Apparently I'm Blogger-Challenged...

OK, so for several weeks when I do my meal-planning Mondays the post that you all see looks totally different than when I'm typing it out. I thought it might be because I schedule the posting to occur later (I usually write it on Sunday night and have it post early Monday morning). So tonight I decided to post my meal-planning post immediately rather than schedule it for tomorrow and it still looks different on the website than when I typed it. I always type it out with a space in between each meal and the next day and it posts without any spaces. Does anybody know why this is??? Obviously, Blogger is smarter than I am...

Another thing...when I schedule my posting I generally schedule it for midnight on Monday morning, and I'll check it while I'm eating breakfast and it never posts!! And I always check it and it will say that it's scheduled for midnight of that morning, yet nothing has posted and I have to post it manually. Seriously...Blogger is outsmarting me and it's driving me crazy! Anybody know what I'm doing wrong?

Meal Planning Monday

Monday:

Lean beef chili, salad, Baked Tostitos, light sour cream

Tuesday:

Baked potato and salad

Wednesday:

Baked chicken, corn, green beans

Thursday:

Wednesday night leftovers

Friday:

??

Saturday and Sunday:

Birthday weekend with my family at my parents' house! Steak will be eaten at some point :)

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! From the beginning of our dating relationship I've always told Michel that Valentine's Day is not that big of a deal to me. I like doing something special for Valentine's Day, but I don't need to get dressed up and go out to eat, and he and I have never exchanged gifts for Valentine's Day. Part of my reasoning behind that is because my birthday is Feb. 26th, so I don't see the point in getting a gift for Valentine's Day when my birthday is less than two weeks later.

All that being said, I have had a most wonderful Valentine's Day 2012! It started first thing this morning when I realized I still had a little bit of money left on some Starbucks gift cards that I received as Christmas presents, so I treated myself to a frappuccino and banana nut bread for breakfast. It was delicious! I got a small pot of flowers from a student, and a former student brought me candy! It was so thoughtful! Then, this beautiful vase of roses was delivered to me at school from my sweet husband!

When I got home Michel and I exchanged cards. We don't do gifts, but we do do cards because he's really good at finding cards for me. This is what I got:

It's 2 cats having a conversation of "What do you wanna do tonight?" "I dunno...what do you wanna do?" Michel told me that when he saw this card he knew he had to get it for me for two reasons: 1.) I love cats 2.) He and I have conversations like this quite a bit, and it drives him crazy! I'm not always very opinionated/decisive. 

I'd been looking forward to this evening for quite awhile because Michel and I have had our menu planned for about a week. Whoever said 'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach' hadn't met me because it's pretty true for me as well! Anyways, Michel went out today and bought us some delicious ribeye steaks which he grilled, some baked potatoes, and garlic bread. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of our dinner because I was halfway through my meal when I realized "I meant to take a picture of this!" Trust me in knowing that it was delicious! As much as I loved our main course, dessert is what really had me excited. It had been a secret to me. All I knew was that it was made with a TON of chocolate because I saw all of the ingredients in the pantry. He made truffle chocolate brownie bites, and told me that he got vanilla ice cream to go with it. He then told me "I know you pretty well, huh?" Yes. Yes, you do. Look how cute the plating is!

I love that he baked the brownies in the shape of a heart! 

I've had a great Valentine's Day, and I hope that you have, too!! Happy Heart Day!

Meal Planning Monday

Monday:

Hamburger Helper, green beans

Tuesday (Happy Valentine's Day!):

Michel is cooking! Ribeye steaks, baked potatoes, and a mystery chocolate dessert! 

Wednesday:

Tuesday night leftovers :)

Thursday: 

Monday night leftovers

Friday:

Out to eat

Saturday:

Breakfast for dinner - biscuit, turkey sausage links, scrambled eggs, coffee

Sunday:

Lean Cuisine pizza, salad

The Power of Prayer

A lot of people reading this know that most of this semester has been a huge struggle for me. Unfortunately, I can't go into a lot of detail about it on this because of this blog being fairly public and I don't want the wrong people reading this. However, this week has been EXCEPTIONALLY challenging for me. I felt completely betrayed, hurt, and angry for most of the week. I also felt ashamed of how I was feeling. I was reacting in a very non-Christian way. I was returning this person's evil with evil; rather than kindness. Luckily, I was only in this funk for a couple of days because of the love and support of my wonderful husband who has been everything I needed from him from a shoulder to cry on (it's happened quite often lately) to a listening ear for me to vent to, and a wise adviser. I've also been so blessed by my family and the wonderful ladies of my small group. The relationships that I've formed with others from our Sunday School class, and especially our small groups have been a huge blessing to me. I've gotten wonderful, sweet texts and Facebook messages from my very best friend, family members, and small group friends. In all of this I have really leaned on God and I know that it was Him who truly had his hand on everything.

By Friday afternoon, and a much-needed meeting I felt that a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Though this situation is probably not finished, and more will probably come of it, I am no longer worrying about it because God is in control.

Thank you to EVERYONE who prayed for me this week, listened to me this week, encouraged me this week, and were a friend to me this week. You are all so very important in my life!