Outdoor Candle Stand Redo

When we did the original landscaping in our yard we picked out a beautiful candle stand.  I promise, it was beautiful.  After a little bit of snow and a LOT of rain, it looked like this:

 

Look at all that RUST!  Gross!!!  I'm not sure why I thought a candle stand would work outside because candles melt in the heat so I have never used it, but it sure is pretty!  :)

Well...after reading several blogs and watching some DIY shows, I was feeling creative!  If I'm not going to use it for candles, I'm at least going to make it pretty.  Feeling adventurous and brave I bought this:

The paint is a beautiful brownish-bronzish-hammered-look color and I love it!!! 

I woke up this morning feeling adventurous...AGAIN!!  Two days in a row folks - this is rare.  I usually have these great ideas (light bulb moments), buy the supplies, sleep on it and somewhere between the "light bulb" moment and waking up the next day, I've decided it's either too much work or it WON'T work.  But THIS idea, this one got followed through...all the way!  (Insert claps and random sounds of praise!) 

I took that candle stand into the yard and showed it who's boss!!!  I've been lightly scolded by my husband about overspray on the deck and garage floor.  He told me to do it in the grass because it grew and could be mowed to remove the overspray.  So that is exactly where I spray painted the stand.  In the grass!!!  The one "lantern" is on the deck.  I took it off, put it in the grass to paint it, then realized that it was going to get messed up from the grass.  The other "lantern" I left on the stand.  When it is dry, I will take it off, touch up the spot that was missed by the paint and let it dry properly.  So here it is...in all of it's brownish-bronzish-hammered-look beauty!  :)

Now look at that stand!!  Isn't it beautiful?!  I may just have to buy some candles and use it the next time we eat outside or maybe even "just because" the stand is beautiful now and not rusty!  YAY ME!  (Insert happy dance!)

I'm by no means a professional, but I love it!  AND since I used Rust-O-Leum spray paint, it won't rust.  At least not for a very long time!  :)

                                                         

BEFORE: 

AFTER:



Finding Joy in the Journey

I must admit that the title for today's blog was stolen from a friend.  Sorry, Christina, it just fit my blog perfectly today.  :)

For almost a year (1 year on June 24) I moved from city life in Missouri to a small town in Mississippi.  Since that time I have been looking for purpose and meaning in why I am here.  I've been looking for my "Joy in the Journey".  I'm not sure that I'm completely in love with it, but day by day I am learning to find joy in each circumstance.  There were days when I cried and thought about telling my husband that this move was insanity and we had made a huge mistake.  In fact, I think I may have done so. 

When we made the decision to move it was on my birthday, November 11, 2009.  We came home and told our children and our oldest, our son, was excited, our youngest daughter was excited and our middle daughter...well...to say that she was upset would be an understatement.  She honestly felt like we were ruining her life and that we didn't care about her at all.  She was going to be 13, so that seemed fair for her to feel that way.  After all, our children were all involved in activities.  Our son played sports (football, baseball, basketball) and our daughters both danced.  Our family lived in Missouri so we would be leaving them too.  The decision did not come without tears, prayers, questions and frustrations.

I had a flood of emotions.  I was happy.  I was sad.  I was scared to death.  I had a great group of friends through MOMS Club there and I had a second family through the dance studio that my girls danced at.  I had friends from church and people I knew from where I worked before I became a Stay-at-Home-Mom.  Leaving all of that was going to be a challenge.  I kept remembering a song that I sang, as a child, in a musical at church, "Miracle after Miracle."  http://www.lillenasmusic.com/nphweb/html/ldol/itempage.jsp?itemId=MB-505&catalogId=LDOL&catSecCd=NA&subCatSecCd=NA&subSubCatSecCd=NA&lid=dsc
There was a line in a song that went like this: "Be content to live in a tent, if that's where God wants you."  Now we weren't going to be living in a tent, but I think you get the underlying message.  I kept repeating that song in my head, telling myself that I will "go where He sends me".  So I arrived in our little town in MS ready to take our new life by storm.  HA!  Little did I know that the storm would be long, ferocious, and at times very lonely.   

Why I thought this was the worst thing we've ever done:  (Bear with me here...the point is coming.)
1. Our home in KC never sold.  KC is Kansas City.  We lived in KC, MO.  There is a KC, KS as well, but we did not live there.  Confusing, I know.   We ended up working with a company to find us renters to live in our house.  :(  This was not our favorite option.  We wanted to sell the house, but for whatever reason it did not sell.  See...isn't it beautiful?

My brother took these pictures when he was over one day mowing the yard.  He painted the inside of the house, built a new deck...

NICE JOB, Stephan!!!

Our mantle...one of my favorite parts of the house.  That cute little girl is one of my nieces.  She's such an entertainer. 

2.  I miss my brother, my sister-in-law and my nieces.  They lived 10 minutes from us there.  The girls danced with my girls and they were crazy, those silly girls.  :) 

Aren't they super cute?!?!



3.  I miss our friends.

4. I miss having stores like Hobby Lobby, JoAnn, TARGET, Kohl's close-by.  Shoot, I miss having a huge shopping mall in my town. 

5.  I miss our favorite restaurants: La Fuente, Chili's, 54th Street, Smokehouse BBQ, Longhorn Steakhouse, Logan's, Applebee's, and many more.

6. I miss having our kid's friends over almost every weekend and all the crazy things they did.

7.  I miss my old town!

BUT...

Are you still with me?  Here's the "point" I told you to hang around for...

Even though I miss all of those things, I have to learn to be content with where I'm at!!  God has a purpose, a plan.  "...For I KNOW the PLANS I have for YOU," declares the Lord, "plans to PROSPER you and NOT TO HARM you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE!"  Jeremiah 29:11

You see, He knows why we are where we are, why we are doing what we're doing and all of the things surrounding it.  He has every little detail undercontrol.  His eye is on the sparrow, so why wouldn't His eye be on ME?!  This journey isn't about ME.  This journey is about something greater, something bigger, something more wonderful than my mind can comprehend.  Something that I can't understand until I walk through the fire - the lonely days - the missing the things that I had that were merely conveniences in my life.  The more I focus on what I don't have, the more I am robbing myself of the tremendous plan that God has for ME!  God will not take you where His grace can not keep you.  He has me on His mind everyday, every moment.  Do I have HIM on MY mind that often?  Hmmm.

I am finding when I rely on Him, contentment.  Philippians 4: 11 says, ""...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."  Paul was content whether he had plenty or if he was in need.  Am I doing the same?  Paul was content because he focused on what God wanted him to do, not what he did or didn't have.  Sometimes I have to shift my perspective and remember that this isn't about me.  It's about what He can do through me to serve Him. 

Each day is about finding joy even if it is only in the little things.  Sometimes those little things are little.  And I mean L-I-T-T-L-E.  Like the car line moving smoothly while dropping off/picking up my kids from school.  And sometimes those things are HUGE like watching my teenagers draw closer to God, raising their hands in worship, developing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

You see, I can wish for what I had or I can learn to be content.  If I go through life always looking for the next best thing or longing for the things that were in my "old life", I'll never grow.  A personal walk with Jesus Christ is about growth - change.  He doesn't want us to stay where we WERE.  He has bigger plans for us than that.  When I finally see that He can bring me joy where I am at, I don't have to look for something bigger or better to fill my needs or wants.  Joy brings me contentment. 

So the one thing that I am learning, little by little, day by day, moment by moment, is to find...Joy in the Journey. 

I Love It, I Love It...NOT!

Today I'm trying a different approach to my blogging.  I am feeling rather irritated today with all the junk that I have to do but am not really motivated at all to do.  Bear with me and hopefully together we will laugh about the craziness of it.  :)

I LOVE IT!!

  

Diet Dr. Pepper!  Is there any other soda?   Maybe, but this is what I'm drinking today.  Usually it's coffee but I ran out of coffee creamer.  Sin. 

My beautiful children!!!  Oh yes, even on their WORST days, I love them!!!  They aren't just linked by chromosomes to me, they are linked to my heart.  They can make me the most angry, the most hurt or make me feel more love than I could ever feel in my life.  My children.  WOW, I love them!

My HUSBAND!  The one who stole my heart over 17 years ago and the one who sees me at my very best and my very worst and still loves me.  And I love him!!!  Today.  Tomorrow.  Yesterday.  Forever.  <3

And this I just love because it is so tiny, probably a weed, but just a reminder that Spring is on the way and that God makes beauty all around us if we will just look for it. 

I LOVE IT...NOT!!

Laundry.  Oh yeah, it's clean but do I really have to fold laundry, put it away, take it out to wear it, put it in the hamper, sort it, wash it and then repeat?!?!  Isn't there a better way?  I used to like laundry.  Today, I "love it...NOT".

(Okay, this is where you're supposed to chuckle.  Just a little.)

Thank you!

Am I the only one that sorts each person's laundry on the back of the couch so as they walk by they can see it and take it upstairs?  Now ask me if they do that?  Nope.  :) (Grinning and bearing it.)

Random socks!  Yes, this may be just ONE lonely sock, but what you don't see is that these, teenage boy, yucky, smelly, black socks are found all over my house.  Socks are the only thing our 4 year old black lab loves to eat.  And destroy.  So today, and every other day, I "love it...NOT" these miscellaneous random socks. 

(Are you giggling just a little?)

Mismates!!!!  Okay, maybe in here there is a pair, maybe two pairs, but that is all folks.  I sweat, they go in a pair, but they come out lonely, little orphans.  Except for those random black socks that you saw above.  :)

 Do you see that?!  The temperature.  It's only 53 degrees.  Oh sure, that's not that bad, but we had a week of 70 and 80 degree days.  So today, I "love it...NOT!"



Thank you for listening to my rant.  I appreciate it.  I even feel a little better.  :)  Thank you.

God bless you today and may you find Him in all the things you LOVE or "LOVE...NOT"!! 

Baking Flub...or Not?

Today I felt confident in my abilities so I decided to make Pioneer Woman's (PW's) Tres Leches Cake.  It seemed really easy and I'm a pretty decent baker, so off I embarked on my journey.  I measured all of my ingredients:
1 cup flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 whole eggs
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cups milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup heavy cream

I made the cake as directed and poured it into the pan.  I was reading the next step and realized I had forgotten to add the evaporated milk.  (Here's where this gets crazy, pay attention.)  I panic, start washing all the dishes, only having an hour and a half to make a cake that takes 1 hour and 45 minutes to make, I call my husband to come help me measure all the stuff again and to dump the cake batter out of the cake pan so that I can remake the cake.  I go through all of the steps again, adding all the dry ingredients together.  Separate all 5 eggs, beating the egg yolks, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla, then the egg whites until soft peaks form, then adding the sugar to the egg whites until stiff, but not dry, peaks form.  It is then that I realized I in fact, DID NOT mess up the cake.  You see, I added the 1/3 cup of milk, but I didn't need to add the evaporated milk like I thought I did.  The evaporated milk, the sweetened condensed milk and the heavy cream was for the mixture that I was supposed to pour OVER the cake once it was baked.  REALLY?!?!  I really just dumped out a cake that was NOT MESSED UP!??  UGH!  All is right in my world though, I continued making the cake, sort of let it cool, poked the cake, dumped the mixture over, had my husband beat the cream and sugar for frosting, so that I could come and blog about my wonderful, messed up-not-really-messed up baking excursion.  :)  Happens to the best of us!  :)

Now I'm off to frost the cake and take it to our friends house and am going to enjoy every yummy bite of that Messed Up-Not-Really-Messed Up Tres Leches Cake!!  :)

Here is the recipe from the Pioneer Woman's website!  Enjoy!

Recipe: Tres Leches Cake

Prep Time: 45 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 1 Hour  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 12

Print Recipe 3"x5" Cards 4"x6" Cards Full Page

Ingredients

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 5 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Sugar, Divided
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• ⅓ cups Milk
• 1 can Evaporated Milk
• 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
• ¼ cups Heavy Cream
• _____
• FOR THE ICING:
• 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

Until next time....

I've Been Inspired

Over the years I have had the privilage to meet some amazing women.  Women who are great housekeepers (okay, so I hired a housekeeper to help with this area), wonderful cooks, wonderful mothers, wonderful wives and have inspired me to be the same. 

Part of my personal goal for this year, in addition to cooking and eating healthy is to challenge my cooking/baking skills.  I want to do more things, try new things and make yummy foods!  For the first 5 or more years of my marriage I made the same things for dinner over and over again because I happened to marry a VERY picky eater.  For several years he would only eat meat and potatoes and I'm not talking baked potatoes or mashed potatoes...I'm talking french fries or fried potatoes...that was IT!!  I struggled to find meals to fix without getting bored and making the same thing all the time.  I finally reached a point where I just started making different things and guess what?!  He ate them!!  He didn't like everything but that's okay, it was a start.  Now we have been married 17-1/2 years and he eats almost anything I cook. 

In 2011 I will get out of my cooking rut and try new things!  I will share (or try to remember to) with you my successes, failures and what the family likes or doesn't like. 

To begin, I bought this outstanding cookbook! 

I made the Chocolate Sheet Cake last night and it was a huge hit!  I even took some to a friend and her husband.  (She returned the favor and sent some blueberry cobbler home with me, but on the way home my "famished" dancer daughter ate almost all of it...with her FINGERS!)  Guess I'll have to get that recipe from her so that I can make it for my whole family.  :)

Stay tuned...

P.S.  The other night we ate at a Mediterranean restaurant for the first time!  Let's just say I am now in love with Chicken Shawarma!!!  I'll have to make that soon too!!!

New Year, New Goals, New Dreams and a New Vision for Life

I have decided to set some goals for this year.  I've always called them "resolutions" but I heard in Sunday School that we really don't follow through on "resolutions".  That's obvious for me.  I don't think that I have EVER completed a whole year and followed through on one, SO this year it's GOALS! 

One of my goals is to lose weight and get healthy.  I don't think of myself as morbidly obese, but I am around 50 pounds overweight and it bothers me.  I think what bothers me even more is that I am not healthy.  I appear healthy, no major health problems, but my cholesterol is high, my blood pressure tends to run high, and my HDL is high.  After looking at all of these things my husband told me that I was in the risk category for a stroke!!  That was my reality check!  I am not even 40 years old, I have 3 children, I can't have a stroke!  It took a new year and a program at our church "The 90 Day Fitness Challenge" written by Phil and Amy Parham from the show "The Biggest Loser".  I'm past the point of just losing the weight.  It's a lifestyle change, a change in eating habits and watching what I eat, when I eat and how much I eat. 

I'm a nervous eater.  I'm a social eater.  I'm a boredom eater.  I can eat no matter what mood I'm in so I have to learn to tame that inner beast and calm her down!  SO...as I embark on this journey, I will share with you my progress.  Of course, now that this is out in CyberLand, I HAVE to follow through, because everyone is watching!  YIKES!

Here we go ...
I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought a BUNCH of food.  You see, here in Mississippi, snow isn't common and if it's comin' you better prepare!  So I did!  I also took this opportunity to buy some healthy foods.

I read in my "90-Day Fitness Challenge" that foods should be natural and it mentioned in there blue corn tortilla chips.  (To save my life I can't find it now in that book.) Well, I knew I liked those...I've had them before.  So I bought them, along with some baked tortilla scoops!  I LOVE pita chips with sea salt but the store I was at was completely sold out!  GASP!

Bread - I love white bread.  Wheat bread disgusts me.  I think it is because as a child I was forced to eat wheat, all my friends had white bread for their sandwiches in their lunches, but NOOOOO, I had wheat bread.  Some of those wheat breads may as well just have had grain stalks in a bag and been sold that way because it tasted like they did anyway.  YUCK!  But, I found some bread that I'm going to try.

Snacks - I'm a snacker.  I love breads, pastries, desserts, anything sweet and fattening.  Since all of that has gone straight to my tummy and hips, I need to cut those things out...or at least find healthier options.  But let's face it, a girl's gotta have some "I'm having a bad day" foods so she can splurge and not feel guilty about it.
This is what I chose:

Ice Cream - Frozen Yogurt all the way!!  I bought these delicious Weight Watchers frozen treats and they are yummy!!!

So yesterday, I made homemade guacamole from my Weight Watchers cookbook.  I used to hate guacamole, but this is delicious!!!  It was so amazingly delicious, I decided to share the recipe.
Guacamole
1 ripe avocado
1 plum tomato (I used some of a Roma tomato)
2 scallions, only the white and light green parts (I used pre-chopped onions that you could get from your grocer's salad bar or fresh vegetable section)
1 small jalapeno pepper (Use gloves to prevent irritation) (I skipped it)
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp salt (I used sea salt)

Cut the avocado in half, dig out pit.  Spoon out the inside of the avocado into a small mixing bowl.  Mash with fork to desired consistancy.  Dice your tomato, scallions and jalapenos and then add them to avocado.  Add fresh lime juice and salt.  Mix together all ingredients with fork and serve!  Delicious on the blue corn tortilla chips!!  YUM!!

P.S. I took some pictures of my food options, but I will have to post them later.  :)

New Year, New Goals

My first blog of 2011!  Starting off the year reorganizing all the Christmas decorations.  I spend way too much on plastic storage containers but it's the only way that I feel things are completely organized.  It drives my husband CRAZY, but I think by now he has learned to tolerate my craziness...or maybe just survive it!  :) 

SO, I'm throwing out some Christmas stuff, donating some and doing some overall purging.  Let's face it, my style isn't the same today as it was 18 years ago or even 10 years ago so all the cutesy little stuff with no sentimental value is going...say "bye-bye".  Some of those things are just annoying the dickens out of me but I don't want to lose their memory, so out comes the camera to photograph them and write about why they are special.