My Week: December 18 - 23

Thank you for stopping by my blog!  I hope you enjoy reading about my week here in Reno, NV!  Have a blessed day and Christmas Eve!

Whew!  It is hard to wake up on cold, winter days!  Another Sunday at Sierra View.  I work the nursery for the first service and got to hear the hubby preach for the second service.  If there is one thing I truly love about Sundays is being able to serve and be fed.  It used to be the "sacrifice" of ministry - I am glad that the opportunity is available to do both!  I love to go away Sundays full in my spirit.  

Lunch was crockpot lasagna - mmm!  Garlic bread and corn.

Ingredients

1 pound sausage (2 pounds if you want extra meaty!)

1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

1 large jar spaghetti sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 ounces)

1 container (15 ounces) cottage cheese

grated Parmesan cheese

15 uncooked lasagna noodles

Directions

Cook sausage and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce.

Mix sausage/sauce and cottage cheese.  Begin layers:  Noodles - then sauce mixture - then a sprinkling of mozz - repeat until all is gone.

Sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese.  Top finally with remaining mozz cheese.

Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 hours or until noodles are tender.

This is a great Sunday lunch recipe - put in before church and it is ready by the end of church.

Sunday was a festive day!  Many people were passing out Christmas cards, gifts and goodies. :)

The Lang family made homemade cookie bags for all the Awana kids.  They are so giving!

Miss Linda Hector made these treat bags for my younger girls. :)  Cocoa, hot tea, candy cane and Ghirardelli peppermint chocolate - those are so good! 

Miss Gloria Radke baked these homemade cookies for our family.  So delicious!  

Miss Abbie gave these candies to the girls - they were "hugs and kisses" from Aaron. :)

Back to church for the evening.  My daughter worked the nursery for me so that I could sit in an evening service with the hubby.  That was so nice!  Josh used us in an illustration-it was a very good lesson.

Then off to work for my Sunday evening shift.  I had a free drink from Starbucks that expired that day so I used it on my way to work.

The Langs also made us a wonderful tin of goodies!

Monday was busy with school.  Sierra and I started the new quarter which is learning about your state in history.  We worked on filling out her state notebook and learning facts about Nevada.  Even took our first quiz.

After school, I worked on the living room.  I vacuumed, rearranged the furniture and steam cleaned all the furniture and the carpet.  It can take awhile but a good feeling when it is done!  

For dinner, I made pork chops in the skillet (a little olive oil and seasonings) and roasted red potatoes in the oven.  Again - olive oil and lots of yummy seasonings!  

A few more Christmas books...

I thought this one was good for kids...they hear the song but do not really know what they are saying.  This puts pictures to the words and it makes sense.  LOL!

This one is exactly like the Christmas special.  The girls loved it.

By the end of that day, I was exhausted!  School, housework and all the steam cleaning!  Then it was off to my Monday night shift.

Tuesday, more work on school.  Got another set of grades done for the grading period.

We had a staff meeting at 4pm.  Then off to the gym.  And yes, Jenny, I tried squats on the stair master while going forward, backwards and both sideways.  (The pain hits about two days after!  HA!)

Then off to my Tuesday night shift.

Wednesday, cloudy.  I do love the clouds over the mountains. :)

The girls had finished their videos before I got home so we were able to take the morning and complete all our quizzes, tests and homework and were done by 12:30!  So glad for a small Christmas break!

Feels good to have that completed. )

Drop the girls off at piano lessons and then off to the post office to mail grades off to Abeka.

Part of my hubby's Christmas gift arrived in the mail!  (I am excited to read them too!)

A new year will soon be arriving - along with everyone's resolutions.  Sigh.  Resolutions take a plan and the commitment to put that plan into action.  Maybe your plan includes something with your finances.  I highly recommend Dave Ramsey.  

The Christmas cards are growing!

For dinner, I made a pasta dish - I kind of created this awhile ago and this is one of my personal favorites.  It is so easy, it is ridiculous!  The juice from the can of tomatoes makes the alfredo sauce thinner and more creamy I think.

Beef Alfredo Pasta

A box of penne pasta

Two jars of roasted garlic alfredo sauce

1 package frozen beef strips

1 can tomatoes with green chilies (do not drain)

Cook pasta according to directions.  Drain.

Cook beef strips in a small amount of olive oil in a skillet until cooked through and browned slightly.

Add alfredo sauce, beef and tomatoes to pasta.  Heat through.

Serve with garlic bread and top with a little parmesan cheese. :)

Clean up the kitchen and house for the evening, then off to the gym!  

Then my last shift for the week.  Woo hoo!

Thursday morning is usually my plasma day but I was not going to spend another three hours of my day there.  I will go back after Christmas!  

Looking at the forecast...ready for some Christmas snow storm!

Thursday, no school!  Woo hoo!!!!  So we planned out all our errands for that day.

Church - to drop off a box and check on communion bread.

Dollar General - a gift card and a large mailing envelope.

ATM - deposit a check and get out tithe.

Maverick - fill up van with gas.

Dollar Tree - stocking stuffers.

Little Caesar's - split a lunch deal with Addie.

Pizza Hut - free personal pan pizzas for the girls for the reading plan they are enrolled in.

Post Office - mail two packages and get the church mail.

Burger King - free treats with our coupons -ice cream and cookies.

Wal-Mart - two times!  

Winco - grocery shopping.

One of the packages we mailed was this adorable blanket for my cousin's baby.  One of the ladies in our church, Alisa, made it for her.  I just love the colors and patterns.

And the teething ring too! So adorable!

She also made this one for a former college friend.  These babies have Down Syndrome.  She saw them on my FB page asking prayer for them and she made these for them.  She doesn't even know them.  I thought that was so very special.  Thank you, Alisa!

What else do you do in the post office line?  Ha ha!!! I thought the stone-washed shorts, pink shoes and flowered hat was interesting.  

When I got home, I made dinner.  One of my favorite casseroles - chicken-broccoli-stuffing casserole!

Wrap the stocking stuffers and then off to practice at the church for our Christmas Eve service.

After practice, we watched Charlie Brown's Christmas...again.  LOL!

And cuddled with the kiddo. :)

Friday was a pretty low key day.  Eric went skiing and we had no school.  I did several loads of laundry and we maintained the house keeping it clean.

I talked a couple times to my sister and also to my mom.  Blogged.

Josh took my van and was able to fix the sensor on the door!  Yay!  A couple Sundays ago, the car alarm went off on my van during church.  I think someone was messing with it - there was a wire on the outside that is hooked to the door that was pulled out. :(

Well, the automatic feature on the door did not work.  And even worse, the sensor kept telling my van that the door was open when it wasn't.  So, when you put the van into gear, it beeped.  Loudly.  Continuously.  Anywhere you drove.  We tried to drown it out with Christmas music.  LOL!  But it was pretty bad.  

Josh came and fixed it so that it doesn't beep anymore!  Thank you, Josh!

I really thought about 7am when it started to snow lightly, that it was going to be one of those snow all day, stay inside and hibernate days.  And I was good with that!  

Then the clouds broke and the sun came out.  LOL!

So, I went to the gym and got in a workout.  The day actually was very nice!

I killed it on the stair master.  OK, meaning, I think I about died!  Ha!

I stopped at Goodwill to see if I could find at least a new top for Christmas Eve.  Nothing.  LOL!  Oh well!
Smith's to get cases of water, 12 packs of soda, chips, pineapple and strawberries.
Then home!  It started raining then turned to snow and I think back to rain.  All I know, it was a mess!

Summer and I had fun face timing Daddy while he was skiing. :)

Chili and cornbread muffins for dinner.  Finished up the last load of laundry.  Did the ironing.  Cleaned thddddddddddde bathroom.

Then settled down for the Grinch and Prancer Returns with the girls.
I hope you had a blessed week as Christmas is approaching.  God bless!