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a pictorial journal
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
JANUARY 4TH, 2010
It's MONDAY…
BACK TO WORK TODAY!
The decorations are now off the front porch. No more pine roping or wreaths out there at all. But our bushes that are evergreen still give us a bit of color out front.
It will be a long 5 day work week. I do have a ½ day off on Friday though.
I took the afternoon off because I have an appointment at the Social Security office. I’ll be 66 this year and will be officially able to collect on my benefits.
So I’m signing up and will find out exactly what those benefits will be. From the day I began working when I was 16, every pay check I received had Social Security taken from it. That is a whole lot of years of money being taken out. What was put in should be coming back to me now. I don’t know exactly how that all works but they have a formula of some kind that determines what you get at your retirement age. It doesn’t mean that you have to stop working, but it does mean that you’ve reached an age where you could.
We’ll see…
THINKING
On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
In this week after Epiphany, let us keep letting the Light
shine into the places of darkness within us and around us.
And where we have seen and felt His enlightening, freeing presence,
let us continue to rejoice with Christmas joy
Our homes can be like a place of blessing. While darkness covers the earth, our homes can be beacons of light, places of welcome where the weary, the lonely, and the anxious can feel God’s love and receive his encouragement.
NEW IN THE KITCHEN
Today is National Spaghetti Day
Easy Spaghetti
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
pinch ground hot pepper
1 teaspoon dried leaf basil, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crumbled
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce or your favorite spaghetti sauce
12 ounces spaghetti, broken in half
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, combine the ground beef, onion, cayenne pepper, basil, and oregano. Cook, stirring to break up meat, until browned, about 5 minutes. Drain off any excess grease.
Add 2 1/2 cups water, the spaghetti sauce, and spaghetti; bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently, until the spaghetti is just tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes
Turn off the heat and let pan stand, covered, 5 minutes. Season with pepper to taste and serve sprinkled with the cheese.
Serves 4
This recipe cooks the spaghetti right in the sauce. I usually do not add the water to the sauce but boil the water in a separate pan and then cook the spaghetti and rinse and drain it before adding to the sauce. I’ll have to try this new way out and see how it works.
PRAYERS
Lord Jesus, come into my heart and home. Shine your light through me onto the world, especially those longing for rays of your love
Amen
Please pray for God's protection of
our troops and HIS wisdom for their
commanders.
Lord, hold our troops in
your loving hands.
Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them and their families for the
selfless acts they perform for us
in our time of need. I ask this in the
name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
AROUND HOME
This bell has hung in my home at Christmas time for almost 45 years now. It was one of the very first ornaments we purchased for our home the 1st year of our marriage. When you pull the string it plays Jingle Bells. It still works, but we are very gentle with it as the string is very old now.
FAMILY ALBUM
Here is DDIL#5 on the left, DD in the middle, and DDIL#6on the right when they celebrated at my house on New Year’s Day 2010.
They were having fun with the noise makers for sure. One of the joys of having my family around is the fact that they do like to have fun and laughter as we all know is the best medicine there is.
COUNTING THE DAYS
DS#6 with his New Year’s noise maker!
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year !
Fog in January brings a wet spring
74 DAYS UNTIL SPRING !
102 DAYS UNTIL CAMPING SEASON BEGINS
Keep looking ON THE BRIGHT SIDE of things.
A little smile, a word of cheer,
A bit of love from someone near…
Love,
ma
Pictures mostly taken by ‘ma’ and courtesy of the camera provided by my ‘babes’
5 comments:
what a neat blog! thanks for leaving a comment at canadagarden. I'll add you to my list of places to visit!
kynda
Well I do hope you get a good result from all your working years Ma.It works very similar in the UK.Though at one time if you had any missing weeks it could make a great deal of differance to your payout here in the UK.My Aunt worked from being thirteen until she was seventy three and when she applied for her pension because she had the first five yrs off work with her only son her pension was a pittance.They said the main yrs were the ones she hadn't worked.It's differant now though.So here hoping you can retire and ENJOY.You so deserve to be able to.Lovely pics I know everyone had such a great time with you at your home.Love the candles on the table.A family to be proud of.Take Care God Bless Kath xx
I hope you benifit is good for you and will see you ok to retire when you wish to do so. That bell must be so precious to you take good care of it. Keep warm and safe Love Joan
Wishing you a happy and blessed New Year!!
I haven't taken down the decorations yet. It's so cold here and I've put so many lights on the tree....well it's become a heat source. Heeeheehhe!
Have a blessed day!!!
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