I've completely lost the desire to blog. Some of it may have to do with the fact that I'm not sure what the heck is going on in our lives right now. I feel like we're juggling eight big balls all at once- we've thrown them all up in the air and we're waiting to see how they're going to fall...
We're in the process of possibly selling completely everything, moving a few states over and investing everything we have in a new business. And this was not planned. At all.
In August, we took a trip to Montana for a family reunion. On the way, Jim and I got to talking and he mentioned that we might have a possible buyer for our restaurant. Uh...only problem was, it wasn't for sale. As we talked about the possibility, what seemed like a silly suggestion started to sound like a good idea. When we got home from the trip, we agreed that it might be a good idea to contact the person and see if they'd be interested. Life got busy and a few weeks passed without making the phone call. And then Jim got a phone call out of the blue one day from a completely different person. "I have an offer on my desk right now for your restaurant, can I send it over to you?" "Uh...sure."
Two months later, we have a contract on the restaurant and if everything goes through right, the sale will be complete around the first of the year.
In the meantime, we've been trying to figure out what the heck we're going to do- because Quiznos is our not only our business, but our sole source of income. As we explored possible businesses to buy (another restuarant, a limo business, a cabinet company, etc. etc.), we came across a listing that peaked our interest. The very first funeral home that Jim worked at in our hometown was for rent.
It was bought by a competitor about five years ago, stripped off all of its equipment and contracts and resold to a real estate agent who turned around and rented it to a church with the intention of them buying it eventually. The church ended up growing out of the building though and moved out and it's been vacant for a year. Jim contacted the listing agent to see if they might want to sell the building instead of rent it...just on the off chance. Fast forward to this week and we're in the middle of negotiating the sale. We're still not sure if it will go through- there are some legal issues pending with the non-compete from the other funeral home owner. We're trying to work out whether it applies to future owners or not.
The amazing thing about the whole process has been every time we've hit a road block and decided that it just wasn't going to work out, something has happened to remove the obstacle. In ways that we have to be sure that the Lord is not only preparing the way for a new business, he's almost propelling us that way.
As an example, one of the things we were trying to work out was a cost structure to project sales and profits. Not having owned a funeral home before, and with cremation trends varying from region to region, we really needed some better information before we could make an educated guess. Several years ago, we had looked at buying a funeral home in Pendleton, about 40 minutes away from Walla Walla. In the process, we had gotten tax forms and financial statements to see if we could get the financing.
The sale wasn't viable, but we had kept the paperwork for quite awhile. In fact, I came upon it about six months ago and thought, "We don't need this any more! I'm getting rid of it!" and thrown it out. When the cost structure issue came up I was lamenting my purging- those documents would have been exactly what we needed!
The beginning of October, we took a trip up to Walla Walla to look at the funeral home and see what condition it was in before possibly making an offer. On our way back, we stopped at my parent's house in Idaho. As we were getting ready to leave, my mom motioned to a stack of papers. "Those are yours. They're a bunch of old tax returns your Dad did for you. They're so old, I doubt you need them any more, but I thought you should look at them before I threw them out."
The first thing in the pile was an old return from our first year of marriage...junk. Underneath that was an envelope addressed to my dad from a CPA in Pendleton. What was that? I opened it and discovered a second copy of the very records that we needed from the funeral home there! We had had them send a copy to my father (our financial advisor) at the time, and they just so happened to show up exactly when we needed them. Amazing!
There have been so many instances like this in the whole process that whether things work out with this building or not, we are sure that the road we are on will eventually lead us to where the Lord wants us. It's just a little nerve-wracking to have all those balls up in the air at the same time!
Friday, October 23, 2009
What are we thinking?!?
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Recipes
Here are some of my favorite freezer meal recipes.
1. Taco Soup (two meals each)
1 lb hamburger
1 envelope taco seasoning
2 cans corn
2 cans ranch style or chile beans
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
Put all ingredients into two bags. To serve, heat and spinkle with cheese.
4. Creamy White Chile
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
3 tsp chicken bouillon
3 cups water
3 cans great northern beans, rinsed & drained
1 can corn
2 cans chopped green chiles
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
8 oz cream cheese
1 c sour cream
Add everything but the last three ing. to a big pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 min. Remove from heat and stir in the last 3 ing. Serve immediately with optional crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheddar cheese.
8. Tex Mex Eggrolls (two meals)
1 pkg Spanish rice mix
1 tsp salt
1 lb pork sausage
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes w/ mild green chiles
2 cups mont. Jack chese, shredded
6 green onions chopped
1 pckg taco seasoning
2 packages of egg roll wrappers
Cook rice according to pckg directions, using tsp salt
Cook sausage in a skillet over medium heat, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink, drain well and let cool.
Stir together rice, sausage, black beans, and next 4 ing. in large bowl. (freeze) Spoon abt 1/3 cup rice mixture into center of egg roll wrapper.
Fold corner of wrapper over and fold up, sealing with water
Pour oil into heavy pan. Fry egg rolls. Drain over paper towels. Serve with creamy Cilantro dipping sauce.
Creamy Cilantro Sauce
1 can diced tomatoes with lime and cilantro (or use diced tomatoes and add lime juice)
4 oz cream cheese
1 cup cilantro 6 cups cilantro
½ cup sour cream
2 cloves garlic
Process all ing. in a food processor until smooth. Freeze in separate bag.
15. Rigatoni Barese
2 tbls olive oil
1 lb mild or hot Italian New York Style Sausage
1 tbls minced fresh garlic
salt and pepper to taste
6 cups torn or coarsely chopped fresh spinach
2 tbls chopped fresh basil
1 14 ½ oz can stewed tomatoes, coarsely chopped
16 oz rigatoni pasta
parmesan cheese, freshly shaved
Heat 1 tbls olive oil in large sauté pan over med. Heat. Remove casings from sausage and cook, stirring, until crumbled and lightly browned. Drain and set aside in a bowl.
Add remaining 1 tbls olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper to the pan and cook until garlic starts to brown.
Stir in spinach and basil, and cook until spinach wilts slightly. Add tomatoes and simmer until spinach is cooked.
Add cooked sausage and stir to combine.
Freeze
. Cook rigatoni and add to thawed sauce. Garnish with parmesan.
20. Nanette’s Refried Beans
2 cups dry pinto beans
1 cup sour cream
1 cup salsa
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz. Cream cheese
salt
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp chile spices
Put dry beans in crock pot. Cover by 1-2 inches water. Add 1 tbls salt. Turn on high for 6-8 hours. Watch beans so water is always abt as high as beans. When beans are soft mash with potato masher. Add remaining ingredients, turn on low for 15 min.
Rosemary Chicken w/ White Beans
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 c sliced fresh carrots
½ c sliced celery
1 1/2 c italian dressing
2 t dried rosemary
½ t salt
1 t pepper
Place the beans, carrots and celery in 5 qt slow cooker; top with chicken. Combine the salad dressing, rosemary, salt and pepper; pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until the chicken juices run clear.
Sizzlin’ Chicken Skewers X6
1/3 Cup hot water 2 Cups hot water
¼ C Kraft BBQ Sauce 1 ½ cup teriyaki bbq sauce
¼ C creamy peanut butter 1 ½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ C soy sauce 1 ½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup chopped cilantro 1 ½ cup chopped cilantro
2 tbls grey poupon honey Dijon mustard 12 tbls grey poupon honey Dijon mustard
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast halves 6 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast halves
cut into 12 thin strips cut into thin strips (2 pck.- large)
Mix water, bbq sauce, peanut butter, soy sauce, cilantro, and mustard in bowl with wire whisk. Pour half into large plastic bag. Add chicken, seal bag. Pour remaining sauce in small bag. Freeze both bags. Thread chicken on skewers, discard marinade. Grill 5-7 min until cooked through. Serve with dipping sauce.
BBQ’d Fajita’s X6
1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into strips 6 lb. chicken breasts (2 pck.)
1 each green and red peppers, 6 each red and green peppers
Cut into strips
1 med onion, cut into thin wedges 6 med onions
½ c Kraft bbq sauce 3 c Kraft bbq sauce
8 tortillas 48 tortillas
1 c. Mexican style shredded four cheese 6 c. mexican style shredded four cheese
Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Toss chicken and veg. w/ bbq sauce. Poke holes evenly in bottom of 13 x 9 disposable foil roasting pan with fork. Place chicken and veg. in pan. Place pan on grill; cover with lid. Grill chicken and veg. in pan 20 min. or until chicken is cooked through and veg are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.
Spoon evenly onto tortillas; top with cheese, salsa, and sour cream. Roll up.
Southwest Chicken Bundles X6
6 Boneless Chicken Breasts 30 Chicken Breasts (4 pck.)
3 oz Monterey Jack Cheese 18 oz Monterey Jack Cheese
3 oz Cream Cheese 18 oz Cream Cheese
12 thin slices of bacon 72 thin slices bacon
Salt and Pepper Salt and Pepper
Toothpicks
Rinse chicken, pat dry with paper towels. Place each breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Pound with flat meat mallet till ¼” thickness. Season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl combine cheeses, divide and roll into balls (one for each breast). Fold breasts around balls. Wrap each chicken in two pieces of bacon and secure with toothpick. Bake in 9X13 pan at 350* for 30 min or till no longer pink. Turn oven to broil for 3-5 min until bacon in browned. Mix ranch and salsa for dip.
Skillet Enchiladas X6
1 lb ground beef 6 lbs ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup 6 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 (14oz) can ench. Sauce 6 (14oz) cans enchilada sauce
¼ cup milk 1 ½ cup milk
1 (4oz) can diced green chile 6 (4oz) can diced chilies
12 corn tortillas 72 corn tortillas
12 oz (3 cups) shredded cheddar cheese 72 oz(24 cups) cheddar cheese
Combine cooked ground beef, soup, enchilada sauce, milk, and chilies. Stir occasionally until heated through. Heat tortillas in microwave till softened. Places abt ¼ cup cheese in tortillas. Roll and place, seam side down on top of heated mixture. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer about 3 minutes until cheese melts.
Leah’s Spaghetti Sauce- this is designed to be a large batch, so if you're trying to make it for just one family, divide the ingredients in the column on the left by 3. I would make it x 3 as listed in the left column cause it's just that good!
X3 X6
1 Large (Costco size) bottle prego 2 large Costco size prego
1 lb ground beef (cooked) 2 lb ground beef (cooked)
1 lb ground Italian sausage 2 lbs ground Italian sausage
(cook with onions and peppers, drain) (cook with onions and peppers, drain)
1 link sliced Kielbasa sausage 2 links sliced Kielbasa sausage
1 lb pkg fresh mushrooms 2 lb pkg fresh sliced mushrooms
1 can sliced olives 2 cans sliced olives
1 can diced tomatoes 2 can dices tomatoes
½ c fresh chopped Italian parsley 1 c fresh chopped Italian parsley
1 each diced green, red, yellow peppers 2 each diced green, red, yellow peppers
1 large onion 2 large onions
3-4 cloves crushed garlic 6-8 cloves garlic
Crock Pot 3-4 hours
Freezer meals...
Since I'm having a blog rebellion of sorts i.e. I really don't want to blog about all of the fantastic vacations and fun things we've done this summer, I decided to blog about something completely unrelated to our goings-on.
I'm a part of a freezer meal group with five other women. What that means is every three months or so we get together, plan, shop for, and prepare about 30 meals for each family. That's 180 meals in all. And then we freeze them and minimal prep time for dinners and delicious food that in a lot of cases I would never make myself because there' s too much involved in making it.
How do we organize it? We meet together as a group to plan the meals we would like to cook. One member always does the shopping list and recipes. She has some special software that generates the grocery list in the quantities we need. It even keeps track of how many freezer bags and pans we need to buy.
One member always does the shopping (that would be me). Over several times of trial and error, I've found the easiest way to do it is to shop at Sam's club for everything I can get there and then head to my grocery store for the rest. The reason I love Sam's is I can order everything I need online and tell them when I want to pick it up and they have my entire order ready to go when I get there. This is awesome when you're buying an entire car load of food.
The other four people do all of our prep work. We split up any recipes that have a lot of prep involved and those are cooked ahead of time and frozen. In addition, we split up an meat that needs to be cooked, veggies that need chopping, etc. etc.
The night that we cook, we all bring any meals we've already prepared and frozen and usually 2 coolers and start assembling everything and filling the coolers up. We "cook" in pairs and it usually takes about 3-4 hours to get everything done and everyone gone. All of the cooking and chopping etc. has already been done so that night it's just assembling things.
We have a core group of recipes that we've tried and love that we rotate through for about half of the recipes and then we're always trying new ones. To freeze something, it doesn't have to be a "freezer" recipe. You need to know a few basic ground rules about what will freeze well and what doesn't.
We've had good luck with most everything except: cream cheese and sour cream sometimes becomes a curdy-like consistency in soups and sauces after being defrosted. Most of the time cream cheese is okay if it is mixed in very well. We will usually exclude the sour cream from a soup or sauce and add it at the time of cooking though. It still tastes the same, I just don't like curdy-looking food.
The other thing that can get weird is potatoes. Hashbrowns that have already been frozen obviously work well. But fresh diced potatoes in a soup can get weird and even turn your soup brown. However, twice baked potatoes work great. And are so yummy!
Most everything else we've tried and had good luck with. I'll post some of our favorite recipes next...
Monday, August 10, 2009
Blah...
I have not posted in so long. And unfortunately, what finally has brought me to post is a general feeling of "blah".
We have been very, very busy since my last post. We've went on numerous trips (both business and pleasure), started a new business or two (I don't know- I can't keep track of it all anymore), had a broken arm (Logan), and had general summer business/lazyness. We've had a lot of fun.
And yet, today I find myself feeling discouraged and just blah. I know it is my perfectionist self pointing out all my imperfections... I just never seem to be enough of what I want to be. I don't seem to have enough time, money, or creativity to do the things I would like. I would love to have a house like this, or heck even a corner of my house to look like that. I don't have the money to buy things new. I read blogs that extoll the virtues of yard sales and Goodwill and buying trash and making it treasure. Which is great. Except I just don't follow through. The trash from one person's garage becomes trash with unrealized potential in my garage that I finally get sick of looking at and take back to Goodwill.
Beyond just decorating my home, I struggle with even keeping it decently clean. Like not even clean (as in cleaner and rag and elbow grease clean) just picked up (as in there are not shreds of toilet paper strewn through the house from the dog and juice spilled over the table from the kids and piles of laundry in the laundry room and dishes I'm avoiding doing in the sink). Yeah, that. Messes happen with three boys and a puppy. Fast.
And then there's the whole not feeling like a good mom/person/friend/etc. etc. etc. You know- blaahhh.
And I really need a scrapbook night. Haven't been in months. Sigh.
Did I mention- blah?!?
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Works for Me Wednesday
I've come to the conclusion that a lot of what we do as parents is lie to our kids.
We tell them that the cup their brother is drinking out of is not theirs to avoid a tantrum.
We tell them that the Easter Bunny must have gotten confused because we weren't at home and we talked to him on the phone- he'll be here after church (when we really just were tired and went to bed, forgetting entirely about the Easter Bunny).
We tell them that the tooth fairy's money must have fallen behind the bed (and then craftily "find" one as we look. Yeah we haven't had the best luck lately with the whole be sneaky after your child falls asleep thing.)
The latest in my string of successful lies has to do with bread. I'm very proud of this little deception. My kids refuse to eat the heel off the bread. Which usually means we throw it away- and I HATE wasting food.
A while ago, I was making lunch for my boys and I didn't have enough bread to make sandwiches for everyone unless I used the heels. To disguise the undesirable bread, I merely buttered the "outside" portion of the bread and left the "inside" portion facing out, so it looked like a regular (albeit small) piece of bread.
They ate it. And they didn't know the difference.
Is it bad that I felt more guilt about throwing away bread than I do about deceiving my kids?
Works for me!
If you'd like to see other "works for me" tips, head over to We are THAT Family.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Swagbucks
I just found this awesome site where you can earn FREE prizes, just by using their search site and referring your friends to use it too. If you'd like to learn more or sign up, go here:
http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=636592
and you'll receive six swag bucks just for signing up!
Monday, June 8, 2009
It's a PAR-TAY!!!
As if I didn't have enough on my plate already, I've decided to start selling Lia Sophia jewelry. I just can't resist though. This stuff is GORGEOUS girls! And after learning about this great business opportunity, I'm excited to be selling a product I love AND earning great money!
Of course, I couldn't resist reaping the benefits of owning our own restaurant and catering the event. And there will be a drawing for a FREE necklace. You will get an entry just for coming and another entry if you bring a friend.
