Halfway to a Clean House

Well I have spent most of my day cleaning the back half of our house. The in-laws are coming on Thursday night and I don't want them thinking I make their son live in a pig-sty! Plus with us having been out of town so much, I haven't really given the house a good cleaning. That is what my wonderful cleaning people that are no more were for :(!

Today I cleaned both bathrooms, dusted and vaccummed both bedrooms and the office, and hand mopped the floors and baseboards for the bathrooms, laundry room, and the back hallway. Took me about 2 1/2 hours off and on, but it is now done! Tomorrow I have to bake cookies for Keith's work and I have laundry to do so that will most likely take up the day. Thursday I will do the floors of the kitchen, living, and dining room plus all of the dusting and counter cleaning! It will be a long day!

So that will be the extent of my week, work is REALLY slow this week so it gives me a good excuse... I am trying a few new recipes this week too, so if they come out any good I will post them! Tonight is Smothered Swiss Steaks... wish us luck!

Katie's Wedding and Mom in the Hospital

Well we are back from our short trip to Louisiana and it was great! On Friday I was lucky enough to go to my friend Katie's wedding and it was wonderful. Nice and laid back just like her! Here are some pictures...

The Happy New Couple!

Me and the Bride

Me and one of my best friends, John (he was an usher in our wedding)

Me and the Hubs

Unfortunately right before the wedding we did receive some awful news. My mom had a mini-stroke (as the doctor's called it) and has been hospitalized since Friday. As I write this she is actually getting released (YEAH!). She was telling a story to her kindergartners when she she started feeling dizzy, the words on the page went blurry, and her right arm started going numb. Luckily after the doctor's ran lots of test, they have been unable to find any damage from the stroke, but they did find 2 aneurysms (luckily the are VERY small). She will have to be on medication for who knows how long, and she will have to continue to see a neurologists to watch the aneurysms to make sure that they do not grow large enough to cause any problems. The doctor's are not worried about them now (which I am not sure makes me glad or worries me that something could happen at any time). But please do pray for her as this will most likely be a ongoing thing she will have to deal with!

Last night we had our first Gourmet Group! It was so much fun and the food was wonderful! We had Lemon Thyme Goat Cheese, a Spinach and Blueberry salad, Herb-crusted Beef Tenderloin, Orange-Glazed Asparagus, Pepper and Pine Nut Rice, and a Chocolate Raspberry Torte. All was aboslutely wonderful and the company was great too! I can't wait for our next one in May! Luckily one of the ladies is also working on finding me a job... so hopefully between myself and her I can find something!

Job Fair...

So before we leave for LA I just had to write this...

So I go to a job fair in Tyler today... and can I just say, did no one teach these people how to present themselves to potential employers!?!?!?!? You do not wear jeans and a sweatshirt with tennis shoes, and you don't where your mini skirt with your hooker heels.

Do people really not have more common sense than that?

Boring...

Not much to say over here this week... I have been very busy with work, laundry, and cleaning before we leave tomorrow night for 3 days in Louisiana. My boss is out of town for the next 2 days so I have a little more work than normal and I am still catching up with laundry from when I was out of town! Plus I have not been getting in my normal 30 minutes of cleaning as Keith has been home early and I like to spend what time he is home with him.

This weekend we will be going to LA for one of my best friend from highschool's wedding and to see the In-Laws new house in Covington. We are trying to fit as much as possible into the weekend along with eating as much as good food as is humanly possible! We are having a crawfish boil on Saturday and I am soo excited! It will be the 2nd time this season that I have gotten to eat it and I am so ready!!! Sunday night when we get back is our first Supper Club and I am very excited. I am in charge of the salad and am making a Blueberry Spinach salad. I will let you know how it turns out and share the recipe if it is good!

Alright well it is time to get back to work... don't know if I will have time to write tomorrow and if not expect a post Monday with LOTS of pictures from the weekend!

Oh Hobby Lobby... How I Love Thee!

So I am yet to express my dear love for Hobby Lobby. But yes... I love it and I am slightly obsessed. When we first moved to Tyler and needed some decor for them home, I think I spent at least 500 bucks there... yes, it is ridiculous! Oh and at Christmas time, we bought at least 250 bucks of Christmas decor. Now I never buy anything there at full price, always 50% off, so double those amounts and that is what I would have spent. Now why Hobby Lobby doesn't just cut their prices in half, as I seriously don't know anyone that does buy at full price, I just don't know!

Well I had to take a break for awhile from Hobby Lobby, but we had received a gift card for Christmas, so I figured it was time to go and spend it. So off we went on Saturday afternoon, and we probably spent at least an hour there! So here is what I purchased... 104 dollars worth of stuff at 50% off... so 52 bucks... with a 30 dollar gift card... got 6 things for $22... Wonderful!

Also, Hobby Lobby has the Wilton Cake Classes and I have been eyeing them for the past 9 months... so I have finally decided to sign up for Class 1 and it starts April 6th! So excited! I will definitely share about it once the classes start.

I have also become very fond of cooking with fresh herbs lately thanks to all of my Food Network watching. So yesterday, off we went to Lowe's to make a small herb garden and to add a little decoration to the front of our house (saying the people that lived here before us destroyed the bushes in front of our door).
So there is our new little garden. I now have fresh cilantro, sweet basil, mint, rosemary, Greek oregano, and sage. I can't wait to use them in my cooking! I tried to find purple and gold flowers for accent, but they didn't seem to have them, so I had to go with a pinkish-purple flower and a orange-gold one.

Other than those 2 outings, the rest of our weekend was very uneventful. Just church and some grocery shopping. I am trying to do my best to clip coupons and search for the sales, and I saved 25 dollars between Wal-mart and Brookshire's. Not bad for my first try!

I'm Back!

Well we made it back to Tyler about 7 last night and I have really been non-stop since then. Keith has to leave at 7 am tomorrow morning for 4 days away for work which means I have lots of clothes to wash before he goes and errands to run to make sure he has everything ready. So far today... I am on my 4th load of laundry (please note... this is just Keith's stuff from the week!), I have helped to wash the car, and I have done lots of organizing! I can't go and run any of the errands yet as Keith is waxing my car, but I guess that gives me an excuse to do more cleaning! Still want to try and get the living room cleaned up today and of course my suitcase unpacked!

So I decided that it was finally time to do a little more spring organizing! Today I have done the linen closet, the bookshelf in the office, the spice cabinet, the dish towel drawer, the utensil drawer, and 2 miscellaneous drawers in the kitchen. Yes, I have been a pretty busy bee! Below are some before and after shots of some of my work!

The Linen Closet... Before

The Linen Closet... After

The Office Bookshelf... Before

The Office Bookshelf... After

The Towel Drawer... Before

The Towel Drawer... After

I still have plans to clean the shelves in the bathroom that just seem to collect everything in the world and also the pantry which is just a disaster! Not sure when I will get to those, but they will get done!

We have plans to leave for Louisiana on Thursday night for a wedding Friday and to spend some time at Keith's parents new house and I just can't wait! I am definitely ready to go and eat some yummy food!! Oh how I miss Louisiana food... I seriously could go on for days about all the food I would currently love to eat in Louisiana. Oh how I would kill for some Parrains, or boiled crawfish from Gator Cove... oh my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Pictures... Pictures... Pictures

I was able to get some pictures off of my camera to share with you. So here they are!

Austin getting baptized by the same Pastor that married Shawn and Jenn.

Us with the little guy after the baptism

Austin with his Uncle Keith... Jennifer has the best picture of them on her camera!

This is the face that you will see 95% of the time from the little guy. He is always happy!

Other than hanging out with my favorite little guy not much has been going on. I was able to complete 2 miles outside yesterday (and in the hills around here that is way harder than I expected) so I am that much closer to completing a 5K on my own. I plan to run in the Race for the Cure in Tyler in early May. If I keep my current training schedule up and the weather stays nice, I should be able to run the 3.2 miles outside by mid-April at the latest. The hopefully I can just focus on speeding up my time a bit.

Should be back to normal posting next week when I am back at home!

Writing from Arkansas...

Well we made it safely to Arkansas on Saturday for the little guys baptism. We hung out in Fort Smith on Saturday night since my sis in law was in a wedding that night so we weren't able to see anyone until Sunday.

Sunday we had the little guys baptism (pictures to come), had lunch with my SIL's family and then headed up to Fayetteville for the week. He was a trooper for his baptism and slept through the whole thing! We were just waiting for him to start screaming, but nope he was perfectly content hanging out in his mom's arms. He even slept all the way through lunch!

Keith really enjoyed meeting his nephew and Austin took to him soo quickly! There is just something about Keith that makes baby's so happy. We think it might be that he radiates heat like no other! Unfortunately Keith had to head back to Texas last night for work so they didn't get to spend too much time together :(

So here I am writing from the couch at my brother's and enjoying every minute of it. The little guy is just smiling and laughing now! He is so much fun to be around... I have some really good pictures, but won't get to put them up until I get back as I forgot my cord!

Just a Quick Post...

Still a little more cleaning to do before my parents arrive, so not much time to post. We are headed to Fayetteville, AR tomorrow for my nephew's baptism and I am so excited to see him again. He was only 3 weeks old the last time I saw him in January and now he is almost 3 months old! AHH I can't wait! I will make sure to post some pictures while I am there next week (cause yes I will be staying all week!).

Still a yucky day here... just keeps raining and I don't think we have seen the sun now for 3 days... oh and did I mention it is ridiculously cold! Glad I decided to for go working out today and stayed inside :)!

OK off to finish up work and the cleaning so my mom can't say I live in a pig-sty!

Shrimp and Asparagus Fried Rice

A little asian recipe in case you want something different to eat!

Shrimp and Asparagus Fried Rice

1 pound shelled and deveined shrimp
1 pound asparagus
1 Egg
1 large carrot (small dice)
¼ Onion (small dice)
1 garlic clove (finely diced)
¼ cup Beef Broth or Stock
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
¼ cup Soy Sauce
2 bags Boil in a Bag Brown Rice
Pam

Prepare rice using package directions. Steam asparagus. Cut asparagus into about one inch pieces (I throw out the tops as we just aren’t fans of them). Spray a large skillet (preferably a Wok or a skillet with higher sides) with the Pam. Scramble your egg and cook in pan. Remove Egg. Spray a little more Pam and add your garlic, onions, and the carrot. Sauté until starting to soften. Add shrimp. Once shrimp has started to get pink, pour in your broth or stock and let cook out. When the broth is almost gone, add your asparagus. Once broth is completely cooked out, remove shrimp and vegetables from pan. Add Vegetable oil and about half of your soy sauce back into pan. Let pan heat back up and then add cooked rice. Allow rice to cook in pan for a few minutes, stirring just once (I like to spread the rice out and press it down a bit so that it kind of crisps a little). Add egg and shrimp mixture into rice. Add rest of soy sauce. Allow to cook for 2 more minutes and then serve!!!! Enjoy!

This made enough for Keith and I to each have a serving plus enough left over for lunch for one of us!

Brr... It's Cold In Here

So the temp has dropped to a mere 35 degrees and it is just not pretty anymore! Such a bummer. We are expecting more rain again today and that just makes the weather even yuckier. Oh well... guess I will continue to work from the confines of my living room and try to force myself to go to spin class at noon.

We went to church last night and it was great. They had two guys speak about their venture in faith and they were both great speakers. One was how he had always known god was with him during life, but never let him really in until he had to spend 18 months in jail for DUI. He hasn't had a sip of alcohol since. The other was a 24 year old that at 18 crashed his skateboard at 35 mph and was told that he shouldn't have lived, he put a 4 inch crack in his skull. After 2 weeks he was out of the hospital and was fine. He said after awhile, about a year, he remembered feeling Jesus with him during that day and how the pain seemed to just go away. Amazing stories, and amazing people.

I whipped up an interesting recipe last night and it actually came out great. I had some shrimp that had to be cooked and some asparagus and decided to throw together a little Shrimp and Asparagus fried rice. I figured if I steamed the asparagus a little and then added while I was stir-frying the shrimp it would all have the same flavors. I have to say my cooking has really improved! Keith actually enjoyed it! I will post the recipe in a separate post.

Still no news on the job hunt. Just still submitting resumes and praying about it. I know that it will all work out in the end... hopefully something comes up before my time with my current job is over. Just so frustrating... I hate job searching!

Guess I better go do some work for my current job while I have it!

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes

I have a few new recipes to share so here goes! I made the cupcakes last night and the pork and squash we made at my cooking class. All SOOOOOO good! Sorry I don't have any pictures of the pork and squash but I left my camera at home :(

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Cupcakes:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)
2 large eggs (room temperature)
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting:
20 ounces cream cheese
1 pound powdered sugar (4 cups)
2 sticks butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, mix oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter into paper-line muffin cups until about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, turning halfway thru. Cool completely.

In large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add cream cheese gradually. Beat in vanilla extract. Frost cupcakes.

Simply Sensational Squash Salad
3 Yellow Squash (grated and squeeze dry)
3 Green Zucchini (grated and squeeze dry)
2 cups shredded carrots
2 cups assorted bell peppers (small dice)
1 red onion (small dice)
1/2 cup Champagne Vinegar (can use Tarragon or White Wine Vinegar)
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1/4 cup Basil (chiffonade)
2 Tablespoons Oregano
1/4 cup Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine all vegetables and put in large bowl. In smaller bowl combine vinegar, sugar, basil, oregano, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour dressing over vegetables, toss, and let marinate for about one hour in refrigerator. Serve!

Oven Grilled Pork Tenderloin
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1/3 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup White Wine Vinegary
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
3 Garlic cloves (Minced)
2 Tablespoons Ground Mustard (also known as dry mustard)
2 Tablespoons Cracked Black Pepper
1 cup Preserves (recommend Red Plum or Apricot)
1 Pork Tenderloin

Combine all ingredients for marinade and pour into zip-lock bag. Add pork and toss to coat. Refrigerate to marinate overnight. Roast in oven for about 30 minutes (or until juices run clear). Let rest 10 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

Cooking Class and Octavia Hill

Well last night I went to a cooking class put on by the parks and recreation department in Tyler and just loved it! The theme was light and healthy cooking and the guest chef was the head of Brookshire's Catering and she was just great! We made some wonderful receipes and I will eventually share my 2 favorite's with you, but I still have to type them up! The chef was really focusing on showing us how to use fresh herbs and fresh veggies, and the combinations that were put together were just great! I am SOOO not a lemon fan, so I never cook with it and many of the receipes had lemon juice or zest in them and I couldn't even tell. Makes me really start to think about trying some new flavors in my cooking. I will definitely start buying more fresh herbs to put in my cooking!


So, the pattern that I have for my daily dishes has been discontinued and I have been looking for a few of the serving peices that I am missing and I am starting to come across them. I found these 2 on Ebay, but now I just have to find someone to buy them for me! Unfortunately the casserole is 65 bucks already!

Eventually I will find them again and buy them all! I am still missing those 2, the rectangular baker with the stand, and the 3 part relish tray. So if anyone knows where I can find peices of the Tracy Porter Octavia Hill Garden set, let me know! I MUST HAVE THEM!

Well I will post the receipes from last night in a bit... off to do more work!

Did we really????!?!?!?!?!

Yeah we bought a new car this weekend... totally spur of the moment! Keith called Friday before he got off and said that he wanted to go and "Just Look" at a new car that night just to get an idea cause he didnt get the feeling that he would be able to sell his truck and that would have put it sitting in the driveway and us just paying insurance on it for no reason... so we went.

Well by Saturday afternoon here is what that turned into...

Yup, that is my new 2009 GMC Acadia hanging out in my driveway. I am more than happy! We were able to get everything we could have possibly ever wanted in a vehicle for the perfect price! They even gave us an awesome deal on our 2 trade-ins. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly! Well that took us literally ALL DAY on Saturday... we were at the dealership from 9:30 until 5:30... basically from open to close! But it all worked out wonderfully.

Sunday I had so much housework to do after being sick last week that we skipped church. I know HORRIBLE but I just knew that there would not be enough hours in the day if I didn't. We plan on going Wednesday night to make up for it. But luckily most of the housework is done, just a few more things to take care of before my parents come on Friday night.

Spring Cleaning has Begun!

Well now that I am finally feeling better I have decided that it is time for a little spring cleaning to start around this place. But I have to give a little shout out to Hyper Homemaker for really being the inspiration... oh I just wish I could be more like her!

I started today with washing all of my blankets, towels, sheets, etc from when I was sick to clean out the yuck around here. While those were washing I lysol'd the couches, the bed, and the bathrooms! Hopefully this will keep the flu bug from getting to Keith! Once those were all done, and I was pulling stuff out of the laundry I realized just how yuck the laundry room has gotten. All of that lint and dirt from Keith's work clothes really piles up and it just doesnt get cleaned like it should. So that is Room 1 of the spring clean!

Thanks to this post by Hyper Homemaker, I started with a little freshening up of the washing machine. I proceeded to then wipe down the washer and dryer with clorox wipes to clean off all of the yuck. Next I used the swiffer to try and get under the washing machine and dryer as much as possible (there isnt enough room to really move them out of the way) to pick up lint and nonsense that gets under there. I have pulled everything out of the laundry room now and just have to scrub down the floors... yes, this will be done on my hands and knees...and wipe down the doors and baseboards. Gotta get it as clean as possible! That is the point of the Spring Clean!

I really wish I could figure out a good way to clean out the lint trap on the dryer! I washed a blanket awhile back and it seems to have all gotten stuck on the lint trap and I just can't get the stupid thing clean!!!! UGH! Maybe a little more blog reading and I will find a way.

Hmm what room should I tackle next... I think I will go with the guest bedroom... my parents are stopping in next weekend on their way to my nephew's baptism and I am sure they would enjoy a spotless bedroom to sleep in!

Still Recovering...

Well I am still recovering... but doing better. I just hate being sick especially since the weather here is beautiful and I really would have enjoyed an outdoor run! I had started doing a little bit of housework everyday just so that I can keep up with it and being sick has put me behind on everything! There are dishes in the sink, laundry needing to be washed and folded, carpets that need to be vacuumed, and floors that need to be swept! Does it ever end! Guess I will be spending my weekend doing the cleaning!


I did decide yesterday that I am going to go with my parents in 2 weeks and spend a week up at my brother's house playing with my baby nephew. That luxury is definitely going to be something I am going to miss when I no longer work from home, so I guess I will need to take advantage of it while I still can.

I do have to share the newest picture of the little man... This is Austin Kannon Adams at 11 weeks. Don't you just love those John Deer boots... His Grandpa Goodwin (sis in law's dad) bought those for him as he is hoping he will start on the farm soon! HAHA! If he was wearing polo, you would know it was from me! Looks like a 6 month old I know! He is currently 25 1/2 inches long and about 13-14 pounds. He gets that length from his Aunt Tracy! But I do love the little guy and can't wait to spend some more time with him. Though I know I am going to have to fight his Granny and my dad (yeah we haven't thought of a name for him yet... we just want Austin to call him Bruce). His poor Uncle Keith is yet to meet him thanks to his crappy work schedule, but soon enough he will get to meet the little guy.

Oh and on a bad note... some idiot hit my car in the driveway last night and screwed up my bumper! I am sooooo not happy about it. We never park my car in the driveway, but we had just washed the truck last night and we were planning on parking it on one of the main roads as we are trying to sell it so of course last night my car gets hit! Hopefully it will not cost too much to pop the bumper back out. Just looks like that is all that would need to happen to it. Guess I have to be happy that it wasn't the car we are trying to sell that got hit, cause it would have been worthless to fix that! UGH!

Sick... Sick... Sick!

Not much to say today... but I'm sick! Yesterday started out just fine, I even went to Spin and Stretch, but after that it was all down hill! I have been running a fever since about 3:30 yesterday and it has broken twice, but I am just still not feeling better. I won't go into any further details, but I am guessing it is the FLU! So awesome since I got the flu shot this year... guess it really doesnt cover all of the flus! Hopefully it will be over with today so I can go back to my normal routine... this is not really helping my running!

There is a great giveaway going on over at Misadventures of a Newlywed... so go check it out! She finds some of the cutest things!

Maybe I'll post again later when things feel better around here...

A True Story...

Ok so I know I have been a blog-a-holic today but I had to share a story from this weekend. So I haven't talked about my cat, but needless to say he is a water freak. When I say freak I mean, don't bring a glass of water near or he is going to have his paw in it and you can't go to the bathroom without him racing you to the sink. More than once I have awoken in the middle of the night to him sleeping in the sink just waiting for someone to turn on the water.

Well Keith and I went to the pet store to buy Saban some cat food since he was out. So I go to get the cat food and am looking for some treats for him when I can't find Keith. Well needless to say, Keith is standing by the filtered water systems for cats... and he is comparing each one... ok these things run from 50-75 bucks! They have a continuous stream on them and they filter the water and recycle it so that it stays fresh...He is just going on and on about how much Saban would love it, he could just see him constantly sitting by his water bowl playing in the continuous stream. So Guess What...

Saban now has a $75 water bowl. Yes... a water fountain for a cat... Here is a picture of it... So yes, we are nuts!

But he does love it... sat and played by it for at least an hour last night... and he hasn't gone anywhere near the sink today either! We might have found a cure for him!

Turkey Meatballs

Got this recipe out of Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats... It was actually a recipe for Florentine Meatballs, but I did some modification so I will just post what I did.

Ingredients:

1 package (1 lb) ground turkey breast

1/2 a medium onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, grated

1 large egg

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup bread crumbs (2 handfuls)

1/4 cup Parmigiano Cheese (1 handful)

1/4 cup Pecorino-Romano Cheese (1 handful)

Coarse Salt and Coarse Black Pepper
Extra-virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling

Directions:

Preaheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the turkey in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the onion, garlic, egg, milk, bread crumbs, cheese, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Form into 10-12 large balls and drizzle with EVOO. Arrange on a nonstick cookie sheet and brake for 20-25 minutes.

While the meatballs were cooking I chopped up 1/2 a green bell pepper and another 1/4 of an onion and sauteed in EVOO. I then added about 3/4 a jar of Prego Traditional Sauce. Once the meatballs were done I placed them into the sauce for about 5 minutes before serving!!

We like angel hair pasta so that is what we used, but whatever your pasta of choice is, will be wonderful!

Eggs In A Basket...

Had a pretty good weekend over here in East Texas... basically just a normal errand running, church going, relaxing Saturday and Sunday.


Since I knew we were going to head to the gym Saturday morning, I decided to be a nice wife and whip up some eggs in a basket. If you have never had these before, they are so easy to make! Basically it is just a fried egg with toast, except you cook the egg inside the bread...First use either a cookie cutter or a glass (I had to use a wine glass as it is the only glass I have that was small enough to fit the bread) to cut out the middle of a piece of bread.

Next you place the bread on a flap top griddle and crack the egg inside of each piece.

Keith likes his eggs Over Easy so I really have to watch them to make sure that I don't over cook them, but I think I finally have it down. I just flip them once after about 4 minutes then let them go about another 2 on the other side. Then Voila! Eggs in a Basket!

After our great breakfast, we headed to the gym where I finally completed 1.5 miles! I was just so proud of myself as I don't think I have ever ran that much! Really helped to pump me up about trying to run a 5K in May!

The rest of the weekend was pretty slow. Keith cooked steaks out on the grill in the freezing cold Saturday night, and they were wonderful! I wish I would have gotten a picture of him cooking, but then I would have probably had to listen to the "stop taking my picture to put on your blog talk" haha!

Sunday I went to church by myself as Keith had some work to do around the house. Our main Pastor was out of town visiting his daughter in Florida so our Asst Pastor did the sermon. His main talking point was about Temptation and how some people can just let it take over there lives. He threw in some pop culture references mentioning Michael Phelps and A-Rod and how they let temptation overcome them and I had to give him some props on that! Not many 75 year old Pastor's are going to be throwing in those kinds of references!

We had errands to run Sunday afternoon and we ended up buying a new rug as they were having a rug and art show by the mall. Here is a picture of it... (this is the 2nd one we bought... we brought the first one home and the second Keith laid it down... I HATED IT!)

We are hoping to get some navy pillows to put on the couches... I want to bring out the navy in my pictures I have behind the couch... Hopefully it will look ok!

I also decided to buy a new Bible this weekend. I have really been trying to strengthen my faith lately and since our Bible Study is on hiatus until April, I decided this was the perfect time to start doing a little reading on my own. I decided on the Women's Devotional Bible as I had read about it on a few other Blogs, and I did a little reading last night and am very pleased with my purchase. Not only do they have over 300 devotionals, they have about 10 different reading plans in the back of the book focusing from reading the bible in 365 days to where to go in the bible for different things that are happening in your life (i.e. When you need Direction - Psalm 32:1-11). I will post more about how it's going when I am a few more weeks into it.

I have a recipe to post too, but this post is getting a little too long, I'll add it later!