Bless My Heart!

No pictures in this post, just something sweet that my precious boy said.  Last night he got a visit from "Leo the Leprechaun".  He got some St. Patrick's Day goodies since Daddy was going to be at work so early this morning.  Since he knows that Leo brought him some things, he has been going around the house asking where he got this and where he got that.  I keep answering him with, "Mommy and Daddy got you that" or "Santa brought you that".  He seems fine with those answers.  Then he asked, "Who got this whole house?  Where'd we get it?"  I told him that Mommy and Daddy had gotten this house for him and he promptly corrected me saying, "No Mommy, Jesus got it for us!"  Oh my, that just about melted my heart into a million pieces because he could not be more correct. 

Simple Pleasures

I read a couple of different blogs and about a month ago there was a theme about simple pleasures.  I hadn't really been blogging regularly at that point, but I have thought a lot about that subject recently.  Simple pleasures are of course unique to every individual, but the common theme they have is that they don't have to cost a lot--or cost anything!  Sometimes the best things in life are free.  :)  Of course these days my favorite simple pleasure is spending time with these two:

This was our most recent trip to Disney World.  It was the first week of October and 95 degrees!!!

So here's a list of my simple pleasure:

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• A hot cup of coffee in the morning--especially when it's brought to me in bed by my hubby
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• A deep, belly laugh from Geren
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• A good, undisturbed afternoon nap
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• Getting snail mail that isn't junk or a bill
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• A trip to the store/market by myself
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• Finding something that I really have wanted for a while and then discovering it is on clearance
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• Fresh doughnuts
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• An electric blanket-especially when it's been preheated :)
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• Reminiscing about special days like my wedding day and the day Geren was born
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• Geren and Gary waiting for me at the back door when I get home
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• Our whole family piled in our bed watching cartoons
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• Caffeine free diet Pepsi
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• Chik-fil-a sandwich and a LARGE sweet tea
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• A deep breath of fresh air in the thick of the fall season
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• A WVU football game at Milan Puskar Stadium
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• Hearing my sweet boy yell, "Mommmmmyyy!!!"

 

Seriously, I could go on for hours.  It helps to think of things you have and being thankful for them instead of the things you don't have.  It's so easy to want more and more, but if you take time to think about the simple things in life, you may realize how blessed you really are. 

What are some of your simple pleasures?

Way Back Wednesday

Two years ago this month we took at trip to Orlando for Gary's work.  It was Geren's 2nd trip to Disney.  He has just gotten his first haircut ever and has the Mickey Ears to prove it.  :)  What sweet memories...

Cinnamon Sticky Buns

I got a new cookbook for Christmas called The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  I follow the author, Ree Drummond,  through her blog and she's so normal and down to earth. You can check out her blog here: thepioneerwoman.com She's been on a book tour for the past couple months and did some stops this week.  I watched her on Fox and Friends where she made her cinnamon rolls.  She is famous for them in the south and they look SOOO good.  I really wanted to make them from the recipe in my cookbook, but I didn't have all of the ingredients.  (When you live with someone with Celiac disease, you don't keep a large volume of flour on hand).  So, I looked around and realized I did have the ingredients for a similar recipe from The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.

 

Ina Garten is definitely NOT Ree Drummond.  I really can't relate to Ina.  She's a little too hoity-toity for my taste, but she does have great recipes and I have made quite a few out of this cookbook.  She's full of good tips, too.

These are all of the ingredients needed.  I accidently hid the brown sugar behind the pecans, so 5 ingedients--that's it.

I mixed butter and brown sugar together with a mixer and placed equal parts in the bottom of a muffin pan.

Unfolded the puff pastry and brushed it with butter.

Covered the pastry with brown sugar, cinnamon and more pecans.  The recipe calls for raisins, but I'm not a fan, so I decided to change and add more nuts.

Rolled it all up....

...and cut into 6 equal pieces.  Then repeated with the other sheet of pastry to end up with 12 rolls.

400 degrees for 30 minutes and then......

I let them cool for 5 minutes in the pan.

Then turned them out.

BLISS.....

Seriously.....they are so good when they are warm, right out of the oven--it's ridiculous.

I think I may go throw one in the microwave right now.....

P.S.  BIG Thank you to my husband who helped me with my photos or I may be still sitting at the computer when Geren graduated high school.

New Blog Picture

So, I love to change things with this blog.  I don't have a lot of time to play with the options, but I'm trying to learn.  I really don't like technology, but since I'm married to a computer nerd (sorry, Honey), he forces me to keep up with things.  I guess I really don't mind because I don't want to be one of those people that doesn't have any idea about how to download, upload, etc.  I only learned how to use an iPod for my birthday last year and I felt really behind.  I was so upset when I got a BlackBerry and had to figure out the email and I mourned for my BlackBerry when Gary and I upgraded to an iPhone last summer--I know, it's just a phone, but I become attached.   But Gary knew that I needed to keep up with technology so he gently suggested some ideas to keep up.   So, I decided to play with the design and see how a picture would look and I love it.  This picture of Geren is one that Gary took (of course) and I think it just captures him so well.  Such a sweet boy.  *sigh* I can't believe that my little baby isn't so little anymore and is fast becoming a independent boy.

Desk Remodel

 So, when we bought our home back in 2006 we thought that we had a house in "turn key condition".  We must have had rose colored glasses on, because after we moved in we found many, MANY things that needed changed and upgraded.  Of course, almost 9 months to the day that we moved in, Geren was born.  New House, New Baby--right???  Things were put on the back burner because home improvement can be a bit noisy and that doesn't mix with a sleeping baby.  Slowly, but surely we have started on some projects that we wanted to get done.  Since we have had so much snow, we decided to tackle a project of converting a "wet bar" into a desk area.  I don't have a before picture of the area, but I do have some progression photos.  I would have more photos, but since I'm new to blogging, I have to figure out why it takes SOOOO long to upload photos.

Geren is always right by Gary's side when it comes to projects.  He has his own tools just like Daddy's.

Geren wanted to sand--and was a bit over zealous.  :)

How can you be a real foreman without a hard hat and tool belt?

We chose a dark taupe paint.  Gary says that if it was up to me we would paint the whole house taupe.  Not true!  I just like to have a blank slate so I can change things up when I get tired of something.

Please excuse the "after" photos.  I took them with my phone. 

I am beyond thrilled to actually have a practical space that will be used.  Thank you to my wonderful husband for taking the time to make this space so wonderful.

Valentine's Day 2010

I always wanted to make holidays special when I had children. Some of my background is elementary education so I have a tiny bit of creativity. This year wasn't the year to showcase that side of me. Ugh.... I guess things went a little to quickly after Christmas and Valentine's Day was upon us before I knew it. The lucky part for me is that Geren is still a bit too young to remember details, but old enough to appreciate the small things that we did get to do.

We started the week by making various heart crafts. Here is Geren will one of his creations. He had his first experience with scissors--which he LOVES. Everything turns into fringe, though--cutting in a straight line has yet to be mastered. I asked him to tell me some things that he loves and besides Mommy and Daddy, Batman and Robin were tops!

Ok--have to admit--this post was going to be longer, but WOW!!! this is hard. Ok. I will practice and get better and then have longer posts.

This is SERIOUS!!!

Ok....maybe not that serious, but I'm not really joking about this blog this time. I have made some not so sincere attempts to keep up with this blog and it just hasn't worked out. I haven't taken the time or exerted the effort to keep up with pictures and news. I have a renewed commitment to this form of journaling. Soooooo........