Comfort Food

I love this recipe from the Kraft Food and Family magazine (head over to their site, a subscription is free), it's fast, easy and everyone loves it.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake



1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1/2 cup water

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tsp. dried basil leaves

1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese

Make It

HEAT oven to 400°F. Mix tomatoes, stuffing mix, water and garlic just until stuffing mix is moistened.

LAYER chicken, basil, cheese and stuffing in 3-qt. or 13x9-inch baking dish.

BAKE 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through. Enjoy now or cover and refrigerate. To reheat, microwave each serving on HIGH 2 to 3 min.

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Geesh

I can't seem to find an appropriate topic to post about after learning about baby Elizabeth. Our family has experienced tragedy and if there is one thing that it gives you, it's perspective. All of a sudden, the little annoyances in life don't seem so bad. For most of us, life goes on. But not for Jessica and her family, at least not now. My heart just breaks for them. I will get back to my regular posting in a few days, once my head clears.

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Please pray.

A friend of mine from high school is suffering an unbelievable tragedy, words are insufficient.

Jessica posted this on Facebook:

John and I were blessed by the birth of our first child, our baby girl, Elizabeth Redd Lenhart, on August 19, 2008. She was perfectly healthy. We loved her and cared for her every moment of her short life. We did everything you were supposed to do for her. She slept on her back (except for the times that we cuddled her and let her lay on our chests) and I lovingly breastfed her whenever she was hungry (which was often). We woke up to find her on her back and not breathing early Sunday morning, September 21. We had planned to take her to her first church service later that morning. She didn't want to mess around with that - she went straight to God. We have no explanation as to what happened to her, the cause of her death is pending. All that we can do is know that she was an angel sent to us from Heaven above and that her soul will be with us forever. God has sent signs to let us know that she is with him and us at the same time. We greatly appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. Everyone is wondering what they can do for us - just love and appreciate your family and friends every moment of everyday. We are gaining strength from your prayers. There is no other way for us to explain how we are functioning at this point.
I am finding immense comfort in scripture. There are so many passages that I am embracing. One that I have always loved...
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. St. John 3:16
She will be buried this Saturday in Charleroi, PA @ 10am, followed by a memorial service at First United Methodist Church @ 12noon. There will also be a memorial service held in the Outer Banks, NC at All Saints Episcopal Church @ 1pm on Saturday, October 4.



I'm sitting here trying to imagine what it was like for them to find her. And then make phone calls, and then have to plan a funeral. With all of her toys, clothes, bottles, and blankets laying around. Oh, have mercy.

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Video

I love, LOVE this short video that Craig put together recently. The kiddos were playing near the window with the curtains. It's dark, it's moody, and for some reason when I watch it, I want to cry. Notice how boy boy is now shaking his head rapidly, as if he's saying no, except he doesn't understand that yet.

It's a fairly large file, and even though it's streaming, you may want to wait a minute before clicking the play button. And make sure you have your speakers on because the sound track is what makes it good.

ps. I am so sick of all the video hosting sites that screw up our files with their stupid generic compression algorithms. So I am rebelling and hosting this on my own site, which could (and probably will) have an impact on my storage space and bandwidth. I'll deal with that next Tuesday.

pps. Whenever Craig asks me something that I don't wish to answer (whether that's because I don't know the answer or I don't want to think about the answer), I always tell him... I'll let you know on Tuesday.

ppps. The reason I choose to use Tuesday is because of that song about the supposed speech Kurt Vonnegut gave years ago. Remember the one where he addresses the graduating class at MIT and tells them to wear sunscreen? He also says, "The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday."

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I remember!!

This is what I was referring to in my last post. Last week Craig and I were conducting a serious reorganization effort of the basement and garage when I decided (in my infinite wisdom) that if I gave the stairs a quick, fresh coat of paint it would make them look nicer.



Here was the flaw in my thinking:

I used tape on the sides and on the rise to protect them from paint. But when I removed the tape, the wallpaper started to peel away. I couldn't believe it because now I would have to painstakingly remove all of the wallpaper and paint both the rise AND the run, taking my 1/2 hour project to several hour, several day project. ARGGHHHH

But let me back up a little...

When we built our home in 2000, we opted for the unfinished basement with the thought that we would just finish it ourselves in the future. At the same time we were childless, which meant I spent too much time watching HGTV where I saw a project where someone decorated their basement stairs by putting wallpaper border on the rise and painting the run.

I could do that!

So I did.

But a year or two later, we hired someone to finish our basement and had carpet put on the stairs.

Here was the flaw in that thinking:

You enter the basement via the garage, with dirty shoes. And then you walk up the stairs, which get incredibly filthy over time.

So, a few years later we removed the carpet, to reveal, once again, my previous project. Which was fine, except now there were little tiny nail holes everywhere from the carpet installation.

Anyway, this is my life. My quick projects are never quick and I should just start to come to terms with that fact.

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One thing leads to another...

Have you ever had this happen to you? It seems like any time I wish to complete a small task, it always leads to more jobs. Allow me to give you an example...

I think to myself, I'm gonna Swiffer the kitchen floor, should take me 10 minutes, max. But when I enter the kitchen I realize that I should probably clean up the dishes first, lest any mess fall onto the floor I am about to clean.

So I go to load the dirty dishes into the dishwaher, but wait, these dishes are clean, better put them away first.

And then I notice that there aren't any clean bottles, so I had better wash those as well. But there aren't any dish towels... oh yeah, those are still in the dryer. Well, I might as well fold all of the towels and put them away so that I can put the load of clothes that is in the washer into the dryer. And since I'm in the laundry room, I might as well start another load.

By the way, I really like our washer and dryer, but I do wonder if the front loaders are gonna stand the test of time. That front seal on the washer has me concerned because eventually it will break down and leak. How often will these new seals need to be replaced? I wonder if I should invest in a few spares.


Where was I?

Oh yes, bottles, then dishwasher. Ok, those are done, but oh my goodness... there is only one can of Neocate left!!! CRAP!!!! Because boy boys formula is a prescription, we have to call the warehouse and they ship it to us. Well, you have to call a few days BEFORE you run out to give them time to ship it.

Ok, now I had better put the leftovers into some tupperware. Crap, the tupperware is busy holding all the previous leftovers in the refrigerator. Better clean those out before the small colonies that are forming decide to take over.

Which reminds me, Craig bought this new tupperware with matching lids that I really like. But I really dislike drying it because you never get into all the little crevices.


There's the doorbell! What time is it? 10:30am? Must be Bill, my favorite UPS guy.


Yep, it's Bill and he has a bridal album, YES!! I've been waiting for this one, I have to open it to see how it looks. So I sit down and slowly browse through the album, reliving the day and all the wonderful memories. Sigh. I love my job.

Where was I?

Oh, right, cleaning out the refrigerator, then washing/drying the tupperware. Whew, that's done, now I can FINALLY get to the floor. So a 10 minute job just took 2+ hours.

And you are not gonna believe this, but that story was just a prelude to something else. Except now I'm so distracted from thinking about all of this stuff that I can't even remember what I was gonna tell you in the first place. I'll be postings as soon as I remember...

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Brighton Township Bears

I was able to attend Ella's game this past Sunday, we played the Freedom Lil' Bulldogs and man did we lose. Anyway, this was just before Ike rolled in and it was hot. I mean, like 9,000 degrees, hot.


When having trouble opening your water bottle, just use your remaining teeth.

Look at my angel, so grown up! And freaking cute!

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Jewelry Organizer

My mom bought me the jewelry holder that I was hoping for, but I don't have the heart to tell her that it's defective.


I took my jewelry out of my drawer, placed it on the holder and it's still a big balled up mess. It didn't work at all.

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Birthday Stuff

My wonderfully thoughtful husband bought me the nicest make-up organizer I have ever seen, I love it!

The kiddos loved it as well, both of them played with it all evening.

Oh. My. Look at all of this liciousness.



Boy boy loves to pull himself up on sissy pie.

He dreams of what life may be like one day on the outside.

Lookie here boy boy! "Momma, I am busy drooling on the door, please leave me alone."

Jody and family were over for cake and I just couldn't get over Miss Rose, she looks so grown up with her new contacts.

Yum, Craig picked us up a raspberry almond torte.

Ella thought it would be fun to wrap herself up as a present.

And then my dad thought it would be fun for boy boy as well. It wasn't.

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We're back online!

Our area was hit with the remnants of Ike late Sunday evening and we were without power until late last evening. It was midly inconvenient to not have electricity for 26 hours, but at least we had water and nice weather. I have a new appreciation (although I can't really imagine what it's like) for those that suffer through hurricanes or other emergency situations. We did learn that our disaster plan was a failure, largely because it didn't exist. Anyway, I have a TON of things to catch up on, more later.

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It's my birthday!

My friend Tammy tried to tell me today that I am 34, but I just don't believe her. How can it be possible, I ask? Time is a crazy and mysterious thing, it sneaks around behind your back and then, when you least expect it, it slaps you in the face. I still believe that I'm 24, at least that's what if feels like.

Anyway, I was out on a shoot the other day and I had some time so I took pictures of weeds. I think that they are pretty. All shot at 1.2. Love it.




And while I was shooting, I had some friends visit... this deer was one of three.

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John Patrick

My friend Rachel's baby was baptized this past Sunday and I was honored to participate as his Godmother. (Although Rachel doesn't realize that I take this Godmother thing pretty seriously, just ask Miss Rose. I, uhm, tell her a lot of things). Anyway, this is what I found when I arrived, a sleeping, naked boy.

Look at his cute little socks.

He gets so excited when he sees his bottle!

Him loves his Daddy.

Rachel always organizes everything so nicely, do you notice anything in particular about these cookie trays? They are loaded with those heavenly peach cookies from my favorite baker. I was sooooo sad when I saw this because I knew I wouldn't be staying for the party (had a shoot in the afternoon) and I love those darn cookies. Well, of course Rachel was thinking ahead and made me my own tray!! Can you believe it? I thought that was very thoughtful of her and I have been enjoying those cookies ever since.

I'm really happy for these guys. Happy they have a beautiful son and happy that Rachel is alive to enjoy him. It was so scary when she was in the hospital.

Look at those blue eyes! There is no doubt he belongs to John, he looks just like him!

Thanks to John's friend Steve for taking the picture, I really wanted to be in one with them.

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Oh. My. Goodness.

With a look of sheer determination, boy boy has figured out how to use his feet to push his toy forward.




So, he's a little clumsy with this whole walking thing, but it won't be long until he figures it out! He's pretty smart!

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Twitter

Yeah, so I Twitter, just trying to decide if I should add it to the header of the blog-site.

follow heatherjl at http://twitter.com

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Bake Sale

Ella's cheerleading squad is having a bake sale this weekend and he parents were asked to bring baked goods. I baked chocolate chip cookies in a pan and then adorned them with green and gold M&M's. Did you know that you can buy M&M's in the candy store in the specific color(s) that you want? Did you also know that this is the most expensive way to buy M&M's? Apparently separating the colors is very costly to the manufacturer cause they cost like a million dollars a pound (only slight exaggeration).

And then, in a moment of sheer insanity, I decided to wrap them individually and tie them with ribbon.


And then, I arrived at practice and saw that most people just picked something up from the bakery. Blah.

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Big-a-boy!

Boy Boy Licious is pulling himself up on everything these days. We are amazed how quickly he learns a new skill, although all he does practice, practice, practice.



He says, look what I can do momma!

Is he freaking cute or what?

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