GratiTuesday - A Short Walk

Eight years ago today, on a rainy day in Ferguson Valley, I went for a little walk with my dad.  It looked something like this ...

and ended here ...

It wasn't very long before we had moved to make room for this gift ...

and then only 25 months later,

we had a pair.

Since then, there have been times when we feel like this ...

and others when it seems like life has thrown a few sweet potatoes our way ...

but, as God promises, He is working all things together for our good.

Now, we're more like this ...

and like this, and that keeps us pretty busy.  We're okay with that.

(But this past weekend, to celebrate this eight-year anniversary, my husband surprised me with a child-free weekend at the beach.  I'm okay with that, too.)

So today, I'm grateful for my husband, who still looks for little ways to surprise me.  I'm grateful for eight years with him and all that it's brought us.  I'm grateful for the time that we still have - may it be lots and lots more eights - and all that those years will bring, good times and not-so-good, because we grow closer together through it all.  I'm grateful for that little walk I went on eight years ago that so changed my life - I can't imagine life without my Wonderful Husband beside me.

For more GratiTuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers!

Menu Plan Monday - June 6, 2011

We've been away away for the past two weekends, and so we've missed the produce stand at the local flea market.  Without this source of fresh, inexpensive produce, I've decided to avoid buying any produce this week and use what I can find left in the pantry and freezer.  I'll tuck aside any extra money I can save for food on an upcoming trip.  :-)

Breakfasts:

cereal and bananas (fruit already on hand)

yogurt parfaits with homemade granola and blueberries

applesauce bread X 2

scrambled eggs and toast X2

pancakes, fruit, and whipped cream

Lunches will be our usual sandwiches and leftovers.

Suppers:

Grab it and Growl (Whatever You can Find)

Chicken parmesan and noodles with spinach

Meatball subs in homemade rolls with Guilty Good Green Beans and applesauce

Pizza

Hamburgers, steamed carrots and broccoli

Mac'n'cheese and cucumbers

Chicken fajitias with grilled chicken and carmelized peppers and onions, rice

For extras, and to celebrate the end of the school year:

popcorn

ice cream sandwiches (see pic above)

For more Menu Plan Mondays, visit OrgJunkie!

Check out my latest giveaway here!

Quick and Healthy Stir Fry

This stir fry is something that our whole family enjoys.  With whole grain rice and lots of veggies, it's very healthy and low in fat.  My Little Man, who is not yet a Chinese food fan, can eat this and not be overwhelmed by strong flavors (that's his bowl in the picture - mine had more in it!).  Best of all, it comes together very quickly.

Ingredients:
1/2 - 1 lb. lean meat - chicken or steak, cut into strips or bite-sized pieces
4 c. prepared whole grain rice
2 bags of Birds' Eye Steamfresh Asian medley veggies
a few tablespoons of teriyaki sauce
dash of olive oil

1.  Prepare rice according to package directions.
2.  Cook the meat in a hot pan with just a dash of olive oil.  Stir until cooked through, then sprinkle liberally with teriyaki sauce.  Reduce heat and cover.
3.  While the meat is working, pop one bag of veggies in the microwave at a time to steam.  (While I usually prefer to prep my own veggies, I tried these once after stumbling upon an amazing sale - and they're really good!  Now, when the price drops, I stock up - and when life gets crazy and I need a veggie for dinner, I have a variety of quick options.)  Leave closed until ready to serve.
4.  Add rice to the meat and toss to add a light coating of teriyaki to the veggies.
5.  To serve, add some rice to each plate and spoon meat and veggies overtop.  Voila!

We like to serve this with egg rolls - yum!

**Be sure to check out my latest giveaway!

"Indelible" by Kristen Heitzmann - and a GIVEAWAY!

Trevor McDaniel is a former Olympian who risked his life to save a toddler from a mountain lion - and gained an unlikely admirer in the process.  A prodigious artist, Natalie deals with her eidetic mind the best way she knows how - even though it puts her life in danger - and is the toddler's aunt.  Trevor and Natalie see sparks when thrown together - but will things change when Natalie suddenly is given care of her still-recovering nephew?  When pictures of children in danger from across the nation begin showing up in Trevor's mailbox - and then mysterious dangers show up in Redford - can police chief Jonah Westfall piece together the connection to Trevor before a child - or someone Trevor loves - ends up dead?

Indelible is a fantastic suspense that explores the mysteries of the mind while surviving real life in the physical world.  Heitzmann draws the reader in and keeps them engaged through an ever-expanding cast of characters, each with a curious role in the plot.  Indelible follows Indivisible, another book set in Redford, but is not a typical sequel.  Both books could be read independently with no problems, but because the character set overlaps, a depth is added to the story that would be difficult to add otherwise.

Heitzmann writes from the perspective of both admirer and Trevor, demon and archangel.  She explores perspective in an interesting way - are things ever what they seem?  Is anyone absolutely anything?  Can people be black and white?  How much of a role do circumstances play in what we become, and how can we overcome them?

I've read many of Heitzmann's other books, and I've loved them all.  Indelible did not disappoint.  Once begun, I could not put it down - and so I highly recommend this book and look forward to the next.

Shall we see more of Redford?  I hope so.

*I received a free copy of Indelible from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review.

Want to read an excerpt of Indelible?  Find one here.  For other information or to order this book, click here.

Giveaway News ...


I have an extra copy of Indelible that I'll send out to someone ready delve into the minds of Trevor, Natalie, and their nemesis.  Want to win it?  Here's what you do.  You can earn one entry into the drawing for each step below; please leave a separate comment telling me what you've done.  The drawing will close on Tuesday, June 29th.


1.  Rate this review.  
2.  Become a follower of A Nest in the Rocks and leave a comment saying you've done so.
3.  Share about this giveaway on Facebook.


Books won can be mailed to addresses within the United States only.  I'm sorry for any inconvenience.



**  My Big Helper chose a comment number for this giveaway, and she chose #3.  Congratulations, Tonya!

GratiTuesday - Havin' a Heat Wave

We're having a heat wave ... a tropical heat wave ... when the temperature's risin', it isn't surprisin', we certainly can, can, can ...


That's a line from White Christmas, oddly enough, and it's stuck in my head today.  No, not because I'm thinking about Christmas - but because it's HOT.  Really, awfully, want-to-become-a-fish hot.

Today is also Field Day at my daughter's school.  AND I volunteered My Little Man and I to help.

We bravely headed out to this morning, prepared to start right at 10, when the sun's rays would be most damaging- er, I mean when it was supposed to start - and was surprised to find that Field Day began in the art room with face painting.  We could do that.

After painting a few trucks and rainbows, we headed out ... no, off to the library for the kindergarten version of Minute to Win It.  Then we had an aerobics class in the gym (I was really starting to wonder about the naming of this event) when we headed outside for free play time with jump ropes, hula hoops, and mini golf.

After a lunch break in the air-conditioned cafeteria, we ventured out to the there's-no-shade-here playground.  The kids had a great time running around, though, and My Little Man finally joined in.

Next came the sack races, the only event in which I was actually a competitor as a kid.  I loved the sack races!  My Big Girl did a really good job on this one today.

Next came the tug-o-war.  This group of mostly-girls actually pulled the other team of mostly-boys to their knees - in spite of the water break happening in the middle of the rope.

After a short popsicle break, Mrs. Burton decided to toss the schedule and head for the water events, which for some reason were empty.  Yay, Mrs. Burton!

Since the kids didn't quite get the hang of the sponge races, turning the hose on them seemed more fitting - and much more fun.  Bring on the water!

As the kids headed off to play with basketballs and sidewalk chalk, My Little Man and I called it quits.  With more than an hour to go, I'm not sure if we could've survived that cement slab, and as usual, Mrs. Burton had things well in hand. But when we got in the car ...

 this is what we saw.

After heading home, we read a story and Luke unwillingly took himself to bed for a nap.

Apparently he didn't make it all the way to the bed, because this is where I found him a bit later - standing on the stool, asleep before he made it all the way in.

I don't like heat waves.  I'm not a born-and-bred Southern girl, and these crazy temps still seem foreign to me.  But I"m finding lots today to be thankful for.

I'm grateful for the teacher who knew her students well and listened to their needs, both physical and emotional.  She worked hard to make the plans that someone else made work for her kids, in spite of the heat.  I'm thankful for the parents who donated all those popsicles and for the teacher who left the water hose turned on.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a part of my child's field day, and grateful that we weren't really needed and could leave when the heat became too much.  I'm grateful for a husband who would take himself outside after a long day at work to find and clean the kiddie pool we'll play in tomorrow.  Mostly, though, I'm grateful for the abundance of water that we have.  So many people the world over don't have clean water to drink, and especially not to play in just for fun, but we are blessed with water in abundance.

So if you stop by our house tomorrow - where it's to be 96 degrees with a heat index of over 100 again - you'll find us in the shady backyard, playing with the neighbors, the kids in the pool, and me with my feet in a bucket of water.

Havin' a heat wave?  That's okay.  We've got water.  :-)

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A Bucket of Water

Summer temperatures have officially arrived here in North Carolina, and heat records held for decades were expected to be broken today.  After we picked up Andi from school, we decided to break out a summer project.  We enjoyed this one last year, and it seemed like a good way to cool off when we only had a short amount of time.  Here's what you do:

Fill up a bucket of water.  Place in the middle of the driveway.  The end.

Difficult, huh?

For a few minutes, they followed me around saying, "What should we do?"

Finally, they got it.  The next time I looked over, the single bucket had turned into this:

They were pouring and creating and playing, until ...

My Little Man accidently spilled the biggest bucket while pouring it.

They quickly decided that this was a good thing, however, as they now had a mini-waterfall happening in the driveway.

The kids began to rake away the rocks to make puddles.

Eventually, they went back to creating a 'birthday cake' out of mud, rocks, and picked clover for me.  When the water was about to run out, we emptied out our buckets and put them all away for another day.

All told, the kids played for 45 minutes with just one bucket-full of water and the assorted outside toys they added.  They weren't ready to stop and would've happily played much longer if I had let them, and neither child was the slightest bit wet when they came in - although I wouldn't have minded if they had been.

The kids were creative, they worked together, and they had fun on a summer-like day.  Who needs fancy electronic gadgets??

GratiTuesday - Blossoms

Spring has come and almost gone here in North Carolina, and we're seeing more and more evidence of the new life that this particular season has brought.  My Pennsylvania blood, however, hasn't reconciled with this new gardening plan, and I keep finding myself caught off guard with the new life that's popping up around every corner.

The clematis near the front door is in full bloom ...

and after a recent rainstorm, we found this hiding under the dianthus!

Okay, so these turtles aren't blooming, exactly, but I don't see turtles out sunning themselves in the winter, either - even here.  Makes me think "summer."

The funny faces are due to the abundance of bees flitting around the kids, who were sitting right in front of a huge bed of purple flowers of all kinds.  Blossoms and flowers and honey, oh, my!

My Little Man found lots of strawberries at the farm on Friday, despite the abundance of rain we've had ...

and The Big Girl was eager to show her's off, too.

We even have berries growing in a little pot on our deck - this is the first year they've really grown anything!

Although we planted our garden a few weeks ago, it suddenly struck me that the cucumbers were in need of a trellis - and could climb it ....

and the peppers are even beginning to show buds.

And can you see all the yellow in this picture?  Six of the first five tomato plants have blooms on them.  I realize that we'll still be waiting awhile to get the fruit, but it's coming!  Getting these staked up today.

The blackberries are again covered in blossoms, so thanks to Papa sharing Pappy's bush with us, it looks like we'll have lots of blackberry jelly again.

I love springtime.  It's one of my very favorite seasons.  There's just something special about seeing all of the new life that God has created bursting forth in bloom, waving proudly in the breeze.

So, today, I'm grateful for blossoms - blossoms of all kinds - and for the fresh food that they'll put on our table.  I'm grateful for the space to plant and the hands that are strong enough to do so.  I'm grateful for the rain that God has sent and for the sunshine that balances it out.  I'm grateful for the husband that indulges my 'farming' itch and gives me time to play in the dirt.  I'm grateful, too, for the kids who are watching, who like to help with my 'dirt-playing' and are storing up knowledge and memories for when they have their own gardens and tables to care for.

Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!

Let the sea and everything in it shout His praise!

Let the field and their crops burst out with joy!

~ Psalm 96 : 11 - 12a

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