To replace Friday's Fabulous Find...

My heart has been so heavy for the people of Tuscaloosa. I have been looking for ways to help, and Leslie, who just redesigned my blog is from Tuscaloosa & she has offered some great ways you can help here & here. Please check out her blog for updates & please continue to pray every day for the people here and all over the southeast.

New Look

Thank you to Leslie at Sweetie Baby's custom blog design! I absolutely LOVE my new blog look!

Easter Sunday Afternoon

We had such a wonderful Easter Sunday yesterday.

Great church service (I hate JT missed it because of work). great lunch at mom & dad's. egg hunt & a sweet snack at JT's granny Minnie's.

I know when we have kids of our own, I am going to love making their Easter baskets! I had such a fun time making my SIL, Jayden's! I have created an UNO monster, by the way. She was over here one day after school & there wasn't much to do, so I brought out the UNO cards, and she has been hooked ever since, so I thought she needed a deck of her own. :o)

Giving her bubba love <3

Hubby & I

The family

Me & my BFF

 John T. & his sisters

These were the eggs with our names on them that we found. Each had a clue to where a present would be somewhere around Minnie's house!

After we were all done hunting eggs, everyone tried my Rice Krispie pizza!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Rice Krispie Pizza for Easter

First of all, I have to give credit for this recipe to cookies and cups...my new favorite blog!

I tweaked it a little, but it was only because I bought 1 bag of marshmallows, by accident, & her recipe calls for 2.

Ingredients 

4 cups of Rice Krispies cereal

2 cups of Fruity Pebbles

1 stick of salted butter

1 bag of mini marshmallows

Step 1: Prepare 16" round pizza pan by spraying lightly with nonstick spray

Step 2: Over low heat, melt butter in a large sauce pan. I love using my nanny's dutch oven when I make rice krispie treats. I think it is so pretty!

Step 3: When the butter is melted, add marshmallows, stirring until melted.

Step 4: When the marshmallows are melted, remove from heat. Stir in both cereals until combined.

Step 5: When combined, transer mixture to pizza pan.

 Step 6: Press evenly overe pizza pan. (I used a sheet of wax paper to help me.)

Now, time for frosting!

Ingredients

1 7 oz. container of Marshmallow creme

1 stick of room temperature butter (very important for it to be room temp.)

1 1/2 cups of sifted powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Your favorite Easter candies to decorate, I used Peeps & M&Ms!

Step 1: Beat together the marshmallow cream & butter until smooth. Slowly add in vanilla & powdered sugar and continue mixing on medium speed until combined & smooth.

 Step 2: Spread the frosting!

Step 3: Top with your favorite candies!



I took this to John T.'s granny's this afternoon after our egg hunt, and everyone seemed to like it! It was very rich, but oh so good!

Easter

Why

Nicole Nordeman

We rode into town the other day
Just me and my daddy

He said I'd finally reached that age

And I could ride next to him on a horse

That of course was not quite as wide

We heard a crowd of people shouting
And so we stopped to find out why

And there was that man that my dad said he loved

But today there was fear in his eyes

So I said daddy why are they screaming

Why are the faces of some of them beaming?

Why is he dressed in that bright purple robe?

I'll bet that crown hurts him more then he shows
Daddy please can't you do something?

He looks as though he's gonna cry

You said he was stronger than all of those guys

Daddy please tell me why?

Why does everyone want him to die?

Later that day the sky grew cloudy

And daddy said I should go inside

Somehow he knew things would get stormy

Boy was he right

But I could not keep from wondering

If there was something he had to hide

So after he left I had to find out

I was not afraid of getting lost

So I followed the crowds

To a hill where I knew men had been killed

And I heard a voice come from the cross

 

And it said father why are they screaming?

Why are the faces of some of them beaming?

Why are they casting their lots for my clothes?

This crown of thorns hurts me more then it shows

Father please can't you do something?

I know that you must hear my cries

I thought I could handle a cross of this size

Father remind me why?

Why does everyone want me to die?

When will I understand why?

My precious son

I hear them screaming

I'm watching the face of the enemy beaming

But soon I will clothe you in robes of my own

Jesus this hurts me much more then you know

But this dark hour

I must do nothing

Though I've heard your unbearable cries

The power in your blood

Destroys all of the lies

Soon you'll see past their unmerciful lies

Look there below

See the child

Trembling by her father's side

Now I can tell you why

She is why you must die

I had never heard this song until this morning at church. The pastor at the church we have been attending & his little girl did a skit to the song this morning. It was so incredibly moving.

"I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance." John 10:10

Thank you, JESUS!

Easter Cupcakes & Egg Hunt #1

Last night, my MIL Lorrie & SIL, Jayden came over & helped me cut out lots of cute decor for cupcakes I made for the nurses at work.

I got all of my cut-outs from Gwynn Wasson Designs on facebook. She was very gracious & sent everyone who liked her page, a free file of Easter cut-outs! She also donated to Japan's diaster relief for everyone who liked her page!

The finished product! I made a simple carrot cake recipe from Kraft & added the cut-outs for a special touch! The nurses at work loved them! :o)

When I got home from work today, I headed to my in-laws' house to dye eggs & have an egg hunt with Jayden & her friend/neighbor Emma.

I saw a cute idea for dying eggs with food items you may already have in your house, such as blueberries, Jell-O, Now & Later candies, Red Hots, etc. in Food Network magazine. We tried blueberries & a mix of strawberry & orange jello. They took a very LONG time to dye, but I thought they turned out pretty!

I was so afraid we were going to dye Lorrie's countertops with blueberry juice, so I made our dying station in the sink! :o) It worked pretty well!

  Jayden with one of the blueberry dyed eggs.



All we did was boil 2 cups of water, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar & our ingredient. We mashed the blueberries to let all of the juices drain out & then we strained the mixture to just have juice. I added more vineger once the mixtures were off the stove to make the dying process go a little faster.

We had lots of fun!

Friday's Fabulous Find

LOVE this drink! It's my new favorite!

The past few days...

We have been on a project kick for the past few days, months, in our house!

Two things about our house, when we bought it, that we didn't necessarily like, but could live with, was the fact that neither bathroom had doors. It wasn't that big of a deal because each bathroom is in each bedroom (that do have doors), but it was still something that we wanted to fix. Well, 3 years later, we now have bathroom doors!

Another thing that we kind of just thought of on a whim was that the bed we had in our guest bedroom was taking over the room! So...we decided to buy a daybed, and I am loving it! The room has so much more space now! We got a pretty good deal, I thought, from hayneedle.com. We have ordered another piece in the past from there, and I have been very satisfied with their service & prices.

I don't know about anyone else, but I HATE buying pillows! I love how they turn out in the end, but I just think they are way overpriced for something that is only used for decoration. However, I bit the bullet & searched for deals at Wal-Mart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Burkes Outlet & Big Lots, and this is what the finished product looks like. I am pretty satisfied, but I will be even happier when we figure out what to do with our treadmill (see bottom left corner). We I still use it, but I just think that it is an eye sore! Someday in the hopefully near future, we will build a garage/man cave & store it in there! One day, this room will be used for a nursery, so it will definitely have to be out of there by then! ;o)

Another project I tackled this weekend was organzing our medicine/office supply/cookbook cabinet in our kitchen. I only took a before picture of the mess of medicine because that was the only thing I planned on organizing, but then I went into overdrive & ended up organizing the entire cabinet!

BEFORE: This is a pic of the meds...they were on the bottom shelf on the left side of the cabinet.

 AFTER: I found these cute storage bins at Wal-Mart for $7.47 for two. I really love how it turned out! SO.MUCH.NEATER!



I hope everyone is having a good week!

John T. & I are both off tomorrow, and we are planning a date day & using gift cards/certificates we have had for a long time! I am excited! :o)

Show Us Your Life

What is on your book list?

I have never really been a huge lover of reading. I would always read because I had to for school, and that was about it. Since I have graduated, I still am not a big book person, but if I find a good one, I could probably sit and finish it in one day. I either love a book or hate it!

My short list of favorites include:

Made to Crave has changed my life. I just finished the 6 week Bible study that my mom taught, and it has completely transformed how I look at food. I have learned that everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Most importantly, I have learned to crave GOD, not FOOD! 

In a couple of weeks, I will have the opportunity to meet the author, Lysa, at an Extraordinary Women's conference, and I couldn't be more excited!



Books I plan to read this summer, i.e. beach/pool reads:

And...one book I am so looking forward to reading when it comes out in August:

Go to Kelly's Korner to link up & read other blogger's book lists!

Friday's Fabulous Find

I am bringing a fun event back to the blog that I used to do every Friday (& I changed the name a little bit):

Friday's Fabulous Find

Each week, I will blog about something fabulous I found during the week...a beauty product, food/drink item, new store/shop/blog, etc.

This week's fabulous find comes from Thirty-One Gifts.

I first heard about Thirty-One through some girls at my church back in 2009. Since then, this business has exploded. Last weekend, when we went to the Women of Joy conference, we saw so many women with 31 purses/bags/etc. I told my mom that it was like we were at a 31 convention!

My friend Ashley (AEPerkins18@aol.com) is a consultant for Thirty-One, and I recently placed an order with her for the products below.

I got the Retro Metro Bag in Taupe (@ 1/2 price with the March special!), Cosmetic Bag (that I use as my Bible cover), Shirred Front Wallet & the Mini Zipper Pouch (all of these in the Free Spirit Floral pattern).

I love, love, love everything I ordered! The Spring colors just put me in a good mood & I love how functional each piece is.  

HAPPY FRIDAY!

**Ashley wanted me to inform everyone about the May Customer Special & Hostess Special:
Customers: For every $31 you spend, you can buy the Mini Zipper Pouch (like mine above, regular price $10) for only $2.31!
Hostesses: Step up to the next level of rewards! Go HERE to find out more!

Women of Joy Weekend

This past weekend, I went to the Women of Joy conference in Sevierville with my mom, & some other great ladies! The conference was held at the Wilderness at the Smokies Resort. We actually stayed down the road at a Hampton Inn, which was really nice, but I definitely want to go back & stay at the Wilderness some time this summer.

This was the first Women of Joy conference I had been to, and we will definitely be back next year! The whole weekend was such a blessing. For any of you who may be familiar with Women of Joy or other women's conferences, some of our speakers included Donna Gaines, Liz Curtis Higgs, Becky Tirabassi & Thelma Wells. They were all wonderful!

 Mom & I on Friday night before worship began

Charles Billingsley was our worship leader for the weekend. He was amazing!

Mom & I on Saturday night before the Casting Crowns concert!

 Our group of ladies: Mom, Mrs. Kincaid (she was my 2nd grade teacher, and I will never be able to call her Nancy..lol), Cathy, me & Mona

Casting Crowns performed for us on Saturday night. It was so awesome! They are probably my favorite Christian group. I just love all of their music...especially this song, "Who Am I."

I am already looking forward to next year!