Life on the River

Saw this today. It's so true.

Trip to the U.P.

Inspiration

Fr. John Thomas, also known as papi48 on WW Connect, writes an inspiring homily on Sunday.  Each week I read it on my way to Mass.  It touches my heart when I realize at church how much more I pay attention to the readings.

This past week when I read the homily, I knew immediately that it needed to be a part of the book I am writing, "Enough Kindness to Fill an Empty Heart."

Thankfully, when I asked him for permission, he agreed.

Chicken Butternut Stew

Dinner tonight was delicious. Leftovers are my favorite starting point for creating a new recipe.

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed (0)
2 cups cooked butternut squash (0)
1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup (5)
1 can Pinto beans (0)
1 cup zucchini, chopped (0)
1/2 cup celery, chopped (0)
1/2 cup carrots, chopped (0)
Half a yellow onion, chopped (0)

In a slow cooker, mash squash, mix in condensed soup. Saute chopped vegetables in Pam sprayed pan. Salt, pepper, lots of sage.

Add chicken, vegetables and beans to squash mixture.

Cook on low 2-3 hours.

3 large servings - 2 Freestyle Points each

Sunrises in Michigan

I don't go over the Zilwaukee bridge. When it was built there was a dip in it. Nope. Not going.

But this morning, on our way to the SportsZone, the sunrise and the bridge made a beautiful pairing that we couldn't resist. Don't worry, I still did my six miles on the bike afterwards.

Wednesday's sunrise was all about the clouds on our way home from a night in Traverse City.

Fall 2018

2018 Fall Art and Environment

St. Dominic's

SS Peter and Paul Site

Saginaw, Michigan

Halloween Costumes

Favorite time of the year. This one was fun with all four of the kids. We had a great time.

Had to order the face mask. Perfect for the Fortnight character.

Javier spray painting his costume.

A new super hero. Ayva says her super powers are being able to tell if someone is good or evil.

She had to help Nana sew her costume, tear out stupid mistakes and resew her costume.

Romeo liked moving all around making it impossible to cut the ghost costume!

Tino wanted to be a red ghost. He started scaring Grandma Caroline and got scared! He was okay once we cut out the eyes and he could see.

Smoothie Changeup

So, even though WW makes you count points if you drink your fruit, I've decided to try adding a smoothie for breakfast.  I'll take the hit for 1/2 the points.  So a large glass of smoothie for 4 pts.

1/4 cup carrots
1 small apple
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 Lime
1/2 cup orange juice
2 stalks celery
1 Tbs Ginger
3/4 scoop Vega Vanilla flavor protein powder

It was delicious.  I'll see how this works for breakfast every other day or so.

Salmon Omelette

Leftover Deliciousness

Serves 2

1 Freestyle Point Each Serving

Egg Mixture

4 Eggs

1 TBS Fage FF Greek Yogurt

Salt, Pepper, Dill

Cheese Mixture

2 Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges

1 TBS Fage FF Greek Yogurt

1/2 Cup Leftover Cooked Salmon 

In a bowl combine egg mixture. Whisk or use fork to mix well 

Combine cheese mixture and microwave for 10 seconds. Mix well.

Turn flame on medium on a nonstick pan. Spray lightly with Pam olive oil. Mix eggs again and pour into hot pan. Turn down flame to low. As the edges begin to cook, push the egg from the side a little towards the middle and tilt the pan so uncooked egg fills the empty space. Do this all over the pan until all the egg mixture is used.

Add little piles of cheese mixture on half the omelette. Layer flaked Salmon on top. Shake the pan to make sure the bottom is loose in the pan.

Gently begin to pour the omelette onto a plate and fold the last half over the bottom half.

Cut in two. Delicious for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

A couple nights in the U.P.....

is good for the soul. Time spent with Mr. Lepeak and Rod and Mary was a gift. The trees are just beginning to turn. The Great Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan all in one day makes me so thankful that we live in Michigan.

Fun at Nana and Papa's

Ayva & Javier making things with Scrapbox finds

The best grapes ever! So sweet.

Mary Helene D'Agostino Garbarino posted a link to making insects out of food. Javier and Ayva had so much fun making them for dinner.

Click the link below:

No cheese pizza for Romeo and Tino, however only Tino ate

The rest of us had pepperoni and cheese

Church Collections

These boys are such sweeties. I love being at church with them.

Momo and Tino love the collection at church. One puts our envelope in and the other a dollar. Caroline has them watch where their offering goes after it goes in the basket. They watch the ushers put the money in the large basket and their eyes follow it as it is walked down the aisle to the altar.

Sunday, Tino put his money in the basket and announced it was for the tooth fairy!

We may have a little more explaining to do!

Lockermates Forever

All through school I had the same lockermate, alphabetically our names were next to each other. I love my Lock. We had our monthly class luncheon at Castaways in Bay City and she and her husband drove from the southern most part of Michigan to join us. They have a bridge tournament tomorrow so they spent the night.

We stopped at the Bay City State Park and walked down to the beach. We saw Egrets and Sandhill Cranes. Lots of Zebra Muscles empty shells on the beach.

We had the most enjoyable evening. I loved making smoked whitefish pizza with her, listening to our husbands talking on the porch.

Friends and Locks forever.

WOW!

This was the most spectacular sunrise!

The 16 mph winds this morning made the waves rival the sun for beauty.

Honeymoon Weekend

It's such a blustery, windy, Winnie the Pooh day. The winds have been between 12 - 16 mph. We went out to take pictures this morning. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold, but the wind was crazy. After breakfast we went to the annual Triathlon in East Tawas. They switched the course around this year. Liked it better the other way.

We took a drive then back to the Huron House. We started watching a show on Netflix called Somewhere Between. It's good. Then to dinner at the Boathouse. Probably wouldn't go there again.

Watching the Tigers. This weekend is steeped in tradition. Taking pictures, the Triathlon, the Tigers. It's what we do every honeymoon weekend. I love this man.

Goodbye to Pat's Citation. He loved having that car - but it was time to get rid of it after buying the Trax and keeping the Equinox. A couple came from Ohio to buy it yesterday.

Having Fun

A friend asked on Facebook for people to sponsor his students at the new Woodley Academy at the St. Stephen's site of St. Dominic's.

This is what he asked:

Prayers for the student throughout the year
$9 to buy a Scholastic book each month
Cards for holidays and birthdays for the student

Within an hour he had over 50 people asking to sponsor one of his 25 students.

I immediately pulled out and offered to sponsor his classroom as a whole. Last week I took over these for his class.

Plastic jar filled with note cards for memories that the teacher will read the last week of school.

Ice breaker for the first week. Find a friend sheets of paper for each student. List with spots to put student's names by like:

Likes to fish
Has birthday in the same month as you
Can whistle
Plays a musical instrument


Class Coupons for things such as:

Be line leader
Read aloud
No homework
Chew gum

This week I will take him a class group project on inventions. Pat and I went to The Scrapbox to get recycables that could be used to create inventions Then I filled 5 large metal pans with the same inventory and wrote a lesson plan.

It's been fun. I told the teacher he should let me know if he wants any other things.