I started reading the Fat Cyclist’s blog last summer during Le Tour because of his hilarious recaps and analyses of the stages. His humorous writing is addicting! But I was also touched by his more personal posts about his wife’s battle with cancer, how it affected him and his family, and their fundraising efforts for cancer research- especially since we’re dealing with our own fight against ALS.

Even since his wife passed away in August, he has continued the fight against cancer and has had some seriously amazing experiences because of it, as described in this article. I’ve been inspired by Elden’s tenacity and hope, despite all he’s lost, and thought you might, too.

Since I’m always looking for new recipes to add to the cooking rotation, I was excited to review a cookbook, especially one that focuses on fast and frugal cooking- something we’re all focusing on these days. The cookbook is broken down into nine main categories-Breakfast and Brunch, Appetizers, Salads, Soups and Chowders, Main Meals, Side Dishes, Breads and Biscuits, Desserts, and Beverages- and each contains 12-30 recipes. The book also contains an introduction in which the author provides a list of tips on being frugal grocery shoppers. After making several recipes from this book, here’s a list of pros and cons for it…

Pro: Almost every recipe comes with a picture, something that’s a must for this chef.

Con: However, the pictures were clearly taken by an amateur photographer and some of them make the food look rather unappealing due to poor lighting, etc.

Pro: Since the cookbook is focused on frugality, the author provides tips on how to turn leftovers into new meals.

Con: Since it’s also focused on fast cooking, a lot of recipes utilize convenience foods (like cans of chunk chicken breast or using boxed cake mixes), when it’s typically cheaper and healthier to make that ingredient from scratch.

Pro: For each recipe, the author provides a grocery shopping list, meal suggestions, and tips on variations.

Con: There just weren’t very many recipes that I was interested in trying. While I’m honestly a pickier eater than most, I also have a huge sweet tooth and I wasn’t inspired by any of the dessert recipes.

In sum, while I appreciate the aim for frugality and quick cooking, this cookbook just wasn’t for this cook. Two out of five stars.

Sorry to leave everyone wondering if we actually finished up our backyard.  We completed it a couple weeks ago, but haven’t taken the time to put the picts on the blog.  Trips to St. Louis, Chicago, and a Styx/REO Speedwagon concert got in the way.    As you can see, our yard is now landscaped.  We had a number of existing plants transplated (including two trees) and sod layed down.  The patio took two full days to complete and a few extra evenings of working in the dark to finish the walkway.  I’m now very proficient at making angle cuts with a circular saw!  We have a 12′ and 16′ circle which will eventually hold some patio furniture and a new grill (I hope).   Appreciation goes out to our amazing neighbors for use of a few key tools and their tolerance of our noise. 
Volleyball season officially ended last weekend so Emily has a husband again for a few months.  We’ll be heading up to Chicago for T-giving and look forward to spending time with family and friends.  Hope you all have a good turkey day too!

…and the fun continues!!  With the deconstruction done, our landscape architect came in began re-grading our yard.  He was able to transplant all of our plants we already had including two trees.  As you can tell by the first pict, quite a bit of ground has been moved.  All of the mounds are going to be new beds for plants.  The second pict is from one of our bedroom windows.  Gravel has been layed down in the shape of what our patio is going to look like.  We hope to have the pavers in later this month and be done with this project!  Mya’s been banned from her backyard since the deconstruction phase of our back porch completed and is ready to have it back.  Some of her displeasure may be stemming from the noise of equipment, specifically the jackhammer, which has hindered napping.

I headed back to KS last month for this year’s edition of the “Walk to Defeat ALS”. It was great to gather “Team Peggy” together again and we’ve raised $8,850!! Thank you to Team Peggy for making the trip and to all our supporters!! (BTW, we’re still trying to reach our fundraising goal of $10,000. If you’d like to donate, go here.)

While we’ve accumulated numerous scrapes and bruises during this backyard makeover, luckily the only serious injury we’ve caused thus far was to this hammer.

It’s official.  Emily and I started demolition on our unwanted back porch two weekends ago to make room for a new patio!  Unfortunately, it’s all taking place in the middle of the fall season amongst travel, both of us teaching, oh yeah, and our normal work!  Oy.
Nonetheless, we forge ahead because winter isn’t getting any further away and it must be done.  Below are some before and after picts from the past couple weeks.  They’ve been quite productive and resulted in a hot tub sized burden being lifted off our shoulders when we sold it this past weekend!  However, in our jubilation, we would like to recognize the noble efforts of a wonderful hammer whos functionality and purpose was lost in the process.  It is irreplaceable (although we did) and will be missed.

I’ve always been interested in reading one of Max Lucado’s books since his are always at the top of the Christian bookseller lists, so I took advantage of the chance to review his brand new book “Fearless” when the opportunity arose. This book is certainly covering a timely topic since fear is rather high in this country. Each chapter covers a different common fear, including fear of disappointing God, of not mattering, and of what’s next. Lucado discusses the source of each type of fear and how to deal with it from a Biblical perspective. I found his writing style very enjoyable and easy to read; he effortlessly combines accounts of real-life experiences with theology and Biblical examples. While his points about fear and how to deal with it aren’t new ideas, they’re concepts you often need to hear more than once. I’d recommend giving this book a try, especially if you’re feeling filled with fear these days. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The master bedroom in our house came with a built-in vanity area. We haven’t really had any use for it, other than emptying our pockets onto its counter. But over the past month, Mya has claimed it as her den. I’ve been waking up every morning for the past few weeks to her peeking out of little home- just too cute. One of these days I hope to make her a bed for in there.

We initially decided not to plant any flowers this year since we just wanted to see what plants already exist in the yard. But, I’ve always loved the look of meadows of wildflowers so in May I ordered a packet of region-appropriate seeds to scatter in the side yard (which desperately needed some pep!). I’ve loved seeing what new things are blooming every few days and my mini-meadow makes me smile every time I drive home. Plus, they are about as low maintenance as you can possibly get- scatter seeds, water regularly until they germinate, enjoy for months and then just mow them down once in the fall. Some of the plants only bloom in their second year so it may look completely different next summer!