Try-Me-Night: Last-Minute Lasagnaby Angie
6 Sep 2008
8:09 pm1
This recipe was great! I kind of thought it wouldn’t really turn out like lasagna, but it actually worked great and was really easy! I used home-made tomato sauce with meat instead of bottled spaghetti sauce, and it was delicious. You can also switch up the flavors with the type of ravioli you buy, which I might try in the future. Ours wasn’t quite as healthy because I dispensed with the spinach, since Jim doesn’t like it. In any case, this is definitely a keeper: tasty, super easy, and very nice presentation.
She speaks!by Angie
3 Sep 2008
11:09 pm0
Sorry we haven’t been very up-to-date on our blog recently! I know it’s not much of an excuse, but I went to another doctor appointment with Dr. Murphy on the 27th of August, and I’ve kind of been down in the dumps since then. We had one of those… talks. The kind where he says things like, “You’re looking great – but you’ve also got serious problems. Maybe. You know, you just never know. Anything could happen, and we don’t know what to do with you.” It was pretty gloomy. I guess that’s not really fair – it makes him sound incompetent or insensitive. He is neither: he’s a wonderful doctor. We’re just in a tough spot right now.
I called Jim at work before leaving the hospital to tell him about it, and to ask him if he would meet me at home for lunch so we could talk for a little while. We both arrived home about noon and he surprised me by telling me that he had taken the rest of the day off just to be with me and cheer me up! I sure have a wonderful husband, don’t I?
Anyway, I haven’t felt much like blogging and nothing very interesting seems to be happening, so I’ve been neglecting poor angieandjim.com – but no more! We have a little jaunt up to Tahoe planned in a couple of weeks, and Jon will be back in town soon, so I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about!
Try-Me-Night: Split Pea Soupby Angie
25 Aug 2008
9:08 pm0
Since Jim received the calling of Ward Mission Leader, we’ve been feeding the missionaries almost every week. We asked them if there was anything special they’d like us to make – something they miss from home, or haven’t had in a long time. Elder Howard asked us to make his mom’s split pea soup. He gave us his home phone number and I called Kathy Howard in College Station, Texas, to get her recipe. It was great to talk to her, and she was very pleased to hear about her son and help us make something special for him.
Sadly, we found out less than a week later that Elder Howard was going to be transferred to Antioch! Still, we managed to have the Elders over for his dinner the evening before transfers, and it turned out great! He said it was wonderful, and just like his mom’s! It was super easy, too, so for anyone who likes this soup, it’s definitly a recipe you should try.
Stake Conference Choirby Angie
24 Aug 2008
10:08 pm0
Stake Conference is in a couple of weeks, and the special musical numbers are being provided by a volunteer choir of women in the stake. Tonight I went to the first rehearsal and it was so wonderful! There were lots of sisters there that I remember from the Christmas choir last year and other familiar faces I’ve come to know since then.
We are performing two numbers: an SSA arrangement of “This is the Christ,” which is a beautiful piece based on a poem written by Elder James E. Faust. I’ve sung it before, and I love it, so it is a treat to be singing it again. The other is the lyrics of “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer” arranged to the melody of an old Scottish(?) folk song called “Homeward Bound.” If you’ve heard MoTab’s CD “Love is Spoke Here” or BYU Singers’ “The Road Home,” then you’ll know the tune I mean. William Joseph has an orchestrated arrangement of it that I love, too. It is just gorgeous with the words describing the First Vision. The only drawback is that we only really sing two verses! I wish it were longer!
It’s wonderful to be singing again. Our ward choir has taken a month-long haitus, and I’m defnitley in withdrawl.
Adoptive Couple Interviewby Angie
15 Aug 2008
1:08 pm3
Today was the next step in our adoption process: Jean came to our home and had an interview with both of us together. We also gave her a tour of our condo and introduced her to Jaquie. We did a preliminary safety checklist, and she talked about what sorts of things we need to take care of now, versus what we need to be prepared to do around the time of placement (i.e., buying a second fire extinguisher versus installing a baby gate on the stairs). We’ll be meeting with her again sometime in October.
We have Jim’s interview and some paperwork left to do, and also the project that is most nerve-wracking of all (to me): our photo collage. We need to put together several scrapbook-ish pages of pictures with fun captions and stuff. Unfortunately, neither of us are very concientious photographers, so we have very few from the last five years. If any of you happen to have pictures with us in them and would be willing to mail/email us a copy, we’d really appreciate it!
No Room at the Beachby Angie
10 Aug 2008
12:08 pm1
We were invited to go to Ocean Beach for a bonfire near the the waves last nigh with Jon, Michelle, and some of their friends from the Tri-Valley ward, but things didn’t turn out exactly as planned. It’s a good thing that’s not always a bad thing… 🙂
When we arrived about 8pm, we realized that the beach was pretty crowded already. Jim, Jon, and Michelle scouted south while Niki Theobald (whose family is in our ward) and Troy and Aaron wandered around nearby, hoping to find a group that was packing up to head home soon. I stayed up at the parking lot with Matt Nielsen (whose family is in the fourth ward), to keep an eye on our gear. All the scouts returned with the same news: there was no room on the beach for us.
Luckily, Troy’s parents (who live in San Ramon) have a fire pit in their backyard and it was agreed that we would re-convene out there for our delayed bonfire. It was nearly 10pm by the time we got there, but we ate delicious s’mores, and had a wonderful time talking and poking the fire until after midnight! I’m so glad we were able to go!
Welcoming in the Olympics!by Angie
5 Aug 2008
8:08 pm2
Our Relief Society enrichment activity this month was an International pot-luck in honor of the 2008 Summer Olympics. We each brought a foreign dish to share as well as the recipe to share; the recipes will be compiled into a cookbook so all the sisters in the ward can have a copy. There were lots of delicious things to eat! I made Hungarian Ham Stack, and it was a real hit. Everyone was amazed at all the layers, and they were even more impressed to learn that my husband made the palacsintas (crepes – sort of) for me to layer with the ham sauce to make the dish! The recipe is on the ‘Try-Me Night” page if you want to see it.
We played some games as well: for one, we each guessed how many countries were participating in the olympics this year. I guessed 184, but it was actually over 200 hundred, and someone else guessed almost exactly right. For another game, Irene Sanchez had color-copied sheets with pictures of various national flags. We teamed up to see which pair of sisters could lable all of the flags (accurately) first. And guess what – Karrie Harrison & I won! There were flags from Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Iraq, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and more. It was very exciting!
So, here’s an international flag trivia question for our readers: Which is the only national flag that is neither square nor rectangular???
