"What a Shame" soup

In an effort t preserve some of our favorite recipes that I've thrown together, I'm including them here as we discover them. This is a soup we threw together to warm up and use up some leftovers.

"What a Shame" Beef Soup

3 c. Maggie brand Vegetable broth
1 1/2 c water
1/2 # ground beef cooked
couple of carrots - sliced small
couple stalks of celery- sliced small
1 potato - cubed
diced garlic - at least two cloves
sprig of rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef, add it to the broth.
Throw everything else in the pot as you chop.
Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. The house should smell great!
Allow to cool completely, refridgerate overnight and scrape off all the fat that collects :)
Reheat and enjoy the smell throughout the house again!
We served this with rosemary garlic bread covered in provolone cheese - toasted of course.

If you try it, let me know how you like it.

Who am I?

Who am I?

I can affect you with a sting.
I have jelly like hands.
It looks like I have a cup on my head, without a handle.
I live in water and I am made up of 90% water.
There are over 1000 species of me.
I’m found on the surface of every ocean and in the deep sea.
I eat small fish called plankton.
I am toxic to humans.
I am not a fish.

Who am I?

Facebook junkie

Well, I've gone and started up a Facebook account. Rich has been suggesting it forever and promised that I would have fun. What he didn't tell me is how addicting it is! I realize that there is alot of traffic since I just started it today but I want to know who all my friends are!

I've got along way to go to catch up to some of my friends. My neice for example has over 300 friends and as many photos posted. Yikes! That's alot of time invested!

This is just another way I'm hoping to make 2009 the best year ever!

Olivia's reflections about New Year's at Gull Lake

I know some of you guys probably don't know about Gull lake. But it is a fun fun fun family camp!! We went there for new years eve!

We got to build our own floats in the parade (there was even a little parade Princess!) We went sledding - bumpy ride! I met some new friends there - Hope, Allison, Maggie and Elizabeth. We went on a Family Photo Scavenger Hunt. Oh, I haven't got to the part where it was freezing cold and snowing!

Now I'm going to jump to the New Year's celebration...
I got to have my first communion at Gull Lake. Then there was a candlelight service. Then they said we could just go "all wild" until midnight! And guess what? There was a balloon drop! Woo Hoo! After that I was so tired, I just flopped on my bed and went to sleep!

Hope to see YOU there next year!

olivia

Just built

Riles made this sign as part of our "float" for the New Year's Eve Eve parade at Gull Lake. Thought I'd use it as part of my announcement for this new blog.

Looking forward to connecting more with people and keeping track of all the fun stuff we do around here. So far no new news.

Welcome to 2009!

2009 will be a year of newness! Starting with this blog - D2GEMS - Dee Dee's Great Everyday Moments~ Seriously! So I had a little help naming this thing!

My friends who have been after me for a while will be happy that I'm finally doing this :).

We just got back from a wonderful New Year's event at Gull Lake Ministries up in Michigan. What a power packed event! The three days went by so fast. It was worth the 5 hour drive simply to go on the sledding hill. Reilly spent her entire free time there. Olivia took a bit more convincing but loved it when she finally surrendered.

I spent time getting to know a new family to Gull Lake. The mom has a great amount of resolve as she has been through some tough times the last couple of years. I hope I get to see her again in the future.

The message this morning was about our need to surrender to God's Will for our lives. I know I have big goals for this year and they will only work out if it's in God's plan. I'm going to give it my best shot.

May this be a great year for all, filled with love from and for each other!