Our Favorite Childhood Recipes (Writer's Workshop)

I LOVED it when my mom would make Chef Boy-R-Dee pizza and then add tuna fish on top. When she baked it in the oven, the tuna would get a little brown. Boy was it good! So far I haven’t found any pizza place that uses tuna fish for a topping. It’s an Arlettaz original.  I tried adding tuna on take-out pizza but it just wasn't as good as mom's.

Gerard's favorite was ketchup sandwiches. That's right, very simple; two slices of bread with just ketchup on them. Did you ever try this?  It's good!

Do you have a favorite childhood recipe to share?

This post is in response to Mama Kat's Writers Workshop prompt: to share a favorite childhood recipe.

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Why Use An Exercise Journal

It's September and I need some inspiration to keep me motivated to continue to workout. This video does it. I thought you might enjoy watching it too. I see a lot of people at the gym working out but not writing anything down and wonder why not. Maybe they have better memories than I or just want big biceps and forget everything else, don't know. However, it's important to exercise all your muscle groups so I have to keep track of what I do. Plus, to make it a challenge, you should try to improve on something and do a little more each time. I usually pick one muscle group to focus on each session for just about half an hour at a time.  

How I keep track of it:

Leg page

1. I have a separate page for Arms, Legs, Shoulders, Core, Back, Chest, Cardio, circuit and magazine workouts.
2. On the left side of each page I list different machines or exercises that I do.
3. Make columns across page for dates that I work that particular muscle group. 4. Record the amount of weight I use times the number of repetitions times the number of sets: "(wt.x reps) no. of sets."
5. I put a paper clip on the page I will do next.  

Why I like This:
1. This helps me make sure I cover everything equally.
2. It provides variety.
3. Makes time at gym more efficient. I don’t have to write so much and think what to do next.
4. I can easily see what I did last time and try to improve on it. 5. It gives muscle groups plenty of time to recover between workouts.
6. I can easily to see my progress (or lack thereof) at a glance.

I challenge you to try this and see if you don't find that it keeps you more focused, productive and challenged. Did you like the walrus?

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Some Bag Fun For Cats by Spunky Doodle

Hey cat friends, you want to have some fun? Today I will share a very fun thing you can do that made my mom laugh. When I jumped up on the kitchen counter, I saw a bag. I don’t know about you, but I like bags and boxes. This is a little brown paper bag that I found just sitting there so I sunk me teeth in and gave it a tug. It ripped just a little, enough for me to get a good grip on it with my teeth and make a big hole in it! Then I can push the paper that tore off around and knock it off the counter. Oh, what fun!

Spunky Doodle, What Are You Up To? by Karen

Usually Spunky Doodle is close by keeping an eye on me at all times or at least looking out a window that is in the same room as I am. Consequently, when I don’t see her I wonder what she is up to. After all, she got her name for a reason—because she is a little spunkster! Sure enough, I noticed she has been jumping up on the kitchen counter quite often lately and when I heard some rattling, I knew she was up to something. When I went to pack my lunch bag for the next day, there was a big hole torn in it. Yes Spunky Doodle, I know it was you!

Visit Bozo's Pet Pride to find more pet posts or link up yours.

P.S. If you do not have a cat, I highly recommend you get one or two. They are wonderful companions and very amusing entertainers and will keep you on your toes!

Spruce Up Your Bible

There are many Bibles around, but none like mine!; That is because I have made mine very personal to me and therefore precious. Some people do not want to mark in their Bibles, but I am glad I am not one of them!

HOW TO HIGHLIGHT VERSES:

Some people use highlighters or ink to mark their Bibles but I found colored pencils or crayons work much better. When marking with highlighters, always use a light color such as yellow.; If I do underline something with ink, I found that using a straight edge makes it look much neater. (I have one Bible that I use ink to underline.)

I learned long ago that the flair pens bleed through the page and tend to look sort of messy. (That’s what I used as a kid.) Colored pencils work very well and there is a wide variety of colors that you could use to underline verses. Crayons are my favorite though because they cover quickly and provide lots of color choices.

THINGS TO MARK:

1. Memorized verses. Every verse I memorized I mark because if I made the effort to memorize it, I think it’s worth reviewing.  By marking it, I review it again when I see it and it also helps me to find it if I forget the reference, not that you would ever forget the reference, but you may.  If I forget the reference, I can usually remember the book and if it’s marked, it makes it easy to find it.
2. Salvation verses. I like color coding so colored the salvation verses with red. Starting with John 3:16, next to it I list the reference of the next salvation verse (Romans 3:23) and so on. By doing this, I am always ready to share the plan of salvation using scripture if the opportunity should arise. It has been useful in teaching Sunday School and counseling situations.
3. Commands. Things to do or not to do that stand out to me are marked with blue (blue rhymes with do).
4. Promises. For God’s promises that “pop” out at me, I color with orange.
5. Truths about God. These I mark in yellow (reminds me of God’s glory).

MAKING NOTES:

Now, this is when I use a pen for making notes in the margin. I jot down sermon/class notes such as what some words mean, perhaps an object lesson or story illustration for a particular passage that I thought was especially good, the month/year that I marked the verse, or sometimes a situation I am going through when the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart through a particular verse or passage.

I realize I am a bit more organized and into color coding more than most people, but even if you don’t use my color coding suggestion, I encourage you to start marking your Bible your way and make it special to you. I immediately felt a connection with my "Circle of Friends" Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) group leader who also encouraged the class to use colored pencils to mark our Bibles. The best part about taking time to do this is that you spend time in God’s Word.

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8 Things We Learned This Week 37 of 2011 (sports, geography, people, words, books, tips))

Military

William Conn, the father of a boy (age 12) I had in my Sunday School class a year ago, is being deployed to Afghanistan for six months.  You can hear his faith story that was played in church last Sunday.

Cleveland Browns

After watching last Sunday's game I learned that the Browns aren't as good as I thought they would be. They had 9 penalties in just the first quarter! After coming back from a 13-0 deficit to take the lead, they lost in the 4th quarter. Wake up defense! Josh Cribbs made two very good plays and Massaquoi's 41 yd. reception was a bright spot. Twitter was busy throughout the game with fans tweeting away (I participated during the first half.) They were the only team that was favored to win who lost.

Chicken, Alaska

I heard a guy talking on the bus this week about wanting to go to Chicken, Alaska. He said the town wanted to name it after the state bird which resembles a chicken but couldn't agree on how to spell it so they called it Chicken. I looked it up when I got home and sure enough, he was right! Check out www.chickenalaska.com!

Reading Cats

My cats were thrilled with this cute comment we got over on our "Tuesday Teaser" post this week on our book blog. I think this is the cutest comment we ever got!

Cristina said... Awesome teasers. Breaking Silence really intrigues me. My little guy looked at your picture and was amazed! He is convinced your cats can read and cannot wait to tell his teacher. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you entered to win a copy of Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite. I thought it was an awesome read and I will be picking two winners! http://www.alaskanbookcafe.com/

Internet Safety

From reading Want To Go Private by Sarah Darer Littman, I learned how internet predators operate and that they even have websites where they give each other tips and brag about what they do! How sick is that??? We also learned that schools actually have presentations about Internet safety. Want To Go Private is a good book every kid who goes online should read. Although it is a good contemporary teen fiction novel, it is very educational! Parents would benefit from it too! Click on the link to see our reviews of it.

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