Maybe I need to get frustrated a little more often!

My house is always under construction.  It's both the pleasure and detriment of being married to a carpenter.  I get a house worked on for cookies but I get a prolonged mess because it is when he's available and not exhausted.  I know I'm not the only one out there, you know what I'm talking about. 

Saturday, My handsome hunk put some finishing touches on our dining room sheetrock so it could be painted.  I was so excited.  We bought the paint, he slapped it on.....it looked sooo good.  Just in time for a birthday party the next day. 

Then Monday came.  He saw flaws.  (uh, great, a carpenter that is a perfectionist....;)) 
So, he slapped more mud on the walls.  Ruined paint.  White dust everywhere. 

By night's end, he did manage to get the room back to one solid color.  :)  But the dust....we are enemies.  I've seen it invade our home wayyyyy too many times. 

Ever hear the passage from Proverbs 21:19?  It says "it is better to live alone in the desert than with a crabby, complaining wife."  I think this could apply at times in our house...my poor husband. 

I decided that there is no time like the present to start spring cleaning, so I searched the Internet for a guide to help me and lookie what I found?! 

AskAnna had a great checklist for me to follow and I couldn't help but want to share.  For a printable copy, click here.

 

Thanks Anna! 

 

I'm attacking this with a vengeance!  I will get you, white dust!  (Maybe I need to get frustrated a little more often!) 

 

We're just a little weird, and I love it!

As you know, today is April 1st = April Fool's Day.  Yesterday, my eldest child was racking her brain for a great gag to do on a couple of friends at school.  I can't say that you or I would have fallen for her gag, but she was being creative with it, so I let it slide.  She filled a bottle with water and vinegar and said she was going to offer it to her friend as a "nice cold drink of water." 

One of my sons saw that she was doing this and wanted one to trick his friends. So, he took a 2 liter Coke bottle and filled it with water and vinegar.  I told him on the way into school that he shouldn't be disappointed if his friend didn't fall for it. 

In picking my son up from school this afternoon, I asked him if he pulled the prank on his friend.  He replied "Yeah, and you were right, he didn't fall for it, so I decided to try it myself....it tasted pretty good, so I drank it!" 

I'm so thankful for these kids in my life.  They surely do bring so much joy to our lives! We're just a little weird, and I love it!!!

Maybe we'll have leftover Manna for slupper?

A day of rest.  Did you hear that?  God made a day of rest for us.  Now, the question is....who takes one?  Do you?

I've been trying really hard to read through the bible Chronologically within 4 months.  Yikes!  That's a lot of reading.  But I have to tell you, what a FANTASTIC way to ingest God's Word!  I'm getting major chunks of reading daily and although I'm not taking the time to study it, I'm getting the broad picture of what happened back in the days of our Biblical hero's! 

One section I was reading was about how God provided for his people when they were freed from slavery in Egypt.  Of course along the way, they got hungry and pleaded for God to feed them.  So he did.  He sent Manna from the heavens.  A food that they had never seen/eaten before and one that never has been since. 

He gave them specific instructions about how to go about the manna.  Get up each day, for six days, and go out, gather enough manna for your household, prepare and eat!  Don't save any for the next day or it will be moldy and yucky, BUT on the sixth day - you can! Gather enough for that day and the next for it is your Sabbath, Holy day, and you are to focus on the Lord.

I have been thinking of this from a mom's point of view lately.  What mom can take a day of rest when there's kids to feed?  I mean, yes, I could tell my 2 year old to go get her own food, but let's be honest, it'd be a sleeve of oreos and maybe unpeeled carrot.  Yuck! 

What if on "the sixth day" we prepared ahead of time a mid afternoon meal for our day of rest, so all you had to do was pop it into the oven and eat?! Talk about easy! 

Quiche made the day before and reheated. Bake a chicken or turkey and reheat it for slupper. Lasagna, turkey dinner casserole (just layer whatever you have leftover!), pulled pork & coleslaw. There's tons of options! Maybe we'll have a little leftover Manna for Slupper?

Here's what I propose:  Feed the kids breakfast.  I'm not talking pancakes and bacon either! Something simple, yet filling.  Fruit and cereal?  A yogurt smoothie with homemade yogurt? How about a loaded muffin that you've already made?

After church, we usually take a little drive, listen to our church's "second service" and sip iced tea for the kids and coffee for mom while dad is rockin' the guitar at church for the second service.  We might even take a snack with us and really, we aren't all that hungry right at noon, so waiting for 2:00-ish isn't that big of a deal. 

Heat up our slupper and Bada-Bing! Everyone's fed and it took no time at all.

Have a little yogurt and fruit for an evening snack and all is well.   

Just offering one way to "rest" on your day of rest! 

Blessings to you all.

Homemade Yogurt

Buying yogurt can get expensive!  It makes me think twice when I would like to make a smoothie because they chew up quite a bit of yogurt to feed our sized family.  So I decided to research the yogurt making process myself and settled on an easy, no fuss way to make it. 

There are several recipes out there and several processes, so if you are wanting to make yogurt for digestive reasons, there may be a better method out there to have better "good bacteria" qualities.  For me, it was for the protein and smoothie, so simple and easy was my goal.

I love this website for many reasons, but The Frugal Girl is who I learned from and I've been very happy with the results.  I hope you will be too!  Enjoy!

Too good not to share!

I wanted to bake something and in my pursuit of the perfect recipe, I came across this pumpkin spice cinnamon roll recipe that looked incredibly yummy so I gave it a shot.   WINNER!  Oh. My.  I will have to limit myself to making these little fat bombs to just once in a while cause I could have eaten the whole pan!  WOOO!

These little honey's are too good not to share so I'm going to!  I wish I had noted which website I got it from so I could give the original pumpkin spice cinnamon roll chef all the credit, but I didn't, so just know, somewhere out there is a cinnamon roll master chef!

Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls

 

Dough:
4 to 4-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice,
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Filling:
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon melted butter

Cream Cheese Frosting to top for absolute delciousness!

1. Combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking powder (if using) in a large bowl; set aside. In a stand mixer

2. Combine all the filling ingredients in a small bowl and set aside until ready to use. Grease a 9x13 pan and set aside.

3. Roll dough out on a floured surface into a 16x12 rectangle. Spread dough with melted butter and sprinkle filling evenly across to the edges. Starting from the longer side, begin making a tight roll, gently pressing the "seam" together as you go. Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces using a sharp.  Carefully place each slice flat side down in the prepared 9x13 pan side by side. Allow the rolls to rise another hour in a warm area or until rolls have just about reached the top of your pan and almost doubled in size.                                                                    

4. While the rolls rise you can prepare the frosting.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once rolls have risen: Bake the pumpkin rolls for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow the rolls to cool (I let mine cool just till warm, not hot - unless you want your frosting to melt entirely); frost; EAT! :D