Sloppy Joe Sandwich Filling

Sloppy Joe Sandwich Filling serves 6
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1 Pound Ground Beef
2 Tablespoon Onion, minced
2 Tablespoon Green Pepper, minced
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Mustard
3/4 Cup Ketchup
1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1/4 Cup Salsa
6 Each *Hamburger Buns


Instructions
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Assembly Directions:

Brown ground beef, onion, and bell pepper together over medium heat. Cook thoroughly until no pink color remains in the meat. Drain and discard the pan liquids. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Cool. Package the Sloppy Joe Sandwich Filling in family size quantities, or package into individual servings.



Thawing and Serving Directions:

Thaw in the microwave or in the refrigerator. Reheat over very low heat on the stove or microwave on medium high until heated through. Stir the mixture several times during thawing and reheating. Heap the sandwich filling onto opened sandwich buns and enjoy.

Things we have learned

1. It snowed in Minneapolis. I thought this was funny. It's getting cold here but not that cold yet.

2. They drive the speed limit here. However, the speed limit on the freeway is 70 miles per hour. I have to set my cruse control to keep up.

3. They wear their shoes in the house. This is hard for me to comply with. We have been to at least 4 different homes now and each one says...Please keep your shoes on, really, we wear them in the house. Kylie, have you learned to do this yet?

4. No tax on food in WA but cheaper sales tax in ID.

5. Mostly conservative in political choice

6. Hunting is huge here. Everyone seems to own multiple guns and bows.

What a busy week

What a busy week it has been and I think Dan told me tonight that it's only Wednesday! As I said earlier, we arrived last Wednesday. My parents stayed with us on Thursday. We toured the town, found the Wal-mart, Post Office and of course the Library. There are two malls in town, I'm looking forward to buying a couple new pieces of clothes soon. My parents went home early Friday morning. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming with us. Friday night we went to a really good seminar on Spiritual Warfare. I thought this was very interesting because my mom has been teaching me about Warfare since 1991, it was nice to have so much confirmed by someone else. And it interested Dan enough for him to start reading the book I bought. I'm looking forward to hearing what he thinks. The seminar continued on Saturday as well. Church was fantastic on Sunday. We got here just in time to start a new series on the Sermon on the Mount. After church we were invited to two different places. First breakfast at Larry and Ronnie's and then lunch/dinner at Doug's sister-in-law's. Both were great opportunities to start meeting people. I went with Dollee on Tuesday night to the woman's Bible study. We are going through a book on Ecclesiastes, it should be interesting. Tonight we were invited to one of the many growth groups at church were we again had the opportunity to meet some new people. Friday we are having dinner with some leaders of the college age group. Like I said, it's been a busy week.
Dan started work this week as well. He said it will be a process before he is off and running. So far, it's been talked about Dan getting involved in the college/young adults group which has a service on Thursday night...hmm, I wonder if we are going to that tomorrow night? He had a meeting today with about 15 other area pastors and Western Seminary. They are trying to start some lay leadership training classes (CD & DVD) to help grow there leadership in the area. This might be something Dan will help out with as well.
I'm in the process of learning how to do some cooking with a Microwave. I've been given a couple of books and tried to make some chicken pasta last night. The chicken tasted like chicken in the microwave tastes like. :( Perhaps 6 minutes was too long...next time I'll try 4 minutes and see if that helps. A few of you have suggested getting a toaster oven, I love this idea however, we have one in storage back home... The neighbor said she has two crock pots and said I could borrow one anytime I want. I might look into that as well.
Below are a couple of picture I took from my desk in the living room. :) Nice huh.

We Made It

Well, we made it to Idaho without any problems. Our cars did great over the mountains even in the snow we passed through. Yep, there are places with snow already. But not here in Post Falls, ID. It's been very pretty looking out here but it's a bit on the cold side. However, I just checked the weather for today. 49 in Minneapolis, 54 in Post Falls, so not too bad. :)

We are living in the lower level of Jack and Dollee's house. We have a very large living room area which we separated into two parts. The first part is where the TV is, it has two couches and a lazy boy. On the other side of the room we put a desk for me to work at and I'm hoping to find a 6 foot table to add to it so I can have room for my work laptop, a second monitor and perhaps even my personal laptop. Too many computers. We are a bit sad that Dan will most likely be taking his nice computer to the church...not real sure about that yet though. We also have a "kitchen" area. Table and four chairs as well as cabinets, sink and a microwave. I'm going to try to check out a book at the library on how to cook with a microwave. We are welcome to use the kitchen upstairs any time we like but it would be nice for us to have some Independence as well. We brought our Select Comfort mattress with us so we can "sleep in our own bed". I have slept better the last two night then I have in the past 3 months. Very nice. There is a guest room down here as well that we are welcome to use if we receive any company...so come on out. :)

Dan and I both start work on Monday. I'm looking forward to working from 6:30-3:00. Which will be 8:30-5 in MN. I think it will be great, I can roll out of bed, throw some clothes on then come out to the computer. I won't need to take a shower before work, make lunch or drive! And the best part is that I will be done by 3:00 in the afternoon! Not sure what I'm going to be spending my time doing after 3:00 but it sounds fun anyway.

Dan will begin Monday morning as well. First meeting at 9:00. We don't know yet what he will be doing. I'm already looking forward to hearing how his first day goes. Dan and I both attended a really cool Spiritual Warfare class both Friday night and Saturday morning, and Dan got up early this morning to attend the 7:00 men's breakfast. It sounds like Dan might need to learn to be a morning person. hehe.

Tomorrow is Sunday, our first day at church. I'm looking forward to this. So far everyone we have met seems excited to have us here. Hopefully it won't take long to make friends. We are invited to Doug and Linda's (pastor and wife) for Monday night football. I've been told they project the HD TV onto a 22 ft screen. Go Vikes!!

Contact Info

Some of you have asked for new contact info, I now have it.
Dan and Jamie Henderson

21761 W Riverview Drive

Post Falls ID 83854

Dan Cell: 612.991.5478
Jamie Cell: 612.868.2391
New Home phone: 208.773.1468

We are getting down to the end. It's now Wednesday and there are still many items in the living room that need to be cleared out. We rented what we thought was a large storage room for our furniture and things we have decided to leave behind for the next year but not all of our stuff fit in it...this was after we got rid of about 6 bags, 4 boxes and 2 large items of stuff to goodwill, PLUS threw away anything I could get in the garbage without Julie putting it into the goodwill box first. Where did all the stuff come from? Anyway, my uncle volunteered to take all the rest of our stuff to store in their basement. Thanks Rick and Michelle! If my camera worked I would show you the mess we have. I'm hoping camera battery shopping is on the long list of things to do tomorrow with my dad!!! He's coming to town tonight. I don't think I've seen him since last November! It will be so nice to have him here helping me get all the last minute things completed...this is his specialty.
Today is my last real day in the St. Louis Park office! Yahoo!! I'm back in for an ALL day meeting on Monday but we won't actually be "working" during the meeting but planning the next year. So, today is spent cleaning my office, setting my out of office greeting and all that jazz. Should be fun. Speaking of work...I should go there.

Things to pray for:
Easy closing on Friday
Get everything packed and cleaned before the closing
Have a great time visiting with family and friends over the next 6 days.
That we will get all of our items in the three cars we are driving to Idaho
That our 14 & 15 year old cars will make it over the mountains.

Starting back up

I'm going to try to get this blog going again. My work blocked the site and that is where I was entering stuff in the past but now that I only have 4 more days in the office I thought I would try to blog while at home. So many of you have asked us to stay in touch, this may be the easiest way to do that.
An Update:
We sold our house about 3 weeks ago and will be moving to Post Falls, Idaho next Tuesday, September 29, 1009. We are so very excited about this. We have been given free housing with Jack and Dollee Meredith so all of our furniture and many other things have been moved to storage for the next year. We are only taking what will fit in our two little cars and a rented mini van that my parents will drive to help us move.
A few things on our list to bring: Clothes, books, 42" TV, golf clubs, sewing machine, computer...
I found out last week that my work has approved me to work remote until the end of the year. What an awesome blessing this is!

More Stuff

I'm in the process of finding out that I am having some problems with my thyroid. I've had tests run and had an ultrasound and now tomorrow I'm being sent to the endocrinologist. I'm not sure what is going on or how good or bad it is. But I do know that it's creating some additional emotional stress to be dumped on top of all my other stuff. I'm fighting an urge to crawl in bed and cry but I know that doesn't do anything so am doing my best to deal with it. If you think of me, can you please pray that God would grant me some peace at this time in my life.

I was reading in Ezekiel this morning, totally not my book of choice, but I felt God bringing a passage to life for me. Ezekiel 33: " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. 34 The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. 35 They will say, "This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited." 36 Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the LORD have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.'
Idaho came to my mind when I was reading this. What an awesome promise for God to make. I started praying that I wanted God to use me in making this promise come true for Idaho. I don't know what it would look like and who am I to do anything great, but Lord I'm here to go if you want me. Then I read the next verse:
37 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Once again I will yield to the plea of the house of Israel and do this for them: I will make their people as numerous as sheep, 38 as numerous as the flocks for offerings at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts. So will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD."
Why would anyone not want to serve this God!

3 weeks later

Well, I've only missed one day of working out. Otherwise I've done at least 30 minutes everyday. PLUS, no extra sugar for the month of January. The no sugar part hasn't been too bad except for the times I have gone to dinner with others and they have dessert. February, I'm going to allow myself to have sugar during those special times but no other time. We will see how that goes. -I think I've lost about 6 pounds. Only 14 more to go. :)

Working out again

Now that the holiday's are over, Dan and I have decided to get back into the working out and losing weight routine. Today is day three. I'm very proud of my husband. He has gotten up with me at 5AM!! for the last three days. Dan is someone who would rather get up at 10AM and go to bed at 2AM. However, when I left for work at 7:20 this morning, he was crawling back into bed. :) He has plenty of time to adjust. I've lost 1.5 pounds already. That just shows I have plenty to go.

We had a no show house showing on Saturday, we are hoping they will try to make another appointment soon and another New showing today! It's been about one showing every 3 weeks. Which we have been encouraged about. Hopefully one of these times someone will actually make an offer.

Dan started working two days a week at the Robinsdale school district. He's helping in a tutoring center with highschoolers who would like to go to college. So far it's not very challenging or exciting but it provide 12 hours of income which we are thankful for. He is hoping to get some info on becoming a Math sub there on the off days.

Dan is once again preaching at the Blaine Highschool this Sunday (1/11) at 10:00. Feel free to join us.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We sure did.

2000 Miles

Well, my mom has decided to move back to Minnesota for the next 3 months. I know, not a great time to be in town, especially since yesterday's high was -4 but she is here. My dad is going to stay in CA. I flew out to CA on Wednesday afternoon and started the 2000 mile drive back on Thursday. It went really well! We counted about 30 hours in the car. We started out between 6 and 6:30 each morning and was in around 7:30. Long days but not late nights. It was kind of fun and I would do it again. The most fun thing we saw were 3 cowboys. Real cowboys on horses, driving cattle! For a city girl, this was quite fun. We also saw a coyote eating road kill, that was the only wild life we saw in the whole drive. We were suprised that the thing didn't care one bit that a car driving 50 (I slowed down to look) was within 8 feet of him.

While Mom is in town, she will be working hard on the book she is writing and doing a lot of counselling . I hope to have her help me pick out some new fabric and do a little 30 day cooking. It will be fun to have her here but hard knowing that my Dad is on his own back in CA.
Please pray for my parents, that they can work some things out while they are apart.

Two Showings

We had two house showings this month! These were the first two we have had. Our realtor is trying hard to get a hold of their realtors to get some feed back but so far no luck. Not sure what that is about. - Dan and I have decided to looking into renting out the house. I have a list of things to look into and hope to have it completed by early next week. If you know of anyone looking to rent, please keep us in mind.

Did you know my mom is writing a book? She is, I'm really excited for her. It's about her ministry and different types of healing God has performed in peoples lives. I'm helping her edit it. Yeah, I know know, I thought that was funny too. But Mom says I'm doing a good job and I'm enjoying it.

Dan has picked up a few tutoring jobs for the evenings. He's also trying to break into the substitute teaching field but so far no luck. I of course can't help but wonder if he's not getting a job because we aren't suppose to be here.

Please pray that the house will work out for someone and that Dan can connect with Doug in Idaho to get some things in place for our move out there.

I hope your Thanksgiving Holiday is a good one!

Dan is now 30!

Dan's 30th Birthday was on Sunday, November 9th. We gave him a big party Saturday night and 40 friends and family came to join us. Including my parents and Kylie and Jesse who flew in for the event. It has been fun spending the weekend with everyone.

We have no news on the house, still now showings. Our next through is it rent it out. I'm leaning towards a Jan 1 date but am still waiting for Dan to decide what he would like to do. Everything has been slow and getting a bit frustrated. We have even talked about Dan heading out on his own for a month or two.

Dan started a new part time job. He is now tutoring after school at Silvan Learning Center. They were excite to get a guy with a math degree who actually still remembers how to do it to join the team. I don't think they have a regular schedule worked up yet but at least it will be a little cash coming through. He's also looking into possible doing a little substitute teaching. It's hard to know what to do if we are going to leave in the next month or two. Again, more decisions.

Dan and I just started leading a new Sunday morning group at church. Our topic is Following God's Will. We are to come with a decision we are trying to make in our life and we will explore what God's Word says regarding his desires for our lives. Yesterday went really well and we were excited to see 8 others join us. It will be fun to see what Dan learns from this group. :)

I'm going on a 5 day quilt retreat this weekend!! I'm so excited, it's our longed one yet. I figured if it was going to be my last then it may as well be a good one, right? We take off around noon on Friday and head up to Camp Lebanon in Upsala, MN. We will then stay there until Tuesday doing nothing but quilting, eating great food, giggling until late hours into the night with little sleep. I know, your jealous right? :) I'm really looking forward to it. There are going to be 12 of us in our group out of the 150 women at camp that weekend.

This is probably enough info for you all at once. Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. It's been hard to share when there isn't much to share in the areas we really want things to be happening. I do have one request though, please don't try to be funny in telling us that you are praying for our house Not to sell. This is starting to become a real sore spot for me. It's ok if you are sad that we are leaving, this is wonderful to hear but this is something that both Dan and I really want to do.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great week.

What to Wear?

I'm having another Sr. High Girls overnight this Friday. I told the girls they could dress up. My only problem is...what do I wear? Any ideas?

Dan's preaching

Dan's preaching this Sunday (Oct. 19) at Cornerstone Church of Blaine. We meet in the Blaine high school's auditorium at 10:00 in case anyone is interested in hearing him.

Learn to Quilt

Does anyone want to learn to quilt? I have been asked a few times recently if quilting is hard. I don't think it is and would love to teach you how. I have decided to host a day of quilting at my house some time this fall. I have put together a very simple baby quilt pattern that I believe we could complete in a weekend. If you buy top of the line quilt material for this quilt it will cost you around $36. You can go much cheaper if you shop at JoAnn's. Let me know if you are interested and I will send you the details. We haven't picked a day yet but will soon. Hope you can join us.

No News

It's been a month now that the house has been on the market. Other than the four couples who came through the second open house we haven't had a single showing. I've noticed that it gets harder and harder to keep the house nice and picked up. We have decided to look into the possibility of renting the house out.
Our next obstical is that caddie season is coming to an end. I've given Dan the option of heading west without me in order to begin but he would like to wait for me to join him. The church is excited for us to be there but they will wait for us as well. This has been very conforting to know. Dan will soon need to pick up some temporary work somewhere for an unknown amount of time.
Please continue to pray for us.
1. That our house sells quickly or that we find good, reliable renters.
2. That Dan won't get too discouraged about doing something other than what he feels called to do while we wait.
3. That God would continue to use is here before we go.
4. That we don't get comfortable in the wait and decide not to go after all.

One of my Favorite Inventions

Did you know that you can download audio books from the Hennipen County Library to your computer? You don't even need to go to the library to do this! They are producing more and more of them all the time. This summer I listened to most of Jane Austen's books a few murder mysteries and now I'm listening to Jane Eyre. I like to turn them on when I'm cooking or cleaning the house or eating breakfast before I have to leave for work. If I had an MP3 player of some sort, I would load the book onto that and take it for a walk...maybe for Christmas...

Odd Hobby

My hubby has taken up an odd hobby and I would like to invite you to encourage him. For the past summer, Dan has been collecting Coke Reward Points. He found out that if he can collect 13,000! points then he can trade them in for a 19" plasma TV. He decided he would give it a go. So, not only is he continuing to drink his favorite Vanilla Coke, he is also dumpster diving at work and having friends, family and coworkers help him collect points. He's up around 900 points and has many more to go. If you are a Coke Product drinker, this includes Dasani, Powerade, Vault, Sprite, Minute Maid, Fresca and Barq's, and you don't intend to claim the points for yourself, will you send them to me? Points are found in the bottle caps or in the lid of the cases. Feel free to email me the codes you find. jamiehenderson07@gmail.com Happy Hunting!

Pull-ups

So, how does one learn to do a pull up? Is it bad when you have a really hard time just hanging from the bar? I have memories from a little girl and the gym teacher yelling at me because I couldn't hang from the bar with straight arms for more than 3 sec. When do memories like these go away? Dan has a stretchy band that we loop over our bar and I can kneel and pull on that like a pull-up. I don't think it's anything like a pull-up but I can do it. I wonder if I will feel them tomorrow? Will this one day lead to a real pull-up?

3 Things I learned about Yoga

1. You get to do it without having your shoes and socks on.
2. If would work much better with one of those sticky yoga mats.
3. Don't drop the bar of soap in the shower the next morning.