30 by 30 List: Month 8

Well another month has come and gone.  I can't believe how quickly this year is going by!  Let's check out the 30 by 30 list progress made this month.  To see the full list, click here.

1.  Cook 10 new recipes (18/10 completed).

This month I added a couple more recipes to my list.

First up, summer squash casserole.  I love me some squash casserole, and this recipe is super quick, super easy, and relatively healthy for something that has cheese in it!  I'd highly recommend it.

Next, I tried this recipe for brown sugar garlic baked chicken.  It looked so good in the picture.  Mine did NOT turn out that way.  It was edible, but not great.  I don't know what I did wrong.  Fail.

Then, I whipped up some oven roasted cauliflower.  Y'all.  It was SO good!  Seriously, amazing.  The only thing I did different than the recipe was to use fresh lime juice instead of lemon because, well, I had a lime in my fridge to put in Seven and Sevens and I didn't have any lemon juice.  That's how I cook around here.  But it made no difference, it still tasted great.  This is going into the regular rotation for sure!

7.  Read 24 more books (11/24 completed).

Until I Say Goodbye by Susan Spencer-Wendel

This book was written by a woman who was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease.  She took the last year of her life and focused on really living, on making memories with the people who mattered most to her.  It's beautiful.  And heartbreaking.

As many of you know, Mr. Franklin also died of ALS.  And although I spent a lot of time with him while he was sick, and we had a lot of conversations during that time, we never talked about the disease or about him dying.  We both knew it was happening, but we just didn't talk about it.  I felt a little like reading this book gave me some insight on what he must have been thinking during some of our conversations, and what he was feeling during his last months.  Her stories of sitting in her back yards where he kids would come give her a hug when she could no longer hug them took me right back to Mr. Franklin's living room where I would kiss him on the cheek before I left for home after he could no longer lift his arms to hug me.  It was hard to read, but I think it was a little bit cathartic for me.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

Don't search for answers.  Live the question.  Enjoy life more because of the uncertainty.  Not less.

I have no idea the odds of being stuck by lightning.  Or the odds that I would be struck with ALS.  It doesn't matter.  It can happen to anyone.  Lightning strikes in the middle of paradise.  ALS cuts down a famous baseball player, an older man, a son, a daughter, a mother, in the prime of life.

Don't miss the old.  Embrace the new.

We live in the people we leave behind.

What do I do in such bright-line moments, where my handicap whomps me over the head?  Dwell in what there remains to be grateful for.  My hands are snarled, but I can still touch.  I cannot hold, but I can feel.  I have my connection to the world, which ALS will never take away.

Appreciate the life that comes.  Work and strive , but accept.  Don't force the world to be the one you dream.  The reality is better.

Fearing the possible is no way to live.

I will not return to my children, at least not in the flesh.  But I will, I hope, in spirit.  In the things they see and feel.  In the memories we made.  Look for me in your heart, my children.  Sense me there, and smile.  

8.  Send little gifts to my friends once a month.

So this month I owed a couple of guys some baked goods.  Problem is that they live way far away.  Pinterest to the rescue.....I found this recipe for muffins in a jar and this recipe for apple pies in a jar.  Looked like something I could probably do.

For the muffins, I whipped up a packaged mix (just had to add milk!), sprayed the jar with Pam, scooped mix in, and baked.  Easy peasy.

For the pies, I loosely (and by loosely I mean I didn't really) followed the recipe.  I sprayed the jar, but crust, put apple pie filling, then put a sprinkle of cinnamon, nutmeg, a drop of vanilla, and a little butter.  Then I repeated that again.  I then cut strips of crust and put them on the top sort of in a criss-cross pattern.  Viola!

I hate to put words in their mouths, but I think that it's safe to say that The Boy from Texas and The Godfather were happy when they found these in their mailboxes.

9.  Eat in 10 new restaurants  (14/10 completed).

Fuego.  Dang BFF and Mrs. BFF took me here and now my waistline is not thanking them for it.  This place has killer tacos and even better queso.  SO yummy!

On the taco front, I am now equally obsessed with this restaurant here in town called La Bodega, which has the best steak taco that I have ever eaten.  I've been twice.  In a week.  And another time last week.  Three times, two weeks.  I may have a problem.

Lastly, we have Grub Burger Bar, which is a popular burger joint in College Station.  SO good.  I had a burger with some sort of chipotle sauce and guacamole.  It was amazing. Word is they have great milk shakes as well.  Come visit and I'll take ya!

13.  Create a gallery wall.

You guys already saw these and read about them in my House Tour blog.  I'm also working on one at work in my office, so I hope to have photos of that next month!

19.  Take my quilts to a quilter (1/2 complete).

My John Deere quilt that College Roomie's sweet mama made for me when I graduated from OSU has finally been delivered to a quilter and the quilting process is underway!  I cannot wait to see the finished product!

Sister Lisa and me with the quilter extraordinaire!

That just leaves a small t-shirt quilt (really I don't need a big quilt, more like a throw blanket) that I need to find someone to piece for me and then have quilted.  Any suggestions??

29.  Buy myself flowers once a month (8/12 completed).

I found my very favorite flowers--peonies--for super cheap at the local grocery store here, so you know that I jumped on buying those!  Even better, I was bummed that The Boy from Texas was leaving to go back home after coming to see me for the weekend, so I needed these to help cheer me up.  Even more reason I had to buy them.