the ultimate poor meal. It’s super fast, super tasty and if you keep a can of tuna and some frozen peas on hand, you’ll always have something for dinner.

Melt 4 1/2 Tbs of butter in a large skillet. Stir in 8 Tbs of flour and season with salt and pepper.

Gradually whisk in 4 cups of milk. Cook, stirring frequently until thickened. Stir in 1 large can of tuna (or 2 small) drained, and 2 cups of frozen peas. Cook until peas are heated through.

Serve over toast or bread.

Serves at least four.

•Yesterday was the benefit ball that Jim planned for one of the non-profit organizations we support. It was fun and a lot of work to plan and pull off, so I’m glad it’s over. But it was fun to get all fancied up in a dress that was probably a little too boob-alicious. oops! They’re just hard to contain sometimes. And I whipped out a pretty silk shawl because I knew I was going to freeze. We should have pictures soon.

•Because we spent the week pulling the remaining pieces together for the gala, things at home were totally neglected. So today I spent the day gathering up laundry, doing dishes, cleaning the bathroom and floors – all things is just LOVE to do, let me tell you. I can’t for the life of me find a way to maintain the clean around here.

•Things at Tangle are going really well. It seems like almost every day we get new yarn or needles or books in. (Lets just say, the UPS lady and I are becoming pretty good friends!) I’m working now on adding lots of new free patterns and tutorials to the website. It’s nice to be busy.

•I can’t say how much I love this weather. It feels like such a calm time of year. Something about the cool air – it brings such peace. I suppose it brings good memories too. Our 8th anniversary is in a little over a week.

Monday
Roast chicken and mashed potatoes

Tuesday
Pizza

Wednesday
Veggie Lasagne

Thursday
Chicken pot pie w/ puff pastry crust

Friday
Noodle soup with shredded beef and green chiles

For Honors cupcakes, I started with unfrosted cupcakes from the bakery of my local grocery store. (Isn’t that the coolest thing ever? I just had to bat my eyelashes at the bakery manager and she agreed to sell me them unfrosted. Because it’s usually the frosting that makes store bought cupcakes taste gross, you’d never know that I didn’t bake them. They were quite tasty!)

Next, I made my standard powdered sugar frosting, but I used organic powdered sugar – that’s why they aren’t white/white. So mix 1 lb powdered sugar, 1 stick of butter softened (organic too) and 1 tps vanilla until the butter is incorporated. Then add enough half and half a tsp at a time to make it a nice spreadable texture.

For the eyes I used hershey’s kisses and chocolate chips. The teeth are white Good and Plentys and the nose holes are mini chocolate chips. It was so easy!

Honor turned 4 last Friday. We celebrated the day with a much sought after trip to Chuck E Cheeses and a nice load of 100% boy presents. And finished off the day with a few friends and some pirate cup cakes.

Friday morning, after we had given him his Walkie Talkies, the sock monster I sewed for him (pics coming) and his Play mobile pirate ship, Honor looked up at me and asked, “Mom, am I four now?” And wow, has he embraced is 4 year old-ness. He keeps listing off all the things he can do now that he’s four, like wear big 4 year old clothes (that won’t stay up on his butt) and play out in the front yard by himself (that I won’t let him do) and turn his transformer into the guy. But not the “tar”. “Dust” to the guy. The newness of being four has not worn off yet, so I continue to play the 4 year old card, “Stop, whining, you’re four.” It’s still working, so at least that. I guess one thing to be said about Honor is that things are never boring when he’s around…

(BTW, Unfortunately I’ve got proof that he didn’t magically transform into an angel Friday morning.)

“Raise your hand if you everyone wants to sit by you at dinner.” (That would be me.)

“Raise your hand if you like to sit by Tucky.” (That would be thing 1 and thing 2.)

“Raise your hand if you like to sit on the toilet and play with the computer.” (That would be someone else that lives in this house.)

I can’t count anymore how many people I know who are divorcing, have divorced or are experiencing marital difficulties. I hear about a new couple breaking up weekly. Frankly, I’m not sure if my heart can break anymore. I can’t stop thinking about the husbands who have betrayed their wives, the wives who have betrayed their husbands, the parents who have betrayed their children. I feel a little betrayed myself. Neither Jim nor I have parental examples to look to so I find myself looking to others I respect to see how a marriage should work. Who are we supposed to look to anymore?

Mark Driscoll talks about how a lot of Christians stay far away from sin because they don’t want to become sucked into it. But it’s the people who are right up in sin’s face that know exactly why they would never want to participate. He talks about living in a neighborhood with drug dealers and users, watching them throw their lives in the toilet and knowing that he never wanted that for his life.

I’ve experienced adultery in every aspect of my life except my own marriage. I’ve seen the destruction infidelity brings close up and I want nothing to do with it. Sometimes being married is not all peaches and cream, sometimes I am attracted to other people, sometimes I am certain that my life is not what I want. But I know for certain that a moment of pleasure is not worth the end of my life as I know it now. I know that the covenant that I made with my husband and the promise that I’ve made to my children is WAY, WAY more important than ANYTHING else in my life. I know that acting on my emotions is the most unwise thing I could do. I’ve gotten right in the face of it and I KNOW that I couldn’t and won’t willingly break the people I love.

What more can I say? I just send my plea out into the cosmos, to all the people who are married: I beg you, please, stay faithful to your family. Even if you don’t have kids, your life effects EVERYONE. Your choices effect everyone. Please prove to the world that selflessness is still possible, that promises still mean something, that pleasure is not our number one goal. Please.