Beef...it's what's for dinner, or deer meat.....

My freezer is full of deer meat, year round. My father in law makes sure of that. So, we do not have to buy much as far as meat goes because you can use deer meat the same way you use beef. Sometimes it gets old only eating deer meat, so we branch out and buy chicken or beef from time to time (especially when M cooks his amazing steaks!) 

This is a recipe a friend gave me. One of our favorites!

Beef Stroganoff

1 lb ground beef (or deer)

1 small onion

3 c. uncooked egg noodles

1/2 c water

8 oz. sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

4 T. Worcestershire sauce

2 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

(for those who may not ever cook, when reading a recipe, the capital T. means tablespoon and the lower case t. means teaspoon)

:)

Brown and drain meat. Cook onion with the meat. Add noodles to meat mixture. In a separate bowl combine sour cream, Cream of mushroom soup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and water. 

Add to meat mixture and simmer for 30 min. 

Such a great dish! And it is quick and easy! Throw a vegetable on to cook and rolls in the oven and you have a great dinner to share with your family! 

Habitat Restore

Habitat for Humanity is a great organization that provides homes for the homeless. You can read more about them here. They have a store called the Habitat Restore, and they have a huge selection of used home improvement items at a fraction of retail prices. And all of their proceeds are used to build habitat homes. There are a couple of Habitat Restores in the area, one in Decatur and one in Huntsville.

I bought 2 old windows there a few years ago. I bought a large one for $8 and a smaller one for $5. They stayed in my garage for 3 years! We would drag them out and hold them up to the wall and never could find the perfect place! I could not figure out what I wanted to do with them. Thanks to other bloggers with great ideas, I figured it out! I got the idea here. (she actually used hers as fireplace screen!) I bought some cute fabric and used my trusty staple gun to staple it to the back of the window! So cute! I love it! Now, thanks to my sweet husband the windows are both hanging on the wall! Here they are!

 Not the best quality photos, but you get the point:) This is another super easy and cheap project that anyone can do.

Writ5ing on t5his blog t5akes t5wice as long as it5 should...

Not5ice t5he numbers in t5he t5it5le?.....y6es, that5 is what5 my6 sent5ences act5ually6 look like when I t5y6pe them on my6 comput5er.
      I have to go back and delete every number and symbol from each word that uses a T or Y. I never realized how much I use those two letters! It is time consuming and a little annoying.
      You are probably wondering why I am sharing this...who cares?! Well, I do! I do not enjoy this nor do I do it for fun! Actually, at one point I could not even type a 5 or a 6. So, if you ever wanted to use my computer and your pasword had those numbers, you would need to copy and paste the numbers from another page. UGH. Ridiculous, I know. Now, you are probably wondering what's the point....
       Baylor. Yes, he decided my computer needed a bath. He used germ-x. You can imagine my shock and anger when I walked in and found him with the pump bottle of germ-x at the coffee table, washing away. I have since calmed down:) but,  I always think of Baylor when I type a T% or Y^.
      I just thought you should know that if you ever see an extra number or symbol in my post- that is the reason!

Naming my blog....

I honestly didn't think too much about naming my blog! Ha! I thought I might start it but it wouldn't go anywhere. I am finding that I actually enjoy blogging! Crazy! I know!

Anyway, I thought someone out there might be interested in the name.....not really, but I thought it would be fun to share! I love this story!

A preacher's wife! Yes, God honestly called me to this amazing position. I struggled to know God's will for my life when I was in high school. I had two great mentors in my life to whom I will always be grateful. They will never know the full impact they had on my life. They were there encouraging me and praying along side me. It was like a revelation the day I realized it.....God was calling me to be a pastor's wife! I went to one of them and basically asked their opinion for my future, they answered with, "I think you would make a great preacher's wife!" Are you kidding me?! That is honestly what I feel like God is calling me to do! This was confirmation for me that I was in His will! How exciting!.......now what?! 

A few months later, I visited one of the FIMC youth services. I sat behind this guy with long hair (which btw I do not find attractive on a man). But I thought he was really good looking, despite the hair! After the service we started talking....you know, the basics.......What's your name? I've never seen you around here before....How old are you?:) You must know that at the time I was 17 and this guy was 22, I was a senior in high school and he was a senior in college! Then he asked me what I wanted to do when I graduated. And, thinking he would find it silly, my answer was, "Well, I really feel like God is calling me to be a preacher's wife." His response was something like this,"Are you serious? Did you know that I am a preacher?!"

Well, you know how the story ends:) That guy was the preacher, my preacher! We dated for 4 months after that and then we got engaged, 8 months later we were married:) 

Wow. Sometimes when we least expect it or least deserve it God blesses us. He has truly blessed me. What a privilege to serve with my husband. To share Jesus in only the way a preacher/ pastors wife can! As Thomas Oden mentions in his book, Pastoral Theology, a pastor has a unique role, to be there for a person during the pivotal moments of life. We get to share with families when a new life comes into the world. We share their lives when they meet Jesus and are there when they are baptized. We get to be there when men and women pledge their lives to each only in the union of marriage. And we are there by their side in death. What an amazing position the 'preacher' and his wife have. I have come to appreciate what an honor it is to be a preacher's wife and share a ministry with my precious husband.

God has a plan for my life and a plan for yours.......I love his plan for my life........after all it is the best plan, the only plan.

You can pretty much spray paint anything!

You name it and you can probably spray paint it! Don't like the way something looks? Give it a new look....for cheap! I buy Valspar spray paint at Lowe's. It costs about $3.75 for a can. Or if you are spraying something white or black there is an 'economy' paint for $1. Here are a few items I have spray painted recently:

My craigslist find! Before...

And after!

This bookcase was under my Nana's carport! So, I got it for free! It was brown before and I Spray painted it 'churchill hotel vanilla'. I also made a back for it out of foam board and fabric. Total redo was less than $15!!! [I can't find a before pic!]

I am so happy with my table! I bought it on craigslist for $115 and sold my table for $75, so you do the math and I technically paid $40!!
I only used the spray paint for the chairs, and not for the table and bench, but only because I already had a quart of the black paint. So I brushed it on. You could also leave the seats of the chairs the wood color and just paint the backs and legs of the chairs....too much work for me!

The back of the bookcase is just a $5.99 piece of foam board from Hobby Lobby (one of my favorite stores) and a yard of fabric! I hot glued the fabric around the foam board and used my handy staple gun to attatch it to the back of the bookcase! Sooooo easy! Seriously anyone can do this!

What's for dinner?

Do you ever wonder what other people are doing at dinner time? I always wonder what other people are eating for dinner? Do they sit down at the table? Do they sit in front of the t.v.? Do they cook? Do they use a recipe? Do they eat out? Take out? Or are they like Mammaw R....she is a walking cook book!
      I really enjoy cooking for my family and serving them meals. Some nights I REALLY do not want to cook-mainly because I don't want to wash dishes! And I don't every night, but most of the time I do and it is fun! I have found it really helpful to have a set dinner time. I like knowing that we are going to eat dinner at 5(in the winter) and have the kids bathed and in bed by 6:30. This Summer I have not been as scheduled, in fact I have been a little lazy! But, it is still helpful to have a plan.
      If you could care less what we do at dinner time then stop reading or just skip to the end! This is for people who want to know about the lives of others. I will share a peek at our dinner time with you. Of course there is chaos! I have three little boys....what else would you expect?! By this time of day, Beau is usually crying and wants to be held (he is going down at 6:15 these days), Jackson and Baylor are "starving" and I am yelling for M to come help! He of course usually comes running-he likes to eat:) So he will take them off my hands so I can cook (such a good daddy). We always have buffet style-no reason to wash more dishes than you have to! We wash hands (hope you do too!) we say the blessing and eat. Yes, M and I get frustrated. Yes, the whining is annoying. Yes, it is all worth it. This is my absolute favorite time of day. There is something about sitting down with my family around the same table, and sharing a meal together. We are not perfect, and don't let me paint a perfect picture. More food ends up on the floor than is even understandable. We have to wash dishes, faces, hands, and clothes when it's over. We have whiny, Im not hungry, and one-more-bite sitting around our table! But, even in the 'work' we are being a family. Living and loving together.
       We have started something new at our table. I got the idea from this blog: www.aholyexperience.com. We read scripture together. Not much, because the people around my table do not have long attention spans:) but what I have noticed when we share God's word together at the table is that the boys think it is so special. They love it! What would it be like if we all sat around our tables and shared God's word together? What if it was that special to us? I pray that I can appreciate His Word as much as my children.
       I love fast easy meals that are healthy! Tonight we had chicken Spaghetti. It takes about 35 minutes to cook the entire meal! If you use canned chicken (yes, I said I use canned chicken!) I only use premium canned chicken :) and only in casseroles, never in things like chicken salad. Just try it! I promise you will be glad you did! Here is the recipe:

1 large can of chicken                                 8-oz pkg angel hair pasta
1 can of Rotel                                             8-oz Velveeta cheese(melted)
8-oz can of cream of chicken soup             1/2 cup of milk

I add a little Tony Chachere's seasoning to mine.

Cook pasta until done. Spray 9x13 casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Mix all ingredients, pour in casserole dish and bake for 30 min on 350.

Yes, it's that easy! Throw a bag of broccoli in the microwave and some rolls in the oven and you have an excellent, healthy meal that your family can enjoy together around the table, and afterward you can share the real bread of life!

"Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

"Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord." Duet. 8:3

How did I get pressured into this?!

It has always been hard for me to resist peer pressure! I started this blog because of peer pressure! I will do my best to be interesting! I guess my first post should be a little about myself. I love Jesus. I have an amazing husband and three precious little boys. I stay at home with them. I love projects! I love to see something before and after...it is rewarding to know that you can re-purpose and redo things to make them better. And for cheap!! Kind of like my before and after, God gave me a free gift and made me so much better! I love to share my life that God has blessed me with. He has blessed me far more than I could ever have dreamed. I come from a broken family, and because of Jesus saving me and because of my amazing grandparents I am who I am today.
    Those amazing grandparents had us in church from the beginning. They wanted my two sisters and me to grow up knowing Christ. It took a while for me to actually understand how much I needed Him.  But I am thankful everyday for the life Nana and Granddaddy lived before me. Always giving of themselves, just like Jesus. 
     Now, what do you know?! I am married to a preacher:) A good looking preacher...if I do say so myself! He is the love of my life. The man of my dreams and we share a wonderful life. Of course we deal with everyday problems just like everyone else. We are real. We are open and we are honest. Life can be hard. Demanding. Tough. But it is also a gift from God. A wonderful gift that he has blessed us with. Along with the gift of three precious little boy's lives. We are responsible to raise them to know Christ. My prayer is that our lives would 'preach' Jesus to these boys.
      That is probably enough about me:) I will post some random information....fun facts, tips, really just a conglomeration of things!  Thank you to my sweet friends who pressured me! I think it will be fun!