Exhaustion in 5...4...3..2....

It is amazing to me how fast a child can exhaust a parent.


Good night.

Easter = Seminary

Those two things might not seem like they are equals. Connected in a way, Yes...one could see that if you believe in the meaning of Easter, you might experience Seminary. However, how is one truly equal to the other.

Here are some of the ways that they are equivalents in my life:

1) My husband works a LOT

2) I cook more

3) I can't hang out with my husband

4) I go to bed alone

5) Did I mention something to the effect of not getting to be with Jon as much???

Joseph's cry endeth my blog.

Waterlogged

Last night, Jon said "I close my eyes and all I can see is water pouring." We had over a foot (I didn't measure) downstairs in the basement after 2 days of pouring rain. We have a sub-pump that has been working like crazy for days now, but it's hard to accomplish something when the world around you is fighting against you. Picture this: Lots of water in the basement, up through the sub-pump it goes, pouring outside onto the grass alongside the house. It floods outside, seeping back into the already saturated grass and dirt. Back downstairs it looks we have taped into the ground through the field stone foundation; water was and still is, literally pouring back onto the basement floor. The fire department came yesterday and helped pump out a good 10 inches of water, but their pumps can only bring it down to about 2-3 inches. Awesome, but with this recycling issue, we just are where we are. As this progressed yesterday, we lost 2 pilot lights, one for our heat and one for our hot water. The wonderful plumber came yesterday, 3 kids in tow, to relight them. BUT, he could only do one. We have heat, but no hot water. The 2-3 inches still on the floor is enough to prevent us from being able to light the pilot light. We keep trying to plug the holes, but there's only so much we can do. On the GOOD side, it's supposed to be sunny and warm for several days in a row. Hopefully it will be enough (despite the fact that the area of terra firma that's saturated is in complete shade) to dry up enough so that the pump can feel successful after several days working lots of overtime.

My renewed mission: Rainboots. Why you ask? Oh yes, I forgot to mention. Yesterday morning, I walked barefoot through the foot or so of FREEZING (you can see your breath in the basement) water in attempt to plug the holes.

Thus...Wellies.

Conclusion...

If you're reading this, and haven't read the first part, please go down and read the first part

FIRST!
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On a hot skillet (I put a little Olive Oil spray on it) put on the fish. If you get it fresh ask them to skin it at the fish shop...SOO much easier.

Put in the rest of the juice!

Turn the fish over to cook on both sides. When it flakes it's done.
Don't be afraid to cut it through the thickest part to check it.


A little olive oil, toast some walnuts pieces, put in some garlic, then put in the green beans just to get them warm.

VIOLA!!! Put some of the juice on the rice if you like...it's gooood....
Ok, I know this looks like a TON of food,
but this is actually a small lunch plate.

J.J. LOVES salmon!!!

My "romantic" dinner for three. Jon added the candle.

ENJOY!

Happy Fishing

One of my favorite ways to make salmon. A very healthy and delicious fish!

Honey mustard, maple syrup and balsamic vinegar marinated salmon dinner

Ingredients:
Salmon (I wish I could afford fresh all the time, but I have found that the frozen fish from Trader Joe's is very good--this from a Cape Cod girl who's picky about fish)
Honey mustard
Maple Syrup
Balsamic Vinegar
(can I just say, Duh? to the previous ingredients)

Sides that I like to flank this dish
White Rice, basmanti preferably
Green beans (with walnuts and garlic)

A little olive oil (should be in every meal)

Completely optional:
Friends, pets and other distractions, housework, wine, others to share this with.


Sarah's comment to this dinner "Happy Fishing"


The ratio for the marrinade are 3 parts Honey Mustard, 3 parts Maple Syrup and 1 part Balsamic Vinigar. I use a tablespoon and if I think I need more, just do it all again.


This is what you can do when you run out of honey mustard....

Notice that I am holding this....I HATE touching raw meat (i.e. chicken) but fish I have no problem with...don't know if that's a Cape Cod girl thing or a salmonella thing.

Can you say YUM!!! And it's not even cooked yet!

Ideally I would have let this marinate overnight or for many hours. This only sat for about an hour and a half and it was still good! While it marinates....I did some other things...
My mess in the dinning room...

Oreo "helped"
My roses from Valentines day were very pretty but time to retire.

Yes, I have a giant eraser.
And a giant pencil...that's actually a coat rack for Joseph. I'm painting it. The eraser is done! Next is the pencil..it's going to be blue.

All Clean!

Oreo knows where the good droppings are...under the high chair...he's waiting for dinner.
Turn a few times if the liquid doesn't cover the fish.


Time to work on the other parts of dinner....pretty rice...

Action shots taken by myself!


Side note: This is in our fridge! It's very exciting to me, cuse I'm a stickler about drinking filtered water. Jon successfully plumbed!


Veggie side.

All ready to cook.....what else can I show you???



I made candles the other day

Wine time. This is a VERY good bottle of Pinot Grigio that costs $3.99 at TJ's. I even got it in the fridge to chill it for an hour before dinner.

Hmmm...should we use stemless or our campaign glasses?


Ok...time to cook.....to be continued.....

Something I can't talk about yet...

Thank you, my dear friends, from east to west coast. I don't know what I would do without you. In this unique role as pastor's wife, there are times that I have to keep quiet. When I'm excited about something, I like to share it. With everyone. When I found out I was pregnant, I told everyone. I couldn't keep it in.

This topic I should be able to talk about with anyone I like soon enough, but for now, I need to keep it to outside church circles. This is exceptionally difficult, because it directly relates to the church and frankly doesn't mean much to any of you who aren't apart of FBC Medfield.

So, again, friends, Thank you for listening.

Here's the deal. Last spring, we formed a committee to explore the dream of selling the currently owned parsonage (where we live right now) and purchasing the piece of property directly adjacent to the church. We are confident that it would be a step back in our personal living space, but, this is not our (Jon and I) house that we're purchasing. The biggest asset that this piece of property offers the church is PARKING! Our church is downtown in a typical small town suburban New England; complete with annoying next door business who is obsessive about "NO CHURCH PARKING". There's a house in the front and a huge parcel of land undeveloped in the back! Ideal for a safe parking lot for our church attenders AND the children and parents who go in and out all day long to the day school in our building.

The Deering property.

The man deemed "in charge" of starting the conversation with the current owner, a Mr. Deering, dropped the ball. There were a couple of "messages" or "conversations". All (or both...I'm pretty sure it was one of each and no more) with no progress made. Nothing happened this fall and this particular church member is now inundated with tax season. I've been telling Jon this for some time now, confident that a different personality contacting Mr. Deering would bear much more fruit. After a conversation with another very spirited and confident attender who said "Let it go. It won't happen for a few years." Jon was overwhelmed with the feeling of "I need to call Mr. Deering." Going with his gut, he did. It was incredible. He had heard a rumor that Mr. Deering was putting on hold after talking with some developers. Jon said "I needed to hear it straight from the horses mouth." Mr. Deering said "People in a small town always think they know what everyone else is doing and thinking, but often it's not true and you need to go straight to the source." WOW! Mr. Deering told Jon where he was at, a little different price, a tad higher, but also shed some light into the house itself, including the fact that there are in deed 2 rental properties as well as the main living quarters, each of which get about $700/mo. (Cheap in NE...we were at the lowest price in government subsidized housing and it was more than that!) Mr. Deering also said "I'll wait until I hear from you before I do anything else." HELLO??? DID YOU READ THAT RIGHT??? YUP..he's waiting on US!!! Jon promptly called a few people on the committee, most of which are in the real estate business. The rough numbers concluded that what we would need extra (after selling the current parsonage) would come down to less than $900/mo. of a mortgage. Given the rentals, we would actually be MAKING money off of this property.

Inhale......exhale......

A year ago there was a time-line of doing this sell/purchase by the start of this summer. On Monday, Jon and I were working outside and talking and Jon said "It looks like we're going to be here for a while." Which is fine, we love the house, and not having to move so quick again would be nice. Two days later, I think we're both mentally packing. There's also another personal thing. We do want to have more children. A compromise of how far apart Jon and I want our children (Jon wants 2 years, I want 4), it equates to us starting that process again in the next year. I don't think anyone that reads this has kids, but let me tell you, moving while pregnant or with an infant is something we have NO interest in. Been there done that don't want to do it again. SO...moving this spring/early summer would be ideal in that way.

Inhale....exhale....

Lots of meetings soon. Updates will be provided....This current house will not be easy for the longstanding church members to let go of. There's a lot of sweat equity here (even though most don't realize that it's time for more) and even those that like this idea are having a hard time letting go. Pray that they will let go and trust.

Thank you again, my dear friends. For being my outlet in an odd world.

The challenges of an insomniac

Some of you know that I have had my ups and downs with this seemingly simple task called "Sleep". For some of you, it's easy. Go about your day, grow tired, climb into bed, fall asleep, sleep, wake up rested. While I understand that not every night is like this and many times you may sleep, but may not wake up rested, usually due to not enough sleep, which in turn is usually due to our self inflicted hectic schedules. Jon routinely stays up to the wee hours of the morning working on his sermon. I bet CG has gotten less than the recommended amount of sleep many a night due to her frantic attempt to get done the thousands of pages of research papers about a spice I have in my spice drawer. Then there's my poor friend Sarah who no matter how much she sleeps, still is not rested.

In college I went a month....yes, I kid you not (CG and Jon remember)...a month I didn't sleep. I would lie down in bed (sometimes with my head at the foot of the bed) and try so hard to fall asleep. I would rest but never actually fall asleep. Well, my old friend (rather annoying enemy) surprised me last week. No idea why, but I got out of bed I on Friday morning annoyed that I didn't sleep the night before. We had a big weekend ahead, so I did my usual work and keeping up with Joseph and kept going going going. My mom came on Saturday (after another night with no sleep) and did the same. Sunday was crazy! Church then back to feed the Chechile Clan for lunch (18 people for lunch--14 of whom came from VT). Then back to the church for Jon's Ordination Ceremony (YEAH!! He's officially "The Reverend Jonathan Daniel Chechile)!!! Once that was all said and done, got back home and it was a quick change out of my short skirt and tall boots (yes, I AM a pastor's wife and I still wore that!) and it was off to the airport to drop my sis in law off. Back home and to bed. No sleep. You'd think once this was all said and done I would have slept. Nope. A Monday of errands and then relaxing evening, went to bed and guess what?? I DIDN"T SLEEP AGAIN!!!! Tuesday I got up like a zombie. Jon bought me a pepsi to get through the day with Joseph and advil pm for the night. I basically spent the day on the couch watching Gilmore Girls and Joseph playing (oh yeah, Joseph got a cold Monday night too...just to make life easier). Finally...right?? Oh wait...nope! No sleep yet again.

Wednesday night I slept. Ahhh. A bit better. Thank God, cuse we had a family over for dinner (with 3 little girls under 3).

It's getting better, but I'm still recuperating from the stretch of no sleep that invaded my body.

Now I must go and do all the work for Sunday morning service that I usually try to do on Thursday.

Sleep well my friends and wake up every morning grateful that you slept.