my blessed life

Ahhh....it's been a very nice Sunday. Worshipping at church, lunch with friends and a lovely nap....How has your Sunday been? Now I've got to get ready for a busy week. The next couple of days will be filled with getting the house all spic-n-span and packing our bags again--which, if you ask me, are two polar opposite activities. But, hey, I'm up for a challenge!! heehee! We already had a little trip to Arkansas planned to visit family and celebrate The Princess' birthday. Then Vince received an invitation to speak at a church in El Dorado, AR this Wednesday, so that worked into our trip nicely. We're looking forward to a very fun time with friends and family! Since listing our house this past Wednesday we haven't really had any interest yet--at least no showings. But it's been yucky weather ever since, too, cold and rainy. I'm hoping that's why no one has been in the mood to schedule showings. I have been noticing people creeping by and looking th...

These were amazingly simple to make and absolutely delicious! Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies (The Chocolate Deck) 3 large egg whites, at room temperature 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar Pinch of salt 1/2 cup sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1/4 cup cocoa nibs (optional) ~~~~~ Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 275F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or wax paper. Beat whites, cream of tartar and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl until they form soft peaks. Add sugar about 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue beating just to stiff peaks. Beat in vanilla. Fold in chocolate chips and nibs, if using. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls on prepared sheets. Bake, switching position of pans after 30 minutes, for 1 hour, or until meringues are light golden brown. Cool on sheets on wire racks 10 minutes, then peel meringues off parchment paper and cool on racks. Makes 2-3 dozen. I took these to some friends...

When I was a child my parents consistently read Bible stories to me each night at bedtime. My mom tells me of how they began doing this at age 1 with a beautiful book (which I still have) called The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, by Kenneth Taylor. Each page has a short story of the Bible with a few simple questions at the end to ask the child along with one of those old fashioned Sunday School card-style pictures. Many of those illustrations are what come to mind for me still to this day when I read or hear certain passages of Scripture. When we would get to the end, we would start over at the beginning reading it through numerous times. When I was around 4 years of age, my parents invested in The Bible Story set of 10 books (which was a huge investment for them). These are wonderful books with gorgeous illustrations. We read through these many times as I grew older. My parents were wonderful to read to me even after I learned to read for myself. They were very intentional abou...

First of all, I just have to show you these little goodies from the freezer section at the store. They are tiny, 4 oz. bites of yumminess!! Each brand has several flavors available in this size~these are my and Vince's faves. Mmmmm..... Secondly, I may be scarce here for a couple of days. We are getting ready to put our house back on the market, this time with a realtor. So I have some major cleaning, sorting, organizing, tossing, etc. to get done. Wish me luck~or better yet, send prayers this way for a quick sale!! But don't worry I'll be back in a few days. Have a great beginning of the week!

I'm feelin' good! We had another week of successful dinners with the kiddos! Whoo hoo!! I'm a happy mama:) And I have to tell you that PW's Ranch~Style Chicken was so yummy! You really should try it~my whole family loved it! One night the menu (mahi mahi) got bumped to this week because we ended up having dinner at some friends' house. That was very fun! We had breakfast-for-dinner--can you say: chocolate gravy ?! I've got to learn to make that stuff! I'm having fun trying to meet my personal menu planning goals of at least one meatless meal a week, plus incorporating more new recipes from my cookbook collection. This week I'm using recipes from these cookbooks/recipe collections: Monday: dinner at some friends' house, I'm making dessert: chocolate chip meringue cookies* (from The Chocolate Deck ) Tuesday: a pot o' beans* (from Jan Karon's cookbook ) with buttermilk cornbread Wednesday: baked chicken breasts with veggies Thursd...

Not long ago I mentioned in one of my posts how I come from a family of quilters. I personally have not yet learned how to quilt, but I would really like to. I've even been collecting fabrics that I like in hopes of someday making my very own quilt. I have been a part of making a quilt top however, even though I wasn't in on the quilting process. When I was still in elementary school~maybe 9 or 10~my grandma basted up some quilt blocks for me to embroider. I think I must've expressed some interest and that inspired her. That was her quilting style. She has made hundreds of quilts in her lifetime, some pieced and patchwork, but most of them have beautifully embroidered blocks. She made the most perfect stitches. And with only a few exceptions, her quilts were always made with whatever scraps she had~or was given by her daughters since most of them sewed. That makes her quilts even more special because on most any of her quilts I can find blocks made from scraps from clothe...

Well, I did it. I got out my pasta maker for the first time in probably 10 years! In our first couple of years of marriage I would make it every so often. But for some reason after we bought a house and started our family, living life sort of pushed time-consuming pleasures like making homemade pasta out of the picture. I've decided that I have to do this more often. It's just SO DELICIOUS !!!! It's a labor of love, but so worth it. If you haven't ever eaten freshly made pasta, you simply must try it sometime. The difference is amazing! Plus it's a fun kitchen project to do with my daughter (and maybe my son~sometime in the future:). I have one of those small manuel pasta machines, but you don't necessarily need one to make pasta. You could just cut it into whatever shapes you wanted manually. The machine is handy for thinning out the pasta and making thin noodles like fettuccine, but it is really hard to clean up. I guess that's the trade off. I thought I ...