Friday Flick Review - Tangled

I haven't done a flick review in a long time, but this is definitely a must see for little girls.  I was much more excited about seeing it than Ciara.  We went to the Wellington Ritz theater to see this movie.  I love going over there.  It is so beautiful and I love sitting on the balcony.  Ciara doesn't like the balcony, but we still sit there.  I digress....  The movie was so cute.  I am in love with those beautiful eyes on Rapunzel.  I loved when she had to pick up her hair and carry it around.  She was bold and sassy and not some wallflower that could be walked on.  Plus she was a great artist.  I totally recommend this movie.  It was adorable!!

Cards, Cards, Cards

These are some cards I have been making for my Sunday School class to send to people who are sick or home bound.  I hope they have brightened their days.  There are also some I have made for school to send out also.

Some Like it Hot!!!

This weekend I spent a lot of time in my kitchen cooking and was blessed to spend time in my friend's kitchen learning how she makes her salsa.  I have recently wanted to learn how to make this since my daughter could eat a gallon a day!!  This was wonderful.  She used one jalapeno in ours and it was plenty hot.  Ciara loved it!!  I think this is what she put in it:

Cathleen’s Salsa

I large can tomatoes

1 ½ teaspoon garlic

¼ to 1/3 of an onion

1 tsp salt

1-2 jalapenos depending on flavor

cilantro (handful)

green onions (about 5)

These are estimates.  Add all ingredients to blender and blend until salsa like.

Got a great salsa recipe??? Send it to me and I will post it also.

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for .....frustration.  What???  Are you finally losing what little is left of your mind????  Well... maybe.....


I have been frustrated for the last few weeks over a situation.  Sometimes even just flabbergasted!  When they say that God works in mysterious ways, you better believe it.  I have witnessed this first hand with the changes he has brought about in my life in the last few months.  Last night I was frustrated to the point of anger.  I wanted to walk out on things that God has brought me to.  Today, I choose to embrace that frustration and know that through it, I will grow into a better person.  I will learn calmness, humility, patience.  Yep, me... You know those aren't my strong points.  I know that God is going to turn this frustration into something beautiful for Him. 

I am also thankful that I know how to cook a turkey!


What are you thankful for?   (Thanks so much if you left a thankful comment last week.  It was great hearing from you.)

Thankful Thursday

I have so many things to be thankful for this week. 

1. I am thankful for people that become missionaries, even to see no fruit or in dangerous, or life-threatening situations.
2. I am thankful for understanding friends that might not agree with my decisions, but respect me enough to know that my decisions are right for me.
3. I am thankful for friends who support me when others don't.  I appreciate their concern and encouragement more than they will ever know.
4. I am thankful for my daughter who even though she tries to do no work, manages to get a few chores done here and there that lighten my load and she is happy to live off ramen noodles.
5. I am thankful for my family and the inspiration that they are.
6. I am thankful for being so busy and having so much to do because that means I am needed.  It is a great feeling to know that you are needed.  
7. I am thankful for my job and the opportunities it gives me.
8. I am thankful for all the lessons I have learned about debt.  Hopefully, they will remind me in the future to stay out of it!!
9. I am thankful for beautiful fall weather.
10. I am thankful for you, my blog readers.  You never criticize and leave me the most wonderful comments that encourage me. Now, leave one and tell me what you are thankful for this week!

Thankful Thursday - Meal Planning

I am sharing things I am thankful for on Facebook everyday, but still wanted to share here.  As Thanksgiving approaches, I am taking a little time to stop and focus on the huge blessings I have in my life.  One of my blessings this year has been learning about meal planning. 

As most of you know, I have been trying to pay off a debt for the last ...(well, I won't say how long! cause it is just embarassing!).  I will make the final payment in December!!!  I have been blessed as I have learned about money, and how to control it and not let it control me.  I will admit that sometimes I  still let it control me.  It is important to take a look at how you spend your money.  The past few months have been eye opening at how much I spend in some areas.  I spend an enormous amount of money each week eating out. 

I have learned to use coupons, shop specials, and plan meals.  I am still working on the planning part, but there is a wonderful service out there called e-mealz.com that can help you.  I used a lot of their ideas and then made my own plan.  (Cause I couldn't afford to pay for theirs, even though it is really cheap.)  It took a lot of time (like an hour) and quite frankly, I didn't want to devote the time to doing it.  But after I got started, it took very little time each week to update, therefore freeing me from eating out and saving me tons of money.  I have also tried to include my daughter in planning and cooking.  Sometimes she participates and sometimes, she plays barbies or holds her cat!!  But she is learning and I want her to learn these important skills.  I have discovered that I like cooking several meals at once.  That way we have lots to eat off during the week and I don't have to spend so much time cooking each night.  Tuesday night as our hobo dinners were cooking, I cooked up the rest of the hamburger and added ground turkey and bagged it up for nachos and spaghetti, made some fried potatoes and scrambled eggs and assembled 8 breakfast burritos for us to take to school and heat up, got beans sorted to make some lima beans and ham in the crockpot, and made a big batch of tuna salad for my lunches.  It is nice to come home to a fridge full of "ready to eat" food.  Almost like going out to eat!!

Fall Festivities

 

Just a few pics to show what we have been up to lately.  Wednesday night we had a fall festival at FBC Carey.  I had a booth to stamp candy bags.  It turned out great, thanks to my wonderful helper, Cathleen!!  We stole Brendalynn and took her with us.  She had fun looking for suckers in her candy bag.  Isn't she getting to be such a big girl?

Ciara went as a roller derby queen to the downtown trick or treating on Saturday night.  She wanted that wig so bad!!  Then she wanted to rip it off before we even got there.  It was very hot that day.  She made it halfway before she ditched the skates.  I thought it was a genius idea and that she totally looked the part.  Roll on, queenie!!  Whip It!!



Sunday I made the decision to join FBC Carey.  I feel God has led us out there for a reason.  I love, love, love the people out there.  They have been so welcoming and nice.  I have a wonderful Sunday School class that I feel very comfortable in.  I have joined the music team.  I love being able to sing again.  I hope my allergies go away so I can hit those higher notes!!  Ciara loves that church also.  She is being spoiled by the people out there.  She loves the Wednesday night program and her SS class.

That night we went to the fall festival at FBC Chidress.  It was so much fun.  Ciara went and played all the games while I visited with some sweet ladies.  Here she is doing the cake walk.  That has been her favorite carnival event since the first time she ever did it and won a strawberry cake.  This time, she won pecan sandie cookies.  Unfortunately, she discovered that she loves them!!  Bummer, now I can't eat them all!!  Now we have a huge bucket of candy to tempt me all week!!  I might have to change my rule that C gets 3 candies a day and let her just go ahead and eat it all to get rid of it!!