Dandelions and Daydreams

Whenever you make a commitment, I think God tests you. As of today, it’s official. Both our CD and DVD drives on the computer are not reading CD’s. One thing I am trying really hard to do is figure out non-traditional methods for solving a problem. If I was at LU, I would just send out a notice that I need a CD burner and get a used one from some friend for cheap.

Still trying to figure out how to survive in the real world

“In 10 years you will be the same person you are now, except for the books you read and the people you know.” –Dave Ramsey

We have about $50,000 in debt. Most of it is student loans. In about a month our small group is starting Financial Peace University. Brenton and I are getting a jump on it. We are ready to be free. The borrower is slave to the lender. I don’t want to be anybody’s slave. I want freedom.

I posted a few pictures on the door of our computer cabinet. An airplane, a Victorian home, today I am going to find a picture of a baby that needs adoption. We have big dreams that we can’t accomplish if we live like the rest of America.

Dave says, “Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.”

I am going to start posting here about our progress, struggles, and setbacks. I need a cheap hobby. As of tonight the hobby money is gone for a while.

Nutmeg…

I’m sure I bought it for pumpkin pie along the way, but what do you do with nutmeg when it’s not pumpkin season? This was my fist challenge for the spice rack. So I went to Taste of home and searched “nutmeg.” The first hit was for Creamy Nutmeg Chicken. I had all of the ingredients, so I decided that I would go for it.

To see the recipe, click Here:

http://recipes.tasteofhome.com/eRMS/recp.aspx?recid=3039

REVIEW:

The menu for the night was creamy nutmeg chicken, salad with sundried tomato vinagrette dressing, homemade sourdough bread. To drink we had cranberry juice and topped it off with a light dessert of vanilla yogurt with raspberries and almonds.

OH my goodness, that was restaurant quality food, or better. I would definitely recommend this recipe. It would probably be good as a topping for pasta (like an alfredo) too. I would say this is a good date night recipe because it wasn’t very labor intensive and the meal didn’t sit too heavy. I could definitely taste the nutmeg, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I was pleasantly suprised that there wasn’t a sense of eating pumpkin pie chicken.

Not only did I use nutmeg from my spice rack, I also used parsely, sage, rosemary, and thyme. I think I will put this one in my recipe file.

I was doing some kitchen cleaning and found that I have about 30 different spices that I have used once or some not at all. This year I am going to try to find an occasional recipe to feature one of my unused spices. I decided to do this just today and have tested out a recipe with great success.

My main recipe resource will be taste of home http://www.tasteofhome.com/ They have good recipes so I am guaranteed a reasonable level of success.

Up for bat this week was nutmeg.

My life goes in cycles. Right now, I am full of plans. My business venture is going well. I mean as well ad I could hope for.

My brain is going in 100 different directions right now. I wish I could chase all the rabbits.

Diet/Exercise: I have a new diet plan as suggested to me by a personal trainer (no, not MY personal trainer, just a personal trainer who also happens to be my brother in law). It seems sensible enough and It should even be easy to follow. especially when I get all the holiday caandy out of the house. I still dream of running too. My body reacts fairly well to exercise. I mean I can tell a difference fairly quickly when I get off my butt. I want to take up some strength training too.

Gardening: I think I might be ready to start gardening. We are planning on being in this house until November or so. That gives me plenty of time to grow something. I am reading about planning the vegetable garden and thinking about budgeting for it. Some vegetables I think I’ll start with are tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, peppers, snap peas, green onions, summer squash, and green beans. I might throw in some cantalope, cucumbers, watermellon, and winter squash for good measure. It’s hard to know how much I can actually use though. Which brings me to my next point…

Canning: If I’m going to garden, I”m sure I’ll have an abundance of crops. With just the two of us, it will almost mean just one of each plant and still I’m sure I will have a surplus. I might have to learn canning and preserving or at least how to freeze, but then I would need a deep freezer.

Writing: My primary goal for my business is to write. I want to be a writer who sells used books on the side. I have to struggle to keep that focus because the thought of actually being a writer is a bit frightening to me.

Business: Books, books, everywhere. I don’t need to be too worried about this because my wonderful husband is supporting me through it. I shouldn’t have to go into debt, but I wonder if I can actually make any money at it.

Frugal Living: I could probably earn more by working at the library, but I wouldn’t have nearly as much fun at it. I like the independence of working for myself and struggling to save money. Today I saved 43% on my final grocery bill. I always try to save more than I spend. I didn’t quite make it this time, but I had a lot of stocking up to do. Now that my pantry is stocked, I should be able to wait for sales on most everything.