Update on My Challenge to Me. . .

At the beginning of October I set a challenge to me, to pray for all of my Facebook friends everyday.  I am proud to say I did pretty good.  I think I only missed a few days. 
Now,  I am sure you are asking how could I pray for all of my friends specifically?   Well,  this is how I did it.  I pray each morning after my crew has gone to school and work.  That is my quiet time to talk with God about what is going on in my life.   I called each persons name in my friends list and asked God to watch over that person and their family.   I lifted each person to Him for His grace.  I know, I don't know their troubles or pain but He does. 
When you pray for others, putting yourself aside, you are also blessed.   I do feel blessed because of this challenge.  It made me aware that I should think of others and always be praying for those in need whether I know them or not.  
I am not a holyer than thow kinda person.   I just have a passion for God in my life and I want to share that with everyone.   My family and I have been so blessed by God's grace and I just want everyone to know how great He is.   I am not perfect and the great thing about that is,  God does not care.   He wants us, in all our imperfect ways, and for that I am grateful. 

Funny thing happened on the way to the lake. . .

Dear hubby wanted to go fishing on his birthday.  I was all for it and so was Big T.  He was so excited to get to go fishing with his dad.  They didn't leave real early, it was going to be a leisurely trip.   Just when you think it is safe to relax, don't, cause the phone will ring and you just don't want to hear what is going on.   My big red truck gave up the ghost on the ramp into the lake.   You really know who your friends are when you're stuck on the ramp and your truck won't start.   Thankful to ours for looking out for my hubby and Big T.     The truck got towed and we finally got the boat home and we missed celebrating the birthday.  Ughhhh  Wife fail.
Last night we had a birthday do over.   Remember all the beer hubby bought at WalMart for my drunken turkey, well I fixed the beer boiled shrimp for my sweet husbands birthday do over.   I also picked up a red velvet cake and made some more beer bread and garlic butter.   This does not make up for the not getting to go fishing trip but it did help.   The shrimp were so good.   We fixed the kids burgers, they don't care much for cold shrimp  like my hubby and I do.   Cold boiled shrimp have always been a favorite for my hubby and I.   We have not had them in quite a while though, I guess because the kids don't like them.  It was a nice evening.  Happy Birthday to my sweet, hard working man.

Pumpkin Carving

My hubby has always been the creative one in the family.  Our first Halloween together dating we carved pumpkins and put them on the balcony of his apartment,  he did tragedy and comedy. 
It should not surprise you that after almost 23 years together he still loves to carve.  This year we grew our own pumpkins, simply by accident.  We threw our guts into the graden and plowed them under last year and that is where our pumpkins this year are from.  The boys also like to carve, I think Big T likes it a little better than Sprat, but they still join in.  Big T asked his dad if he would still be carving when he is 80?  I laughed because I know even when our kids are grown we will still decorate for Halloween just like we always have.
My hubby is a bit of a metal head,  he likes heavy metal music.  Our pumpkins have taken on a little metal theme as well.
If you follow any metal music you might recognize Slip Knot masks in our pumpkins.  I hope you like the pictures.
 

Drunken Turkey Among Other Things. .

I had a frozen turkey breast and decided today was a great day to fix it.   I have a special pan that goes on the grill that holds a can.  I found the recipe for cooking time and spices to add.  Here it is if you want to check it out. 
www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cat-cora/beer-can-turkey-recipe.html
This said to warm your grill up to 350 and set your turkey on the cool side.  We lit the two outter burners and set the turkey in the middle.
My hubby and I are not big drinkers,  I do cook with wine and beer but we don't just drink it that often.  I sent my hubby to pick up some beer for the turkey and he comes home with a 12 pk.  He said Walmart did not carry 6pks.   I am immediately going through my head of what else I can cook with beer soon.  He suggested some beer boiled shrimp, yummmmm we have not had that in a while.
Ok, back to dinner tonight.  I made some beer bread and some fresh garlic butter and some brown rice and crowder peas and snaps.  If you have fresh garlic you should try garlic butter.   I use almost 1/2 cup butter (Brummel and Brown) and three cloves of garlic pressed.  I have been making fresh garlic butter for a long time.   I love  it and my family loves it.    I recommend using a glass dish with a lid or everything in your fridge will smell like garlic.  Everything was a hit.  Turkey was very moist and the bread was wonderful with the garlic butter.  The rice and peas were perfect.  

Until we eat again. . .   

My Dad and My Heavenly Father

Those that know me, may know this story but it needs repeating.  This may help you understand who I am and why, I am the way I am.  In early 1996 my hubby and I had just celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary and I had gone home to celebrate my Dad's birthday.  It was early March and the weather was trying to warm up.  My dad is not someone that can stay couped up inside when the weather is nice.  Dad and mom went to the barn, dad was determined to work on the barn roof.  They had been gone maybe a couple of hours when I got the call from mom.  Dad had fallen through the roof of the barn, around 20 some feet to a hard dirt floor.   Mom could not get 911 on her cell.  I hung up and frantically called for her.  I grew up in a small town where everyone knows everyone else so when that call went out over the scanners everyone knew it was daddy.  I raced to the barn and when I got there, there were 4 fire trucks and at least 2  ambulances.   They had dad on a stretcher wheeling him to the ambulance.   He was alert and talking which is a miracle in its self.  In the ER dad was talking and trying to make jokes to sooth mom.  He had to have surgery on his arm, it was crushed and that is all they knew.  He was in surgery for 5 1/2 hours.  We were all terrified  about what else they might find.  He did well and would have to stay in ICU for at least 3 days.  These three days turned into 3 weeks due to complications.   I stayed with mom the whole time, otherwise she would have never left the  hospital.  This is where my relationship with God was made stronger than it has ever been.   I spent many hours a day in prayer for my daddy and my mom.  I felt like I was on a first name basis with Him when all was said and done.   Dad had fractured his pelvis in several places, lacerated his liver, and of course crushed his arm.  They gave him 18 units of blood during that 3 weeks in ICU.   He was on a respirator for over two weeks and in traction for his pelvis for 6 weeks.  He turned 64 in ICU.  There were many scares during those trying weeks of ICU and they were not sure if he would walk again and a couple of  times they didn't know if he would live.   This is why I believe in the power of prayer and why I pray all the time.   I don't always get the answer I want but I know He is giving me what he wants for me. 
Mom and I saw a lot of sadness while we sat in that ICU waiting room.   I learned a great deal about myself while waiting to see if my dad would live or not.   I am glad to say we all weathered that storm and since, my dad has weathered yet another storm with regard to skin cancer and losing his ear.  Years after this incident my dad pulled me aside, he talked to me about being in ICU.  He told me at one point he was at peace and ready to let go.  He said I could have just gone to sleep but, God had a plan for me.  God was not done with me, so I faught back.  My dad is 82 now and still works and he and my mom work out at the gym several mornings a week.   This is why I pray all the time, miracles do happen but you will never know the true love and power of the Lord if you do not talk to him.   I am not a "holy roller"  I just know how truly blessed I am and I want everyone to know they can have the same.   

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,  with thanksgiving , let your requests be nade known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,  will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." 

Philippians 4:6-7.

Interesting Conversations with Big T

Big T gets in the car after school on Friday and starts telling me about these monsters that came and did a presentation at school.  He was so excited  and said they were doing the full show at a local church Friday and Saturday night and he wanted to go.  I said sure we can do that, he never elaborated about the "monsters" again.  I thought it was some sort of puppet show. 
Nothing was said again about the "monsters" until Saturday.   Big T pulled out the brochure that was sent home with him from school about the program.  They were monstrous alright, monstrous body builders and extreme athletes with a message.  They are called Faith Force, they go around to the local schools and perform, now they can't talk about God at school but they talk about choices you make.  We went to the Saturday evening program and it was great.  They gave their testimony and talked about how God had changed their lives.  They use their abilities to reach out to young people and witness to them.  This is an awesome ministry if you ever have a chance to see them I would. 
It was a moving service and at the end they gave an invocation.   They prayed and asked if anyone did not have God in their heart and wanted him there to repeat the prayer.  Then they asked whoever had prayed the prayer with them to come forward, many went down front.  As Big T and I were leaving he asked what that was at the end with the prayer.  I told him that was for people who did not know God or have a relationship with him.  Big T said, " mom I prayed that prayer I just didn't go down front."  I told him that was ok because I prayed the prayer too.   I told him I had been baptized and so had he and that he had asked God to come into his heart before and it was ok if he did not go down front.  I also reminded him that we pray together every night and that is having a relationship with God.  Big T then said, " mom I pray every night  too after I have gone to bed."  I did not know that.   Trying not to just blubber all over everything,  I told him that prayer is a conversation with God.  I told him that it is great to be able to talk with God and that is a relationship with him.
I hope that my kids will always go to God in prayer especially when they feel like there's nobody else they can talk to.  If my hubby and I have done nothing else we have been diligent in praying for and with our kids.  I hope that sticks with them throughout their lives. 

My Infamous Chilli. . .

Chilli was one of the first things I learned to cook when my dear hubby and I were dating.   After 21 years I do believe I have perfected it.   Starting out I did not have a crock pot so I cooked mine in a big stock pot on the stove.  I joke about my dear hubby marrying me because I could cook. He was always hungry.
I use a crock pot now and it makes things so much easier.  I don't have to babysit my recipes so they don't burn or bubble over.  Today I am making a big pot of chilli.  My chilli changes based on what I have on hand to throw in.   Here is my recipe for today:  ground beef (browned), 2 cans dark red kidney beans, 2 cans great northern beans, 1 can diced green chilies,  2-3 tsp ground mustard, 2-3 tsp cilantro,  1tbsp cumin, 3 branches of my fresh thyme(leaves), 2qts fresh tomato juice (from our garden), a splash of vinegar, I also added 2 jalapeno peppers from our garden (whole),  3tsp garlic powder, and 2 tsp onion powder.
I brown my beef in white wine and Worcestershire sauce then add to the crock pot along with everything else.   I am cooking mine on high for at least 5 hours maybe longer.  I serve mine with cheese,  sour cream,  and crackers or tortilla chips.  Yummmmm

Drying Herbs. .

I love my flowers, I love my garden, but I really love my herbs.   I have basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, mountain mint, lime mint, thyme, and chives.  Most of these stay around all year.  I dug my rosemary bush up this year, so I have recently picked up another to plant.   Basil I have to buy every year, but everything else is pretty hardy. 
I love using  my fresh herbs in my recipes.   I also like drying them, you just never know when a hard winter will kill your plants.  I have a basic dehydrator (Ronco).  It has 5 trays and a heating element.   I generally leave my herbs on for at least 12 hours, sometimes it takes longer.  
Today while I was out I noticed how good my sage looked.  I started picking leaves and decided I would dry them since I was not fixing anything tonight that required sage.  I noticed my oregano was looking pretty good too, so I cut some of it.   I ended up with two trays of sage  and two trays of oregano.  I left the tray on the very bottom, closest to the heating element, empty. 
Everyone probably has several recipes that they could use oregano in but I bet you only have a few that call for sage.   This summer, when we had lots of onions in the garden, I would take a couple and cut them a little and add some butter, garlic powder, and some sage leaves.  I wrapped it in foil and put it on the grill.  They were so very good.  I have found a brown butter chicken with sage I will try sometime in the next few weeks and of course everyone knows sage is a prime herb in dressing at Thanksgiving.  
My house should be smelling really good by tonight. 

BBQ Beer Chicken

Ok, so I have been using my crock pot more and we are trying to stay away from red meat so here comes the chicken.  I found this recipe on pinterest and of course I tweaked it just a bit.  I used 4 frozen chicken breast, a bottle of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce (because that is what I had on hand) and two bottles of dark beer.  Now, the recipe on pinterest called for two bottles of BBQ sauce and one bottle of beer.  I covered my chicken with the BBQ sauce and sprinkled some paprika and garlic powder over my concoction, then I poured the two bottles of beer.  It needed more liquid that is why I did the two bottles of beer.  I don't drink beer so I took a recommendation from my local grocery store beer guy on the bottles I used.
This cooked 8 hours on low, then you shred the chicken and add it back to your pot for another 30 minutes or so on low.  I fixed some whole wheat Orzo and we put our shredded chicken over top of the Orzo.  I must say this was so very good.  Everybody liked it except Big T, he is my picky eater and he hates anything drenched in sauce.   He is a lot like I was at his age so I try not to fuss at him to much about it.  I do feel a constant need to apologize to my mother though, for what I put her through when I was growing up.  When we had spaghetti I only ate noodles and no sauce.
Of course I grew out of that picky stage and I eat a broader selection of food now.   I still don't like a lot of red meat but we do have it occasionally.   I prefer chicken or pork personally.
This was a great meal and we had no leftovers.  I always have leftovers.
I really like using my crock pot so stay tuned I have a few more recipes I am going to try.  

Fall Break. . . For Me

I have been of Fall break this week.  I have still been working though, Mothers never get a true break.  Sprat had to go to the doctor yesterday, he has a sinus infection.  Ughhhh!!!  Today since I have had a few hours to my self I have been trying to clean my computer up.  This is my monster desktop that we have had since 2006.  It has not been turned on since 2012, because it was having such issues.
Today I decided I would put what I have learned to good use.  I laid out my static mat and set my tower on it, I put on my static bracelet and began vacuuming the outside of the case.  I then laid the case down and took off the side panel, and wow mama, there was a lot of dust in there.  It is any wonder how this thing has not caught fire before now.  I had BIG dust bunnies in this case.  You would not think that a computer could accumulate such dust.  EEEEEkkkkk!
Everything in the case looked good, no blown up capacitors like I have seen in other computers I worked on at school. I vacuumed the inside of the case gently.  Once I was satisfied with the cleaning I closed it back up.   I powered the old girl up and she started right up.  No smoke, no fire.
I began with a basic virus scan since I had not had updated virus protection on it for a while now.  I had one threat and I got rid of that.  Then I did a malware scan too.  Not all virus protection will scan or catch malware so it is good to have both on your system.  Clean scan there too.  I was surprised.  I decided to do a system defragmenting program too.  The newer systems that have solid state drives do not require defragmenting.  My system is older and has a platter type hard drive (HDD).   I must say that was a mess.  It needed defragmenting badly.
Now that I am sure I don't have any viruses or malware on my system I am going to pull my many, many, many picture files off the hard drive.  I bought an external hard drive to back up my pictures almost a year ago.  I am in the process of doing that now.  So far so good.  I highly recommend if you have a lot of pictures on your system that you back them up periodically.  If something happens to that hard drive it is hard to get those pictures back.   If you are like me, once everything went digital, I stopped printing pictures.  My kids whole life was on this system and that is why I am so excited about retrieving those pictures.  These are pictures I have not even looked at for over a year.  
I feel like I have actually accomplished something today.  yayyy me!!!

Crock pot Monday. . .

Tonight we will be able to have a  nice quiet family dinner.   Nobody has practice, I am on Fall break, and hubby does not have to work late.  Yayyy!!!!  I had to get myself in gear this morning and do my Wal-Mart run to get things started. 
Today I am trying a new crock pot chicken recipe I found on pinterest.  You cut 4 chicken breast into 1 inch cubes and layer in your crock pot; tater tots,  shredded cheese,  chicken.  Repeat and end with cheese on top.  Then pour 3/4 cup milk over the top.  Cook 4-6 hours.  Those that know me, know that I never go 100% by a recipe.   There is always something I change, either because I don't have an item or I substitute an item or I just out right forget to put something in.  So this time I had either Almond milk or heavy cream to use in my recipe.  I used the heavy cream and I probably used almost a cup.  I will let you  know how it turns out.  We will also be having field peas and snaps and some krispy baked kale.  The kale is my sister's recipe; kale, Olive oil, sea salt, and parmesan cheese.  Toss and bake spread out on a pan in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.  I have never had kale so I will let you  know about that one too.   Sis says it gets crispy like a chip.   What is everyone else fixing for dinner?  

Wedding Day. . . .

We have a niece getting married today.   I think the wedding time of year has moved from Spring and Summer to more Fall.   I was listening to the radio yesterday and they were talking about Weddings and how much people spend on them.  This particular listener had called in and said her parents spent $40,000 on her Wedding.  I just about went off the road.  Holy cow!!!  We had a big wedding but we did not spend near that much, I don't think we spent near half that much.    I guess the wedding theme when we got married was much simpler.  These days they go all out and spend upwards of $40,000 on renting a place to have the wedding.  Thank goodness things were more traditional when we got married.   We were married in the Church I grew up in and had our reception in the fellowship building.  We were not big drinkers so we did not have to move the reception so people could drink.   We had piano and violin music during our reception no DJ or band.  Please don't get me wrong, I am not slamming anyone that had these things, many of my friends had receptions in other places and had open bars, bands, and DJ's.  There is nothing wrong with that, if that is who you are.  I guess I just think people should do what they want, not do what everyone else is doing and break themselves and their parents on one day.  Yes, it is a big day and I will never forget my own.   My hubby and I have enjoyed 21 years together and I look back on our Wedding day with great memories and how perfect it was.
My hubby is threatening when the boys are old enough and thinking about marriage that he will offer them cash to elope.  I think there may be a fight over that one.  I have heard of other parents offering the same to their kids.  Some opt for the cash and some opt for the lavish ceremony.  I hope that my boys will pick a young lady that has a similar background and will won't a nice little church ceremony.  I think it would break my heart if my babies eloped.  I know I have many years before any of this happens but, I cannot help but think about it.  Ahhhh, the trials of being a mom.

Today. . .

Taking Big T to school early this morning for the technology club and what did we see?  A beautiful rainbow. . .  It was not a typical rainbow,  it had a lot of yellow in it and at one point it looked as though it was doubled.  Very cool.   We lost sight of it  for a bit but, then when I pulled into the school there it was again.  Big T pointed it out and said, that is a sign it is going to be a good day. 
When I picked him up I asked him if he had had a good day.  He said, yes but I sure am tired. 
I was so worried about him going to the middle school and now I kinda feel silly.  He seems to be doing really well.  He was picked for technology club, which to him is a big deal.  He likes his teachers and the kids in his class and I have already told you about the little girls buying him pudding.  Yes, they are still buying it.  He seems to be doing well with his grades too.  I am very proud of him.  He is stepping out of his comfort zone.

Practical Experience. . .

I am going back to school to get a degree in Cybercrime.  Many of my classes are about computers.  I have built two computers and I have almost set one on fire.  I have taken apart and put back together several computers.  Today, as part of our class, we had students bring in their computers that were not working properly.    Our job was to talk with them and try to figure out their problems and then fix them.
The gentleman that my lab partner and I got to help had a laptop that he no longer could access the internet with.  We figured out that he had a virus and a couple of malware programs.  He had inadvertently downloaded these while surfing the net.
This can happen to anyone.  I urge you to use caution while surfing and please do not click on just anything.  Make sure you know what you are clicking on.  There are some evil programmers out there that make their pop ups look legit, when in reality they are anything but. 
For the gentleman we are helping, it is going to take another whole day to delete all of the programs that were downloaded to his computer witthout his knowledge. 
Be safe surfing.

What's in the Pot?

I love Pinterest.  I have found some really cool things on there.  I have pinned many slow cooker recipes and I decided yesterday I would put my new pot to good use.  I searched my pins for something yummy that was not chicken.  My poor family has eaten so much chicken lately.   I found a good one for beef tips and gravy.  I altered it just a bit and it turned out to be the best beef strogenoff (? Sp)   My mom used to make that when I was little.  I was a terribly picky eater so I did not eat the meat, only the noodles and gravy.  It was years later before I could eat it like you are supposed to. 
So here is my recipe for what we had tonight which, according to Sprat, was amazing.   Stopped by our local meat market and picked up 2lbs of beef tips, 1 can cream of mushroom soup,  16 oz of beef broth, 1pkg lipton onion soup put this in the crockpot  for 6 hours on high.  Once you are close to your time to eat you can start the gravy.  2tbs butter melted then add 2tbs flour, when your flour is mixed well woth the butter slowly add 2 cups of beef broth.  After the gravy is cooking slowly start your water for the noodles.  I served my beef tips over the noodles with the gravy over the top.   This taste just like I remember mom's.

A Challenge to My Self. . .

A friend of mine gave me a challenge to pray for ten people.  I have decided that I cannot pick only ten.  I have decided that I should pray for everyone on my Facebook friend's list.   As I said in a previous post, I don't just friend anyone.  Each person I am friends with on facebook I am friends with face to face.  Some are long time friends from school and church, some are more recent friends I have made through interaction with my kids.
As this month moves along I will be covering each of them in prayer.   Some people do not take friendship very seriously this day and age.  It is just something you say or something you do on facebook.  I guess I am just old school, I take saying someone is my friend very seriously.   I would do anything for my friends.  As my dad always says, "you can only go as far as your friends will let you go".