{Let's talk goals}

Goal setting is on my mind lately.  Call them intentions, call them goals, call them New Year's Resolutions, it's all the same in my mind.  I've never really been a big fan of the whole New Year's Resolution thing, because I've failed so. many. times. (You feel me, I know.)  But, as I've mentioned on this blog before, I do like the idea of starting something fresh, and the start of the New Year is a great time for that.  And, I'm turning 40 (wow!) in just over 2 weeks, so making some goals to accomplish this year just feels right.  Plus, I don't know about you, but I ate waaaaay too many cookies during the holidays, and it's time to dial that down a LOT.

So that said, I do have some pretty intentional goals this year.  And I'm limiting myself to just a few goals, so that I can actively and intentionally work toward completing them.  And I'm putting them out there for you all to see!!  It's a little scary and out of the comfort zone.  But, that's where growth happens, right? So here they are, my main goals for 2017:

• to listen to my body, intentionally.  I often find myself eating out of habit, or giving into cravings just because I can.  My goal for fitness and wellness this year is to stop and listen carefully to my body before giving into those feelings.  Is my body really asking for chips and salsa, or is it actually asking me for something else? (cookies!!  wait. no.)   I also have a goal to re-ignite my passion for Oula and to push my body toward the best health level I can this year.  (Fabulous, Fit and 40... that can be me, right?)
• to intentionally give myself structured down time.  I'm an introvert by nature, and it's really easy for me to escape into books and movies when my life feels stressful, and to let my relationships suffer in the meantime.  It is my hope that by scheduling some time into each day for some automatic "down time," that I will have more energy to put into relationships with others, instead of feeling the need to just veg out.
• to challenge myself to share more of "me" with those around me.  This includes my time, my activities, my weaknesses and my strengths and knowledge.  I know a lot of people focus so much on their weaknesses, and that includes me.  I am my own worst critic, and often feel like "well, who am I to speak into (fill in the blank)?"  Even though I *KNOW* there are things I'm good at,  there's still this doubt in my brain that it's not quite good enough.  A sweet friend recently reminded me that I *DO* have something to offer, especially in the areas of homemaking and family.  Exploring ways to share and stepping out of my comfort zone is going to be a challenge for me, but I hope that I can help others and grow in my own self-confidence as well.

I'll be honest, these three main goals are completely out of my comfort zone.  I like eating whatever I feel like, but reality is that 40 is just around the corner and I want to continue to be active for a long time.  I also like having my evenings to myself to do whatever I want.  I don't want to limit my book reading to a certain time of day.  But my relationships with others are more important than that.  I would much prefer to just share myself with my family and close friends, to teach my daughters about life and call it good.  But I have friends that could benefit from what I have to offer, and I can share myself through those avenues, even if sometimes I feel inadequate.

I have some other goals, too.  I have some really huge ones, that aren't quite ready to share with the wide world yet.  They are still marinating in prayer and planning.  I have work goals, such as finishing the process of getting my National Board certification.  I have smaller personal goals, such as continuing to catch up on memory keeping, and completing projects around the house (one of my living room windows has been without a window covering for almost 2 years!!).  Seriously. 

So what about you?  Did you set some goals for 2017?  Or are you taking each day as it comes? Either way, I hope you have the opportunity to challenge yourself to grow in 2017, and to enjoy the beauty that happens along the journey.

Happy New Year!!

xo~
becca

{2016 Christmas Letter}

Here we are again, at the close of another year.  2016 was quite the eventful year for the Mighty Meeks!  Our biggest highlight of the year was being able to take our whole family on a 2 week trip to England.  We loved sharing London with our kids, and were able to enjoy time with friends while we were there.  We saw so many fun things, and had a wonderful time!

Gabe (right) and his best friend, Mica (left) show off their graduation shirts.

Gabe (18 and a freshman...in COLLEGE!) had a very busy and joy filled year.  He turned 18 in February and ran track in the spring.  He worked very hard for his team and was part of a first-ever podium sweep at the District meet for the 3200m run where all top 8 places were from North Central.  May and June were filled with "last" moments of high school... Last band concert, last AP exam, last track banquet...until, finally, graduation!  Gabe graduated as a Distinguished Valedictorian from North Central High School in June.  He was also honored as one of the Outstanding English Students of the Year, and earned many accolades from his AP scores, and hard work at maintaining his 4.0 the whole way through high school.  He is now attending Whitworth University here in Spokane.  He is living at home, which is saving him a pretty penny, but is connecting and making friends through the Cross Country and Track teams.  He ran as 3rd man on the squad for most of the XC season and is enjoying college and college running.  His hard work continues to pay off both in school and on the XC course... He moved up to 2nd man for the final meet of the season, and is finishing his first semester of college as I type...having taken courses through the Honors program at Whitworth and keeping his grades up.  He is technically still undeclared, but leaning heavily toward and English major.

Bethany and Mica look great as they head to Prom.

Bethany (16 and a junior) lives for her running career.  She started her winter training by doing PT for a knee injury, which kept her out of track season until the last few meets.  She worked very hard to get her knee back in shape, and was able to qualify for the regional meet in the mile.  Her summer consisted of training, training, and more training.  She was a girl with a goal for State, and she came so close.  Her XC season was amazing, she ran the whole season with no injuries (a first!), and PR's around every corner.  Her dream of State came up short this year, but we are very hopeful that a strong team next year will finally realize the dream of an NC Girls State Title.  She has also done a great job in the classroom this year, earning mostly A's and B's.  However, she is quite ready to be done with Math!  Beth is still dating Mica, who is now a freshman at WSU in Pullman.  They keep in touch via facebook and text, and enjoy time together any time he is able to make the trek back to Spokane on weekends.  Beth is beginning to consider her options for beyond high school, and while she isn't excited about heading to college, she is looking at some programs that may lead her into personal training, which Jon and I think she would be excellent at.  She loves to encourage her team to work hard, and is able to inspire them to give their best.

Micci and Jon after the St. Patrick's Day parade.

Michaela (13 and an 8th grader) has explored lots of new things this year, while still continuing with old favorites.  She turned 13 in January (all my babies are teenagers now!), continued to work hard at her studies and Irish dance, ran track in the Spring and ran cross country in the fall.  She ran with the NC girls during some of their summer "off-season" practices, and has made some great friends that she is excited to join in high school.  She is still attending the North Central IST (Institute of Science and Technology) program, so she is already at the high school, just not able to participate in sports with her sister and her friends yet.  She has been struggling a little bit with a knee problem because of the strain of dance and running, but so far she isn't ready to choose one or the other, so she is in PT to get strong and hopefully be able to continue with both.  She is keeping her grades up and has studied and learned a lot as a part of this program.  She has major goals of becoming a humanitarian aide worker when she grows up, and she works hard at her studies to help her reach this goal.  She has also donated school supplies to our local refugee agency, World Relief, and was very helpful with our Grace Church refugee dinner on Christmas Eve (as were Gabe and Bethany).

Dolly, our sweet pup, is now 6 years old.  She has mellowed a bit in her middle age, and spends her days lying on Micci's bed, "guarding" the neighborhood from rogue cats.  She has become quite lazy, but she is still a sucker for affection, and loves to curl up with us in the evenings for some cuddle time.

Jon and I are both doing well. We celebrated 20 years of marriage this year (the reason for our England trip), and we are still very much in love.  We really enjoyed taking our kids to England this year, it was probably the highlight of my year.  We are both still running, not as often as we would like to be, or as consistently as we would like to be, but still involved and enjoying it.  For some reason, my autumn and back to school were very busy, and so I have taken a season off of teaching Oula, but I am really hoping to get back to it this Winter and Spring.  I am still teaching at Holmes Elementary, and Jon is still teaching music lessons and pastoring our small church.  We are still loving Spokane, and enjoy being a part of the many different facets of our community. 

2016 was such a full year, I'm sure I will look back on it with joy and great memories.  We had many friends and family come to visit us this year, we hosted Thanksgiving, and had our wonderful trip.  We watched our amazing children continue to grow and change and become amazing young adults with big dreams and big hearts.  There are too many pictures of so much fun and wonderful things from 2016 to share here.  If you would like to follow my instagram (beccameek), I post regularly, so you can keep up with the happenings of the #mightymeeks. 

Much love and happiness to you all in the coming year!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

{December Meal Plan}

December is a fun month to plan because there are always so many parties and things to plan around, it gets my meal planning creative juices flowing.  I love holiday baking and all the fun holiday foods that we never seem to eat at any other time of the year.  Parties and special days are great for whipping up a tried and true recipe for a favorite dip or cookie to take along.  It's not always so good for my waistline, though!

I also had the chance to purchase a new kitchen gadget this month with the great Cyber Monday deals.  I got an Instant Pot through Amazon for a great deal.  I'm still learning this new gadget, but so far, I am liking it!  However, this post is about my menu plan for the month, not my new kitchen toy, so here is the plan:

Week 1:
1st (Thursday): Crock Pot Chicken (but instead of cooking it all day, I used my new Instant Pot and went from frozen to done in about 30 minutes).
2nd (Friday): Pizza (couples night, we had Papa Murphy's)
3rd (Saturday): Leftovers (and a new Mac and cheese recipe to test out the new toy)
4th (Sunday): Pot Roast

Week 2:
5th (Monday): Enchilada Casserole (I have had this in the freezer and I have a late meeting, so it's perfect for Jon to just throw in the oven and bake it til it's done!)
6th (Tuesday): Creamy Chicken Piccata (going to try it in the IP, because we also have a strings concert for the youngest)
7th (Wednesday): Spaghetti
8th (Thursday): Homemade Pizza
9th (Friday): Chili
10th (Saturday): Leftovers (also my big cookie baking day for a couple of fun events later in the month!)
11th (Sunday): Paninis

Week 3:
12th (Monday): Chicken teriyaki with rice
13th (Tuesday):  Beef Stew
14th (Wednesday):  ???  Still thinking about this one.  Possibly Ramnoodle and Kielbasa
15th (Thursday):  Beef Stroganoff
16th (Friday):  Potato Soup
17th (Saturday):  Leftovers  (I have a fun Christmas event this day, to which I'll also be taking my favorite artichoke dip.)
18th (Sunday):  Tacos

Week 4:
19th (Monday): Leftover Tacos
20th (Tuesday): Stromboli
21st (Wednesday):  ??? Gotta leave some room for fun during Winter Break.
22nd (Thursday): ??? 
23rd (Friday): Chicken with Angel Hair and Bearnaise sauce
24th (Saturday):  Christmas Eve: we are hosting a dinner at our church.  I'm supplying a roasted turkey.
25th (Sunday):  Christmas!!  We are traveling.

From here, the menu plan gets a little more open and free flowing.  We will be traveling for at least 3 days of the next week, which means little cooking for me (yay) but also eating out probably.  Once we get back, it will be enjoying the last few days of Winter break before we go back to school on January 3rd.  I may want to use that time to create culinary masterpieces (ha!) for my family, or I might want to use the time to enjoy being with my family.  Or maybe a combination of both.  Either way, it'll all come together.
Enjoy your December, and Merry Christmas!!

xo,
Becca

{November Meal Plan: a little late}

Well, it's already mid-November, but I finally have a meal plan for the month to post.  I did finish it last weekend, as I planned.  But I didn't get it posted because my daughter is taking an online math class this year, and seems to always have the computer when I want to write a post!  Not much in the line of trying new things this month, Thanksgiving is a big enough production to worry about!

Without further ado:

November 7: Breakfast for dinner
November 8: Yellow Soup w/Sourdough bread
November 9: Chicken Alfredo (we forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer, so this ended up being Pizza Night from Little Caesar's instead!)
November 10: Spaghetti
November 11:  Date night
November 12:  Leftovers
November 13:  Creamy Chicken Piccata
November 14: Cheeseburgers
November 15: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
November 16: Salmon Patties and roasted veggies
November 17: Open...Maybe leftovers or maybe a teriyaki noodle dish I just found
November 18: Homemade Pizza
November 19: Leftovers
November 20: Church Potluck (I'll probably make mac and cheese or something like that)
November 21: Tilapia and Rice
November 22: Chicken Tikka Masala
November 23: Stromboli
November 24: Thanksgiving!
November 25: Leftovers
November 26: Still leftovers (or not... depending.)
November 27: Bacon Mac and Cheese (by family request)
November 28: Tilapia and Rice
November 29: Breakfast for dinner
November 30: Burrito/Nacho Night

In looking at the list, I don't feel like my family gave me very many "healthy" options when I asked them for ideas.  But I have some ideas of how to make a few of these a little more healthy than they seem at face value.  And then there are the ones that just aren't.  *wink*  Time to focus on making my lunches more "clean" when my dinners aren't!

{Meal planning fail}

It's November 4th, and I don't have my menu plan done yet for the month.  I feel like I'm flying blind.  So those of you who tell me that I inspire you... Well, I don't always have it all together.  Hopefully that will inspire someone.  We all fail at times, which is actually pretty encouraging, if you stop to think about it.

You've heard of writer's block?  I feel like I have menu planners block.  My last two months were great, and we mostly stayed on track, but leading into November, I am just at a loss.  I've added in a few things here and there, but mostly the month is blank.  Sometimes, even when we are good at something, we still have moments where we fail.

Here's what I do when my own brain capacity begins to fail me.  I reach out and ask for help.  I text my family and ask them to send me menu ideas.  Usually I hesitate to do this, because the responses I usually get are all the comfort foods they love... Which makes for quite the fattening month!  With the holidays coming up, I try to make an effort to eat mostly healthy during the "normal" days, but then my family sends back things like this:

They're so helpful.

My main goal for the weekend?  Finish planning the month.  Otherwise, Red Robin and Papa Murphy's are going to take all my money.  I'll be spending some time on Pinterest, reviewing what we've had recently (last 2 months), and filling in the gaps.  And, planning our Thanksgiving holiday, which will be no small feat.

Wish me luck!!

xo,
Becca

{Baked Potato Soup}

This one is a family favorite.  I got the original recipe years ago from a church cookbook that our church produced, so I can't take full credit for it.  I have adapted it a bit over the years, but the main recipe is the same, courtesy of my friend Kevin Overbeck..

Creamy, delightful goodness.  We can't wait for dinner when it is Potato Soup night.

Here's the lowdown:

Potatoes (I usually use 10 medium size russets, but roughly 2 per person)
Water to cover potatoes and a couple of cubes of bullion; I adjust a bit based on how many I'm feeding
~OR~
Chicken broth, enough to cover the potatoes
1 small onion, finely chopped
Generous sprinklings of garlic salt and white pepper
1 pkg bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 C milk
1 C sour cream
1/2 C butter
1/2 flour
Green onions
Cheddar cheese

Bring potatoes, onion, garlic salt, white pepper and water or broth to a boil.  Boil until potatoes are tender.  While boiling, melt butter and add flour to make a roux.  When potatoes are finished, reduce heat and add milk and sour cream.  When the sour cream has blended, add roux and stir until thickened.  Ladle into bowls and serve with green onions and cheddar cheese as garnish. 

{When SOMETHING HAPPENS}

That dream you have?  Take action.  Take a step.  Move toward making it a reality.  SOMETHING HAPPENS when you do.

Maybe that means that you make a big change.  Maybe it means a small change.  For some, moving toward a dream means a series of small steps and changes over time.  For others, it means taking a leap of faith and jumping straight in with both feet.

My dream versus my current reality?  I want to write more.  I long to be a published author.  I want to finish my children's book.  Reality says I don't have time, I'm too busy, I'm too stressed by my day job to fuel my creative juices.  In all truthfulness, I'm not sure I know the solution and all the steps I need to take to make something different happen.  But I also know that the last time I made a step toward my dream, instead of away from it, SOMETHING HAPPENED.

Earlier this month, I blogged about how I took a step toward my dream and was rejected.  I submitted my first article for publication and it was not selected.  Rejection is something that can be devastating, or something that can be a catalyst.  In this case, I decided that since my submission wasn't selected for publication, that I would go ahead and publish it on this blog.  You can read it here.  I shared it via my usual social media outlets, Facebook and Instagram.  Many of you read it.  And SOMETHING HAPPENED.

No, I didn't get "discovered" as a blogger or author.  I didn't suddenly achieve my dream.  But taking a step toward my dream effected change in my life.  It's a small thing, really, but IT HAPPENED. 

After publishing my little piece about my amazing grandparents, several family members read it.  In the process of my family members reading it, both of my aunts realized my need for my grandma's Cottage Cheese Pie recipe.  Within days of publishing my post on my blog and sharing it on Facebook, both of my aunts contacted me and sent me copies of the recipe.  One of them is even in my grandma's handwriting.  The tricky thing?  The recipes don't match!  Of course, no one is disappointed, in fact, we're excited to make them both so we can A/B them and decide which we like best.  I wrote something, that caused my aunts to realize a need, that caused them to take action, and now I have two copies of a recipe that I didn't have at all before.  SOMETHING HAPPENED.

This small change in my life would probably have gone mostly unnoticed, if not for my amazingly observant and perceptive hubby.  He is the one who made the connection between taking a step toward my dream, albeit a small one, and that step causing a change in my life, albeit a small one.  But when he pointed it out to me, the significance of the small step and the small change became huge to me.  I took a chance.  I stepped toward a dream.  And even when that dream didn't happen the way I hoped, it created a change in my life.  SOMETHING HAPPENED.  And when something happens, it causes hope to grow and dreams to fly.

And so, even though my reality tells me that I don't have time, and often my creativity feels used up by stress and a busy life, I know that continuing to write and continuing to dream is something that is essential for me.  Taking those small steps toward my dream, even if it never ends up looking like what I hope and wish for.  But SOMETHING HAPPENS in my heart when I take a chance on my dreams.  What steps (or leaps) will you take toward your dream?