so...our dear friend Claudette gave me this recipe-and it's the most amazing chili ever!! Has a sweetness to it that is just dreamy! Enjoy!
Auntie Clod's Homemade Chili:
2lbs of lean ground beef-do not drain
2 T olive oil
1 whole onion (i chopped it up real fine cuz the kids don't like onions)
2 packages of mild chili seasoning
2 T chili powder
2 T of tiger sauce (thailand) (don't worry if you can't find it-i didn't use it and it still tastes amazing!)
Brown the above in a large mixing pot (i actually just browned mine in a large skillet then transfered it into my stock pot-BUT i'm sure her suggestion is just fine too!)
4 cans of dark kidney beans
4 cans of italian style stewed tomatoes
2 bottles of prego (or other) tomato sauce
mix in with the large pot containing the above ingredients
here is the secret ingredient : ) 1/2 cup brown sugar. (sweet and spicy!)
bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer for 1/2 hour.
Enjoy!!! a perfect meal for this gloomy weather! Thanks Auntie Clod!!!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Descanso
For our 12 year wedding anniversary we bought a family pass to Descanso Gardens. THE BEST 80 bucks I think we've ever spent!! This is getting added into our budget for next year for SURE! Ry and I usually frequent it on our date Fridays (but not this past month b/c of my new job!) BUT...one Sunday our dear Charity came up to spend the weekend and we took her to see Descanso...and for the kids it was their first time! We rode the train and just ran all around. It was awesome. Don't you love the holly tree!? Just Christmasy!
Bragging
So...can I brag?! I have to here since I didn't get that cheesy bumper sticker! Emily was student of the month and Will received a principals award!! SOOO proud of you cuties! They both received a free meal at Marie Calendars, so we went that night to celebrate them!
My heart is full!
My heart is full!
provision
I've been so busy since my last post...i'm sorry it's been so long. So...you could probably assume why i'm so busy...kids...house...new church...new life...but, in addition to all of that lovely-ness, I was busy with something else.
Many of you know that last year I stopped shopping to examine motivations in my heart about this addiction of mine. Along with that addiction, and years of us as a couple not being on the same page about our finances (again, as many of you know who have walked this journey with us) we have a significant about of credit debt to get rid of. We thankfully are never late and can always make the minimum, BUT...how is that getting rid of it? One morning after dropping off the kids at school, Ry and I went out on our Friday morning date to talk (we both were home on Fridays). I had been home and commuting to Biola for two days of work this past semester, but that was not going to be enough anymore. That paycheck thankfully paid for our car issues (seriously, does anyone else have as many issues with their accord and civic as we do?!!??!) and we didn't use the credit cards (which we would have had to have done in the past-this is a huge shift for us!). But, something needed to change to help us break through and start making progress towards freedom. We decided I needed a job. Biola is only semester to semester, and not always work I can count on (depending on enrollment etc...). So, we prayed, and then went on our day.
Monday afternoon we had a meeting with our financial guy. Before that meeting my mom in law called and asked if I needed a job. I laughed as she had no idea about our talk on Friday! She knew it was on the table to talk about, but not that soon! So, I said yes and after our financial guy also confirmed I needed a job, we left that meeting with a voicemail from Linda who said she had a job for me! It's just subbing in her office in the school district she works in. I got all the paper work turned in, and the week after Thanksgiving, I started working! Three days at the district, and my two days at Biola. Welcome back to commuting life! I used to commute long ago when I worked at a law firm for years and years. So...it is only a sub job, but i have it till March and as I meet folks up in the offices there, they ask when i'm available and ask for my number! so, we have totally been provided for!!
Isn't that awesome! The drive in the morning to work is early, but it is beautiful watching the sun rise and there is no traffic! (because i leave soooo early!). Coming home, there is and it's not been fun, but i'm pretty use to the drive now and i'd LOVE suggestions for some music and podcasts to listen to/upload to my ipod.
Everytime I think about how hard this is to be away from the kids, I think-we have free child care after school, Ry is right next door to them, and we've openly communicated with our kids about our situation and how we all together are not in an ideal situation, but if we work together, we can learn and grow together as a family about how to be better stewards of our money and to together get freedom!
I might (if i'm brave enough) post the progress we make from time to time. We are making a poster this week of where we are at and marking when we make progress! I'm so excited to finally be making progress!! We have made HUGE mental progress on learning how to live within our means (the past two years I'm so proud of us! The only time we used our card was to move twice this summer. I don't think we could have ever anticipated how expensive those moves were going to be!), not using our cards-heck, even Emily noticed the other day when I pulled out my ATM card to purchase some christmas GCs and she said to me, "hey, isn't that a credit card! you are not suppose to use that!" hello accountability! I hadn't made it to the ATM yet to get money, so I had to explain to her what I was using and I thanked her for noticing and calling me on it! Oh kids....
So...if you are doing something similar, i'd LOVE to know...any encouragement to keep me/us all going is great!! I'll label this 'freedom' so you can always check how we're doing. I'll be honest-i'll post our victories as well as our struggles. But I think it's imperative to not let money rule our life-not let our debt define us-because it doesn't. I can let it-but no longer. Freedom!!!
Many of you know that last year I stopped shopping to examine motivations in my heart about this addiction of mine. Along with that addiction, and years of us as a couple not being on the same page about our finances (again, as many of you know who have walked this journey with us) we have a significant about of credit debt to get rid of. We thankfully are never late and can always make the minimum, BUT...how is that getting rid of it? One morning after dropping off the kids at school, Ry and I went out on our Friday morning date to talk (we both were home on Fridays). I had been home and commuting to Biola for two days of work this past semester, but that was not going to be enough anymore. That paycheck thankfully paid for our car issues (seriously, does anyone else have as many issues with their accord and civic as we do?!!??!) and we didn't use the credit cards (which we would have had to have done in the past-this is a huge shift for us!). But, something needed to change to help us break through and start making progress towards freedom. We decided I needed a job. Biola is only semester to semester, and not always work I can count on (depending on enrollment etc...). So, we prayed, and then went on our day.
Monday afternoon we had a meeting with our financial guy. Before that meeting my mom in law called and asked if I needed a job. I laughed as she had no idea about our talk on Friday! She knew it was on the table to talk about, but not that soon! So, I said yes and after our financial guy also confirmed I needed a job, we left that meeting with a voicemail from Linda who said she had a job for me! It's just subbing in her office in the school district she works in. I got all the paper work turned in, and the week after Thanksgiving, I started working! Three days at the district, and my two days at Biola. Welcome back to commuting life! I used to commute long ago when I worked at a law firm for years and years. So...it is only a sub job, but i have it till March and as I meet folks up in the offices there, they ask when i'm available and ask for my number! so, we have totally been provided for!!
Isn't that awesome! The drive in the morning to work is early, but it is beautiful watching the sun rise and there is no traffic! (because i leave soooo early!). Coming home, there is and it's not been fun, but i'm pretty use to the drive now and i'd LOVE suggestions for some music and podcasts to listen to/upload to my ipod.
Everytime I think about how hard this is to be away from the kids, I think-we have free child care after school, Ry is right next door to them, and we've openly communicated with our kids about our situation and how we all together are not in an ideal situation, but if we work together, we can learn and grow together as a family about how to be better stewards of our money and to together get freedom!
I might (if i'm brave enough) post the progress we make from time to time. We are making a poster this week of where we are at and marking when we make progress! I'm so excited to finally be making progress!! We have made HUGE mental progress on learning how to live within our means (the past two years I'm so proud of us! The only time we used our card was to move twice this summer. I don't think we could have ever anticipated how expensive those moves were going to be!), not using our cards-heck, even Emily noticed the other day when I pulled out my ATM card to purchase some christmas GCs and she said to me, "hey, isn't that a credit card! you are not suppose to use that!" hello accountability! I hadn't made it to the ATM yet to get money, so I had to explain to her what I was using and I thanked her for noticing and calling me on it! Oh kids....
So...if you are doing something similar, i'd LOVE to know...any encouragement to keep me/us all going is great!! I'll label this 'freedom' so you can always check how we're doing. I'll be honest-i'll post our victories as well as our struggles. But I think it's imperative to not let money rule our life-not let our debt define us-because it doesn't. I can let it-but no longer. Freedom!!!
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