my blessed life

I have not had a bread machine for very long.  This past summer when a friend and I were preparing for a yard sale she had one she was putting in.  When I mentioned that I might buy it, she graciously just gave it to me!  She's a very sweet friend--one that I miss a lot now that I'm a few states away. Up until last week I had only made plain white bread in my machine, but I thought it might be fun to try something new.  Since we were having homemade pizza rolls for dinner that night I decided to try an Italian-sort-of-bread and found this one.  It was a huge hit, we all loved it! Pepperoni Cheese Bread (for your bread machine) Add these ingredients to your bread pan in this order: 1 tsp dry yeast 2-1/3 cups bread flour 1 Tbsp. sugar 1 Tbsp. dry milk 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1/2 tsp. onion powder 1/4 tsp. oregano 2 tsp. Parmesan cheese, grated 1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded 1/4 cup pepperoni, chopped (I just used the minis) 1 t...

With this New Year, the gifts just keep on coming.   I don't mean Christmas gifts, but instead those sweet precious daily gifts that God gives continually.  The things that we often just forget about or take for granted. I'm so thankful for these things!  0499.  a fresh new year, full of possibilities   0500.  homemade bread 0501.  snow flurries 0502.  puppy love 0503.  the satisfied feeling of a productive day 0504.  the sweet bond between a boy and his dog 0505.  watching the excitement of my kiddos over the success of a science project 0506.  the absolute sweetness of tucking my kiddos in at night 0507.  my very favorite chocolate 0508.  packages from the mailman 0509.  black raspberry & chocolate chip ice cream 0510.  a day gone better than you could have hoped

It was good to get back into the swing of everyday meals this past week.  We're doing a good job of cleaning out the pantry around here.  It's even starting to look sort of bare.  I'm glad that some things we've had for a while are getting eaten up.  Plus I like the challenge of having to get creative with what's left in there. This week I'm also making myself a *lunch ideas* list.  I am not very creative with lunches, but it's mostly because I'm busy with the day and just don't stop to think of good ideas (I think of them much later).  But I'm making a *lunches* master list from now on to help with the creativity. Lunches (in no particular order) :  {leftovers}  Sandwiches  Pasta Salad  Taco Salad  Homemade Lunchables   Dinners : Monday:   Beef & Noodles with rolls (we had lots of leftovers from last week) Tuesday:   Scalloped Potatoes with Sausages and a veggie Wednesday:   Chicken Sou...

I realize the weekend is pretty much over, but I'm posting my weekly wrap-up anyway.  Just because I like to do it.  It's always fun to look back over the week and see what we've been up to and what's been accomplished.   It's hard to believe that it was just a week ago when we welcomed 2012!  This week has been so busy for me that seems like a month ago-ha!   On New Year's Eve we celebrated with the kiddos at home with some pizza and games.  New Year's Eve is definitely different after children come along, isn't it?  ;)  Different is good though!   We played several games, but a new favorite is a little one that I put in Mr. B's stocking for Christmas called Story Cubes.  What a fun little game!  It's all about telling a story and using your imagination.  I plan to use this for school writing exercises. We started back to school on Tuesday.  (I needed Monday to regroup from the weekend and do som...

Wow!  The first week of the New Year is almost over! It's been a busy one here.  I would have to say it's gone fairly well, but it's had its challenges, too. A new year always brings that feeling of excitement, new beginnings and clean slates with it--at least for me it does.  But life isn't really like that, is it?  You still have some of the same problems, same issues and, yes, the same people in the new year that you had in the old year, right? I guess I've been feeling some negativity floating around this week and it has wearied me.  And worried me. Last night I decided to remind myself what God's Word says about *worry* and some of my very favorite verses jumped out at me.  I actually have these verses matted and framed, but have failed to remember them lately.  Isn't that typical of us?  Well, I remembered them last night and they refreshed my spirit! Just have to share them with you this morning: Don't fret or worry. Instead o...

The beginning of a new year always makes me want to organize, organize, organize!!  And I've been busy around here packing away the holiday decor, redecorating with the everyday decor, cleaning, organizing and, of course, meal planning.   The month of January will be mostly an *Eat From the Pantry* kind of month.  It's time to buckle down and eat more simply after all of the rich foods of Christmas.  It's also a time to reign in extra spending and save a bit by eating up what's accumulated in the pantry.  I'll be purchasing fresh produce, dairy and some meat here and there (although I nearly choked at the price of beef this past week--won't be buying much of that!) , but I'm going to do my best to clean out the pantry.  It's always good to do that periodically anyway, so that foods don't expire and go to waste. This little plan should also be very helpful in the re-organization of my pantry, too!   Here's what we're having fo...

(image from Pinterest) Well, hello!   I hope you all have enjoyed the holidays as much as I have!  My family--me included--just keeps saying how this was our best Christmas yet.  It was just really wonderful!   My parents and sister came from Arkansas for a week and a half to celebrate Christmas with us and I can't remember when we've had more fun!  We wore ourselves out with all of the holiday fun, but it was so worth it.   I just have to share some of my fave holiday shots with you:   window shopping in downtown Paducah, KY   Hamming it up with the whole family at Patti's 1880's Settlement making gingerbread houses with our friends visiting the Gaylord Opryland Hotel     decorating gingerbread cookies while waiting to see Santa at Bass Pro in Nashville refocusing our souls at our church 's candlelight communion service the joy of a new puppy (my kiddos' first!)...