Crazy 8's Meme...

Christos Anesti!
I was tagged by Sylvia for this meme. I haven't been blogging for awhile. School is keeping us busy! I do have some things I need to write up and will hopefully get to it soon:)

Here goes...

8 Things I am looking forward to:

1. Our Summer Trip to Wyoming and Yellowstone Park with Paul's family!!!
2. taking three classes to re-instate my Oregon teaching license (not yet, but sometime in the near future)
3. taking a trip to Russia to visit my sister and her family (someday, I hope)
4. Summer vacation!
5. Camping (first trip is Memorial Day weekend)
6. Going to the monastery next week with the boys (and a friend and her boys)
7. Baptism of our soon to be godson (have no idea when this is happening- but am looking forward to it)
8. Hoping to have lots of people over this summer- more bbq's, more hospitality:)

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. Made gouvroulakia (yum)
2. Went to school PTP board meeting (yes, I am on the parent teacher board)
3. Was part of in impropmtu procession through the house with the boys dressed up in their vestments and singing Christos Anesti at the top of our lungs (you know your Orthodox when...)
4. Did morning carpool duty
5. Laundry (that's everyday)
6. laid out my squares in my raised beds (we do the square foot gardening because we have a small yard)
7. good phone conversation with mom last night:)- Next time dad is at an AHEPA meeting, we should meet for dinner- just you and I- so you don't have to eat bad Thai food!
8. watched two more episodes of season 3 of Lost with DH

8 Things I wish I could do:
1. speak a foreign language fluently
2. visit my sister in Russia
3. knit and/or crochet. I'm not picky, would just like to learn one of these skills
4. exercise consistently
5. manage my time more wisely (ie- don't get sucked into facebook:)
6. I like my little house- but I would love to live closer to school/church (and have my parent's also move closer, too- but I don't think either of these will happen in the near future- just a hope/wish)
7. Trust in God for all things (be able to not stress and just trust that all things happen for a reason)
8. This is a big one- I have always wanted to go to the Holy Land and to St. Catherine's on Mt. Sinai. Don't know if/when this will ever happen, but would love to someday be able to go.
9. Yes, I'm adding a number 9- go back down to Project Mexico for a visit (that's where DH and I met and we haven't been back since we moved to Portland 8 years ago)- maybe someday do mission work again?!?!?! See number 7:)

8 Shows I Watch- OK, like other people, we rent all our TV/movies (through Netflix and the library) and rarely turn on the regular TV (except for things like last night we did watch the Blazer game). I have decided that that doesn't make us any more righteous or pious, it just means that we don't like commercials and we are picky about what we watch (and we like to watch what we want when we want to (and we are not going to get cable or a DVR or tivo)
1. Lost (we are currently in the middle of season 3- don't tell me anything about this show).
2. 24 (we are waiting for season 7 to come out on DVD and then will rent it from the library or something) so we are not currently watching it, but maybe will get to it over the summer
3. Star Trek Enterprise- DH loves Star Trek. We are in the middle of Season 2.
4. Oh, and DH has discovered a new show he likes (we have watched a few episodes on Hulu.com- Legond of the Seeker or something like that.
5. Veggie Tales
6. Masterpiece Theater- or any adaptation of a period novel into a miniseries- I loved Bleak House.

8 Tags. You're it!

1. My sister, Katherine
2. My mom, Susan
3. Maria in Crete
4. My sister in law, Hannah
5. My koumbara
7. My goddaughter, Christy (if she has time)
8. If you are reading this considered yourself tagged:) (I can't remember who all has been tagged for this meme)

You know it's spring when...

Yesterday evening,
sitting on the deck in my parent's backyard,
having a nice chat with my sister,
drinking decaf coffee (because we just like the taste of coffee),
watching the children run around the yard-
getting into all sorts of mischief,
driving home with the boys freshly bathed and I notice...
I have two moquito bites.
It must be Spring:)

great post..

my sister has a great post. check it out.

Now that we are reaching the end of Lent...

I thought I would post my Vegan Brownie recipe. This is the recipe that when DH first tried them, he then banned me from ever making them during a fasting period again because they are just that good. Now that he is Gluten Free, well, he just doesn't get any:) (actually, I made these for a presanctified liturgy dinner and subbed all purpose gluten free flour whenever it calls for flour and they turned out pretty good... they sunk a bit in the middle and were extremely moist, but those aren't bad things).

Vegan Brownies
Ingredients
1/3 c. flour
1 c. water
½ c. margarine
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 c. white sugar
1 tsp vanilla

2 c. flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp. salt
12 oz. chocolate chips

Directions


1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 pan.

2. In a small saucepan, combine 1/3 c. flour and water. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until thick. Pour into mixing bowl and set aside to cool.

3. Melt margarine in saucepan. Add cocoa. Mix until smooth and set aside to cool.

4.Beat sugar and vanilla into cooled flour mixture. Stir in cocoa mixture until well blended.

5.Add remaining ingredients (chocolate chips last) and spread evenly into pan.

6.Bake 20-25 minutes.