Sunny Saturdays and Menu Monday on Tardy Tuesday

Well our internet is still out at the house, and we are way behind on our posts... And life is BUSY right now- Taylor is about to make a weekend trip to San Antonio to go to Chosen with her Mom at Summit Church, and I am retaking the first two sections of the NCIDQ this Friday and then I am hiking out to Enchanted Rock with a friend for the weekend!

More updates.... my car broke, and was fixed, then broke again, and I fixed it again to get it to the shop and it is getting fixed for the last time (I hope). And we were blessed with another camera! The boss replaced his and gave me the old one- a touch screen Sony Cyber Shot (Score!) plus a new case and cord to go along with it! I also had a job site in San Antonio this past Friday so we had a jump start to our weekend and filled it to the max! Check out what we did on our Sunny (with a few showers) Saturday!

Thanks, Father-in-Law, for the fun outing! :D

This week's Menu Monday is pretty short. We planned on going camping last weekend so we bought food for that and didn't eat it so that what we are going to using this week. Just had to pick up a few things to supplement...

Bread

Eggs

Carrots

Tomato Sauce

Cheese

Bananas

We will try to update photos of what we make, probably in the form of TwitPics. You can find our tweets and twitpics on our Twitter App on the side of our blog. And if your on Twitter, follow us and let us know so we can follow you. :)

Thank you Lord for your many blessings this weekend! Please guide us through our week and help us to show your love to everyone we meet!

Also, wanted to give a quick shout out to our friend Amy! We met her through CHF in SA and she has been so cool to follow on facebook and on her blog. She just helped out with a Habitat for Humanity home and posted all about it. :)

Campaigning Dad

We don't like to talk too much about politics because it tends to divide people instead of unite them. BUT we do love to talk about our family and the adventures that they are on! If you remember, we talked about Simply Rose our Step-mom's shop in Castroville, and Chita's Angels. Well, now my dad is on a new journey of his own. My dad has been in law enforcement for longer than I can remember. Starting as a deputy in Devine and working his way up the ladder to Medina County Detective, Medina County Chief Deputy, and finally Sheriff of Medina County. (He was the youngest and first Hispanic Sheriff of Medina County!) Now after a few years he has decided to get back into the race as Medina County Judge. Because he is not on the ballet he will be running as a "Write-In" candidate- something that won't be easy, but he knows that his trust in God, his family, and many supporters can make it happen. So like we did so many years ago, we will be walking door to door, marching in parades, wearing campaign shirts, and spreading the word of Gilbert Rodriguez throughout Medina County!

Side note- During his first campaign for sheriff I was taking a dual credit economics class in High School and doing horribly... as an extra credit project our teacher said he would give us a point for every hour we worked on a campaign of an elected official. No contest! Not only was I helping my Dad but I was getting an A in economics!

Although I won't be getting any extra credit we will be supporting my Dad in his election right here on our blog. We have posted a sign on our side bar and it will stay there till the election, because we love our Dad and I designed the signs. ;) So if you are registered to vote in Medina County or know someone who is, spread the word to write in G Rodriguez for County Judge!

Go Dad! We love you and are so proud of you! Behind you 100%!

July Giving - Kids' Meals & August Giving - CHF

"Texas ranks 3rd in the nation for food insecurity, meaning one in five adults and one in four children in our state are hungry, and that is simply unacceptable."
- Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner, Todd Staples

Simply unacceptable - we agree! That's why this month we are matching our food budget with a donation to Kids' Meals - Houston's only meals on wheels for kids, striving to be the first city with no hungry children. What a mission!

Kids' Meals delivers nutritious meals directly to the homes of 1,200 hungry pre-school aged children living in poverty. The meals come Monday through Friday, year-round and are free of cost to the families.

A big thanks to our friend, Janie, who sent out an email making us aware of this great organization and bringing to our attention the real need for nutrition for children in our city. Also, our local Christian radio station, KSBJ has recently partnered with this organization to bring snacks and school supplies to these children! They also brought us these facts from Kids' Meals:

One in four children in Harris County (our county!) go to bed hungry each night. 24% of children ages 0-5 in the Greater Houston Area live in poverty, and approximately 60,000 preschoolers do not receive free meals in schools through the breakfast and lunch assistance programs.

So here's to you, Kids' Meals! Keep up the good work!

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For August, we decided that we were going to donate a Food Pak® since we celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our Food Pak® Challenge! Even though we didn't make it all the way through our recreation of the challenge, we still owe it to CHF to donate a Food Pak®! One for one! ;)

We love you, CHF! :) And we'll try that Food Pak® Challenge again, soon!

Menu Monday on Tardy Thursday...

Sorry for our tardiness, our internet is down at home. :(

Here is what we bought Monday night.

One of our first finds was a rotisserie chicken for only $1.99! Score! And next was the doughnuts for $1.99, again! (We didn't grab these until the end, when we were sure we could fit them within our budget! ;) We knew we wanted to go camping this weekend so we grabbed some food for that- potatoes, carrots, sausage, and eggs. Grandma sent us home with two loaves of leftover bread this weekend so we got to skip on that this time. We also still have some food leftover from when Taylor's parents were to here to supplement the rest of what we bought. And we picked up a few items to make pizzas! It is going to be a sweet week! ;) And we plan on trying out a tortilla recipe! :)

4th Annual ALS Benefit!

On our birthday we shared a little with you about the ALS Benefit but we want to share a little more...

Every year, our family and friends put on an ALS Benefit to raise money to find a cure for Lou Gehrig's Disease. We put in the time and the money and the people in our little town rally together to put on a fun and eventful evening. Our inspiration is our Tia Chita. :)

This is taken from a letter that she wrote two years ago...

I am living one day at a time and thank God everyday when I wake up. ALS has changed my life and the lives of my family. I am enjoying my grandchildren and watching them grow. I didn’t know how they were going to react to my walker and electric chair, but come to find out, they enjoy them. Tori, Gabby & Diego have made my life easier to cope with my disease. I have trouble doings the things I loved to do, so I just manage do them in a different way. My legs are weak so I am using a walker to get around the house, my electric chair when I go outside, and a wheel chair when I go to the Drs and to the mall. My voice is not as strong (loud) so I am using a Spokesman Voice Amplifier. I had surgery in August, 2008 on my vocal cords to help me with my speech and voice. In January, 2009 I had surgery to have a Baclofen pump implanted to help me with my stiffness and plasticity on my legs. In June, 2009 I had another surgery on my vocal cords because again I was straining my voice. My voice is harsh but I can talk. Using the phone has become difficult but texting has become very handy. It takes a while to text but I can do it.

Our second annual benefit was a huge success. Our goal was $10,000.00. We raised $11,000.00+, which put us in 3rd. place, second year in a row. Thank you so much. :) The funds raised stay here in the South Texas Chapter. These funds help me and other ALS patients with equipment and some medical expenses to make our day to day living easier. We (ALS patients) need your support so we can find some kind of cure to this dreadful disease and be able to live longer.


A little about Chita:

Chita, born September 24, 1954, is 55 years young. She is retired from AT&T after 26 years of working. Her husband, Juan, also retired from AT&T. The two of them worked at the same company and rode in the same car for an hour and a half to work and back for 26 years... and could not be more in love. They have two children, Xavier and Tina. Xavier is married to Mel and they have two girls, Tori and Gabby. Tina is married to David and they have two boys, Diego and Adrian. This is a beautiful family. As I was growing up, these people were not only my family but my neighbors, and Chita and Juan, my God Parents. My mom still lives there in the same house and Chita and Juan still live next door, but us kids have all grown up and moved away (except for Kathy because she is spoiled and will never move away ;) jk sis!) Our grandparents live across the street, we have an aunt next to her, and my dad and stepmom live next to her. And the rest of us are sprinkled around Texas. WE ARE ONE CLOSE, STRONG, LOVING, and PRAYING FAMILY! We believe that we can strike out this disease with your help and prayers, and our trust in God. We won't stop fighting and growing until we do. Each year our numbers grow and we get a little closer, but at the same time our Chita gets a little weaker. We would love for you to come out and show your support and love this weekend at our fourth annual ALS Benefit. Come eat, dance, laugh, play games, win prizes, and meet our family!

Come join the Chita's Angles team!

If you are in the San Antonio Area we are just under an hour away in Devine, Texas. Home of the Warhorses, Devine Acres, and Me! Ha, ha! ;)

September 11, 2010

Dinner

6:30 - 8:30

Dance

8:30 - 12

VFW

211 W. College

Devine, TX

Tickets are $10 for brisket dinner and dance or $6 for a to-go brisket dinner.

Tickets are available at the event!

All Proceeds Benefit the ALS (Lou Gehrig’s)

South Texas Chapter Association

Pushing Pause

Well, here we are more then half way through our adventure and we have come to the realization that this isn't working... :( No excuses, no ones fault, things just aren't working.  So after talking about it over lunch we decided that it would be best to put aside our challenge for now and start fresh in a few weeks when we are a bit more organized.

So just to share the little bit of how our eating was going here are a few pictures. :)

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday and Thursday and Friday

Tuesday

Like I said today at lunch is when we decided that things were not turning out as planned so that was our last meal, so to speak. 

For dinner we had all the food that somehow found it's way to our kitchen...

And for dessert we made a real treat!  Dulce de leche!

Our friend Talia shared a recipe on her blog and we had to try it!  

Thanks Talia!!! It was delicious!!!

We still plan on matching our goal to CHF this week.  :)  And we still invite you to join us if you feel moved to give. The fact is others don't have the luxury of deciding when they need the Food Pak and when they don't.

Photoshoot

(Thanks, Sister, for taking our pictures!!! Great job!!!)