My Week: December 11-17

Hello, thank you for stopping by my blog today! I hope you enjoy reading about my week here in Reno, Nevada. :)

Sundays are busy days for our family.  But we love it.  :)  It is such a joy to pastor such dear people.  One of these dear people is Tami.  She has a huge heart for others and is always caring for them.  She brought us a peppermint mocha coffee Sunday morning and it made my day.  Thank you, Tami!

And isn't that true, enjoy the moment?  I need to remember that myself too.  

For lunch, Addie had her friend Melissa, visit for the afternoon.  I made cream cheese potato soup and BLT's for lunch.

After lunch, I left the girls to clean up and I went to do my plasma donation.  Yeah, I'm going to have to change my donation days.  Sundays are packed - holy cow!

Then back home, church (worked the nursery) and then off to work for my Sunday shift.

Monday morning, working on school with the girls.  Each day, we finish up more subjects for the grading period.  I then ran an errand with the husband and then he went to work and I went grocery shopping.  I had my list for the week plus baking/goodie supplies so yikes!  It was a full cart.

Home, put groceries away.  Made a big pot of vegetable beef soup for dinner.  Hits the spot with some oyster crackers.

Read a few more Christmas books with the girls.  Worked on Awana verses and then back to work for my Monday shift.

Tuesday, off at 8am.  The skies were cloudy and stormy all day but it didn't do anything.  I made a stop at Wal-Mart to grab a couple items and then home.  Shower and ready for the day.  Housework and dishes.

Babysat Grant, Reagan and Aaron.  School.

Every year, the girls and I make treats for our neighbors and give them to them at Christmas time.  I wanted to get that done so I decided to do them Tuesday.

Every year, we do different things.  This year, we did three items.  Puppy chow, peanut butter fudge and white chocolate dipped peanut butter and mint Oreos.

Silly girls!  They love to help. (Summer was being grouchy and I knew she needed a long nap - so that is why she isn't in the pictures.  LOL!)

My weakness because it is my favorite sweet treat is peanut butter fudge!  I only had two tiny pieces and one mint Oreo.  That is all my non-sweet tooth could handle.  LOL!

We packaged up the treats in these cute boxes and the girls passed them out with our Christmas card and an invitation to our Christmas Eve service.

I got these cute printed ziploc baggies at the Dollar Tree - 40 bags for $1.  They worked perfect for bagging up the individual treats.

The girls delivering the treats. :)

After finishing up the treats, it was time to start dinner.  It makes me think how these pioneer women did it!  Always working!  My sister texted me that they were having the cheddar garlic biscuits (Red Lobster mix) and that made me hungry for them - so I mix up some to go with dinner.

I tried a new recipe for dinner. 

Sweet chili and orange chicken.

Really easy!

Take your chicken breasts and cut them in half down the center.  This makes them thinner and they cook through better. Cook on medium high with olive oil or butter - season.  

After they cook through, remove from skillet and drain off any juice in the skillet.  Heat through 3/4 cup sweet chili sauce and 1/3 cup thawed orange juice concentrate.

Add chicken.

Serve with rice.  I like the spicy flavor with the hint of orange. :)

I served it with rice, broccoli and the cheddar-garlic biscuits.

Then it was off to the gym.  For fun, I wanted to see how quickly I could do one mile on the elliptical.

Then weights and 25 minutes on the stair master.

Then off to work!

Wednesday was a nice day!  I will take 60's in December any time! :)  

It was a busy day of school - tests, quizzes and grading.

Housework and laundry.

Piano lessons.  Clean out the van while it is nice.

Make dinner.

Even had a couple windows open for some fresh air!

Tried another new recipe - 15 minute Caprese chicken.  Really easy.  Cook the chicken in olive oil and season.

Top with mozzarella cheese, halved cherry or grape tomatoes and fresh basil.  Drizzle with balsamic vinegar if you like.

Everyone really liked it.

Then off for our Wednesday workout.  One of the newer things I am doing is the stair master backwards.  Yes, folks, it takes some coordination.  Ha!  Good for the calves though! :)
After a good workout, off to my Wednesday shift.

Thursday, I got off at 8am and went to do my plasma donation.  Holy cow - it must be the Christmas season - it was so crowded and they didn't add any more staff.  One guy, they just couldn't get his donation right.  Two hours and forty-five minutes later, I was finally done.  I decided that donating at this time is just not worth my time.  I'll go back in January after Christmas and hopefully the rush will have subsided.
I suppose God sent a rainbow to ease my irritation on the way home.  Ha!  It was pretty.

Got home almost noon (augh!), took a shower and then worked on school.  I wanted to get completed all the tests, quizzes and grading for Thursday as well as Friday since my husband and I would be going to Sacramento.  It took awhile but we managed to make it happen. :)  While working on school, the weather and storm finally came in!  They seemed to have forecasted it forever but nothing was happening.  Then it started raining and it didn't stop! Of course, you know we LOVE rain here in the desert!  We just don't have many true rainy days so I could just sit and stare out the window on rainy days.  LOL!  I have to take a picture every time!  I just love it!

Second kid done with the grading period.  Two more to complete before Christmas break.

Put a crock pot of white chicken chili on early afternoon for dinner.  Love soup for a cool, rainy day.  (Recipe found on my old blog but a favorite and easy recipe!)
Well, because of the weather - not only rain but high winds, Josh couldn't fly back in from Vegas so choir practice was cancelled.  So, the hubby and I went for a quick and late date.

A few more of the Christmas books we have been reading together.  This was a really cute one.  I tried to read it with a Western drawl.  LOL!

Cute one too.

This one has crafts and recipes for the kiddos in it for Christmas - neat!
And off to bed. zzzz

The next day, my husband, Papa Vern and I went to Roseville.  My husband signed the papers for our new church building - well, the building isn't new.  We are buying it now from our landlord instead of renting.  Keep Sierra View in your prayers as we continue on for Him in the North Valleys of Reno, NV.  Then we drove on to Sacramento to UC Davis to see Tom Enk.  Tom is our next door neighbor - he is also a member of our church.  My husband led him to the Lord several years ago and baptized him at the Hampton Inn swimming pool.  We love Tom - he has been battling so much with his health.  He went into the hospital the week after Labor Day and has been there ever since.  We are praising God for the news that he could be transferred soon back to a hospital in Reno to finish out treatments he needs.  Keep him in your prayers too.

After our visit to the hospital, we had lunch at Bacon and Butter.

The burger was good but oh those potatoes!  They were simply delicious, amazing and I want more!

 Well, we started the long trip back.  With Sacramento traffic...snowing over the pass...the California traffic coming to Tahoe for the weekend to ski...chain control checkpoints...more snow...it took quite the long time to get home. Praise the Lord for His safety.
We picked up the girls and went to a Christmas program that several local churches were hosting at our local high school.
After the program, we had a treat with some coupons at Burger King.

Boy, was it cold that night!!!
Home for a Christmas movie together - The Santa Claus.  I really like that movie - I just forgot how old it was!  Ha!

Saturday morning, up to get a few things done.  Laundry, dishes and housework.  Made tacos and refried beans for lunch.  Ran to Wal-Mart and then back home to put another batch of white chicken chili in the crockpot for dinner later.

Then off to the mountains to take the girls sledding!

I can't tell you how gorgeous it was!  The trees were heavy with brilliant white snow from the last storm.  Just beautiful!

You had to just experience it.  Happy sigh.  I literally lay down on the snow and just looked up into the blue skies, breathing in the crisp, cold mountain air and just soaked it in.

This is Mount Rose - they have received a good amount of snowfall so far.
The most recent storm they received 21 inches of snow.  The storm before that - 32 inches.  

We had some technical difficulties but still had fun.  We will be searching for some bigger snow pants and gloves for next time.  LOL!  It was very cold up there but the sun was beautiful.

I'm telling you...I could have a cozy cabin somewhere in the mountains there and be happy to hibernate all winter!
It is still crazy to me to be able to live in the desert - where at the present, we have no snow - and literally drive in about 45 minutes to this!  It feels like you are in a different world.  Ahh...I do love this place where I live. :)

Treat for everyone at Maverick - mine was peppermint mocha!  Pretty good!

Home - pick up the house.  White chicken chili topped with cilantro and sour cream along with some yummy quesadillas. 
 Can you believe I remember making my first quesadilla?  I had tried them in a restaurant (never had them as a kid) and I told my husband, I want to learn how to make these!  I had to use a recipe to learn.  Ha!  It was many years ago in our little condo in Reno on Peckham Lane.  Ahh, the things that amuse us that seem so simple now.

Well, I hope you had a great week too!