Lori's Rambling

This month is the anniversary of two events that changed my life and my family's life forever. On May 16th it will be 20 years since my brother Jason was severely injured in an industrial accident. A week later it will 8 years since he passed on. I have been thinking about Jason a lot lately, perhaps because of these anniversaries. My parents and I often wonder what our life and Jason's life would have been like without these events. Would Jason be married and have his own children -- how cool would that have been? I think of our life growing up and how many cousins we had to play with, on both sides of the family. Then I look at Jaelyn and she has two cousins. I do realize that there are pros and cons to both situations. Because of how many cousins Jason and I had, we never really got to know our grandparents extremely well as anytime we were at their houses, there were cousins there. Then I look at Jaelyn and she often gets to spend time with both grand

Well, I am putting my motivation back in gear and focusing again on weight loss and getting into shape.  It has been a challenge going back onto Weight Watchers , especially since they changed the points system since I was on Weight Watchers the last time.  I have found with my change in employment that I feel like I have less time to focus on what I'm eating and finding the time (and energy) to work out.  Still, one week in and I have lost four pounds.  Haven't done as well with the working out, only exercised three out of the last ten days.  Starting back into working out is always the hardest.  I had difficulty walking for the three days after my first workout, muscles complaining that I haven't used in months! My standby for exercise has been the Wii EA Active More Workouts disc.  I tried the first disc and liked it so I bought the more workouts disc about a year ago.  I loved that one.  The workouts were fun, lots of variety and fit my interest level better than the

Well, I was experimenting in the kitchen tonight.  Usually when I experiment and don't follow a recipe, the results are okay but not fantastic enough to write down in order to create it again.  Tonight was different!     I was anxious about it, wasn't even sure if I would like the combination of flavors.  It just proved that it is worth taking some chances with food -- you just might create something wonderful.  Now if I could only figure out a way to make alfredo sauce healthy!!! Scott agreed with me that this combination of flavors were a winner, so I took the time to write it down so that it can be duplicated again. Try it and let me know what you think! So, here is what I did.  At our local grocery store, BG's, they make their own apple sausage and sell it packaged loose and not in links.  I browned about a pound of this in a pan.  After it was browned, I added in a 10 ounce can of garlic and onion flavored diced tomatoes and about 1/3 cup of balsamic vi

I have kept myself busy this weekend with baking and cleaning/organizing.  I tried a new cupcake recipe -- definitely a keeper and one that I'm only going to make when we are planning a social activity.  This recipe is too dangerous to my hips to make it without sharing them! I was browsing the Taste of Home website recipes this weekend trying to decide what to make to take to our friend's house for dessert.  This recipe stood out to me -- mostly because I haven't tasted anything with pumpkin in it that I didn't like!  They were definitely a hit with our friends and with Jaelyn.  See below for the recipe. Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting 24 servings   Prep:  25 min.  Bake:  20 min. + cooling Ingredients 3/4 cup butter, softened 2 1/2 cups sugar 3 eggs 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp ground cinnamon 3/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp ground ging

I have been reflecting a lot this week on what it means to be a mother.  I have friends who have shared their experiences this week with miscarriages, early pregnancy, and another friend who shared about a serious injury to a seven week old baby that is 99.9% likely to be child abuse.  It has really had me reflecting on the sanctity of human life as well as the seeming injustice that those who want children and would be awesome and incredible parents are unable to have children biologically, and those who don't know how to care for their children and abuse them, seemingly have no problems getting pregnant.  Just because someone has the ability to  conceive a child does not automatically make them a good parent. There is more to being a parent than conceiving and giving birth.  I know many foster parents who are more of a parent to the foster kids in their home than are the birth parents of those children.  I am thankful for those that God calls to be foster parents and adoptive par