What I'm Loving Wednesday

Well, I've made it to the middle of another work week and I'm going to link up with Jamie at What I'm Loving Wednesday again. We're waiting for the rough weather to arrive here and I'm not loving that it will probably occur about the time I will be ready to go to bed. Haven't had a good night's sleep in several nights, but I shouldn't complain. I'm loving a new song by Laura Story called Blessings. One of the verses in the song says ---

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise.

That song really makes you think about life and the reason things happen. It sounds like things are bad in Alabama and parts of northwest Georgia now. Hope everyone stays safe!

Next I'm loving all the great blogs I keep finding. There are so many talented and creative

women out there. I could just spend hours and hours reading all their blogs. I really enjoy Lemonade Makin' Mama and TheHouse of Smiths.

I'm loving that our family will be attending the pinning ceremony for my middle child who is majoring in nursing at NGCSU. I am so proud of her and her many accomplishments. One more semester and she will be a nurse; something she's wanted to be since she was a little girl.

We celebrated Easter this past weekend. I'm loving that we went to church and then had a yummy lunch with my parents at my sister and bro-in-law's house. So nice to be together with all the family. Ham, potato salad, German potato salad, deviled eggs, green beans, strawberry & pineapple congealed salad, Mom's homemade yeast rolls (can I just say delish!!), layered salad, and then dessert - carrot cake, cheesecake, and cake balls.

Happy Wednesday everybody!

Top Two Tuesday - Collections

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Today's (actually last week's, but I just saw that!!) Top 2 Tuesday blog is about the top 2 things you collect. Of course, I'm sure my family will get a kick out of this as I seem to collect a lot of "stuff"! But if I had to choose, these would be my top 2.

1. Fabric!. Ever since I was in high school and got a part time job at JoAnn Fabrics, I have collected fabric. My parents used to ask if I brought any of my paycheck home or did I spend it all at work on more fabric. Unfortunately I don't think someone who sews (I think the new term is "sewist") can ever feel like they have enough fabric. There is always a new design or a new color that catches your eye and says "please bring me home and make something out of me"! Now that I've started Just Sew! Studio, I actually can say I HAVE to buy more fabric.

2. Pewter! When Dan and I got married (a long time ago - 30 years ago this July to be exact!), pewter was IN. My mother-in-law had lots of pewter, and I thought it was really pretty. There were several shops in the Pompano Beach / Fort Lauderdale area that sold only pewter. So I added it to my wedding registry. I'm glad I did that. Now I have a collection of quite a few things that I display on top of my kitchen cabinets. Steak platter, pitchers, sugar & creamer set, and a Noah's Ark baby plate & cup set ...but I think my favorite is my deviled egg platter!

Just curious. How many other people have a sock collection that keeps growing? I didn't mean to set out collecting socks, but I think my washing machine has set out to drive me crazy. No matter how many matched pairs of socks I put IN the washing machine, they never all come out. I am now the proud owner of an ever growing collection of only one sock from a pair. While we were shopping last Saturday, my sweet middle child (who is almost 21) proceeded to tell me that I could purchase another package of the low cut socks we wear when walking or exercising for about $5. Does she not understand how many times I have done this? Only to find that the new package of socks I purchased have just a little bit different finish around the ankle, different color stitching across the toe, no shaded heel area, etc. and that creates more unmatched socks when I only remove half from the washer. One day there may be only two of us left in the house, and I will send all the leftover, unwanted, unmatched socks to one of my children's homes so they can be obsessed with where did the other sock go! And having a dog who enjoys chewing socks up does not help either.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

First of all, I'm loving that my two girls have been an inspiration to me to get myself outside when I get home from work and WALK! They both participated in their first 5K this past weekend and had been working up to this goal for the last few weeks. On Saturday I walked 3 miles . . . much to my surprise. I've repeated that walk 3 out of the last 5 days. I didn't get to it tonight because I had a hair appointment (another thing I'm loving Wednesday) and now it's time to cook supper.

Second, I'm loving another Pioneer Woman recipe. Who would have guessed? I tried Simple Sesame Noodles on Monday night, added some stir fried chicken, broccoli and carrots and am enjoying it for my lunch this week. Has to be one of the easiest things to make and very yummy!

Another thing I'm loving is that we celebrate Easter this weekend. Such an awesome thing to celebrate the love our heavenly Father has for us by sending his Son to die in our place and then rising from the dead. Can you even imagine the surprise that those women had at the empty tomb? Or when they disciples realized He was among them? One of my favorite songs that is all about why we celebrate Easter!

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Enjoy what's left of your Wednesday!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Okay, I'm going to jump in here and link up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday.

I'm loving that spring is here and the dogwoods are in bloom. They are my absolute favorite tree - very delicate. When we found the property we eventually built our house on, it was in the early spring and there were dogwoods in bloom all over the property. The following year when spring arrived, I started watching for the dogwoods to bloom. Nothing! I asked my sweet husband why our dogwoods weren't blooming like the others, and he looked like the cat who swallowed the canary. "I think I didn't know they were dogwoods and I must have cut them down when I was clearing out the woods!" he said. Gotta love him even though we only have about 3 dogwoods left on our property now. You'd think he would have planted some by now.

I'm loving that I finally gathered up my courage and Just Sew! Studio is officially in business. We've had 3 classes so far, 2 more planned for this month, and everyone has gone home with a finished project. Hopefully some of them will be inspired to begin sewing on their own. It seems to be a skill that people are becoming interested in again.

I'm loving that the only thing I cooked tonight was bacon for our club sandwiches. If you know me, you know that I cook a full meal almost every night so I'm really slacking if bacon is all I cooked. Pioneer Woman recently had a blog about her version of the club sandwich and decided if it was good enough for her, it was good enough for me! I'll be out of the kitchen in no time tonight.

Happy Wednesday Y'all!!

What I Cooked this Weekend!

Now I realize there might not be a whole lot of people who would say cooking is one of their favorite things to do, but it is one of mine. And have I cooked this weekend!!

Recently I became aware of Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman. She sounds like a pretty awesome lady. She's married to the love of her life (Marlboro Man), has 4 cute kids, lives on a cattle ranch, cooks, takes beautiful pics, has a very informative and entertaining blog, and has a cookbook that hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and has now written The Pioneer Woman - Black Heels to Tractor Wheels (basically the story of how she met "Marlboro Man" and fell in love).

Over Christmas vacation, I stumbled across her blog (http://thepioneerwoman.com/) while reading another blog (http://thelittlebrownhouse.us/) . . . can you tell what I did between Christmas Day and New Years? The Little Brown House was raving about Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls. So I decided to give them a try. Let me just say, they are AHmazing, and that's putting it lightly. Since then I've purchased her cookbook and her book and highly recommend them both.

The recipes are very easy to follow, don't call for any exotic ingredients, and have met with rave reviews from my family. I've made Basic Breakfast Potatoes, Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes (don't think I will ever make pancakes from a mix again), Chicken Spaghetti, Chicken Fried Steak, PW's Creamy Mashed Potatoes, and Comfort Meatballs. Haven't been disappointed by one recipe.

So this weekend I decided to try Three Cheese Stuffed Shells with Meaty Tomato Sauce (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/10/three-cheese-stuffed-shells-with-meaty-tomato-sauce/) and Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/03/spicy-dr-pepper-shredded-pork/). Not together, of course. I put the Three Cheese recipe together quickly late yesterday afternoon to take to a friend who had hip surgery recently. Her husband and mine like to get a rise out of us by calling us "woman". Now, this all came about during a sermon when the preacher was quoting Jesus who addressed a woman as "woman" and they thought it was funny to call us that, but they normally say it in a stern sounding voice like "WOMAN". Somehow, I don't think that was how Jesus was saying it. Anyway, our friend texted Dan after eating the Stuffed Shells and said he would no longer call me WOMAN, but he would now call me Mama Mia. I'm taking that as a compliment. We will be having our Stuffed Shells for supper tomorrow night.

Tonight we are having the Shredded Pork. It's been cooking in a 300 degree oven for six hours and it is falling apart (I peeked just a few minutes ago and had a taste - YUMMY!!). I'm serving it as PW suggests on warm flour tortillas, topped with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and grated cheese. Can't wait for supper.

So if you're stuck in a rut and tired of cooking the same old thing, please visit PW's website and try some of her recipes. You won't be sorry. Her recipes are very easy to follow and she includes beautiful pictures if you need step by step help. And you'll probably giggle a few times as you are reading her recipes.