From Trash to Treasure

The day after Christmas my mom and I went shopping in the next town over. We went pass this junkyard that I refer to as Sanford and Son. I saw these parsons chairs out there and thought I would stop. I knew they would want to haggle with me, so I made up my mind I would not pay more than $10 a chair. I walked up to the guy and he told me we would make a deal like the game show. He said he'd sell me all 4 chairs for $25. I said, "SOLD!" He loaded them up in Noah's Ark for me.


A few weeks later Joanne's was having a sale on their decorator fabric for 50% off and I had a 10% coupon. I went and got some fabric and called my mom with excitement over my deal. She volunteered to take the day off. So. . . here is what we, I mean, SHE, got accomplished.

Sanford and Son chair

Finished product (you did good Mama)

I bought these covers many years ago for my other chairs. After I washed them one time they shrunk. It's hard to tell in this picture, but they really are too short. Sooo. . .

I bought some fringe and sewed it on the bottom of them. Now I actually did this!

The dining room table was a bit crowded with all 8 chairs, so I put 2 chairs up against the wall and made this little pillow to break up some of the busyness of the fabric.

The finished product

The fabric cost me roughly $100 and the chairs were $25, so all 4 chairs cost me $125. I'm so proud of my bargain!

Oh Darlin', Save the Last Dance for Me

For my birthday this year Jon got me ballroom dancing lessons. WOW . . . I can't believe I just typed that. I think I even blogged on our "anniversary post" how Jon would NEVER dance out in public, but dances with me lots at home! When I opened the card that said we were taking ballroom dancing lessons I started S.C.R.E.A.M.I.N.G . . . alot, then I'd hug him, then I'd scream, hug, scream, hug, scream . . . can you tell how SHOCKED I was?

Lessons started Monday night. We didn't have a sitter, so the kids went with us. They were so super good. I was really proud of them. I gave Alec the camera to keep him busy, and so we'd have some photos to remember this moment.

Jon was the funniest thing. The teacher would teach the steps and count . . . so naturally Jon would have this super-serious look on his face counting. I never see that man serious . . . so all I could do was laugh. It was so funny!!!

I would ask Jon throughout our lessons how he thought Bruno from Dancing with the Stars would rate us.

At times I liked to pretend I was Edyta from DWTS, since she and I are both tall girls, plus she is a fabulous dancer!!!

The sweetest couple was this little old couple who had to be 80+. The little old lady had on her pantyhose with her sandals. It was precious!

We did ALOT of this. . . .

Jon is somewhat of a class clown in life period . . . so it just comes naturally to join him. When the music would play and before the instructor would start calling out the dance steps I'd shake my booty just any ol' way I liked. At the end of the songs, Jon would twirl me, turn me, and dip me any ol' way he liked. We laughed and laughed. . . hope teacher likes us!

This is Jon's serious face. It CRACKS me up. He's even funny when he tries to be serious. Man I love him!!

This week we learned the East Coast Swing. Next week it is the Fox Trot - I can't wait!See my right hand in this picture? You are only supposed to lightly touch hands. Everytime we dance we hold hands tightly. He kept getting on to me. I told him he'd trained me that way. I'm working on it though.

Look at that fancy footwork.

I know I mention quite frequently how competitive I am . . . well, guess who else in our house is? Yep, Jon, and even moreso than me!!! Guess who will be practicing extra hard this week?

Watch out DWTS - here we come!!!

More than Words Can Say

I am certainly not a writer of any shape, form, or fashion. I just like to talk . . . so I use lots of words. However, even if I could write like some of my favorite authors . . . Beth Moore, Francine Rivers, Jan Karon. . . I don't think I would have the right words to describe the night Tiff and I had at "An Evening With Friends." It was a live recording for Travis Cottrell's new CD and Beth Moore (one of my favorite Bible teachers) was also speaking. I'll start out by giving a play by play.



We knew to leave early, as the concert was free, so we knew storms of people would be there. When we stopped to get gas we loaded our purses up with snacks. I'm a girl who eats every 2 to 3 hours, so I get hungry often.



We got to FBC Woodstock and waited until they opened the doors of the sanctuary. We got excellent seats! While we were waiting for the concert to get started we saw the Governor of GA, Sonny Perdue. We went and introduced ourselves to him, thanked him for what he does for our state, told him we were homeschooling moms (he and his wife are former homeschoolers). Y'all, he was so nice, warm, and friendly. . . very genuine. He told us he knew what a sacrifice it is to homeschool our kids and asked their ages. He told us to bring our kids up to the capital.

Tiff and I sat next to this very sweet lady, Karen, who is also a blogger. She was really delightful and I'm so glad we made a new friend.



We also saw some of our other real-life friends and chatted with them a bit (forgot to get a picture with them though)

The night started off with Sean Groves talking about Compassion International and giving a personal testimony. He really has such a heart for the Lord. I loved what he said about most of us think in terms of our salvation of what we are saved FROM and not what we are saved FOR . . . to take care of widows and orphans.

Travis started out the night just being real . . . telling us he is really a goober and he is very nervous and he may want to do some songs over . . .

Then. . .

The instruments started playing, Travis started singing, the FBC choir proceeded down the aisle of the church to take their places on stage, then they started singing with Travis, and my tears came to . . .

falling. . .

uncontrollably falling down my face. . .

the kind of tears where you shake on the inside . . .

the kind of tears that make you want to gasp for air . . .

the kind of tears that make you so aware of the presence of a Holy, Almighty, Majestic, and Glorious God that NOTHING, I mean NOTHING else on the face of this earth matters.

There was joy like no other. . .

tears like no other. . .

clapping and raising hands like no other. . .

lifting faces to heaven like no other

than I.HAVE.EVER.EXPERIENCED in my life.

It was the kind of worship where you would get up out of your seat and praise our God, maker of heaven and earth, and you didn't care who was around you or what they were doing or what you were "supposed" to be doing. It was just WORSHIP . . . true, authentic, pure . . . WORSHIP . . . and it was AWESOME.

Travis did have to redo 2 songs, but when the presence of God is as evident as it was that night, you want him to have to do sing more and more. It was the kind of night that you didn't want to end.

After the concert was over I met a friend of Tiff's from college. They got to catch up a little bit. Tiff and I also met a friend of his, a very talented artist named Brian, who has painted for Michael W. Smith and other Christian musicians.

We then went to meet Travis. He was so sweet to be standing in the lobby to greet people. Like Tiff said, "I think he liked us. We made him laugh." He was a super-neat guy. His wife is a health nut like I am so we chatted briefly about that. Tiff put in her request for him to record a song he sang on the Psalms of Ascent DVDs. They talked music. I thanked him for a great night and told him if heaven was even a fraction of what that night was, then I can't wait to get there.

Since Sunday night every time Tiff and I talk it is still a topic of our conversations. Might not seem like much to some people, but we have lots to talk about and are very chatty girls. We are still just reeling from this night. It is something you don't ever want to forget . . . one of those nights that changes something inside of you for the better . . . one of those nights you don't ever want to come down from the "high" of. . . one of those nights that you wish everyone you love could have shared with you.

I don't want to end this post without saying that Beth Moore was great also. I love her heart for the Lord. Her passion for the Lord inspires me so much.

Birthday Weekend

Birthday Weekend started off with a bang when Mama arrived at my house around 10:00 a.m. She had presents (some very cute clothes and a cute purse) and my very favorite birthday cake - Chocolate Delight. Call me weird . . . but I don't really care for cake and ice cream. Mom, of course, knows this, so she made me chocolate delight. It was W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!!! I would have taken a picture, but it didn't last long enough. Jon even came home from work to grab some.

We worked on chair covers for my Parsons chairs pretty much all day and night. Mama should be on Project Runway. The pattern I had was really too small for my chairs, so Mom pretty much had to make one. It was a tough pattern to figure out. I sewed one cover and messed it up. Mama had to undo it, but guess what? No seam ripper. I wanted to call Jeff Foxworthy and tell him I had a new line for him to add to his redneck jokes . . . You must be a redneck if you use a pocket knife for a seam ripper. Yep, we had to get one of Alec's pocket knives to fix what I messed up. Mama worked so hard and by Saturday morning had them all finished. Thank you Mama!

Saturday night we were supposed to all meet at Bone Fish. It was dreary and rainy here and we were all beat. I called it off. Instead just my little family of 5 went and ate a birthday tradition for me - chicken wings, and Buffalo's has my favorites. I pretty much make a glutton out of myself with them on my birthday. It is the only day of the year that I will eat them and not feel guilty. I loved every.single.calorie I put in my mouth!!!

Sunday morning, which was my actual birthday I was so sleepy I slept a little late, which meant we ran late for Sunday School. I suggested to Jon that we go to Waffle House. He agreed! Yummy. I got my favorite - Hashbrowns . . . . scattered, smothered, covered and diced and coffee. We headed off to church, came home and ate leftovers, watched a little bit of a movie, and then it was time to go get Tiff.

Tiffani and I went to see Travis Cottrell and Beth Moore at a church that is about an hour and a half away from us. This event deserves a post on its own, so I'll post about it tomorrow.

Here are some birthday pictures.

Ash, Me, and Alec at Waffle House
Jon and Hanna at Waffle House

Yummy Chicken Wings and Blue Cheese dressing

Jon and Ash - I have NO idea why they are holding up 4 fingers. I was 32, so a 4 was not even in my digits this year . . . maybe they were just so excited about eating out after a week cooked meals at home and they got confused!

Hanna, Me, and Alec - I'm telling ya, I was SOO tired. You know I am tired if I pull my hair back. I absolutely despise it pulled back!!

Although I am a pretty positive person sometimes life is negative. I really try to dwell on the good things in life. . . after all God has really blessed me so much, and I have so much to be grateful for. However, I have to be real and real is this . . .

Sunday night on the way home from the concert I called Jon to let him know we were on our way home and we'd be there by 11:00 p.m. Ash answered the phone and told me Pawpaw called to tell me happy birthday. My dad is Pawpaw and my stepdad is Papa. Well, I thought she told me Pawpaw. I actually had bets going with Tiff's husband and her Mom as to if he would call on my birthday or not.

On Monday I called my Dad and this is how our conversation went,

"Hey Daddy. I'm so sorry I missed you last night. Ash told me you called, and I just wanted to let you know that she did tell me. Thank you for calling. I was at a concert with a friend of mine."

In a very grump voice, "Called? I didn't call you last night. If I did I must have done it in my sleep. My sinuses are all messed up and here I get one weekend off, and I spent it in bed all weekend. Happy late birthday though."

"Oh, okay. Ummm. . . well I'll talk to Ash. I thought she said it was you."

I'm just being honest here but I was thinking WHAT A JERK!!! Sorry y'all!

I called my mom later and asked her if James (what I call my stepdad) called and she said yes. I then asked Ash and Ash said, "Yes Mom I told you it was Papa." The funny thing is is that Jon said he heard her say Papa and while she was saying it he wondered if I thought she said Pawpaw . . . wishful thinking on my part. I guess I just heard what I wanted to. Don't get me wrong I love my stepdad dearly, but I am also secure in the fact that he loves me. My biological Dad is . . . a totally different story.

Please don't think I'm some spoiled brat. My Dad is the one who always made birthdays a big deal growing up. It's not the point he didn't call me, it is the principle of it.

If I told you I didn't care and he could drop off the face of the earth and I wouldn't care . . . I'd be lying. My feelings are certainly hurt. I just have to remind myself that it is impossible for him to love me because he does not have God's love in him . . . because he will not accept it. I just have to bathe him in prayer all the more. I have to practice what I preach to my Wednesday night kids at church. Three of them have biological parents that are unsaved and very bad just like my Dad. I always tell them with such passion in my voice, "You HAVE to pray for them. Because if you don't pray for them no one else may be praying for them."

Stay tuned. . . I can't wait to blog about Sunday night. I just hope my words will do it justice!

Memorization Monday

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:16

I was about to . . .

sit down and do a post on the things I love to do on my birthday. But . . . before I did, I wanted to check in on my favorite blogs. After reading this, I started crying.

I am so honored by my best friend's sweet, sweet words. I am so very humbled and grateful to the LORD for blessing me with this friendship . . . that I don't even have the words to say how much she means to me. If you want to be blessed today, then please go over and read it.

I can't stop crying. Thanks Tiff for making my day start off with happy tears and a big smile. I can't wait until this afternoon!

Me and Mini-Me

It always amazes me how 3 children who grow up in the same family with the same parents can be so very different. Jon always says that with our girls I have one who looks and acts like me (my mini-me) and one who wants to be me. Hanna is miss prissy-priss-priss (mimicking her mama, of course). Ash, on the other hand, unfortunately, hears way more than she would like, how much she looks like her mama, from both strangers and nonstrangers. For those who know us, she's told how much she acts like her mama! She often times will sigh in frustration!

Recently an old friend of mine posted some old pictures on facebook. Comments have been made, yet again, of how much Ash and I look alike. This trip down memory lane made me think about my personality during that time period. . . . fearless, fun, unstressed, unscheduled, spontaneous, ready to conquer the world . . . and, dare I say . . . fierce. I have some days that I feel that like parts of me have died. Between working, homeschooling, activities from here and there and yonder . . . days when I walk around like a zombie because I feel so tired . . . . and I wonder where the girl Jon married has gone?

Mind you, I have many, many more good days than days when "I don't see how I'm going to take another step because I am so tired" . . . but those days do come and sometimes they linger for longer than I would like. It is on those days when I feel parts of me have died. But then . . . .

I look at that girl of mine . . . my mini-me. . . . and see me all over again . . . . her passion, love for life, love for others, love to laugh, giggle, and just be plain silly. . . full of energy. I sometimes tend to make things much more difficult than they should be. When I see Ash in rare form I just smile and thank Jesus for her. . . . she brings out those parts of me that I feel have died. Sometimes I take life way too seriously . . . I am reminded of what Jon tells Alec all the time, "don't sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff except the God stuff." How I pray that is the way my family and I will live our lives . . . not sweating the small stuff, only the God stuff.

(Don't you all just love this tacky sweater? My mom and sisters played a joke on me with this lovely piece of clothing. Mama wrapped this up for Christmas for me, and she said the look on my face was priceless when I unwrapped it - Thanks Mama for a good laugh) I had had to "ham it up" just like my Ash.

Excitement is in the Air

I just love being excited about things. There are so many things going on in the next week that I just have to SHOUT them out!!!

• First of all my sister, Melissa, has been shopping like crazy (well at least it seems that way). She is blowing up my phone asking if I want this or that. She has really great taste and never disappoints me. Seriously . . . I could just hand over all my money to Melissa and Tiffani and let them shop for me. They always, always, always do a great job. Melissa is supposed to be mailing me all of my things tomorrow that she has bought. I finally just told her, "Okay, if you think it will look good on me, buy it." I told her today to tally up how much I owe her. I'm almost afraid to know. Thank you Melissa. I love you! I can't wait!
• Tonight I am going to Bunco and it is pajama night. This is my 2nd time playing Bunco. I am on a sub list for some of my friends, and I'm always so super excited when they call me to tell me someone cancelled. It is super-de-duper fun!!
• Melissa and Mama have gone in together to get me a Bible for my birthday. It is a Kay Arthur Study Bible, and I have wanted one for a really long time. Melissa told me she ordered it today, and it should be here soon! I can't wait!
• Mama took the day off work Friday and she and I are going to work on chair covers for some Parsons chairs in my dining room. I can't wait!
• Saturday we are meeting my parents at Bonefish (one of my faves) to celebrate my birthday. I can't wait.
• Sunday it is my birthday and I will certainly sing the birthday song, "It's my birthday. Happy Birthday. I'll shake my booty like Sha-nay-nay." It's a silly song our silly family sings. I can't wait!
• Sunday night Tiff and I are going to see Travis Cottrell and Beth Moore. Thanks again Tiff! I love you! I can't wait!
• Next Thursday I'm spending the day with a dear friend of mine to continue to celebrate my birthday. I can't wait!
• Possibly Saturday night I'm having a girls' night out with some friends to celebrate my birthday. . . well, possibly, we're still working on a date. But, guess what? I can't wait!
• One day next week me and Tiff and some of our friends from church are going to dinner and seeing Bride Wars. I can't wait.

Thanks so much for allowing me to share my excitement!!! I hope it is not way too obvious that I love my birthday - ha!ha!

Memorization Monday

As I've already admitted, I've been pretty lax in memorizing scripture lately. Having some accountability is so good for me. I am really and truly loving this! Here is my scripture for this week:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14.

The one thing about I am loving about memorizing scripture is the power of hiding God's word in my heart. It really is keeping me from sinning. Do you know how many times last week I wanted to say something unwholesome that was not building others up? Lots! I was never really even aware of things I would just spout out of my mouth, especially if I was wronged or hurt by someone. Just as I was about to spit out what was on the tip of my tongue, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind my scripture from last week. I then had to fight the temptation to keep my mouth shut, but with the Holy Spirit's power was able to prevail.

*a little side note here* I've had pretty good restraint with my tongue wtih saying unwholesome things about other people in front of other people. I've always just saved it all for Jon's ears, rationalizing in my mind, that we are one in the eyes of the LORD. But, guess what? Jon needs to be encouraged by the things I say too, and as I learned last week, I should speak things that encourage others. If I am talking in a negative away about someone, whether Jon cares or not, I am still not encouraging his walk with the LORD by my speech, by being disobedient to what God says, and by grieving the Holy Spirit.

M&M&M&M&M&M&M&M&M&M

Tiffani, in her super-fun fashion, did this super-fun meme that she got from one of her bloggy friends, Gretchen. You are assigned a letter and you write down 10 things you like from that letter. Tiffani is super-creative, and could probably come up with 10 things easily with the hard letters. I told her to go easy on me and assign me a good "Wheel of Fortune" letter. She gave me 'M'. Yay! I can do this one. If you want to join the fun, just leave me a comment to assign you a letter.

1. M&Ms. Just good 'ole chocolate. Nothing fancy. I just love the taste of regular chocolate. I love to get them one at a time and really let them melt in my mouth. Yummy.

2. Marathons - Okay, not really marathons. I've run one in my life, and I thought I was going to die; but, I do love 1/2 marathons! This is one I am training for coming up in March. I am running it with my little sister, Kristen. We are on a team together. Our name? Daughters of the King of Kings. We are both super excited!

3. Mineral makeup - Love, love, love it. The one I use is Bare Minerals, and it makes my skin look amazing. I get many compliments. It is a little expensive; however, it lasts me forever. I wear makeup pretty much everyday and I only have to buy the makeup twice a year. Pretty good, I think, especially since it is free of chemicals and all that other junk makeup has in it (sorry . . . I went all healthy again).

4. Mitford series - These books are PRECIOUS! They make me giggle, smile, cry, and laugh out loud. I love them! I am currently reading the whole series. If you haven't read them, I promise you will not be disappointed!!

5. Memorizing Scripture. At the beginning of this year I've committed to memorize one scripture a week. You can read more about it here.

6. Melissa - My little sister. This chick and I have been through EVERYTHING together. I can remember growing up we fought like cats and dogs. My Grandmama used to tell us that one day we would we would be the best of friends. I would tell Grandmama, "There is NO WAY we will ever be friends." Grandmama was right. Melissa is just as much apart of me as my legs and arms are. She's had a rough year this year, and she definitely makes it to the top of my super-hero list, even higher than Batman (*wink-wink* Beans). She really is such an inspiration. She's creative, funny, smart, witty, and is definitely the "cute and fun" one.

7. Music - Although if you heard me sing you would BEG me to stop, I LOVE music. It truly is an expression of my feelings that words just don't do justice for. My favorites are Praise and Worship, Louis Armstrong, Michael Buble, Corey Smith, Van Morrison (I like a lot of old stuff), George Winston, just about anything 80s.

8. Movies - I love movies. I really don't watch as many as I would like. I'm one of those "go, go, go" girls, and as soon as I stop I fall asleep. My favorite kind of movies are light-hearted comedies. I don't like anything too dramatic or serious. I want to watch something that is going to make me laugh, 'cause I love to laugh.

9. Mama- She is one of the most giving people I have ever known. One of the earliest memories I have of her giving heart is one time when we were little we were at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Mama saw this man and started talking to him. She's one of those people who knows someone everywhere she goes. I just thought he was someone she knew from the hospital (she's a nurse). She told all of us girls to go and sit down at a table while she ordered our food. On the way to our table mama took some food to this man's table. When she got to the table I asked her who he was. She said she didn't know, but that he was homeless. This may not sound like a lot, but back then we did not have very much. I know this was very much a sacrificial gift. It made a huge impact on me. It also teaches me even more so that our children are watching our every move. She truly loves her girls like no one else. If I am sick she takes off work to come take care of me. If my kids are sick she will take off work to come and help me. She loves my kids like no one else, and if there was a Grandmother of the Year Award, she would definitely get it! I love her so much, and I don't know what I'd do without her.

10. Making Memories - I love making memories . . . whether it is with Jon, my kids, best friends, old friends, new friends, my parents, my in-laws, my sisters, my nieces and nephews; heck, even with complete strangers, I love making memories and putting them on this blog. After all, that is why I started blogging. It keeps me accountable! After all, that is what life is . . . a collection of our memories! How I pray God will keep memories fresh in my mind and those I love. I am learning memories are something we truly take for granted . . . that is, until a dreadful disease comes and robs us of them. Making Memories is definitely a high priority in my life right now. We just got some really bad news about someone who is extremely close to my heart and that I love dearly. . . more on that later though. This is supposed to be a fun post!

Superior Scribbler Award

I love bloggy awards. My bloggy friend, Nancy, gave me this award, and I almost felt the urge to give an acceptance speech *smile*. Thank you Nancy! Bloggy awards are always such a nice little surprise. I love surprises, both giving them and getting them.

Now it is my turn to pass it on - YAY! Melissa, Tiffani, Meredith, Heather, Tricia. I love reading all of these blogs and each of these ladies is an inspiration and encouragement to me. I tend to be a little bit of a rebel at heart, so there are really lots of others I would love to pass this on to; however, I am going to be a rule follower. Yeah, I know, that totally stinks *smile*.

Here are the rules:

• Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass the award on to 5 most deserving Bloggy Friends.
• Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom he/she has received the award.
• Each Superior Scribbler must display on his/her blog and link to this post that explains this award.
• Each blogger who wins this Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List (scroll down). That way, we'll be able to keep up to date who receives this prestigious honor.
• Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

Little Red Hen

Roughly 9 years ago Little Red Hen and Little Red Rooster read a book called, "What the Bible says about Healthy Living." These chickens learned that our diets lack greatly in vitamin E and the richest source of vitamin E is found in the wheat kernel. So, they did exactly what the book recommended and bought some wheat and a wheat mill and started making their own bread.



"Who will help me gather the wheat," says Little Red Hen. "I will," says Little Red Rooster who bought the bucket of wheat kernels an hour and a half away from their home. Thankfully Little Red Rooster was working only about 15 minutes away.



"Who will help me grind the wheat in my wheat mill?," said Little Red Hen.

"I will," said Little Chick #3.

"Who will help me make the bread?" said Little Red Hen.

"We will," said Little Chick #2 and Little Chick #3. You see Little Chick #1 used to like to make it, but he is way too cool now. It bores him.

Little Red Hen slowly but surely became what some refer to as a health nut. She discovered that flax seed is very rich in omega-3, so she decided to add the flax seed to her wheat bread.

Little Red Hen likes to do things her way just a tad bit, so she did not dare ask who would help her knead the bread. She likes to do it herself. Plus, she knows how badly it hurts her arm because the Little Red Recipe says you must knead it for 8-10 minutes; therefore, she did not want to hear any whining from Little Chick #2 or Little Chick #3.

Little Red Recipe says you must wait until the dough doubles in size.

It's time to divide up the dough.

Little Red Recipe says now you must wait for the individual loaves to double in size.

Next, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 30 minutes and viola -

"Who will help me eat the bread?" says Little Red Hen.

"We will," says Little Chick #1, Little Chick #2, Little Chick #3. If Little Red Rooster were here he would be digging in too. Yuuummmmooooo!

Recipe from Bread Beckers cookbook is as follows:

2-1/2 cups hot water

3 eggs

1/3 cup oil (i use olive)

1/3 cup honey

1 TBS. lecithin

2 TBS. gluten

7-7-1/4 cups flour

1 TBS. salt

4-1/2 tsp instant yeast

Combine water, oil, honey and eggs. Add yeast and about 5 cups of the flour. Mix until well blended. Add the salt, lecithin, and gluten. Continue to mix adding 1/2 cup of flour at a time. When the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl enough flour has been added. Knead 8 to 10 minutes on floured surface. if you want to add extras like sunflower seeds, flax seeds, raisins, etc., now is the time to knead them little by little into the dough. Let rise until double. Form into loaves in loaf pans (I use 3 - if you want higher, fuller loaves use 2). Let rise until double. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. You can also use for dinner rolls, just shape into balls onto greased cookie sheet and let rise until double (rather than putting the dough into loaf pans).

**Note** Lecithin and gluten are NOT necessary to make this bread; however, they do help to make the bread softer and lighter tasting. Also, if you do not have instant yeast - one package of yeast is about 2-1/2 tsp of yeast which equals 2 tsp of instant yeast.

Memorization Monday

I'm so excited. I got my memory verse memorized from last week. I keep it in my kitchen and repeat it over and over throughout the day. When I tested myself on it last night, I passed with flying colors. Here is my memory verse for this week.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." - Ephesians 4:29-30 NIV

Biltmore Weekend Recap

If I had only one word to describe to describe Jon and I's trip to Grove Park Inn and The Biltmore House I would have to say . . . . magical. We had an amazing time! I knew we would have a good time. We're just the type of people who really enjoy being together whether it is at home or Wal-mart or where ever. However, I had no idea it would be as good as it was.





We started off our trip going shopping. Can a girl ask for more than for her husband to want to shop? I already had bought some new things for our trip; however, Jon never ever shops, so we shopped for him. I didn't buy one. single. thing. I was AMAZED! However, I had lots and lots of fun shopping with Jon for things for himself.





When we got to GPI we checked in and went to check out our room. The maid was still cleaning it. So, we decided to go and check out the gingerbread houses scattered throughout the hotel from their national gingerbread competition. I'm tellin' ya . . . it is amazing what people can do.





This was one of our favorites.


Can you believe all of that stuff is edible?

We then went to see if our room was ready. We tried the key once, we tried the key twice, we tried it again and again. So then we called the front desk on a nearby phone. They were sending security. We waited for a long time. Waiting is something my inpatient husband doesn't like to do. What a way to start out a romantic trip, right? I just giggled. After all what do you do when life gives you lemonades? You make lemons! Giggling about it was me making lemons. Jon, on the other hand, was not giggling.

I think this was probably the 20th time he was trying our key.

Look at that face. Do you think he was making lemons? Just kidding. He wasn't so bad, just only a tiny bit aggravated.

Finally we are in our room. You know what happened? They assigned us the wrong room. No wonder our key didn't fit.

We had decided we would eat at this place in downtown Asheville that had gotten really good reviews. Rachael Ray herself has actually gone there on her program $40 a Day. . . Tupelo Honey. It was really good. The company, however, was even better.

Later that night we went to this place called Elaine's Piano Bar at GPI. It was fun. It is amazing to me how the piano players know not only all the words to ALL the songs, but know how to play them! I'm an old school kind-of girl and I really don't know much of the secular songs of the day, but I love me some oldies. It was fun.

The next morning we ate at GPI at the Blue Ridge Dining Room. Our view was gorgeous. For some reason my picture turned out a little fuzzy, but I wanted to share it anyway.

Breakfast was super yummy and I didn't feel guilty about eating more than I normally do because I knew I would be walking it off at The Biltmore House.

The Biltmore House is something everyone should see. I really don't have words to describe it. I was totally obsessed with the Vanderbilt family when we got back home. I was googling everything I could to find out about this family. History is my favorite subject so I was especially drawn to all of the old things. They have a homeschool day and I can't wait to go back and take the kids.

Please don't be disappointed. Notice my boots are flat. Yes flat. It was so hard for me to type that. But, the last thing I wanted to have when our day ended was aching feet. I've seen lots of people wearing these boots around so I got me a pair and they are super-duper comfy. I've forgotten how good flat shoes feel.

Here we are on the back porch of the Biltmore House.

View of Biltmore House behind us

We at lunch at this placed called the Stable Cafe. They had taken the old horse stables and made it into a restaurant. The booths were actually where the horses themselves used to stay. It was so neat!

After walking the grounds for awhile we decided to go and do the wine tasting. Jon was such a good sport. He really doesn't like wine but told me he would have an open mind. We had so much fun. He actually found a few that he liked and we bought some to take back home with us.

While browsing around the winery and deciding what we would buy, they had free samples out of finger foods (our favorites). We sampled all that we could get our hands on. We were trying to wrap things up and Jon walked away from me. I thought to myself, "I bet he is going back to get seconds on the finger foods." Yep, he sure was and I caught him.

Seeing this picture makes me giggle. He was caught and he knew it!

We went back to GPI to rest. We were actually planning on having dinner out at a place in Biltmore Village. We were tired though and opted to eat at one of the restaurants of GPI. So we got all dressed up and headed downstairs. We got to the entertainment/bar area and each had a drink and enjoyed the live music and fire place while we waited on our reservations to Sunset Terrace.

This night was one of the best nights probably of our whole marriage. It was wonderful. We ate on a terrace and, yes, it was cold. But they had heaters in the ceilings. We had a gorgeous view of the Asheville skyline at night. It was such a magical night I literally thought I was dreaming. The food was phenomenal.

At one point during dinner Jon could tell I was cold. I was really trying to play it off like I was fine (just like I would have done when we were dating and I was trying to impress him). He waved the waiter down and ordered me a cup of decaf coffee. The waiter then told me he could bring me a tablecloth to cover up with. "Do people actually do that?" I asked. "Yes, all the time." Sheww. "Bring me one or two."

Here I am wrapped up in the table cloth. I look like I'm in a straight jacket

The last day there we took our time checking out. We had breakfast at Blue Ridge Dining Room again and walked around the hotel a little more. Here we are in front of one of the fireplaces that was decorated for Christmas.

We actually didn't get to do 2 things I had wanted us to do. I had actually planned on us horseback riding when we went to the Biltmore House; however, it started raining, so we opted not to do it. The other thing I wanted to do was for us to get a couple's massage. Weeks before the trip I started asking Jon if he would ever have one of those. He's a tad bit modest. He kept telling me no way. Well once we got to GPI and he saw the amazing spa there, he told he would do it. I was trying to make reservations lickity split. But, we were out of luck. No reservations were available for ANYTHING . . . not even a facial (not that Jon would do that). They were booked solid. Oh, well, just a good excuse to go back.