Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, since it was the one where we would either pack up and head to Kansas to be with extended family or have the whole clan over to our house. It's kind of funny that it was a bigger deal than Christmas when it came to seeing family. I suppose that is because most like to stay at home on Christmas day.:D I'm glad my in laws celebrate Christmas with all the relatives, since that is just how I like my holidays. But, I digress.:D
Other than getting together with family, I love the opportunity to reflect on those blessings that the Lord has given me. I'm a bit of a worrier by nature, so sometimes I forget all that I have been blessed with. It's a good practice to count one's blessings, not only around Thanksgiving, but throughout the year.
This year I am especially thankful for my wonderful family, both the one I was born into and my in-laws. I'm thankful for a loving husband who is there by my side. I'm thankful that we both have decent jobs, even if we do work hard.;) I have also been thinking how thankful I am for a roof over our head. A year ago today we closed on our house and, as of last month, it is all ours! When we bought the place, it hadn't been lived in for at least 9 months, so we didn't know what we were getting into. Thanks to the help of family and friends, we have been able to replace the plumbing, re-do parts of the electrical (we haven't touched the upstairs yet, since we aren't living up there), put in a new water heater, hang sheet rock in two rooms, mud walls, paint, and replace the bathroom vanity. In some respects, the inside looks like a different place! We still have our work cut out for us this coming year though.;)
Happy Thanksgiving to all my online friends! Take this opportunity to reflect on those blessings in your life.

Anastasia style

I am reading: My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren, even though I really should be doing Algebra homework.

What I am listening too:Dancing in the Minefields by Andrew Peterson. This is currently one of my very favorites, since it is sweet and so true!

What I am thinking about: How I need to go on another camping trip.

What I need to do:Go make some lunch. I'm thinking today is the perfect day for corn chowder, Grandmommy style.:)

Belief-o-Matic quiz

So, for the World Religion class I am taking, I had to go to this site


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and take the test to see what it said about my beliefs. At the end of the course, the teacher is going to have us take it again to see if going through this class will help us to better define what we belief. That would probably help, since there were some of the questions that I was like "I have no idea!". lol.
What were my results?

Your Top 3 Faith Match Profiles Are:
1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (97%)
3. Jehovah's Witness (91%)

I thought that was rather interesting.;) I would love to see what your results are!

Southwest Bulgur Burgers
1 cup water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup bulgur
1 can (15-19 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
2 Tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon seasoned salt

In a saucepan, heat water and salt to a boil. Stir in bulgur. Reduce heat to low and cover until water is absorbed, which should take about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mash the beans with a fork or potato masher, stirring in the sour cream until almost smooth. Add the seasoning. With floured hands, shape into burgers. Cook in a skillet until heated through. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

I have always enjoyed veggie burgers, so I am happy to have found a recipe for making my own that has such a good texture! I plan on experimenting a bit with the recipe to add more veggies to it.:D

It's national library week.:)

I'm in the process of moving all of my books out of my parents house and into my own. How did I accumulate so many over the years? My parents used to tease me that my books were my dowry.;) Guess I should of warned Andrew of that. lol.
We have one bookcase up right now. Once the living and dining rooms are (relatively) dust free, I hope to help (watch?:D) Andrew make a few to go in there.
All the possibilities!:D

A while back, we received a notice from our insurance company that informed us they no longer wanted to cover if our house stayed the way it was. They requested we remove the wood burning stove pipe that was left in the house, since it wasn't being used (which wasn't a huge deal) and to paint the exterior of the addition. What? In the middle of Winter? I can't say we were terrible happy. Thankfully though, the Lord blessed us with some gorgeous weather, so we were able to get the mud room painted in time.

Markets have started up again! We went to the KC Food Circle expo at the Sermon Center on Saturday and will attend the next expo this weekend at the Shawnee Mission Civic Center. It is nice to have a few Saturday's off in the Winter time, but by the time warmer weather is here, I'm ready for the markets to start up again. Its like a homecoming when you go to the first one and see all your favorite venders and customers.;)

We are working on our gluten free site, which the lovely Miss. Laura is helping us design. I'm afraid that there isn't much to the site (http://sweetsistersgfbakery.com) at the moment. We are working on adding some content to the site. I do believe that is the hard part, attempting to come up with something interesting and engaging, and yet to the point.