Menu Plan Monday — April 20th-April 26th

Well, first things first. If you're looking for the giveaway, you could go to the home page and scroll down through a few days or just click here and it will take you straight to the specific post. You have to comment by Tuesday, April 21st at noon EST to be eligible.

Now for the menu...last week Hubby was out of town and I didn't post my menu. That's because I had no plan. Made the week a little tricky to say the least. So now I'm definitely seeing the benefit of planning my meals even if Hubby is gone.

Monday — Clean out the fridge and pantry night. We haven't done this for a few weeks, so it's time again.

Tuesday — Tacos, using homemade taco seasoning with no msg. This is probably my kids' favorite all-time meal.

Wednesday — Taco Salad. I always make extra taco meat to plan for taco salad the following night.

Thursday — Spaghetti. We have a ball practice, Bible study, and one vehicle. We need something easy.

Friday — Maybe that fish I've been talking about for roughly four weeks. One of these days... If not, it will probably be breakfast for dinner.

Saturday — Depending on how Friday pans out, it will be breakfast for dinner (Farmer's Breakfast, pancakes), or baked potatoes.

Sunday — Eat out since we ate in all week! I finally saw a Pizza Hut, so I think maybe we'll go there. There aren't many around here.

Like always, you can find tons of great menu and recipe ideas if you go visit the Organizing Junkie.

Headline: Wife Cleaning Papers out of File Cabinet Remembers When Soldier Husband Was Almost Detained by Hostile Middle Easterners

We have had a metal four-drawer filing cabinet for close to 10 years. It is currently stationed in the garage, right beside the door leading into the house.

I'm changing my filing system, and without going into that right now, let's just suffice to say that I'm going through every piece of paper in those four drawers. And they were full.

Some of it has been dreadful, and some of it has been kind of fun. I was reminded of the story from June of 1991 when Hubby left for Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm, and he had a tiny little detour along the way. He did not go with a unit and flew commercial with no passport and only orders.

I am going to reprint his 'Memorandum For Record' that he had to submit once he arrived six days after leaving the United States. I am going to take some liberties since the original memorandum was typed in all caps. Blogger won't let me do tabs either, even in edit html, so please forgive the timetable spacing.

Subject: 1LT Cross Travel to Saudi Arabia

The following is the itinerary that I followed in getting into Saudi Arabia:

DEP Rolla, MO 0830 13 JUN ‘91
ARR STL, MO 1030
DEP STL, MO 1345
ARR NY(JFK) 1725
DEP NY(JFK) 2100(Delays)
ARR London 0800 14 JUN ‘91
DEP London 1525(Delays)
ARR Dhahran 0130 15 JUN ‘91
Remarks: When I arrived at Dhahran the Saudi officials would not admit me into the country because I didn't have a passport. When I left Ft. Leonard Wood I was told I would be admitted on my orders and my ID card. The Saudi officials would not permit me to place any calls to American military officials. I gave them the numbers that I had, they told me they called the airbase and they told them to send me back to London and contact the embassy. The Saudi officials told me I had to pay for my ticket back to London. I made an effort not to pay but they started yelling and telling me I had to make a decision then. I finally gave them my mastercard to cover the trip, after they asked for my wallet and I refused. I couldn't get a receipt because they rushed me to the plane and brought my card back to me on the plane.

DEP Dhahran 0230
ARR London 0730
Remarks: When I arrived in London I informed the immigration authorities at the airport of my situation and they contacted the U.S. Embassy for me. The embassy was closed for the weekend so they reserved a room in the Mostyn Hotel for me Saturday and Sunday nights. I caught a bus from the airport (Heathrow) to the hotel (downtown). I had to pay for the bus ticket, hotel, and all meals. On Monday I went to the embassy and LTC Murphy, the Assistant Attache, arranged for me to go to Mildenhall to catch a MAC flight.

DEP London 1300 17 JUN ‘91
ARR RAF Mildenhall 1830
Remarks: When I arrived at RAF Mildenhall I went to billeting and they informed me there were no rooms. They called a bed and breakfast for me. The cost for the room was $24, and they gave me no receipt.

DEP RAF Mildenhall 0830 18 JUN ‘91
ARR Rhien Main AFB 1100
Remarks: When I arrived at Rhein Main I went to the Army liaison and he booked on the flight to Dhahran the next morning. I went to billeting and got a room for $10.

DEP Rhien Main AFB 0745 19 JUN ‘91
ARR Dhahran 1900

Six days and it should have been two!

I still remember when Hubby called me from London and I had been expecting to hear from him already from Saudi Arabia. (Remember that this was well before email and cheap cell phone plans, and he didn't get any morale calls, so we had to pay something like $10 a minute if we talked on the phone from Saudi.) Obviously he had no chance to call before he left Saudi, but he said when he finally called that he was basically told that he would, "go to London or go to New York, and you will go now." One of the flight attendants felt sorry for him when he got right back on the plane he had just flown all the way over on from London, so she moved him up to first class after they took off.

Going through some of our old papers has been interesting if nothing else. I've been able to either throw away or shred a lot, refile and consolidate others, and I still have a few more funny things I found to share another day!

And Hubby also wonders why I don't want to take a mission trip out of the country.

Ya Hafta Be Frum The South

...to make fun of people from the South...

...or possibly to get this Ray Stevens' song.

You have heard of Ray Stevens?

We love to make fun of our own.

The animation is priceless, too.


And because you are probably dying to know, Hubby's uncle has an outhouse. It is at his cabin and not his house he lives in, but most of the family went to this cabin to spend Christmas a few years ago.

I'm from Arkansas, too, but I just don't get that.

It's a two-seater. They are using some of the pulled-up wooden floor from my in-law's house to line the walls.

It's gonna be a fancy outhouse. It just might raise the property taxes.

Ken Lee

This is our first year to watch American Idol. I'm glad to say that my kids and I have similar favorites and non-favorites.

None of us get that Adam dude. Personally, he's a little one-dimensional.

About a year ago when we still lived in Virginia, Hubby had a video clip forwarded to him from the Bulgarian version of American Idol. I had to go over to youtube to find it to embed here, but it's absolutely hilarious.

Makes Adam not look quite so bad.

How Can I Run A Tight Ship When I'm Surrounded By Loose Cannons?

You remember in my alphabet meme when I mentioned that my worst habit was probably procrastination.

Let's just call it a gift and be done with it, shall we?

I've had 15 days to post about this blog tour, but I've just finished reading the book. It's non-fiction, so it got put off until the last minute. Non-fiction equals procrastination.

But you know something...it read a lot like a fiction book would. It was an easy, fun, humor-filled book and still filled with insight and encouragement. I read it in a day.

I'm going to give my copy away to one of my commenters, random selection of course. I also get to send in the number of commentors I have to the publicist, because the blog tour host that has the most gets to select one of their commentors to win a gift basket of 10 books put together by the author, Kathi Macias (fiction and non-fiction by various authors).

*************************************************

About the Book:

(Homeland, CA) - For all the Christian women in the world who dread reading Proverbs 31 and wonder who on earth could ever live up to that woman - this book is for you. Between dirty diapers, complaining children, housework, husbands and a multitude of other attention-grabbing detours women face, award-winning author and speaker, Kathi Macias finds a way to encourage and biblically instruct women of all ages and phases. Women everywhere are the glue that holds their families together. Keeping everything under control challenges even the most organized household CEO. Kathi uses humor, God's Word, as well as practical insight and instruction to lovingly encourage women to grow in this progression of grace.

Readers will find How Can I Run a Tight Ship When I'm Surrounded by Loose Cannons?: Proverbs 31 Discoveries for Yielding to the Master of the Seas, filled with scriptural explanations and journaling pages to process and write their personal feelings and prayers. With sections of the book focused on each step of the learning process to guide our ships to safe harbor, readers will be happily surprised to find the funny without the fluff. Kathi's words are the "spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down." Her vulnerable approach facilitates the teachings of Proverbs 31, making it easier for women to swallow. The truth of the scriptures is very much alive and well throughout the pages, yet the ease and charm of the author's words entice readers to press forward and embrace the plan for God's woman today.

About the Author:

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored 26 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women's clubs and retreats, and writers' conferences. She recently won the prestigious 2008 member of the year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) at the annual Golden Scrolls award banquet. Kathi "Easy Writer" Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband, Al, where the two of them spend free time riding their Harley.


"Will the Real Superwoman Please Stand Up?" (an excerpt from How Can I Run a Tight Ship When I'm Surrounded by Loose Cannons?)

I've always been a control freak who wanted everything to run smoothly--perfectly, actually. No bumps or surprises, just--well, a "tight ship," as they say. And somewhere along the line I got the idea that I could make that happen--if I just tried hard enough. I think it may have started when I first saw Superman on our family's black and white TV and wondered, Is there a Superwoman somewhere? When I put that question to the adults in my life, they smiled and patted me on the head and said, "I don't think so, dear." So I decided to sign up for the job--a reasonable if somewhat naïve aspiration for a six-year-old, not so reasonable and way beyond naïve at twenty-six. Two decades after the birth of my Superwoman dream, I was still running as fast as I could and getting nowhere. My twenty-year-old dream was going down for the count, and I was nearly at the point of throwing in the towel--and then I met Jesus.

What a difference! Now I could latch on to verses like "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and "All things should be done decently and in order"--biblical affirmations of my desire to do things right, to do things efficiently and effectively, to do things with power and authority. Finally I was invincible--in Jesus, of course. Now all I needed was a godly role model and I'd be on my way.

I began my search in earnest, reading through the Scriptures until I came to Proverbs 31. Eureka! There, at last, was the epitome of the Superwoman I'd been hoping to become since I was six years old. The perfect woman--perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect housekeeper, perfect entrepreneur--all rolled into one! Not only did her husband and children praise her, but God must have approved of her as well or He certainly wouldn't have included her as an example in the Bible. My dream was alive and well once again! At last I would be able to "get it all together," to win instead of fail, to run a tight ship, and to keep things under control. Life was good, and the future looked bright.There was only one problem. I hadn't figured on all the loose cannons rolling around the deck of my not-so-tight ship...

Blog Tour Interview:

I understand you sometimes refer to this book as "discipleship with a grin." What do you mean by that, and why did you choose a humor format for a discipleship book?

Actually, I chose a discipleship theme for a humor title. As much as I hate to admit it, the title came to me one day and I knew I had to do something with it--just too good to pass up! So the more I thought/prayed about it, the more I realized it described my life, both naturally and spiritually. I began to try to lay out my spiritual growth via humorous life stories, and found they produced a natural pattern. From there I developed the five stages of spiritual growth into five sections for the book, and I was off and running! Besides, I learned from a friend/mentor years ago that you can "shove a lot of truth down people's throat when their mouth is open laughing," so I figured, why not???

What are some of the funniest "loose cannons" stories included in your book?

One of my favorites is the story of my very first women's retreat as a brand new Christian back in the "Jesus freak" days of baptisms at the beach and praise-ins at the park. I shared a room with three ladies I had never met, one of whom ended up being my "bunk mate." She snored, she was quite a bit overweight (taking up much more than her side of the bed!), and she "leaked" because she was still weaning her youngest child. You'll have to read the story to see how that experience taught me a lot about "spiritual face plants."

Another favorite story is about the time I took my three sons (two pre-teens and one elementary school age at the time) to the community swimming pool. The older boys decided to use their younger brother as a human beach ball, and when they ignored my cries from the side of the pool to stop, I actually had the nerve to jump into the water and swim right up to them and order them to stop. Their level of humiliation at being seen in the pool with their mother was as close to social suicide as it gets. But we all survived and learned a lot in the process.

Your book is divided into five sections. Can you briefly explain what they are and what they have to do with discipleship and humor?

As I mentioned earlier, the five sections correspond with what I consider the five stages of spiritual growth: crawling (infants or "rugrats") on our knees; walking (toddlers who are still a bit shaky but exploring and learning); running (stronger, more mature believers who are beginning to make a difference in their world); flying or soaring (eagles with a solid foundation and maturity to share with others); resting (back on our knees and realizing that place of utter dependence on Him is really the best place to be after all). The discipleship correlation is, I believe, evident in these stages; the humor comes in simply because I'm one of those slow learners who needs God to "hit me upside the head" at times, and I haven't been bashful about explaining those times in the book.

What advice can you give to the young mom out there who is juggling two kids, a fulltime job outside the home, a husband, housework, pets and church?

Life happens in seasons! You CAN'T be all things to all people at all times. It simply doesn't work. And if you don't believe it, read about my many crash-and-burn episodes as I tried! The Proverbs 31 woman is a composite picture of many women from different walks and stages of life; when we get a grip on that, it releases us to enjoy the season we're in right now, even as we prepare for the next one.

How did raising your own children help prepare you for the parenting side of the proverbial woman? Any tips you'd like to share?

Relax and enjoy them! Yes, even the rugrats and teenagers, because "this too shall pass." There were times I thought I'd go bald from pulling out my own hair over the frustrations and failures of that season of my life, but now it's my grandchildren who are passing through those rugrat-to-teen stages, and hey, I still have my hair! You'll make it--and so will your kids--in spite of your frustrations and failures. And yes, I know there are too many of those to mention (or admit to). I'm the queen of mom-failures, and yet my kids never cease to bless me with words of love and praise. Do I deserve it? Probably not. But I love every minute of it!

Do you have a favorite part of the book or a favorite chapter?

Several, in fact, but one in particular: Chapter 26, "Back Home Again," contains the story of my precious father, a man who lived for 88 years denying God's existence and then finally turning to him in his last week of life. It's one of the more serious stories in the book, but even that one ends on a humorous note.

If the Proverbs 31 woman is alive today, what does she look like?

She looks like me--and you--and every woman whose heart longs to please God and to raise her children according to the Scriptures, even though she knows she's doing well just to make sure they all have their sack lunches before they leave for school in the morning. She's thin, overweight, short, tall, black, white, brown, red, yellow, and polka dot when she catches her kids' chicken pox. And she's absolutely beautiful!!!

Are there some specific lessons you hope readers will learn and apply to their lives after reading your book?

I want them to learn to relax and laugh and enjoy this voyage called "life," and to trust the Captain of our souls to take us home safely when our trip is over, rather than struggling to "man the oars" ourselves.

What makes your book different than other books similar to yours that are in circulation today?

There are countless books written for "control freak" women who want to do it all and be it all--perfectly and completely at all times. This one, however, is not only written with a humorous tone, but it also takes the reader through what I call the five steps of spiritual growth: crawling, walking, running, flying--and back on our knees, totally dependent once again. I do this by exposing many of the sometimes humorous--and sometimes not so humorous--events in my own life as I progressed through the five stages.

Are there any authors that either influenced you personally or influenced your style of writing? Who are they and how did they influence you?

Brennan Manning, Henri J. M. Nouwen, and Max Lucado have to be right at the top of my favorite nonfiction authors list, simply because they call me back to the heart of worship, to a fresh appreciation of grace and a clarion call to rely totally upon God and not myself. I need those reminders on a regular basis. In addition, I love their writing styles. Their words "sing," and it is my goal to do the same with the words I write.

When you are not writing, what do you like to do? Do you have any hobbies?

Okay, now I have to 'fess up to how nearly one-dimensional I am. If I'm not writing, I'm...well, reading someone else's writing. That's at the top of my "what I like to do" list. However, I also spend time riding on the back of my husband's 2003 Harley Davidson Road King motorcycle. He's been riding HD's since 1970 and says he will never outgrow that youthful passion. On the road we are known as "Big Al" and "Easy Writer..."

For more information:

www.kathimacias.com

Follow the Blog:

http://tightships.wordpress.com

Order the Book:

www.newhopepublishers.com

Don't forget to comment by Tuesday the 21st at noon EST if you'd like a chance to win my copy. I was careful and the spine isn't even broken!

Alternate Uses

You know my fetish for these cheap inexpensive plastic bookends from Ikea.

Did you also know that fetish is only spelled with one 't' and not two?

I found out when I was teaching some Chinese teenagers ESL a couple of summers ago. One of the boys had gone shopping and bought shoes, we found out he had a shoe fetish, and they all brought out their little English-to-Chinese translator dictionaries. I spelled the word (I'm actually a very good speller), with two t's of course following our short sound rule and doubling the consonant, and they couldn't get it to come up. I pulled out my little Webster's I was carrying along with me, and low and behold it had one 't'. I would assume not doubling the consonant must have to do with the word root.

Well, the point of this post is to show you one of the other uses I found for these little bookends.

These are cd storage boxes that sit by our computer, of course also purchased at Ikea. This box has a hodge-podge of computer game directions, the second discs that aren't needed except for installation, etc. It's basically things that aren't accessed much, but it's also a box that isn't full and every thing was going all tippy. So I grabbed one of my plastic bookends, since I bought three thousand extra, and tried it. I was afraid it would be too tall, but it wasn't, and it worked fantastic!

I have them in several of the cd storage boxes and they work like a dream.

You should move by an Ikea just to buy these.

Wordless Wednesday — Valentine's Version of the Ring Pop