day 12

Topic 12 - Random

We bought some screws for the deck at Lowe's the other day and on our receipt was a thing to register to win a $5,000 gift card to the store. The cashier told us that it's regional, and that in an area that covers 11 stores, someone will win the money. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll be us! If we had $5,000 to spend at Lowe's I think we'd start with new flooring for the kitchen, dining room, and family room. Probably a dark hardwood with distressing. If that didn't use it all up, maybe a new front door. Something with a window at the top. A new window for the master bathroom would be nice. And I'd get Phil a super powerful drill. One can dream.

I tried my friend Jenny's recipe for crockpot pumpkin oatmeal. I've never had steel cut oats before. They're a little different. It's a lot of oatmeal for two people. If I tried it again, I'd halve the recipe. (Then I'd be left with 1/2 a can of pumkin. Hmmm.. . ) I like mine with a little brown sugar and some half and half. And if I'm being 100% truthful, a squirt of whipped cream - 'cause it's kind of pie tasting. Here it is in case you want to try it:

Pumpkin Oatmeal

2 cups steel cut oats

4 1/2 cups water

1 15 oz can of Libby's pure pumpkin

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/4 t ground cloves

1/4 t allspice

Put all ingredients in slow cooker.

Stir to blend.

Cook overnight on low.

Add your favorite sweetener and a little milk to each serving.

My sweet little grandma has the flu. Pray for her.

Thinking seriously about tackling that 2nd bachelor's degree. I have some unanswered questions for the state about my certification. Then I need to start getting things done. You know what I'm worried about? Writing papers. It's been a long time.

I'm craving apple cider. It's like $6.50 a gallon though. And we all thought the price of a gallon of gas was bad.

The weather has cooled off here. Tonight I made beef stew for dinner. It felt perfect.

I need to send out some cards. I'm so bad about that.

Despite having a smart phone, I find that I'm still super dependent on a paper calendar. I guess it's the writing things down that I like. I'm probably going to have to buy a 2015 one soon because I'll be booking days into the new year.

I'm planning a ladies' event for our group at church. It's going to be a favorite things party and a welcome to Suzanne, our new pastor's wife. I am so excited about this. I've been wanting to do it for a long time.

I ended up not working on Friday because I accidentally accepted a PE job. I was trying to make the screen on my phone bigger and by mistake I hit accept. Ummm, I do not do PE. It is so not my thing. So I immediately cancelled out of the job which then locked me out for the day because of a late cancellation. So I stayed home and did some touch up painting in the kitchen/dining room, some laundry and housework, a little bit of yardwork, and I can't remember what else. Must not've been all that important.