Wednesday, April 30, 2008

It's Official!

For the last 6 months or so we have been working on a way to build a home. Chris has grown up in a "construction" family and so the thought of buying instead of building a home doesn't sit well with him. But trying to build, or buy for that matter, in such an unstable economy has tested our faith several times. After many houseplans, lots, appraisals, bank interviews, lots of prayers and even more waiting we are OFFICIALLY building our own home.

I am actually quite terrified of the whole process. Chris has signed himself up to do quite a bit of the work himself. Besides doing the engineering, he is doing all the excavation and utilities, framing, roofing, soffit/facia, stone work, wood flooring, finish carpentry, painting, and possibly some of the flat work. I absolutely know he is capable but he has to accomplish all this within 6 months while working a 40 hour work week at his day job, being a father to 3 children, fulfilling a church calling AND trying to keep his wife sane! I definitly think we will need your prayers!

The spot of our future home.


After a lot of consideration we finally settled on this lot. It is only a third acre which is smaller than Chris wanted (but exactly what I wanted...who wants to live on an acre of weeds...a third acre I can manage...but this is coming from a city girl). What is special for Chris is that this property we bought from his Grandpa (we live in the "DeMille subdivision" which is kind of cool). Chris used to move sprinklers on this land when he was a little boy so it holds a lot of memories for him when he would spend the summers living with his Grandpa. Now we get to build our home on it. The house in the background is his sisters.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Freebies

For all you digi-scrappers out there, here are some links that I have found that have really great freebies. Some of them you have to check often. Some of them you may already know. These are just the ones off the top of my head but I am sure I will remember more later...enjoy downloading!

Shabby Princess- they offer a free kit every 3-4 months but you can go back and download all the previous kits.

Ellie Lash Designs (who is also part of The Sunshine Girls) offers freebies usually at least once a week.

The Sunshine Girls - offer a big collaborative kit several times a year. They gave one for Valentines and Easter and rumor has it they are doing another one in May. If you visit each of the Sunshine Girls blogs you can usually find more freebies there too. There are links to each of them on the Sunshine girls blog.

Raspberry Road Designs - She offers usually a kit a week. Sometimes they are worth downloading and sometimes they are not...you just have to check back.

Nana's Attic - Nana offers a freebie with every kit she does...sometimes it is just a couple of QPs and sometimes it is some paper with some elements.

Scrap Girls - If you sign up for their newletter you can get a freebie sent to you everyday. It is usually only one thing from a kit but sometimes you get some nice elements or paper. They also have some really great tutorials, ideas, tools, etc. Definitly a site worth taking a look at.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Abigail is walking...

This week Abigail started walking...finally. I kind of feel bad it took her so long. When she started crawling at 5 months and then standing at 71/2 months, I was sure she was going to walk early...so, I actually started to sabotage her learning. Yes! That probably sounds like a totally horrible thing to do...but I figured she would learn soon enough and I just wanted her to stay a baby for as long as possible. But by the time her 1st birthday came around, I figured she had to grow up eventually so I started to help her a long a little. To make a long story short...she is walking now...at 13 months. She also learned to fold her arms during prayer and wave goodbye...all in the same week. Here is the cute video and pictures.





Monday, April 14, 2008

Scrumptious!

Here are a couple of new recipes we have tried. The first one I forgot to take a picture of...but it is made with snickers so how can you go wrong. For those of you who don't already know, I try at least 1 new recipe every week (sometimes 2-3 new recipes). If they make them on the blog then my family thought they were pretty good. We also cook for families on average once a week, so a lot of these recipes were also tried by others who also liked them. So I would love for you to try them too and then let me know what you think.

Snicker Bar Trifle
1 angel food cake (I used the rectangular one)
2 cups heavy whipped cream (or you can use Cool Whip)
2 jar caramel ice cream topping
1 large package of chocolate pudding
4 regular snicker bars (I actually used 5)

Whip cream until stiff (if using heavy cream). Fold in jar of caramel. Make pudding according to directions. Chop snickers bars. Put half of cake cubes in bottom of trifle bowl. Layer half of whipped cream, pudding and snickers. Repeat. Can be eaten immediately or refrigerated.




Chicken Divan

(courtesy of Paula Dean)

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen broccoli, chopped
6 cups shredded chicken, cooked
2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream (I actually ran out of S.C. so I used cream cheese...I am sure either would be good.)
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon curry powder
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used chicken broth)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the outer wrappers from the boxes of broccoli. Open 1 end of each box. Microwave on full power for 2 minutes, until thawed. Drain the broccoli and put into a casserole dish. Add the shredded chicken.

In a medium bowl, combine the soup, mayonnaise, sour cream, Cheddar, lemon juice, curry powder, salt and pepper, to taste, and wine or chicken broth. Whisk together to make a sauce. Pour the sauce over the broccoli and chicken. Mix well with a spatula.

Place the mixture into an 11 by 7-inch casserole dish or 2 (9-inch) square disposable aluminum foil pans that have been sprayed with vegetable oil cooking spray. Pat down evenly and smooth with a spatula. Combine the Parmesan, bread crumbs and butter and sprinkle over the top.

Bake for about 30 to 45 minutes.
**For my family, I actually used half of this recipe and it was plenty. I served with wild rice. Or you could make the whole thing and freeze half of it.


Carolina Pork Twirls
(Courtesy of allrecipes.com)

1 pound sliced bacon
1 (1 1/2 pound) fat-trimmed pork tenderloin
1 1/2 cups mustard-based barbecue sauce
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat a grill for medium heat. When hot, lightly oil the grate.
While the grill is heating, slice the pork tenderloin into flat strips similar to the bacon. Roll up strips of bacon inside strips of pork tenderloin and secure with moistened toothpicks. Season with salt and pepper.
Grill the rolls for about 5-7 minutes on one side, then turn over. Slather some barbecue sauce over them and cook for another 5-7 minutes. Remove from the grill and let rest for 2 minutes before serving.

**If you like crispier bacon, then you may want to fry the bacon a little before you wrap in the pork.

Philly Brownie Cheesecake
(courtesy of kraftfoods.com)

1 pkg. (19 to 21 oz.) brownie mix (13x9-inch pan size)
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
3 eggs
2 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate

PREHEAT oven to 325°F. Spray 13x9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Prepare brownie batter as directed on package; pour into prepared pan. Bake 25 min. or until top of brownie is shiny and center is almost set.

MEANWHILE, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Gently pour over brownie layer in pan. (Filling will come almost to top of pan.)

BAKE 40 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen side of dessert from pan; cool. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

MELT chocolate as directed on package; drizzle over cheesecake. Refrigerate 15 min. or until chocolate is firm. Cut cheesecake into 16 pieces to serve. Store any leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

I'm It Again!

Wendy tagged me through e-mail and I thought I would respond here...

Who are You?
Copy list and place an X by all the things you've
done and remove the X from the ones you have not. This is for your entire life!

(X) Gone on a blind date
(X) Skipped school
(X) Watched someone die
() Been to Canada
(X) Been to Mexico
() Been to Florida
(X) Been on a plane
(X) Been lost
(X) Been on the opposite side of the country
() Gone to Washington, DC
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
() Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
(X) Sang Karaoke
() Paid for a meal with coins only?
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
(X) Made prank phone calls
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Danced in the rain
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X) Been skinny dipping outdoors?
(X) Gone to the movies

1. Any nickname? Jenn, Jenny, little Jenny, Red-head Fred, Fred,
2. Mother's name? Deborah
3. Favorite drink? Water
4. Tattoo? nope
5. Body Piercings: Just my ears
6. How much do you love your job? Definitely
7. Birthplace? Henderson, Nevada
9. Ever been to Africa? No- someday though
10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Nope, but popcorn, yes (that is funny, Wendy, we just had popcorn for dinner on Sunday
11. Ever been on TV? Local TV
12. Ever steal any traffic sign? No
13. Ever been in a car accident? No
14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4-DOOR
15. Favorite salad dressing? Ranch
16. Favorite pie? Apricot, Pumpkin, Chocolate, Apple (I love PIE!)
17. Favorite number? 6
18. Favorite movie? Steel Magnolias
19. Favorite holiday? whichever Holiday is next
20. Favorite dessert? brownies with hot fudge and ice cream
21. Favorite food? Probably anything starchy - bread, pastas, potatoes then add cheese - YUM-O!!!
22. Favorite day of the week? Fridays
23. Favorite brand of body wash? Bath&Body Works
24. Favorite toothpaste? Colgate
25. Favorite smell? clean laundry, clean babies, clean hair, clean house, chocolate chip cookies, rain, the mountains
26. What do you do to relax? read and take a bath
28. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Happy (I'm happy now, by the way)
29. Furthest place you will send this message? I dunno...its online so the possibilities are endless
30. Who will respond to this the fastest? hmmm - dunno

Tagged - anyone who reads this!

Friday, April 4, 2008

Flashback Friday

If any of you have visited any grocery store in the country these last few weeks you have probably seen Girls Scouts selling their yummy cookies. I couldn't help but remember when I was a girl scout. I had a lot of oppurtunies as a girl scout that I wouln't have had otherwise and I am grateful to my mother who took the time and had the patience to be our GS Leader for several years even though she was already a single mom raising 5 kids. (She continues to amaze me.) So this weeks Flashback Friday is a tribute to all girl scouts out there...past and present. Good Luck selling those cookies!