It's a good day...

Here's a conversation I had with my daughter this morning:

Me: Good morning!

Daughter: What's good about it?

Me: Did you wake up?

Daughter: Yes.

Me: Any day you wake up and God gives you breath is a good day. ;0)

Seafood Pizza

My family is not real big on pizza. They like it ok (all except for one who really doesn't like it at all). But, we are huge seafood fans! Tonight hubby wanted seafood pizza. I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea, but decided to go for it.

This pizza turned out to be absolutely delicious! Even my non-pizza lover enjoyed it! I decided to go light on cheese and big on seafood since that is what we like most. Oh, don't worry, there was plenty of cheese! But, the seafood is the dominant flavor in this pizza!

I'm not real particular with measurements when I'm cooking, unless it's baking. So you'll just have to adjust amounts to what you think your family will enjoy.

Seafood Pizza

• One pizza crust for 16 inch pizza (I cheated and used a packet crust, feel free to make your own!)
• White Sauce (recipe follows)
• 1 lb of crab legs, shelled and torn into bite size pieces. (Please don't use imitation crab for this! You will be sorely disappointed!)
• 8 oz. of salad shrimp
• 1 10 oz. pack of frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
• Parmesan Romano Cheese
• Mozzarella Cheese

Make pizza crust according to directions. Bake in 400* preheated oven for 5 min. Top pizza with white sauce, crab, shrimp, spinach. Sprinkle with Parmesan Romano and Mozzarella cheese. Bake 400* for 13 - 15 minutes. Can broil last minute or two if you like your pizza a little more brown.

White Sauce

• 1/4 cup butter (I used real butter not margarine)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Romano
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoons white wine
• salt
• pepper
• cayenne pepper

Melt butter in sauce pan. Add flour and whisk until bubbly. Add milk, salt, pepper, cayenne and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and add garlic, wine and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted and sauce is creamy.

Notice there's a section with no spinach. That's for my eater that didn't want spinach. ;0)

One Step Closer!

Hubby thinks we may be able to start replacing the floor this weekend! Yippee!!! For those of you who may not know, we are remodeling our kitchen. We are replacing the floor, getting custom built cabinets (by my hubby and a professional cabinet maker), replacing the counters, tearing out a peninsula and a closet and adding additional cabinets and a pantry, removing wallpaper, painting, and replacing all the appliances. Whew! That's a lot! I'm very excited to have it finished, but I am not excited about all the work and mess. It's going to be very stressful for me. To save money we are doing all of the work ourselves.


Here are some pictures of my kitchen and how it used to look:

If you go here and here you can see the new stove and refrigerator. I won't be getting the dishwasher or over the stove microwave until the floor and cabinets are installed.

I hope you all are having a great day!

We're back!

Hubby and I got home from the beach last night. We had a great time, except for the exorbitant gas prices! I'm afraid as long as Americans stand for $4.00 to $5.00 a gallon gas, that's what we'll get! I'm not sure what the answer is, but when the price for a gallon of gas is slowly encroaching on the hourly minimum wage, something has got to be done!

I'm not sure what to do, but Americans need to somehow stand up and say we're tired of this!

Anyway, on to nicer subjects. ;o) We are getting closer and closer every day to having the kitchen done. I'm still more than a little disappointed that our cabinet maker hasn't done a more expedient job. I guess it will eventually be finished and I'll be happy and this will be a vague memory. Right? ;o)

I don't have much time for blogging, so this will have to be all for now!

September 11

There are news articles and blogging posts all over the internet about September 11th. It was a horrifically tragic day. I remember it well...

I was in my classroom at school checking goals. ( I worked in a Christian school with an ACE program) One of the mothers came into the school sobbing that there had been an accident at one of the World Trade Centers. This particular mother was known to be a little sensitive (For example, she would sob if an animal was hurt.) So, we all thought that was too bad and went about our business. A few minutes later the same mother was back telling us that another plane had hit the other Trade Center while she was watching live news. She was inconsolable at this point.

Our principal went to get a portable tv and put it up in the office and we all stood, transfixed, and watched what was happening.

As a staff we discussed that even though this was a tragedy, it was history in the making and we decided to take the students (7th through 12th grade) over to his house (he lived next door) to watch the unfolding situation. We also had an elderly lady who lived in the front apartment that was connected to the principals apartment. The boys went with the principal and several male staff members and the girls went to the lady's house with several female staff, including myself.

I had a daughter in 9th grade and one in 6th. The 9th grader came with me while the 6th grader stayed in her classroom.

My brother was stationed in Hawaii at the time so I called him just to make sure he was ok and aware of the situation. It was 4:00 am in Hawaii so they had no idea.

I called my former Marine husband because I had a sick feeling. He was in Desert Storm and I wanted to make sure he wasn't still on Inactive Reserve Duty. He told me he wasn't.

After my phone calls I settled in with my friends/co-workers and about 25 - 30 teen aged girls and we watched what turned out to be the worst assault on this country's soil, aside from Pearl Harbor.

We talked about what was happening, why it was happening and the fact that even during this God was still on the Throne and still in control.

We ended up having many students leaving early that day and I took my daughters and went home. My husband worked 2nd shift at the time, so we came home, I fixed a quick dinner, and we sat glued to the tv for the rest of the evening. An overwhelming sadness was thick in the air where ever I went for days and weeks after that.

I recently watched a tv special on September 11 and even though I watched it unfold, I still can't fathom the truth of it. It doesn't seem possible still to this day.

Sweet fellowship and one last vacation!

We had a dinner to attend last night for something that my hubby does. It was at a restaurant that's in an old farmhouse with intimate little rooms for dining and a couple of large rooms. We ate in the large room as there were probably 100+ people there. The restaurant serves the food family style, where everyone sits around the table and passes the food.

We ended up sitting beside some dear friends. Their daughter and our daughter have been best friends since about 2nd grade and they are now 19 years old. It was a sweet blessing to sit and watch these 5 teenage/young adults fellowship. (Their daughter and two sons and our two daughters)

These are kids who have grown up together. They've made precious memories together - all of them. They've also had a squabble or two! ;o) I watched them last night laughing and joking and just being comfortable with one another and I thanked God for allowing my girls to have such close friendships. I thanked Him for parents who feel much like we do and have raised wonderful children. I thanked Him for being able to be among Christian people and the sweet fellowship that accompanies that. I thanked Him because broken legs, back surgeries, and hospital stays are now distant fading memories.

I sometimes wonder if God has put us through so many trials so that nights like last night could be special to me. If we hadn't had suffering then maybe watching my girls laugh would be just another thing I saw. But, instead it fills me with a contentment and happiness that I really can't explain.

Ok, enough of that before I get teary again and my family thinks I've completely flipped! LOL

My hubby and I are going to take one last weekend getaway. At least for a while. ;o) We're heading off to the beach again this weekend. I've booked us an oceanfront suite for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I'm a little concerned about eating over the weekend. The notion of being on a diet while on vacation doesn't really appeal to me, but neither does blowing my Weight Watchers in week 2!! Maybe I'll just try to make sensible choices and not worry about it. If this is going to truly be a lifestyle change then it will have to fit my lifestyle without me having to worry over it every time I leave the house!

My husband has noticed the changes I'm making and has been very impressed so far! For instance, last night I wanted to try a little of everything at the dinner. So, instead of overeating everything I just took a bite or two of the things I wanted to try. I'm trying to retrain my brain to not think I have to eat every. single. last. bite. of food on my plate. Except for the cherry cobbler. I didn't leave any of that! ;o)

I hope you all are well and having a good week!

Kitchen Update!

Just popping in to say that hubby and the cabinet maker have finished the first section of cabinets and we may be able to start demolition soon! Yay! This has been a very long process and I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Checking in

I'm still enjoying a break from the internet. Oh, I've been reading because it is ingrained in me to read anything with words. It's sort of like an addiction, I think. ;o) In addition, I really haven't had anything to blog about. I've been doing a lot of introspective soul searching lately and I haven't really had anything to blog or post about. It seems I find myself at a cross roads of sorts and I'm having trouble choosing a path. I know which path I should take. I know which path is right. So, why the trouble? Because our carnal minds don't want to always do what our spiritual minds say. I eventually will come to the right decision. And, in all actuality it really isn't a decision at all, just a struggle.

After my scare last week I decided it was time to stop playing around with my health. My insurance just offered a new Healthy Body program so I decided to join. I get access to Rn's, dietitians, and I could choose a weight loss program. I chose Weight Watchers. I was able to get 13 weeks of WW and an exercise dvd for $59.93 So, not too bad! My first meeting was Thursday night and I ended up running into someone I knew. She had lost 69 pounds! The first words out of her mouth were, "If you will do it, this will work." Wow!! What an encouragement right off the bat!

When I stepped on the scale to be weighed the lady asked me if I was surprised by the number I saw. I told her no. I wish I was surprised, but unfortunately I knew all too well. :o(

Well, I guess that's it for now. I hope you all are doing well.

My Ambulance Ride!

Anyone who knows me knows I hate going to the doctor. I will avoid it at all costs. I do not run to the doctor over every little any little ache or pain. That is until Sunday night.

I was in bed and I woke up around midnight or so (I'm really not sure what time it was) and my stomach was hurting. Well, my daughter had been sick with a stomach bug, so I figured it was my turn. After a few minutes I knew the pain I was feeling wasn't normal. I started to feel very dizzy and I was sweating profusely. I beat on the wall for someone to come. My whole family showed up in the bathroom! But, I was in so much pain I didn't care! I asked for a chair to lean against because I could barely sit up. I was afraid I was going to fall. I can only tell you that I've had 2 children without pain medicine and I have never had pain like that before!

My husband wanted to take me to the hospital but I literally could not get up and get myself dressed. I was very disoriented and the pain I was feeling had me in an icy grip. I honestly thought I might die.

After a while of my family getting me out of the bathroom, getting me something to drink and trying to figure out what to do my youngest daughter asked if she should call 911. "Yes!" I figured I would relax and so would they if someone was there who knew what to do.

I don't have a real sense of time, so I don't know how long it took for the paramedics to come. I vaguely remember them being here. I have some blurry moments of being in the ambulance and then being at the hospital. I only have little blips and blurbs of memory of the whole ordeal.

My blood pressure when I got to the hospital was 175/104!! It was the pain! Thankfully, my blood pressure showed my pain because I have friends who are ER nurses and they get more than their share of "drug seekers". You know, my back hurts, my stomach hurts. All for the sake of getting pain medicine. Anyway, the doctor gave me a dose of morphine, took some blood samples (which they couldn't get easily!) and checked my stomach. After a while he gave me another dose of morphine, phenergan for nausea, and something to stop my stomach from cramping.

After a while (still no concept of time here) a nurse came and asked how my pain was (it was a 10 when I came into the hospital) and I told her it was gone. She said that could knock her over with a feather, because hardly every to they have people say their pain is gone. Praise the Lord!

After lab work and a check of my stomach it was determined that I probably had spasms from a virus or something. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to go to the hospital in an ambulance for a virus? Honestly!

My family has assured me that we did the best thing. I would never have been able to make it to the hospital on my own. The pain was unbearable.

So there you have it. The most painful and the most embarrassing moment of my life all rolled into one!