Hello from Nashville!

I am sitting on Lissa's bed with her crazy cat nestled under the covers. He likes to burrow.

 Silly Crumb...

Activities so far: met Bismarck the German Shepherd. Hung out with the group last night. Made pancakes this morning and ate them with Lissa. 

Three more days with my best friend! More fun activities to come! Yay!

Morning

This morning, during my quiet time, I prayed for patience. I should have known that would have been challenged the second I went back upstairs to get Mark out of bed... Oh well. At least I came out with a good attitude - I had one little snippy moment, but regathered myself, and made the most of the morning. I convinced him to stay home until he HAS to go to class tonight (didn't take a whole lot of convincing, to be honest), and made pancakes for us for breakfast. I tried a new pancake mix:


Sooo yum! I added a little vanilla extract to the batter, and paired with pure maple syrup, these pancakes are the BEST. I used to use HeartHealthy Bisquick mix - I think I've made a permanent switch :)

In other news, our kitty was being super cute this morning:





By the end of all this burrowing, I think she was getting a little tired of us ... but she was cute anyway :)

Today, I've got to get more on task. Yesterday was spent doing absolutely NOTHING productive - I had my quiet time in the morning and made dinner in the evening, and that was pretty much it. I didn't even shower... Today has started differently, at least. Clothes are fluffing to fold and I've got a load in the washer. I've made breakfast (still have to clean up those nasty dishes - I HATE cleaning the kitchen!). I'm about to call Elissa and see if we can chat about our first couple days of reading through the Bible.

It's going to be a good day. And this nasty, nasty weather will hopefully at least keep me indoors where I can maybe get some work done. We'll see...

Hope everybody has a great Tuesday!

Roasting, and Mrs. Norris (please note that the two are unrelated...)

Of all the different types of cooking, one of my very favorites is roasting. Tonight, for instance, we're having roast chicken with apples, and roasted carrots and potatoes with olive oil and rosemary. Yummmm. Roasting screams FALL to me, for some reason. I don't know if it's the savory-ness, or the warmth, or what, but it's just so, so good.

I've made quite a few yummy dinners here lately, if I do say so myself. Last week, it was slow-cooker week, with cranberry pork roast, roasted veggies (see, I told you I love roasting), and then turkey rosemary veggie soup. Then yesterday, I made pasta with shrimp, zucchini, and peppers in a yummy cream sauce. And tonight it's the chicken. Yummm. Hannah's also coming over this week, and I'm going to have tea and scones with clotted cream - Yumm again! Good food makes me happy - my belly, my tastebuds, and my heart :)

In an entirely different vein - my kitty cat has been extremely clingy lately. Every time I sit down with a book, or my computer, she immediately climbs up in my lap (in front of said book or computer) and begs for a cuddle. And then she curls up and either falls asleep or pretends to :) It's cute, but difficult to type with a kitty in your lap. This is her:

(not the most becoming picture of her ever...)



Here's a better one of her under the Christmas tree last year:



Isn't she cute? That's my baby.... (She likes me more than Mark. It makes him jealous.) She is the best cat EVER :) Soooo sweet - I just wish she wasn't quite so shy around strangers, because nobody knows how sweet she is but me and Mark. Precious kitty. I love her :)