Funny, Lucky or Blessed?

Being married for 33 years means we have been through 33 Valentines together. We started dating in September and married in January, so we did not experience Valentines prior to marriage and NO, we did not HAVE to get married. Back in the "olden days", that was always a big deal. Times have changed and so it goes with us and Valentines.......times have changed.



This is our life now and it is even more special than when we first met. For those of you who know my husband, he is what he is.....never puts on a front for anyone. Totally honest. Friendly to everyone he meets. Has been known to cause tears from laughing at crazy things he says and does. And what I am about to relate to you, may bring on more of those same tears or at least a good smile.

This is what he brought me home yesterday for my Valentines Day gift.



Beautiful red roses. Count them. Only 9. Don't the grocery stores usually sell them by the dozen? Hum? Being the totally honest person he is, after he gave them to me still wrapped in the cellophane wrapping from the grocery store, he proceeds to tell me the following story:

He had asked the Lord that morning to show him the perfect gift for me this year. (not sure i believed that part) He is not a greeting card type of guy, but he wanted something special. He had been to the gym to work out at lunch and then he and his workout buddy went to Subway to grab a sandwich before going back to work. When he opens his truck door, on the ground was this cellophane bag with a dozen roses. He looks around and doesn't see anyone that looks like they lost them, so being the honest person he is, he laid them on the back of his truck in case someone came looking for them while he was eating. They were still there when he came back out. One was a little broken. He plucks it out of the bag along with two nicer looking ones to give to his buddy so he could take them home to his wife. Such a sharing and thoughtful person, my husband. I got the nine remaining. The Lord had blessed my husband that day! A God sent gift for me!

After he confessed how he came about the special roses for me, I told him the Lord had just answered my need for the day. The day before, his buddy's wife asked her husband what they were going to do for Valentines Day. He replied that he was going out to help my husband work on retrofitting our motorhome with a flat screen tv. Her reply was "for real?".

Being the good wives we are, we prepared a meal and even took it to the barn for the guys so they could get to work quickly after the meal.
And, God provided that little something to make our table look like Valentines....red roses. I was blessed.



There we are.....great friends, great meal, beautiful, God sent roses, in the barn with the motorhome! How much better can it get? And this is the result of the hard work by the men.



A flat screen tv installed in the bedroom of the motorhome. Still needs some stain, but they did a great job!

Isn't Valentines about being with those you love? We had a great time in our own way. And, after hearing my daughter's story (they had to postpone Valentines until Saturday because the new "Swamp People" started Thursday night), I think our evening wasn't too bad for "old" people.

Have a Blessed Day

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Repurposed

I know the trend today is white and light and old. I love this in pictures, but in reality, I love color and my house reflects this. I also love new furniture and new accessories but more than that, I love different and unique.
This week I got to go to what I think must be the world's largest flea market in Canton, Texas. At least it had to be the world's busiest flea market. Surely you were there! It seemed like the entire world had to be there. The highlight of the trip was seeing Laurie Anna's Vintage Home's new expansion. Yes, she got most of my money this trip. We managed to go there twice in one day. If you are not familiar with her, visit www.laurieannas.com. It is a truly amazing store.
But the real find was from one of the more junk type dealers in the actual flea market. It had color and was just what I was looking for, even though I had no clue what it was when I found it. I had bought some 4' stems from Pottery Barn and Parkhill Interiors and needed something unique to hold these stems. When I saw this, I knew it was just what I needed and it was just the right color.



Do you recognize the container? It is an old grain auger - used to keep the grain dry.
It actually has the fan still in the bottom. Not sure how it was suppose to work and I am sure my son-in-law would have some of these around his farm and grain bins, but I knew I had to buy this one when I saw it. Surely he wouldn't have red ones.
I love to discover a unique find that works into my house so perfectly.



So much fun! What have you repurposed lately? What makes your house unique? Oh, the joy of decorating!
Have a Blessed day!

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Bacon Pimneto Macaroni and Cheese

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love Paula Deen and her sons and their recipes!  My husband knows that Saturday mornings are for lounging in bed and watching the Food Network until Paula and Jamie Deen and the Pioneer Woman have shown me their new recipes for the week.  That is my idea of what Saturday mornings are about.  Of course, they are being recorded in case something interferes.

A few weeks ago, Paula made a mac and cheese that looked wonderful.  You can see the recipe here or keep reading for my rendition.  We got together with friends for Labor Day so I took that opportunity to try this recipe.  As one of the men said, "I have never had mac and cheese that tasted better than this."

 

The recipe says to use five 1-cup ramekins.  I used 6 and had almost that much more left over to send to my daughter.  Hope they loved it as much as we did!

 

 

Word of caution to those who try this recipe - have all the ingredients cooked, crumbled, measured, etc before you start mixing together because this is kind of like making gravy, there is no time to quit stirring to take care of those things.

 

Bacon Pimento Macaroni and Cheese

 

Ingredients:

Non stick cooking spray

6 bacon slices

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1/2 cup flour

4 cups half and half

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Two 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

One 4 ounce jar diced pimentos, drained

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cracked black pepper (I used smoked blacked pepper)

1 pound macaroni, cooked, drained and kept warm

3 cups shredded smoked cheddar (1 small brick grated)

3 cups shredded Parmesan

 

Directions:

Preheat broiler.  Spray five 1-cup ramekins with nonstick cooking spray. (You could use one large casserole for this)

 

In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp.  Remove from the Dutch oven and drain on paper towels.  Reserve 1/4 cup bacon drippings in the Dutch oven, and discard the remaining drippings.  (I didn't have any to discard.)  Crumble the bacon and set aside.

 

Add the butter to the drippings and heat over medium-high heat until the butter melts.

 

Whisk in the flour, whisking until smooth.

 

Whisk in the half-and-half, and cook until the mixture is thickened and smooth, whisking constantly.  (This doesn't get super thick and doesn't really need to be if you aren't able to serve it right when it gets done.)

 

Add the ground red pepper.

 

Stir in the cream cheese and let it melt.

 

Add pimentos and bacon.  Season with salt and pepper.

 

Add 2 cups smoked Cheddar and 2 cups Parmesan.  Stir until smooth.

 

Add pasta and stir.  Spoon into ramekins or casserole and top with remaining 1 cup Cheddar and 1 cup Parmesan.

 

Broil until cheese is lightly brown, about 4 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

 

Have a Blessed day!



Hook n' Go

I am always on the search for something to make my Mother's life easier. She is 84 and barely weighs 105 pounds, so lifting and carrying things can be difficult for her. Just a few days before her birthday and Mothers Day, I found something on Zulily that looked like a great gadget for her.


It is called a Hook n' Go. You hang your plastic grocery sacks over the little hooks and wheel them all into the house at one time. No straining. No wearing out the muscles. And it even jumps the four inch tire bump with ease. If you have steps going into our house, it might not work too well. She loved it so much that I decided I needed one.



Equalize the bags on each side. It will hold eight heavy bags. (If you are wondering why I have so many soft drinks in my car, it's because we had a group from church over last Sunday evening.) The one down side to this gadget is that your soft drinks have to be in plastic bags for it to haul them. I just leave it in the garage for the next time I come home loaded down with groceries.

I found mine on Amazon.com and had to pay an extra $10, but I think it definitely was worth it. For those who have arm, back, shoulder pains, it is a great investment.

Hope this simplifies your life.
Have a Blessed day!

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A Life Changing Post

This post may be life changing for you or at least someone in your family. I have no clue who the smart person was that figured this out, but let me tell you, it can be a blessing once you discover it and share it with those in need. Are you tempted to eat the entire cake if it is in your house? Do you have a parent who lives alone, loves sweets, but has no need for an entire cake? Do you have small children who need a summer cooking class to keep them busy? Do you have a college student who only has a microwave in their dorm room? The list goes on and on for someone this blog can be very beneficial to. Here is the answer.



Take one regular cake mix, any flavor, and mix together with one Angel Food cake mix. I store mine in a baggy, but I am thinking about getting something more permanent next time since this really turned out great. All you are doing is mixing the two boxes of mix together, no other ingredients for this.




Take an individual microwaveable dish and add three (3) heaping tablespoons of the cake mixture and



Two (2) level tablespoons of water (you do realize you can't "heap" water in a spoon. Ha). Stir until mix and water are combined.


Place in microwave and cook on high for 1 minute





Remove from microwave and you have a light and fluffy individual cake!


If you want a little frosting on your cake.....


try some coconut pecan frosting. This will last for weeks in the refrigerator so you can use it each time you treat yourself or someone else to their own cake.




it is hard to tell, but I added the frosting to this cake. Talk about yummy! And the best thing is, it is nice and warm and so fresh! I used a German Chocolate cake mix for my first try. Remember that the Angel Food cake mix will make your chocolate not so dark, but it still tastes great. This is also fun to do when friends pop in. They will be so impressed with your skills! I think next time I may try it with a sugar free cake mix. At least you would be cutting out half the sugar that way. Wouldn't this be great to take on a vacation where you have a microwave for a late night snack? The possibilities are endless.

Hope you enjoy!

Have a Blessed week!

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Foot Care

Do you have dry, cracked heels? I have found something that really works and believe me I have tried many products. If a store had a product that claimed to cure dry, cracked heels, I would buy it. Some worked better than others, but none worked totally, until now.



O'Keefe's for Healthy Feet works. I found it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond but you can also buy it on Amazon and I am sure other places. It was only $6.99 too which makes it even better!

The other thing I got new this week is also great for the feet and looks good too. I have searched for the perfect sofa for me. I probably would have rather had a recliner, or so I thought, but since every living room needs a sofa, I couldn't go that route. Most reclining sofas are a little too bulky for my liking. So I Googled reclining sofas and came upon the perfect sofa for my living space. It is Ethan Allen, the Conor incliner. It doesn't really recline, but it goes back a little, has a foot rest for the feet and looks stylish. It has the foot rest on each end. My color is called pear which has a little more green than the picture shows. It comes in leather too and it was only a couple of inches taller than my old sofa. I ordered it in January and just got it yesterday. I do believe it was worth the wait! Hope you like it too! Now I need to find the right pillow(s) to decorate it. Guess that calls for another shopping trip!


Hope your Easter is a Blessed day!


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A Life Changer

I must say right up front that I am totally addicted to smart phones, the computer and my iPad especially. Yes, if we are home in the evenings, we have the tv on, but our real attention is directed to the iPad for me and the laptop for my hubby. With that disclaimer out of the way, I want to tell you about the best app that money can buy, "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young.


A very dear friend has had a life changing experience recently and this daily devotional book was a part of that experience. After she started talking about her devotional for the day and how it so spoke to her, I decided to get the app. There is nothing quite like waking up and reading a Word from your Father before you ever get out of bed. I can say, it speaks to you EVERY day. It puts your day in perspective and gives you assurance that your Father will be there no matter what the day brings. It gives you a whole new perspective on living each day.
The nice thing about having the app on your smart phone is that it goes with you every where you go. Forget to read it one day, it is there with you no matter when you remember or no matter when you need it. Each devotional is a short, one page reading packed with just what you need for the day.
My husband has also become hooked on hearing from the Father each morning. They are easy to share on Facebook and Twitter too. Reaching the world to let them know there is Hope has never been easier. Whatever problem you face in life, I think listening to Jesus each day will certainly be a life changer for you.
Have a very Blessed day!
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