MMM MMM GOOD...

My husband loves soups so we make one almost every week.  I decided for his birthday I would try PW's Chicken Tortilla Soup.  It was a hit!  I haven't loved everything I've tried of hers but this one was a keeper!

I did not bake the chicken like the recipe suggests.  I'm sure it would be even better if I would have, but I used some cooked chicken leftover from another meal - even easier!

What are your favorite soups?

GIVE THANKS....

It's not just for Thanksgiving anymore!  The other day in my devotional book there were some simple thoughts to remind me of the positive effects of expressing thanks.  Not how it affects God or others, but yourself:

A

Grateful Heart

Protects You

From

Negative Thinking

Simple but oh, so true!

  I Thess. 5:18  In everything give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Give thanks

with a grateful heart

Give thanks

to the Holy One

Give thanks

Because he's given 

Jesus Christ

His son

And now

let the weak say

I am strong

let the poor say

I am rich

Because of what 

the Lord has done

For us!

There's something about being the mother of almost adult children that is reassuring to me.  My job is almost complete and they seem to be turning out okay.  (huge sigh)  It's something to be thankful for.  There is also a contentment in being married almost 29 years!  My husband and I know each other so well and yes, we still fuss at each other, but there is a comfortable commitment there that I am thankful for.  I've had more time for Bible study the last 5 years and there is an assurance of my relationship with the Father. My body may be weaker, but my spirit is stronger.  I think what I'm saying is being 47 years old is pretty awesome.  

 These are things that my heart is grateful for. :)

FRIDAY NIGHT SHAKE UP...

  About the time my life seems to get so routine,  I get a few little things to shake it up!  The last 3 Fridays have been anything but the normal take-out pizza and movie at home.  Of course, there's nothing like live entertainment!

Last week some friends of our generously offered to take us to a Thunder game!  We don't go often so this was a real treat!  We enjoyed eating at Cheever's first, then on to the game - and they have excellent seats by the way.  The Thunder is really doing well and making something of our quiet capitol city!

I even got a new profile pic out of the evening!

One of the weird entertainment portions of the game was this guy:  "Flag man".

"Flag man" is a much more interesting name than "Gymnast," don't you think?

This Friday night we went to a Swine Week fundraiser concert our son was singing at - and it's always interesting to watch these student run projects... I think there were about 10 adults there.

                    They actually performed 5 songs so they seem like a real band!
                                        Can't get enough of these kids.

The lead singer had been sick but I think he still sounds great!

And were followed by a band playing original music with muted movie scenes.  Do you recognize Gandalf?  I would have never thought of the combination of the "Lord of the Rings" on the big screen with original live music.  Let me tell you, I was laughing.  My seat was VIBRATING from the bass!  It was fun to peek into the stuff these kids like.

Can't wait until next Friday night!  Spring Sing will be here and our college son is going to host!!  Life is good.  God is good.

MAYBE I DID SOMETHING RIGHT...

when I encouraged my little ones to try new foods...this adorable little one is enjoying her cantaloupe sooo much!

Then for some reason she declared that she didn't like it in her teenage years!  I always reminded her with this picture that she used to like it...








and now she's come full circle!  This was her email to me the other day:  Look mom! I actually bought a cantaloupe and have been eating it!

MY SON WENT TO DISNEYWORLD AND ALL I GOT...

                                     was this picture from a parent sponsor.

Should've gone myself if I wanted pics, huh?  Well I'm glad he got to go anyway.  The Vocal Music department at his school doesn't take a trip every year so it's a big deal.  They went to a Performance workshop with Disney cast members.  From what I understand, they recorded Lion King songs and about 10 of them did voiceover work.  They also learned some choreography and heard about careers with Disney.  Pretty neat!

He may not have taken many pictures, but he did think of good ole Mom and Dad at home.  Totally surprised us with this:

What a sweet boy we have!  I am thankful for good teachers and parent sponsors and talented, energetic teenage kids today!

LET'S BRIGHTEN THINGS UP A LITTLE...

Just wanted to share a bargain I got this week!  This cute watering can has been wanting to go home with me for a while.  When I first saw it I loved it.  I'm not sure why but I love watering cans!  I thought I could give it as a Bunko gift, or a gift for my mother, or maybe I'll just keep it and put it on my patio.  It was sitting on the shelf at TJ Maxx for a long, long time!

 $29?  Nope sorry, just way too much for a watering can. 

 $17!  You're still too expensive for me even though you're really cute.  

$10!   Really?  You are in my basket and going home with me!

OUCH...

How do you handle hurt feelings?  Do you just take it in disbelief?  That's me, most of the time.  Do you lash out in anger? Being a parent means you hurt if someone hurts your child.  Only you don't find out about it so much when they're teens.  This isn't the most positive post but to be true to my theme I decided to do it.  'Cause parenting isn't pretty all the time.  To top it off, this happened on Valentine's Day!  C'mon, people, where's the love?  My Valentine's Day was going along just fine until 10 a.m.  Yep, it didn't take long for me to come back to reality.

For one, I discovered we had been EGGED.  I think it happened a couple of days earlier, we just didn't know it because of the snow.  I walked outside and started wondering what that white stuff was on the ground...and it was...eggshells.  Then I looked up to see that it was on the house in several areas.  On the driveway, on my son's treehouse.

Maddening!  I texted my son at school, to which he replied, "I'll find out and get 'em!" to which I replied, "No."  Then, in the mail we got NOT valentines but, well, let's call it a complaint letter.  Anonymous.  The person didn't have the courage to sign it.  Or talk to us about it.  It was a complaint about the way my son led singing in the junior high class Sunday morning.  Apparently he was too enthusiastic.  Made their child feel forced to clap.  Well, that hit me like a ton of bricks.  My husband and I were both disappointed and so was the youth minister that it was handled that way.  Was it a joke or real?  We'll never know.

I have to admit I'm a little out of practice overcoming hurt feelings!   It just doesn't happen that much anymore!  But after the initial shock, my experience tells me I can wallow in self-pity over the eggy mess and the hurt mail (how's that for a new phrase?) or choose to look past it.  I reminded myself how this is nothing in comparison to the abuse Christ suffered.  That puts it all in perspective.

So how do I handle hurt feelings?  It's just something that gets me a little bit closer to Christ.  :)

LOVE IS SOMETHING IF YOU GIVE IT AWAY...

Give it away

Give it away

Love is something if you give it away

You'll end up having more!

                                          Happy Valentine's Day to you!  

SMILES....

                 are still hard to get (even at 22 and 16) for this camera crazy Mom!

                                    Not much better but pretty cute anyway!

                                                 Love my goofballs!

TWO SWEET THINGS...

in my life this weekend!  My daughter is coming home from college to see her little brother perform in the Follies!  She'll help me serve meals to the Follies kids and just be her sweet self.  Which reminds me, I must clean up her room this morning!  The bathroom remodel kinda is taking over her bedroom right now...

And of course the Follies talent show!  I gave you a sneak peek last time but I have to tell you folks, it's a great show.  These highschool kids just amaze me!  I started realizing at the show last night what a talented bunch of seniors are graduating.  Some I've known for 4 years, some since elementary school.  Sweet, sweet times.  (Yes, that is the word for today and you may hear it again!)

Alec (far left) has been around our house for several years now, like another son!  Roz (middle) has performed for years and been in productions with both my boys, even in elementary school.  Jake (right) is so funny and a great beat boxer in E.T.!  I'll miss them!

I was sad that one of our graduating seniors last year would be gone for Follies this year for many reasons, but one is that his mother makes awesome opening night cakes!  Thankfully her daughter plays the violin and got in an act this year, so the "Opening Night Cake tradition" continues!  Yay!  A wonderful donation to our pre-show meal!

                                                 Just like the program!

Wonder who that cute kid in the back is?  He's been a great helper for the lunches the last two days, toting water bottles and pop for me.  Helps that his teacher lets him out of class a little early...  :)

    Enjoy your weekend...I'm looking forward to this SWEET one!

SHORTCUTS...

Don't you just love 'em?  I made a discovery this week!  You know those luscious cake balls that are all the rage?  I found a great shortcut to making them.  I have a habit, a BAD habit of checking the mark downs in the bakery department at my grocery store...and  always justify it by telling myself it's a treat for the "kids" even though my house only has one kid left in it and sometimes he never sees them.  :)

                                       I bought 2 packages of these...

And took them home and had an epiphany - dip them in almond bark like cake balls!  So now we have CHOCOLATE COVERED GLAZED CHERRY DONUT HOLES!    Pretty good shortcut - thankfully I really did have Follies kids to feed this week and I only ate 2 myself!
                  Here's a few pics I took from the dress rehearsal of Follies last night:

             String quartet - 2 of these girls I know from church - so proud of them!

Gorgeous Lindsay singing with the boys

Senior Men's Act - really funny in their PJ's!

Jazz Band playing a Star Wars medley including a little light saber action!

                And of course one of my son's acts - the Pentatonix Wannabees!

There's more than music to it - there's also some skits, tap dancing, and modern dance involved - these just happened to be my best shots...

           Come enjoy the show 

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7 p.m.!  

CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT...

                        but WOW?  Just gave me a good laugh!  Anybody tried this?

SPIRIT LED DECISIONS...

or just smart moves?  Or if we are walking with God on a daily basis are all our decisions spirit led?  Don't really know, but I like to think that the time we've taken recently has allowed the spirit to guide us.  My husband has been wanting to "flip" a house for a while now.  A new venture, something to help fund the next kid's college, a way to help our son learn some new skills, etc are the reasons behind this.  He's bid on about 10 houses now, always a lowball bid, never getting a sale.  I asked him if he thought the Lord was telling him something.  :)  Then we got acceptance on an offer from a realtor.  Right in our neighborhood!  How convenient.  I was being supportive, actually touring the house with the boys, looking at the new "project."  Would you believe I started thinking about how my furniture would look in this house, liking several of the features?  Hmmm...

                This fireplace and high ceilings in the great room really appealed to me!

                                          This mess, however, did not.

It would be downsizing - less house and property maintenance for sure, once the cleanup and remodel was finished.  Anyway, the bank took longer than our agreement to accept our offer, and we had time to think about what all needed to be done.  We had time to think it over, and pray about it.  Should we flip, or downsize and move in ourselves?  Our decision was none of the above - too much work involved, too much energy required right now.  But it gave us some good food for thought about what we want to do in the future! We are thankful that all of our kids were okay with the possibility. We would love less to maintain and more to give.  We are now open to downsizing in the next few years and the right deal will come along.  We are trusting that decision to God.

ONE OF THE FEW GOOD REASONS FOR MISSING SCHOOL...

is if you get to be on television!  Two acts from the Follies talent show (you'll hear more about it next week, don't worry) at my son's high school were selected to be on a local morning show, "Rise & Shine" and luckily his act was chosen!  Made for a fun morning!

                      And lucky for the kids there are stage moms hanging around :)
                             Somebody has to hold the coats and water bottles.

                                  with local newscaster Lance West!

They sang "ET" and did a great job - gave us some good publicity for the show, too!