Peaks of my day...

This is just a simple little list..nothing special..except to me:). I had one of those days where I was aware of every little piece of dirt....the little man was testing my patience and everything anyone did made me want to punch a hole in the wall. I think they call that hormones!!!! Don't you love being a woman? I was even saying hurtful things to my house! Calling it ugly and old...sorry house...but you do need a face lift. Instead of playing the whole woe is me... I have to work...take care of a child...clean...cook...look fab...etc...I decided to just be happy for what I did have and look on the bright side of things. My day got much better...thanks to a lot of prayer. So here is a little list of things I was thankful for today...

1.Having Target 1 minute away so I could sneak away during my lunch break and have some "me time" ( of course I bought Shane a super cool Spiderman coloring book, new socks and diapers..buying things for others makes me happy...but I did find a bright colored shirt that felt very Springy for myself...YAY). 

2. My gardener....it is our one luxury....actually it is a necessity...our lawn would be even more dead if our gardener did not come to our rescue every other week. So thankful for the rain on Saturday..we don't have sprinklers in our backyard and so it is hard to keep up on the watering and there is a lot to do.Now I don't have to water for at least a week...right??? The wind blew an enormous amount of leafs onto our patio. With one quick blow of the leaf blower it was all clear(I love that thing). I loved opening up the door once he left and it was all manicured and clean. Ahhhh...thank you Rich...your the man!

3. A washer and dryer. I don't have one of those fancy ones....I have a good ol' Kenmore set. I was complaining as I loaded my fifth load of laundry in and then I began to be thankful that I had a washer and dryer and that it was still working! Today I needed to wash not only clothes but all the sheets and blankets in our room and Shane's bedding. It was definitely a blessing I didn't have to lug them to the laundromat(always spelled it laundry mat...I have never actually had to go to one so I am really blessed). 

4.My son is almost 3(crazy) and can do things on his own. Today was one of those days where I was so busy with work and cleaning that the poor little guy had to pick out his own clothes and I also had him bring me his juice box(he can open the fridge..which is good and bad...this instance..awesome)!!! I felt guilty telling him to wait all day and that I would do whatever it was he wanted "later"...so we got all his train tracks out and set up a cool track and watched Thomas go 'round and 'round:) 

5. My shows.....The Hubs had a meeting tonight so I got to watch American Idol and my new favorite...Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis. Jeff Lewis makes me laugh...he is so blunt and mean...but I love it when he cracks himself up and his designs are AMAZE!!!! GORG!!!! ADORB!!! Ok..not adorb...but those are all the words I see circling around on Pinterest to describe things and in my attempts to stay hip I try to use them as well...not always a success. BTW...Billy Joel songs are boring...yawn...who did you like on AI? Apparently I am into shortening words:). 

6. Dairy Queen! I texted(sp???) The Hubs and told him it would be nice if he brought me a treat:). It was one of those days that I would have been mad if he didn't bring me a treat...even though he didn't know I wanted one...so I thought I should just send him a nice little warning before he got home. He delivered a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard..mmmm. Today was gorgeous..I mean GORG outside so it was a perfect conclusion to my day. Ice cream makes everything better. 

7. On a more serious note...I am thankful for work..for both The Hubs and I. Even though it has its ups and downs, God is always faithful and provides for us in our times of need...which seems to be often. My job is going great and I am starting an hour later next week so I can hopefully get in a workout in the morning. Love the flexibility and a great boss!

8. Last...but not least....CLEAN SHEETS! Is there anything better??? Even though I had to do all the laundry at least I can crawl into bed tonight and sleep better all because of my fresh and clean sheets! Oh and my mom made me some homemade laundry detergent that makes everything so fluffy and clean smelling....love it! Night all:).

What were some peaks of your day???

Prayer-Am I doing this right???

Every Sunday night a group of 20/30 somethings meet to develop our leadership skills and to get to know ourselves..others and most importantly God better. We wrapped up the first section about ourselves. I really enjoyed hearing others' testimonies and I even enjoyed talking about myself...selfish I know. The next step is getting to know God. I have to admit I thought this might get a bit boring. Again selfish. Then when we were handed the Westminster "shorter" Catechism, my fears were confirmed...until we started to dive in. I had no idea what this Westminster Catechism was. To me it sounded like something from long ago and had no relevancy for me today(there I go being selfish again).After going over a few of the first points in this Catechism..we somehow got into a debate on prayer. Really didn't know there was anything to debate...but let me tell you there were some very different views. Mind you I did not say one word during this debate...I know shocking! When I am not 100% certain about the subject being discussed I do not say anything. Which causes me not to say much at all...ever...because well I am not that smart. One girl in the class said that the "debate" was great and that we needed it...it causes us to look deeper into what we truly believe...something I have been working on. It is true...debate is great..not when it gets heated and ugly...but a civil debate on the truth is ok. But then I thought well what does God's Word say about prayer? There is only one side right? The right side? God's Word. I think maybe debate is the wrong term. It was just a difference in our own personal way we pray. Are you a specific prayer-er??? Are your prayers more general..less specific???

I came across this photo this week..that God wanted me to see..I am sure of:

The debate was about generalizing your prayer vs. being specific. I can see fault in both sides..but it was something I never really thought about. I took everything in..had no real stance on it...but it remained heavy on my heart. Was I praying wrong? For me..I pray both ways. Sometimes I just don't have the words..like the little girl above. Sometimes my prayer is simple.."Lord, do your thang!". God already knows what it is that we need or what we desire. That is what is so wonderful. I don't have to be specific if I do not know what it is I should pray. But if we remain in God's Word, as he tells us in John 15:7, "pray and it will be given to you". Does that mean that whatever we desire will be given to us? No, God knows our heart..he knows what is best and the outcome of the prayer may not be exactly what we pray for, but better. I think we can all attest to that as believers. So, now back to the other type of prayer...specific prayers. I immediately saw a danger in this for myself. If you are not praying in accordance to God's will, but out of your own selfish desires, I can see where we could get upset when the specific prayer is answered in a different way and we miss it or it is not answered at all. I think the underlying truth in this all is that if we are in God's word and not praying selfishly then it doesn't matter how general or specific our prayers are. AMEN!

I came across a series of podcasts from a pastor by the name of Jack Hibbs titled, "Suffering, Prayer and the Will of God". He touched on the subject of prayer. I really enjoyed what he had to say about those who pray for their own glory or to draw attention on themselves. He spoke of a woman who was sick. In James 5:13-18 it talks about those who are sick to call upon the elders and have them lay hands on them and they will be healed. This woman called upon the elders and she was not healed. One of the elders mentioned to her if it were possible if she was living in sin??? She was a little perturbed by that question and went home and continued to get sicker. She then realized that she had hate in her heart for another member of the church and had thought horrible thoughts about this woman for nearly 30 years. It had made her ill. She was living in sin. She confessed her sin to God and was healed. In the past I had a hard time with this...but I found the difference. There is sinning and then there is living in sin. We have a daily battle with sin...choosing to remain in that sin will cost us. I hesitate to even write about this because who am I to judge someone??? I believe that God gave this truth to me and it is in His word right there in James. "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective"-James 5:16. Sometimes we are ill because of our sin...there I said it...God's word says it. The issue I had was though does it affect others in our lives...like our children...grandchildren...unfortunately yes. Generational sin is so huge! If you have not confessed those sins and made known those sins of the generational sins before you than you need to. Even if you do not sin those sins...make them known...walk away from any temptation that might bring you to that place of sin that has plagued your family.

I love this from restoringyourlife.org:

"How it works. When a person has sinned, that sin stands in need of being confessed. If the person doesn’t confess it, then his children must confess it in order to break the generational pattern. Like an “outstanding” debt, the person’s sin “hangs out there,” impacting his descendants, until it is addressed through confession and cleared away. We are not required to take responsibility for our ancestors’ sins, but we are to acknowledge and confess their sin. (We agree with God that they were wrong and that God was right.) God asks us to accept responsibility for our own sin and to repent and be humbled. Understand that the passing down of iniquity (sin) is just that – the passing down of iniquity (sin). My parents’ sin does not become my sin, until I have made the choice to sin myself in the same way."

 God loves you. He loves you so much that he disciplines you. Now that I have a child I understand this. Spankings are good. They are a consequence for our bad actions. They keep us from harm. They are a reminder. Know what you are dealing with as far as generational sins and ask God to guide you away from those evils. 

Ok...back to prayer:) Jack Hibbs also talks about the person who commands God when they are praying. Or wills something for someone. You are not God...stop trying to take His job away. He is able and can do all things. Father knows best. Take yourself out of it. Also, Jack warns about the person who treats prayer as an announcement of hopelessness. Again that prayer turns inward and the focus is on the person...woe is me type of prayer...and does not serve any good. There is also the person who prays and really is just gossiping.  I am sure you have heard the person when you are going around the circle say, "Please pray for Susie...she is having some difficulties with her marriage that she came to me about and just really needs prayer". Meanwhile Susie went to this "friend" seeking help and did not want her issues to be shared at the women's bible study for all to hear.

To sum it all up. When we are in God's word and His word abides in us then our prayers will be pleasing to him. Yield to God...make your requests known to Him and if you do not know what to pray at that time..that is ok..He is God He knows...He just wants to hear from His children.

Anchors Aweigh

We have lived in our home for 2 years now..and for two years the wall above my couch in my family room has remained naked! I am trying to not buy things on an impulse just because it is inexpensive. I have learned from my mistakes and have slowly started to edit out all the impulse buys that just were not what I was looking for. Soooo...that is the reason why my walls remain bare. I saw a picture on The Lettered Cottage via Pinterest that sparked a feeling of happiness and my DIY meter went off. I knew I could do it..even with my limited talents in painting. Here is the inspiration picture....

See that black and white striped umbrella painting<3

I loved the umbrella idea but my Family Room is Nautical decor. So..then I thought..oooooo...I can do a beach umbrella. Then one day I thought why not do an anchor????? I LOVE anchors and I remembered that I saw a cute anchor graphic on The Graphics Fairy blog. I printed it out and was ready to get all the supplies I needed. I happened to tell my sister and she just happened to have a 30x40 canvas laying around(nice to have an artist in the fam...thanks sis). So she brought me the canvas and all the paint and supplies and I got to work. 

I used 2 inch painters tape to mark off my stripes. I wanted 2 inch stripes so it worked out perfectly. I was tempted to just leave the tape up and not paint at all...too bad I didn't have dark gray tape!

Painted 8 stripes in a dark gray (Acrylic Paint)

Took me about an hour to paint the stripes...I had a tiny brush and it took a few coats.

I decided to free hand the anchor. It isn't perfect...but close enough:)

Taadaaa...my free art work(sorry for the horrible pic...my camera needs to retire).

Anchors Aweigh(always thought it was away???)...this is a Navy term..."Aweigh" means that that action has been completed. Very fitting....my Anchor Art is Aweigh:).
****Entering this post into The CSI Project....

Pin Crazy-Savory Edition

I thought I would do Part 2 to my baking post about all the Pins I have tried from Pinterest. If you are like me you go through cooking ruts. I feel like I have about 10 recipes that get put in the rotation each month and I need some variety ever so often to get out of the cooking rut. Pinterest is a great source for new recipes. I have also found it is a great source for some BAD recipes. Here are a few Hits and a few misses.

HITS:

Garlic Cheese Wontons

Caprese Grilled Cheese(I added spinach and bacon) made for my mama's bday

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana made for my preggo bestie

Parmesan Honey Pork Roast Crock pot recipe-Super Easy and Delish

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken This is soooo good! I ran out of basil and used wilted spinach!

So..there you have it. These are all winners in my recipe book! Now...for the losers..I only have three so that is not bad...but these were all nasty in flavor or lit my oven on fire...both no bueno and will NOT be making these again. If you see these pics on Pinterest....DO NOT PIN.

Misses:

Claimed to be the best Beef Stroganoff Crock Pot recipe:(

yeah that was on fire...in my oven...I think I actually immediately deleted the pin because I can not find it. I believe it had soy sauce and garlic which apparently my oven did not like. I would like to say this may be due to my evil oven and so it may not be a bad recipe. 

I forgot to mention my bad baking pins..so I will add this one to finish it all off. This picture looked so good. I was excited because I was having the girls over for craft night and I had all the ingredients. It had a flour taste and just was not good at all. Total bummer....I don't know if I will ever learn to not try new recipes on guests...sorry friends!

You win some...You lose some. I think overall there have been more winners than losers and I am still loving Pinterest. Happy baking and cooking!

Pin Crazy!!!!

Most of the human population... or at least the female population...knows of Pinterest by now. Many have heeded the advice of other females to stay away..others have succumbed to the temptation of Pinterest and now spends late hours pinning away. I am one of those who has been pinning for awhile now and am pulling everyone in with me! I felt that I was pinning away but not actually putting any of them to use. So, I began to try a few recipes and some were great..some were huge failures.Side note..why are there so many bad recipes out there???? and why do i choose so many of them to make??? It is giving me a complex and I am a trained Chef...or at least I thought I was..now I am not to sure I ever went to Culinary School..based on the way some of these recipes are turning out for me. Ok..anyways...there are some good recipes and great craft ideas, home ideas, cleaning ideas..though I don't really care to try those tips out:).

I wanted to share with you a few ideas that worked for me!

Banana Pudding in Mason Jars...made for Mom's Bday!

Neapolitan Cupcake-Made for Dessert Auction

Cinnamon Crescent Rolls

Pecan Bars-Made for Christmas..mmmm

Smores Cookie!

Well...that was a lot of sweet pins! I will make another post about the more savory dishes I have tried. Don't be fooled by the pretty pictures on Pinterest. Sometimes the ones that look not so appetizing are the best recipes. Those people lack in photography skills(like this girl) but do not lack in their cooking/baking skills:). Enjoy and let me know if you try any of these...or share your favorite pin that you have tested out!