Here are some pictures of the trip we took with the family to the Poconos. It was a lot of fun; we got to include Lydia's friend Mark, Fitch's friend Nathan, our dog Rocket, and other extended family on the Giancola side.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Friday, October 4, 2013
Efforts to Make Lunch Packing Easier
- Set out a sandwich making station each morning
- Keep muffins, cookie dough, brownie bites in freezer
- Put lots of snacks in baggies in the pantry ready to grab (rather than having to bag it in the morning)
- Pre-bag baby carrots and sliced cucumbers
- Fill 4 oz storage containers containers with items that I would normally buy pre-packaged
- pudding
- jello (mixed with crushed pineapple or cool whip)
- apple sauce
- yogurt (from the big containers which is cheaper than the little ones)
- pineapple chunks
- Keep hard boiled eggs on hand
- And I finally broke down and started buying Capri-Suns!!!
After School Snack Ideas
- ½ bagel with cream cheese
- cookies
- frozen grapes
- banana muffins (or other muffins)
- jello (w/ pineapple?)
- hot chocolate with marshmallows
- caramel popcorn
- plain popcorn
- meat and cheese roll ups
- apple sauce
- fruit kabobs
- english muffin pizzas
- frozen pizza (cut in strips)
- graham crackers with nutella (or frosting)
- graham crackers dipped in apple sauce
- rice crispy treats
- cracker with melted cheese dipped in salsa
- string cheese
- easy mac-n-cheese
- apple slices dipped in peanut butter (or caramel)
- nachos (make a cheese sauce or sprinkle cheese and micro)
- veggies with ranch or hummus
- cereal with milk
- cheese cubes with fruit
- wheat toast w/ ham or cinnamon/sugar
- pickles
- olives
- microwave quesadilla (cheese, beans or refried beans)
- chips and salsa or guacamole
- yogurt (with granola and/or fruit)
- rice cake with nutella and/or peanut butter
- toast with mix of cream cheese/jam
- grilled peanut butter/banana sandwich or grilled pb&j
- smoothies
- deviled eggs
- pretzels with chocolate dip
- celery with cream cheese or peanut butter
- tuna melt on a ritz cracker
- ramen soup
- instant oatmeal packets
- cottage cheese with Lawry’s seasoning salt
- pudding
- cheese/pepperoni crackers
- broiled cheese bread
- waffle or pancake with peanut butter/banana
- frozen fish sticks
- french fries or tator tots
- biscuit (pillsbury or biscuik) with butter/honey
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
From Smart to Dumb Which is Probably Smart
I am not quite sure how to title this entry. I have several choices:
1. Confessions of a Newly Recovering iPhone User
2. A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned
3. I've Done the Unthinkable
4. Untethered
I went into the the AT&T store today and did what very few people have ever done before. I switched my phone service from my handy-dandy, beloved iPhone 4 to a "dumb phone," a mobile phone that is just that- a phone. I can text from it or make and receive phone calls. That's it. Texts and calls.
The nice man who helped me at the store introduced himself and asked if he could help me. I laughed and said, "Yes, you can, but I am going to need a little emotional support. Are you up to it?" He gave a nervous laugh, asked if I was sure about my decision, and then proceded to say he understood and would try to make the transaction as painless as possible. I'm sure he was thinking in the back of his mind that he would see me in a week or two, ready to re-tether myself to my smart phone.
I know I have made a good decision for several reasons. First, the $30/mo extra (along with several other expenses that we are working to cut) is excessive spending for a big family on a fixed, ministry income, committed to keeping me home as much as possible. Second, I am so tied to my phone. Every spare minute, I slide that lock screen open to check my email or Facebook, text someone, peruse Pinterest, or find out what the weather is going to be for the weekend. So many choices for how to spend those spare seconds. When I am anxious or stressed, I feel suddenly soothed by the glowing screen with all my favorite escapes.
When the deal was done, I felt strangely disoriented, unsure of how life goes on without constant, everywhere access to the internet, google maps, to Facebook, to amazon.com, and to my newest addiction, Pinterest. No texting a cool picture at a moments notice. No instant access to my e-mail. Had I jumped off a cliff? It felt like it.
It was only when I had my new dumb phone in hand, paid for with contacts transfered, that I allowed myself to walk across the room to gaze at and stroke the iPhone 5 which I hadn't seen in person yet. To my amazement, it didn't have much charm. Looked pretty much just like mine, and I was already feeling so free of my $30/month commitment to being tethered to a glowing little box, that I was able to happily walk away.
1. Confessions of a Newly Recovering iPhone User
2. A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned
3. I've Done the Unthinkable
4. Untethered
I went into the the AT&T store today and did what very few people have ever done before. I switched my phone service from my handy-dandy, beloved iPhone 4 to a "dumb phone," a mobile phone that is just that- a phone. I can text from it or make and receive phone calls. That's it. Texts and calls.
The nice man who helped me at the store introduced himself and asked if he could help me. I laughed and said, "Yes, you can, but I am going to need a little emotional support. Are you up to it?" He gave a nervous laugh, asked if I was sure about my decision, and then proceded to say he understood and would try to make the transaction as painless as possible. I'm sure he was thinking in the back of his mind that he would see me in a week or two, ready to re-tether myself to my smart phone.
I know I have made a good decision for several reasons. First, the $30/mo extra (along with several other expenses that we are working to cut) is excessive spending for a big family on a fixed, ministry income, committed to keeping me home as much as possible. Second, I am so tied to my phone. Every spare minute, I slide that lock screen open to check my email or Facebook, text someone, peruse Pinterest, or find out what the weather is going to be for the weekend. So many choices for how to spend those spare seconds. When I am anxious or stressed, I feel suddenly soothed by the glowing screen with all my favorite escapes.
When the deal was done, I felt strangely disoriented, unsure of how life goes on without constant, everywhere access to the internet, google maps, to Facebook, to amazon.com, and to my newest addiction, Pinterest. No texting a cool picture at a moments notice. No instant access to my e-mail. Had I jumped off a cliff? It felt like it.
It was only when I had my new dumb phone in hand, paid for with contacts transfered, that I allowed myself to walk across the room to gaze at and stroke the iPhone 5 which I hadn't seen in person yet. To my amazement, it didn't have much charm. Looked pretty much just like mine, and I was already feeling so free of my $30/month commitment to being tethered to a glowing little box, that I was able to happily walk away.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Words to Share at the Celebration Service of My Mother, Susan Burdick December 1, 2011
“When I grow up, I want to be just like my mom.” That is what I wrote as a journal entry back in 1st grade. I found it years ago when I went home from college and my mom told me to go thru some of my old things that were nearly forgotten in the basement. I’ve obviously grown up since then. I’m my own person, and have taken different roads than she took. For instance, I am the black sheep of the family in the sense that I don’t have the athletic prowess of my sister, my mom, or my dad, and I have had a few more children than she did! But, I’m realizing that my early wish has come true in many other ways.
Ironically, as women grow older they often become like their mother in many ways. This has been true for me, as my husband can testify--sometimes happily, sometimes not!
As my mom displayed a strong marriage, I hope to be just like her.
We can’t talk about my mom without talking about the love relationship that she shared with my dad. We all think BIKES when we think of them. It’s a perfect picture of their life together. Sometimes they rode together on the tandem. My dad leading and my mom eagerly adding her strength as the stoker. Other times, they rode separate bikes, different speeds, but always meeting up at the end with stories to share.
But, as we all know, it was not about the bike! It was their love for one another that shined. It was their commitment to love life, their friends, and their family that kept them together and that fueled my dad’s patient care for her over the past several years. He has set the bar high for all you men out there...if your wife gets sick, just ask my dad what to do. He could probably write a book.
She adored him, trusted him, enjoyed him.
I want to be like my mother in her selfless interest in the lives of others.
I think I saw in my mom, even at an early age, a joy and love for others that I wanted to adopt...she could talk to anyone. I know I was mortified more than once as I was growing up, as she started up a conversation with a perfect stranger. But now, guess what...I embarrass my own children all the time in the same way. I love to chat with the person standing in line in front of me or just about anyone that walks past. Here is another way I have become like my mother. It is a quality that has made me well suited to being a pastor’s wife.
I want to be like my mom in that she made her family a high priority.
She certainly valued dinners together as a family. In recent years, studies have come out that say that the family meal with interesting conversation is essential to building healthy family relations. Old news to my mom...she had been pushing for that for ages. In my family, I emphasize the family meal as well. As a matter of fact, at my house, I even have my mother’s dining table that my dad made for her when I was three. Many of you have actually eaten at that table.
We continued her family dinner tradition last week at Thanksgiving with my dad at my sister’s house in NH. Julia had said several times that we needed to set 15 place settings. 15. Ironically, that was one too many and we didn’t realize it until we all sat down. After an awkward moment of silence, we all laughed, poured an extra glass of wine, and sat Phil and Nathan on either side of the empty chair thinking she would have wanted to give her sons-in-law one more tongue lashing. I couldn’t help but want to call her--she would have gotten a fabulous laugh out of that one.
A few days after she died, I felt a sense of panic. I was afraid I didn’t know my mother well enough, that I didn’t have enough memories, that my memory of her was already fading. I think that is one reason we have these celebration services: we all get a chance to share stories of the loved one that has died. These stories get passed from generation to generation. I think that I speak for Julia as well as for myself, we would love for you to share those stories with us this week or give us a call when you think of something that you want to share.
In the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is a verse that goes like this:
For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die...a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
I like to think that my mom would have wanted us to weep by laughing and mourn by dancing. May all of our lives be a song to which we and others can dance. The song that my mother danced to beats in my sister and I. Her chorus, while not perfect, was one of humor and of opinion and of love. That same chorus plays in our lives. Julia and I have written different verses, but the chorus is the same as hers.
Mom, I will miss you. I will miss hearing your voice on the other end of the phone. I hate to say it, but in recent years, I always knew you’d be home when I called, and I loved that. You would answer and listen and ask for more...more stories about my kids, more news, and then you would always say, “I love you, Honey” before hanging up. Thank you for loving me. Julia and I and your beautiful 9 grandchildren are your legacy--the mark you have left in the world.
Ironically, as women grow older they often become like their mother in many ways. This has been true for me, as my husband can testify--sometimes happily, sometimes not!
As my mom displayed a strong marriage, I hope to be just like her.
We can’t talk about my mom without talking about the love relationship that she shared with my dad. We all think BIKES when we think of them. It’s a perfect picture of their life together. Sometimes they rode together on the tandem. My dad leading and my mom eagerly adding her strength as the stoker. Other times, they rode separate bikes, different speeds, but always meeting up at the end with stories to share.
But, as we all know, it was not about the bike! It was their love for one another that shined. It was their commitment to love life, their friends, and their family that kept them together and that fueled my dad’s patient care for her over the past several years. He has set the bar high for all you men out there...if your wife gets sick, just ask my dad what to do. He could probably write a book.
She adored him, trusted him, enjoyed him.
I want to be like my mother in her selfless interest in the lives of others.
I think I saw in my mom, even at an early age, a joy and love for others that I wanted to adopt...she could talk to anyone. I know I was mortified more than once as I was growing up, as she started up a conversation with a perfect stranger. But now, guess what...I embarrass my own children all the time in the same way. I love to chat with the person standing in line in front of me or just about anyone that walks past. Here is another way I have become like my mother. It is a quality that has made me well suited to being a pastor’s wife.
I want to be like my mom in that she made her family a high priority.
She certainly valued dinners together as a family. In recent years, studies have come out that say that the family meal with interesting conversation is essential to building healthy family relations. Old news to my mom...she had been pushing for that for ages. In my family, I emphasize the family meal as well. As a matter of fact, at my house, I even have my mother’s dining table that my dad made for her when I was three. Many of you have actually eaten at that table.
We continued her family dinner tradition last week at Thanksgiving with my dad at my sister’s house in NH. Julia had said several times that we needed to set 15 place settings. 15. Ironically, that was one too many and we didn’t realize it until we all sat down. After an awkward moment of silence, we all laughed, poured an extra glass of wine, and sat Phil and Nathan on either side of the empty chair thinking she would have wanted to give her sons-in-law one more tongue lashing. I couldn’t help but want to call her--she would have gotten a fabulous laugh out of that one.
A few days after she died, I felt a sense of panic. I was afraid I didn’t know my mother well enough, that I didn’t have enough memories, that my memory of her was already fading. I think that is one reason we have these celebration services: we all get a chance to share stories of the loved one that has died. These stories get passed from generation to generation. I think that I speak for Julia as well as for myself, we would love for you to share those stories with us this week or give us a call when you think of something that you want to share.
In the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is a verse that goes like this:
For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die...a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
I like to think that my mom would have wanted us to weep by laughing and mourn by dancing. May all of our lives be a song to which we and others can dance. The song that my mother danced to beats in my sister and I. Her chorus, while not perfect, was one of humor and of opinion and of love. That same chorus plays in our lives. Julia and I have written different verses, but the chorus is the same as hers.
Mom, I will miss you. I will miss hearing your voice on the other end of the phone. I hate to say it, but in recent years, I always knew you’d be home when I called, and I loved that. You would answer and listen and ask for more...more stories about my kids, more news, and then you would always say, “I love you, Honey” before hanging up. Thank you for loving me. Julia and I and your beautiful 9 grandchildren are your legacy--the mark you have left in the world.
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