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Thirteen Things about Robin 1…. I’ve never done Thursday Thirteen before, but it looks like fun. 2…. I’ll probably mess this up as I am not the most computer savvy person around. 3…. I have been living in Urban Dallas now for almost 3 months. 4…. I miss my friends in Corinth so much some days I cry a little. 5…. Some days I cry a lot. It is definitely harder than I thought it would be. 6…. I LOVE having all my favoite shopping less than 5 miles away. (but would trade it all for my buddies to be just down the street.) 7…. Some of my favorite stores are even less, like one mile. 8….I plan to homeschool my girls until God wills otherwise. 9…. I would still like to go back to teaching some day. 10…Jesus is my Savior, My Friend and My Comforter 11. I Love Him 12. I Praise Him 13. I think if you don’t know Him, you should! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Okay, this was harder than I thought. Maybe it gets easier as you go along. We’ll see if I attempt it again next week. I know some of you that do this. Sorry for no link love, but Reese is crawling up my leg, and I have to…gooooooooo.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Some days I just don’t know what God is up to. Ok, let’s make that most days. I was standing in the shower really pouring my heart out to Him this morning. For a brief moment I felt like running. One of those, “Forget it. I’m just going to do this my way. At least then I’ll know where I’m headed.” It felt a bit like a mid-mid life crisis.

And then it hit me. Literally the fear of God.

I realized I was so utterly mortified to be out of His will. No matter what is going on, my way will stink from this point forward; His way will be perfect peace in the middle of chaos–and I will know the difference in a split second.

I have been very convicted over the past several months about not only the amount of tv the girls and I watch every day, but how my day is so unorganized. I am constantly findng myself cleaning and not making a stopping point to play with the girls, and planning activities for us to do together. So here is the schedule I have come up with to try. I would love to know if anyone else adheres to a schedule and if so, what kind. This is only for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday is reserved for play dates and “field trips” while Friday is Terry’s only day off and we will have family day.

6:30-7:15 Mommy Time (run and QT)
7:15-7:35 Girls Up and Breakfast
7:35-8:00 Get Dressed and Reia’s Chores
8:00-9:00 Walking with Girls weather permitting
9:00-9:30 T.V. rest time for girls—–Mommy’s Chore Time
9:30-10:30 Outside Time/Free Play Time—–Mommy’s Chore Time
10:30-11:30 Scheduled Play; Learning Activities; Book Reading Time
11:30-12:00 lunch
12:00-2:00 Nap/Room/Mommy’s Personal Time
2:00-2:45 Snack and TV Wake up Time
2:45-5:00 Errands, Play, Whatever!
5:00-7:30 Dinner Prep, Dinner, Baths, Clean up Rooms
7:30 Reese’s Bed Time
8:00 Reia’s Bed Time

**This doesn’t space out like I typed it. Have no idea why!

I was tagged by Theresa, and here goes!

1. How many meals does most of your family eat at home each week? How many are in your family?

We eat about 6 out of seven. There are 4 of us; I would say Reese doesn’t count but she eats as much as Reia now!

2. How many cookbooks do you own?

I got rid of so many when we moved, but I still have about 50-60. Yes, I am a recipe addict.

3. How often do you refer to a cookbook each week?

Probably 5 out of 6 times for actual meals, but I am looking through them every day for one reason or another.

4. Do you collect recipes from other sources? If so, what are some of your favorite sources (relaties, friends, magazines, advertisements, packages, the internet, etc)

I usually collect them from the Internet ( www.allrecipes.com) or Food Network. I love to get them from magazines too. (esp. Southern Living)

5. How do you store those recipes?

They are printed or torn out of magazines and then stuffed into by ever widening binder. No trim and folding here!

6. When you cook, do you follow the recipe pretty closely, or do you use recipes primarily to give you ideas?

99% of the time I do it exactly unless I’m in a pinch and forgot to pick up an ingedient. I’ll call several sources to see if I can do without it and then add more cheese. Everything is better with more cheese or butter! If it’s a really impt ingedient, then I make something else.

7. Is there a particular ethnic style or flavor that predominates in your cooking? If so, what is it?

I make a mixture of American, Italian and Mexican. Never two styles in a row and I try not to make the same meat two nights in row either. I am so not anal, but when it comes to meal planning and making the bed–I like things a certain way.

8. What’s your favorite kitchen task related to meal planning and preparation? (eating the finished product does not count)

Meal Planning of course! I plan two weeks at a time and do one major grocery trip at first and then realize I have forgotten at least one thing from every meal and have to make a quick trip every other day or so.

9. What’s your least favorite part?

Clean Up! I have to ditto Theresa on this one.

10. Do you plan menus before you shop?

Again, I plan two weeks at a time. Along with the previous mentioned guidelines, we don’t have anything twice within a month except Pizza (Sat nights) or talapia (the only fish I’ll eat) and both of those are once a week. I try to make at least one meal a week that we eat on for two nights (lasagna) and at least one very easy meal (tacos). When the maid comes, we have takeout because I don’t like to mess up my newly, deeply cleaned kitchen. Whew! Got all that?

11. What are your three favorite kitchen tools or appliances?

1) my chef’s knife 2) Pampered Chef Stoneware Bar Pan (I’d be lost without it.) 3) my recipe books

12. If you could buy one new thing for your kitchen, money was no object, and space not an issue, what would you most like to have?

A larger dishwasher. I am very fortunate that the previous owners of this home went all out when remodeling the kitchen. It came with a pot filler and a 190 degree automatic water source! The dishwasher is the only thing that is not as good as my last one, but only in the way of size. Or, the live in chef would be nice!

3. Since money and space probably are objects, what are you most likely to buy next?

I really want the new George Forman grill with the interchangeable, removeable, dishwashable plates. Panini’s, quesadillas, waffles, grilled chicken and veggies…way yum-o!

14. Do you have a separate freezer for storage?

Yes. Let’s all take a moment in a prayer of thanks for it.

15. Grocery shop alone or with others?

Alone. And I’ll go at midnight to do it if that’s what it takes. I love my little Reese, but she’s a major whip at the store right now. Later I’ll go alone just so I don’t have to listen to, “Mom, can I have…”

16. How many meatless main dish meals do you fix in a week?

Once a week. My meatless meals aren’t my favorite, but I’m still looking!

17. If you have a decorating theme in your kitchen, what is it? Favorite kitchen colors?

No theme. Just warm traditional colors. Our kitchen is in an older home where we don’t have all the fancy plant shelves to decorate on.

18. What’s the first thing you ever learned to cook, and how old were you?

Macaroni and Cheese–from a box. Does that count? I was probably 7, but I still love it.

19. How did you learn to cook?

My mom is a fabulous cook, but really I learned because Terry got sick of baked chicken, rice and a veggie every night after we were married. Thank goodness for food network and a patient husband!

20. Tag two other people to play.

Holly and Richelle, because if they don’t post again soon, I’m going to have to remove them from my bloglines!

The greatest thing about the Abilene Zoo is the giraffe area. You can walk over the area via a bridge and feed the giraffes crakers! Reia and Reese loved it. We couldn’t get Reese back into the stroller after that and she walked the rest of the day.

Terry is always trying to get me to use the latest and greatest when it comes to my computer and/or its programs. Most of the time, I just like to use what I use and be done with it. But every now and again, he helps me update the blog and I get to look like those of you who know what you’re are doing. So, I just wanted to thank him for adding the Flickr pics on the side of my page. I even know how to upload to Flickr now. So, Thanks baby! You’re the best!

**I think the pics on there now are from our trip to the Abilene Zoo.

rlovest
Originally uploaded by robinstorch.

The girls and I left on Monday for our annual spring break prilgrimage to Sweetwater, Texas to spend some quality time with Terry’s mom. I love to visit a little shop in Roscoe, a neighboring town, called “Vickie’s Gifts”. This year I bought this little leather bracelet. I thought it was pretty cute!

There are few things that give me greater joy than what is happening in my family room right now. The girls are playing hide and seek in the curtains. Nevermind they could pull them off the rod because every time Reese “finds” Reia she looks truly surprised and the burst out in a fit of laughter. I can’t help but thank God for those two little beams of sunshine in my life! I would go tape it, but as sure as the sky is blue as soon as I got the camera out–they would just stop for no apparent reason. Go figure.

Today when the housecleaning crew (Shelley so nicely calls them “the ladies”) showed up, the girls and I went to Super Wal-mart to get out of their hair. I haven’t been to a Super W since we moved in December. They are too far away now for me to just “run up to” anymore. So, we all hopped in the van and drove the 14.2 miles to the one in Plano. When we saw the sign over the horizon, Reia screamed “Look, mom, Super Wal-mart!” and the mother ship beckoned me home.

Anyway, Reese hates to be cooped up in a shopping cart; so when we went into the front doors and I saw that they had one of those carts that looks like a racing car, I thought, “Wal-mart justs gets better for me everytime.” That’s when it started.

I found out pretty quickly that you had to rent the cart for $1. Ok, I’ll bite. After feeding the machine we took off. It was pretty cool. It had music inside and all kinds of buttons for the kids to push and play with. Unfortunately, with Reese that amusement only lasted about 10 min before she was trying to crawl out of the open front window. Crying ensues, suckers come out of the purse and I am shopping again with quiet kids. (Never underestimate the power of a dum-dum.)

Fast forward to the end of the trip. I didn’t bother to read all of the writing on the inside of the cart and the man at the door who originally helped me- because I clearly didn’t know what I was doing- didn’t bother to tell me what the important writing was. As I get to the car, I realize the wheels are starting to lock up on me a little. That’s ok, the car is right here and the area you return your baskets to in the parking lot is right beside my car. So I get the kids in the van, turn it on so they can watch the video, and unload the race car cart of my groceries.

Hum, now it won’t move AT ALL! I can’t even get it to the cart return area. So, I start looking and READING.
“Please transfer your groceries and belongings to a traditional cart before you travel to the parking area and return the cart to it’s original area. Thank you.”

And, there it sat in the middle of the parking lot as I drove away. I thought to myself, what goober came up with that? As if I, the average mom with 2-3 children, want to haul myself through the store, pay, get all of the groceries from the cashier to the race car cart just to have to move my 2-3 children and all of the groceries AGAIN to another cart.

Of course I will still go to Wal-mart; I just won’t get any more fancy carts!

**In my defense of not reading all of the material, the carts similar to this at Tom Thumb, Lowes and Albertson’s require no money and I can leave them right next to my car if need be.