I think I am going to start blogging again!

Feeling a little urge to blog again. We'll see! It is for me, which is good, because I don't have many reading my blog. That's okay. It is for me.

One Year Goal Tracker

I read this post, on running, by Elise Blaha on her blog, Elise Blaha :: enJOY it. It was motivating.

And I wanted a chart like the one she mentioned. I could not find one on line. So I made one on Word. (This was a long time ago.) I found some mistakes...it was harder to get right than it should have been. So I saved it.

I found it today (looking for something else) and I think I fixed everything.

So here it is:  a chart of days in which you can track your progress toward a goal.

Revised, to include a copy of the One Year Goal Tracker that has Nov. 1 in bold.

https://www.scribd.com/document/503379540/One-Year-Goal-Tracker

Let me know what you think!

Recipe: Johnny M. Skillet Dinner

There are lots of versions of Johnny Marzetti Casserole out there, but I could not find one with these exact ingredients and made in a skillet. This is tweaked from a recipe I got from my sister-in-law. She calls it Johnny M. Casserole. I'll call my version....

Johnny M. Skillet Dinner
Serves 4 to 6

3 cups whole wheat elbow macaroni
1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped
1/2 to 3/4 cup celery, sliced thin
olive oil, about a tablespoon 
1 lb. ground turkey or beef
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 cups corn (frozen)
1 to 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Put the water on to boil for the pasta.
Saute the onion in the olive oil until soft and golden. Add celery and saute a minute or two.
Once the pasta water is boiling, cook the pasta until just done; do not overcook. (Check package directions for time guideline.) Drain.
Move the onion and celery mix to one side of skillet, add turkey or beef and brown. Drain excess fat from turkey or beef.
Combine the onion and celery mixture from one side of skillet to the browned ground turkey or beef.
(Alternately, move the onion-celery mixture to a bowl and then brown turkey or beef in the skillet.
When browned, drain fat and then add onion-celery mixture back to the skillet.)
Turn burner to medium, add tomato paste and frozen corn, stir together and let heat through for about five to seven minutes.
Turn down heat to low, top with cheddar cheese and allow to melt.

Bible Reading Plan by Tim LaHaye: I revised the chart!

Here is a new version of the Bible reading plan suggested by Tim LaHaye in his book, How to Study the Bible for Yourself.

   Bible Reading Plan LaHaye Version 2

May 1st Siesta Scripture Memory Team, Living Proof Ministries

Well, it looks like I forgot to post my May 1 scripture. This month is flying by!

Romans 1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (NIV 1984)

May 15th Verse, Siesta Scripture Memory Team, Living Proof Ministries

So late on this one!

Romans 8:1-2
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (NIV 1984)

Counting 1000 Gifts

Something lifted late last week. I don't know why, but I am grateful.

Aiming for 1000 gifts this year.

• Glasses, found...!
• ....in the driveway, not run over!
• Earpieces broken because one teenaged girl, tired, would sleep with them on (or on them). And we were helped to find frames at the store that fit the lenses. Associate said a one in ten chance!
• Lovely weather.
• Heart-to-heart with beloved.
• New cookbook, The America's Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook: A Faster, Smarter Way to Cook Everything from America's Most Trusted Test Kitchen on sale. Perhaps it will shake me out of dinner doldrums. 
• Counting days of refraining, with God's grace, from anger. 
• Focusing on the positive and having faith.

April 15th Verse: Siesta Scripture Memory Team 2013, Living Proof Ministries

I am participating in this memory challenge again with Beth Moore's living proof ministries.

This is a challenge to memorize two verses a month for the year.

Beth has instructions here, including information on the event that will happen in early 2014 for those who have checked in at least 21 of the 24 times on the blog, who bring a spiral with the verses written in it, and who able to recite the verses to another participant.

Since I plan to memorize Romans 1, 8 and 12 with Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience, I will probably frequently use those verses for this challenge.

From Romans, chapter 1:

April 1

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

April 15

²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

The Romans Project: Two Schedules - with dates - on Excel

I created schedules, with dates, for memorizing Romans One, Eight and Twelve along with Ann Voskamp.

These schedules include dates. 

   Romans One, Eight, Twelve Dates for Memorizing Beginning 1-6-13

   Romans One, Eight, Twelve Dates for Memorizing Beginning 12-30-12 by leahintexas

Oatmeal, White Chocolate and Raisin Cookies (made with whole wheat)

I made oatmeal cookies tonight using Smitten Kitchen's recipe for thick, chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. Oatmeal cookies on Easter evening? We had enough sweet stuff without them, but my oldest was going back to college and I wanted to send a little treat with him.

Actually, I adapted the recipe from her recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate-chip style (see the note just before the recipe itself).

I decided to try this recipe because Deb had cut down the sugar and used only brown (instead of brown and white, which many recipes call for). She doubled the raisins (which would be fine for me, but not for some family members, so I did not do that). And then added chocolate chips.

I doubled her recipe (she makes about half a standard recipe for these) and

• substituted whole wheat flour for the all-purpose 
• used smaller amounts of raisins and 
• used a smaller amount of white chocolate instead of regular chocolate chips. 

(White chocolate chips because I love the recipe that I tore out of a Family Fun magazine about ten years ago, developed by Ken Haedrich, which uses oatmeal, dried cranberries and white chocolate. It was the first one I saw that used this combination, which is pretty common now.)

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
3 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
scant 1/2 teaspoon table salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats (the kind you cook for 5 to 6 minutes)
1/2 cup raisins
scant 1 cup white chocolate chips

Go to Smitten Kitchen for directions for these yummy cookies.

Note: I reviewed copyright information for bloggers who write about recipes, here, here and here. I think I got it right, but if not, please let me know and I will correct.

Siesta Scripture Memory Team 2013: Living Proof Ministries

I am participating in this memory challenge again with Beth Moore's living proof ministries.

This is a challenge to memorize two verses a month for the year. Those of us who are participating post our verse on the blog post calling for verses on the 1st and the 15th of the month. It is so cool that there are usually well over one thousand comments -- over one thousand women striving to memorize God's Word! (Far more than that in January!)

Beth has instructions here, including information on the event that will happen in early 2014 for those who have checked in at least 21 of the 24 times on the blog, who bring a spiral with the verses written in it, and who able to recite the verses to another participant. I missed the celebration after the 2011 challenge, even though I was qualified to go.

I just ordered my spiral from the store. 

Since I plan to memorize Romans 1, 8 and 12 with Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience, I will probably frequently use those verses for this challenge.

This is what I think I listed as my memory verses on these dates. From Romans, chapter 1:

January 1, 2013

¹ Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— ² the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures

January 15, 2013

³ regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, ⁴ and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

February 1, 2013

⁹ God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ¹⁰ in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

February 15, 2013


¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. ¹⁴ I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.

March 1, 2013

²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

and yesterday's:
March 15, 2013

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

PHR!

I passed the test. So happy!

WARN Act Study Sheet

Here are some study notes from my studies for the PHR certification exam; this is about the WARN Act and was from the functional area of Employee and Labor Relations.

If you found this helpful, please let me know. If you found something that is unclear or wrong, please let me know!
https://www.scribd.com/document/503373986/WARN-Act-Study-Sheet

I am studying for the PHR (Professional in Human Resources) Certification Exam. I'll post about it here from time to time.

Human Resource Development Study Questions and Answers

As part of my studies, I wrote some questions that I hoped would be similar to the PHR exam questions. Here they are, with the answers.


Human Resource Development Questions and Answers

I am studying for the PHR (Professional in Human Resources) Certification Exam. I'll post about it here from time to time.

Reliability and Validity and Human Resources

Here are some study notes from my studies for the PHR certification exam.

If you found this helpful, please let me know. If you found something that is unclear or wrong, please, oh, please, let me know as soon as possible!

Validity and Reliability in Human Resources (Unit 2)

I am studying for the PHR (Professional in Human Resources) Certification Exam. I'll post about it here from time to time.

Sample Game for PHR/SPHR Candidates

This was kinda fun.... a sample game for those studying for the PHR/SPHR exams. It is called PHR/SPHR Billionaire: http://www.phrexamprep.com/Samples/Billionaire/PHRFreeSampleBillionaire/play.html

There is other good stuff at the site. Go to http://www.phrexamprep.com/index.htm, then click on Products, then Product Samples.

I am studying for the PHR (Professional in Human Resources) Certification Exam. I'll post about it here from time to time.

Equal Rights Bill is Signed

And here is a short YouTube video of the signing of the bill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaRUca7FyAc


I am studying for the PHR (Professional in Human Resources) Certification Exam. I'll post about it here from time to time. 

 

LBJ's Speech on Equal Rights after Kennedy's Assassination

Yesterday, I mentioned Kennedy's speech.

Then there is this speech by Lyndon B. Johnson on November 27,1963, after Kennedy was assassinated.


http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/lbjletuscontinue.html

He said "Our most immediate tasks are here on this Hill. First, no memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy's memory than the earliest possible passage of the Civil Rights Bill for which he fought so long. We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. We have talked for a hundred years or more. It is time now to write the next chapter, and to write it in the books of law. I urge you again, as I did in 19 and 57 and again in 19 and 60, to enact a civil rights law so that we can move forward to eliminate from this nation every trace of discrimination and oppression that is based upon race or color. There could be no greater source of strength to this nation both at home and abroad." 


 I am studying for the PHR (Professional in Human Resources) Certification Exam. I'll post about it here from time to time.

Civil Rights Address by John F. Kennedy

My studies of EEOC have led me to some interesting sources. I recommend this Civil Rights Address by John F. Kennedy. This site has audio and transcript.

This speech is our President calling on our nation to support the legislation he had asked Congress to write. He said, "Next week I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law."

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkcivilrights.htm

I am studying for the PHR (Professional in Human Resources) Certification Exam. I'll post about it here from time to time.

Project Life: This stuff makes me so happy!

I've been quiet here during the first months of the year. Trying to really get a feel for the year and what needs to be done.

I have a theory that new year's resolutions ought not to be made until the beginning of February. That way, you have a whole month to think about what you need to do and even "try it on" before resolving.

I had known about Project 365 for some time, but the products sold out rather quickly and I never remembered to look at amazon at the right time. I finally started following Becky's blog, where she announces the product information. I got my Project Life materials ordered and I am working on it for this year.

I am not yet in the habit of doing this, so there will be some filling in for the photos and journaling I missed. Oh well. I'd rather do this poorly (even very poorly) than not all!

Project Life really makes me happy! This is what I have been wanting for my scrapbooks! I was never a very artistic scrapbooker, nor was I fast. Throw the tendency I have toward perfectionism (which comes from insecurity, because I am sure that I am not as good as all of you are) and I didn't get much done in my albums.

I just love this and so happy that Becky Higgins is having such success with it!

P.S. Just to be clear: Project Life is the current incarnation of something that started as Project 365. Becky has a lot of information on her blog about Project Life. It is very flexible! If you want an inspirational introduction, see this YouTube video. If you want a short and sweet intro to Project Life, maybe this Getting Started slideshow will help.

P.P.S. It is sold through amazon. Not through a multi-level marketing program. I love that is it sold this way because I have come to really dislike the MLM model. We have tried it with reluctantly with Creative Memories (still have too much stuff), Nikken and Melalueca over the last 20 or so years.