In the kitchen:: Cheesy Meatball Subs

Since we have moved, dinners (and any other meal for that matter) have been very sporadic. Let's just say that we are glad that we even ate on some days ~grin~

A couple of days after moving our chest freezer into the garage from the other house I realized that there was still meat out there. I had meant to get out there that night and unload it to the freezer that was already here when we moved in. It is too large to move.

AND not just any meat was out there, mind you-meat from a home grown beef. YIKES! I got there just in the nick of time! A few of the hamburger packages were half-way thawed. So I guess it was beef we were having for dinner.

Easy meatball recipe:
hamburger
breadcrumbs
egg
johnny's seasoning
garlic powder
onion powder

form meatballs and fry in a shallow layer of olive oil on stovetop (medium heat)
brown until cooked on the outside
transfer to a preheated (375) baking dish with a light coating of olive oil in the oven
bake until done

pour spaghetti sauce over the top and mozzarella cheese
bake until the cheese melts (I was impatient and broiled the cheese part)

serve on a sub roll---prepare to feel extremely happy and full!

Lori
xo

unpacking::

Not having moved in my adult life I find my expectations to be very naive. I really thought that we would be all moved in now and life would be back to normal. far from it

The above picture is the side of the house that faces the large part of the yard, garage and tennis court (which we call a basketball court). I love this view of the house the best. The large windows in the middle are the diningroom, to the right of them are the kitchen windows ( I can watch my babies out in the yard). The windows to the left are the livingroom windows and then further left is the front porch.

I love that the little window above the diningroom windows is to the attic. It really serves no practical purpose at all. I was talking to Hannah (10 yr old daughter) the other night before bed about architecture. She was saying how her kitty looked like the Sphinx the way she was laying.
We talked about how buildings can be practical and pretty to look at--like our new house.

I feel antsy to get everything done so I can polish this house up, but need to pace myself. Even getting the bedrooms put together seems to take momentous energy. Seems the kids second wind is picking up and they are pitching in much more than the past couple of weeks. phew!

Tessa (18) and Aliss (15) have almost gotten their whole room done and it was so horrible...it reminds me of a dorm room now. They (and I) have worked so hard. There was a dog in there before that poo-ed and pee-ed all over the carpet. I won't go into that now though. It looks SO creative with both girls' decorating different styles on their own sides of the room! I will show photos of the before and after here in the next week. I don't want to leave the bad taste of the before in your mouth. LOL!

We have had TONS of rain...really. The storm acts differently here though. In our old house we lived a block from a large river and the wind came right off of it and shook the windows. Here we don't have that. It just seems like heavy rain.

My hope is that this is a shifting time for us and the kids will continue to be motivated in getting everything finished up!

Till then,
Lori
xo

In the kitchen:: Sprinkled Pretzel Bits

One of our family Christmas traditions is to make chocolate dipped pretzel logs. We line the table with waxed paper and take turns either dipping the pretzels or sprinkling them. There is much quality control tasting going on during the process so that only the best pretzels are made too.

This year because we were in the middle of the move between homes we weren't going to dip pretzels. It wasn't a conscious choice, it was just forgotten. Good thing we were having a Holiday Party for some family and friends shortly after Christmas because Tessa added these to the finger foods to be served.
I am so glad that she remembered. We didn't get any sent out to family or given to friends, but it wouldn't have seemed so festive without some Homemade Christmas Goodie to snack on at home.

Lori
xo

Snapshots:: Frosty Morning Walk

Closely after we moved into our new home I walked outside to feed the chickens in the morning. The ground literally sparkled with thick frost. When I breathed the air frosted over and hung there. Everything was still and quiet and if my fingers didn't sting so much from the cold air I would have stayed out for hours because of the beauty of it all.


In the midst of all of the hard work I have the knowledge that God is blessing us beyond measure. While the beautiful flowers that grow on these grounds are hibernating and growing in secret so are the many ways that God is faithful to us....we just have to wait to see!

Lori
xo