Can’t quit smiling…God is so abundantly GOOD and then He tops that!

Do you ever want to just laugh out loud because you are so happy?

I am rejoicing over something that has been answered prayer.

Not only did the Lord answer it – He answered in a way that was His way.

It was like asking for a plane ride and getting to ride the space shuttle kind of answer.

He is so good!

Even if He didn’t answer in this way,
He still would have been Awesome, Majestic, Powerful, Holy, Timeless, Good, Perfect in every way….
etc…etc….etc….

Oh friend, I hope you will be encouraged today!  

He loves you more than anything!

He desires you to be His child.

The Creator of the Heavens and Earth desires you (and me!)

Oh my -  that makes me want to cry and laugh and then cry again while I’m laughing.

Ever have those kind of moments???

(No, I’m not pregnant.)

Just overwhelmed with God’s goodness and Grace and Love!

I know some people are experiencing hard times.

I’m praying for you today!

Sometimes it is hard to see the forest through the trees, but be encouraged,
Our Lord, is not only watching and listening, He is holding you and is nearer than the air you are breathing.

My kids and I love this song by Chris Tomlin, Our God Is Greater.

It seems to wrap up my feelings this morning!

 

 

Blessings to you!  You are so loved!

Easy Homemade Bread (without a bread machine)

In the past, I’ve been scared to make bread.

Silly, I know.

I’m being real.

It is not like climbing Pikes Peak - kind of scared.  It is more like wasting good money on something that I could easily buy in a store.

 

But, after watching Homestead Blessings: The Art of Bread Making, the kids and I decided to try our hand in making it.

Let me tell you what we did…I messed up big time! 

And it still turned into this….

 

Homemade Bread Recipe (Makes 2 loaves)

(Adapted from the Homestead Blessings: The Art of Bread Making)

• 1 Tablespoon Yeast
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 – 5 cups of flour
• 2 1/2 cups (warm-not hot) water

This is what we did…it still turned out great!

Put water and 2 cups of flour into kitchen-aid mixer.  Mix. 

Add salt.  Mix. 

Add oil.  (Oops, I forgot to add oil.)  Mix.

Add honey.  Mix.

Then add yeast.  Mix.

 

Then add enough flour for a soft dough, 1 cup at a time.  Mix until not sticky.  Use as less flour as possible.  You want it pliable not hard.

Knead until it was elastic.  (I didn’t time it.  I just knew.)

This process took me a while – I added my oil after kneading for a while.  It still turned out great. 

 

Oil the bottom of your bowl, then allow it to rise in a warm place.  {I turned on my oven then turned it off.  That way I knew it warm but not HOT.}

Allow it to sit in there for 1 hour and 30 minutes- covered with a towel.

 

Then punch it down.  Then shaped the bread into loaves and place them into oiled bread pans.  I poked holes with a fork down the loaf.

Put in the oven and let rise a 2nd time for 1 hour-covered with a towel.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy! 

 

 

Blessings to you!  You are loved!

A Few Homeschool and Cookbook Goodies….

I love when freebies or inexpensive treats fall in my lap, don’t you?

Here a few:

• Free Customized Homeschool Downloadable Planners (Thanks Money Saving Mom!)

• Plus a FREE cookbook:
•  

Circle of Friends Cookbook - 25 Dip & Spread Recipes;
(Cookbooks are like an addicting drug to me.  I love reading about EASY Recipes!)

• Amanda Bennet has tons of unit studies on sale for $5.00
  $5 Frenzy - Through Sunday, 7/24/11 ONLY

Download N Go Simply Soccer, $5
Download N Go Sunny Seashells, $5
Download N Go Winter Wonders, $5
Download N Go Autumn Treasures, $5
Download N Go Independence Day, $5
Unit Study Adventures Trains, $5
Unit Study Adventures Dogs, $5
Unit Study Adventures Baseball, $5
Unit Study Adventures Gardens, $5
Unit Study Adventures Christmas, $5

Blessings to you!  You are loved!

Super Easy Coconut Cake

My daughter’s birthday was this week. 
She got to pick out what kind of cake she wanted.
She picked out a super-easy coconut refrigerator cake.

I love when you use a cake mix and change it to your liking!

Here is the recipe:  (I tweaked it from The Cake Mix Doctor Returns by Anne Byrn.)

Cake:

• 1 package of plain white cake mix (I chose the one with pudding because I like moist cakes.)
• 1 cup of milk  (I used half soy/half dairy.)
• 1/2 cup of cream of coconut
• 3 large eggs

How easy is that?  So far, pretty easy. 

Mix together all ingredients.  Then add to 3 well greased and floured cake pans.  I use 9” but use what you got.  That is the fun of changing recipes to fit what you have in your pantry.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean or tops are a nice color brown.

Frosting:

• 2 cups of sour cream
• 1 3/4 cups of sugar  (You could probably use a little less.)
• 8 oz or a tub of whipped topping
• 4 cups flaked coconut

Mix sour cream and sugar.  Beat until sugar dissolves.  Add the whipped topping and stir until dissolved.  Then add coconut.  Stir until that is blended.
Put in refrigerator for 15 minutes or so.  I did it until my cakes were cooled off.

After you get cakes out of oven, you can cut them in half to add more layers. (I don’t but you can.)  Brush the layers with cream of coconut.
Then add frosting in between layers.  Then add frosting all around an on top. 
Go ahead and eat the frosting…you’ll have some leftover for topping for pancakes or crepes.
Then sprinkle with more coconut.
We ate right away.  But it is better the second day after staying in the refrigerator and allowing the flavors to soak into the cake.

SO EASY!  SO SIMPLE!

Other options:

Add pineapple juice instead of cream of coconut.
Use half and half instead of milk.
Add nuts.
I’m constantly changing recipes to make them my own or adding my own special touches. 
Have fun!

Blessings to you!  You are loved!

DIY Remodel of the Playroom Part 2

Yesterday, I showed you Part 1, the before pictures of our remodel. 

Here is the deconstruction part of it.

Trust me, it is not pretty. 

It is a REAL mess.  And we made it. 

But, we have vision.

Now welcome to our chaos!

We have added a wall and shortened our playroom.

The new room is going to be a library, mostly for our Homeschool books.  Can’t wait!

See the patio door and wall of air leaking windows.  Yeah, say goodbye!

We also took ugly 1970’s paneling down.

The other side of the patio door…We (I) had to cut tons of boards to frame in this wall to hang sheetrock.

I love cutting wood, it makes me feel like I am superwoman. 
Remember this?  My friend Lady Crafty Cut.  She is amazing!This is not what I meant by adding curtains yesterday but
it has saved the rest of house from seeing the playroom construction.
We took down the popcorn ceiling.  We actually got to use it for the exterior wall under the siding. 

Immediately, it added insulation.

A sweet moment when we get to save on our landfill bill.

This will be the media wall. 

I missed pictures of removing the ugly windows. 

Here is my hubby framing a new window.

The exterior wall…notice where we took out the double window.  Then added another window instead.  One that is energy-efficient.

Ugly patio door coming out….plus pretty door going in!

Are you ready????

To this!

Plus lighting!They kind of remind me of New Orleans.  A French Look!My new gorgeous windows. 

My hubby actually broke the first one.  He was taking the cardboard off the bottom and it slipped.

Thank the Lord the store gave us a new one.  We were both in tears of gratitude.

It was one of those times where we could have lost it but instead we stayed calm.  Personally, I was so thankful that my hubby was not hurt.  It could have turned out so bad, but instead we were laughing with gratitude!

Our sweet door!  We were actually given this door by sweet friends that moved out of town.  Isn’t it beautiful?Now for the interior…still not completed!Our Low E Window from the inside…Still so much to do…But…worth every minute.  Okay, I’ll leave you with our unpainted siding.  Soon it will be painted and hopefully some beautiful landscaping.

Thanks for visiting our home! 

Maybe next time, we’ll have walls.

Blessings to you!  You are loved!

Partying with:

Works for Me

Our Playroom Before Pictures

We’ve been busy little bees.

We have remodeled basically our entire house.

It has been messy.  It has been overwhelming.  It has been crazy!

But, overall it is going to be worth it.

 

 

Here are some “before” playroom pictures…

 

This is our OLD patio door.  It was if…it wasn’t even there. 

Tons of heat was let in and the cool air escaped.

Our electricity bill was outrageous.  With most of our days hitting in the 100’s for most of the year – we needed a better system.

The windows behind those curtains also was at fault for major energy loss.

We took down the entire wall.

We also removed the carpet.  It was just commercial carpet laid over concrete. 

It worked well when my kids were learning to crawl and walk.  But, now tile is more feasible.

Alaskans have the bridge to no-where…we have a door to no-where. 

Actually, it goes to the garage but we never use it.  (We had 4 entrances to the garage.)

This wall is going to be covered with our computer and entertainment center.  My hubby is going to build it. 

This is the opening into the living room.  We are going to finish sheet rocking then add curtains from the inside of the playroom. 

That way if someone want to watch movies they can cut off the room.

This is down the room headed to the office.  We are going to sheetrock all of it.

My hubby (not smiling) – I surprised him.  He was taking a break from vacuuming before we rolled up the carpet.

Our old playroom, with half my hubby (now smiling).  Notice all the mess.  It has now been removed.

 

Okay, those are the “before” pictures…
tomorrow, I shall post the After pictures. 

Well, the “work in progress” pictures…

 

(Are you thinking it can only get better and she needs a maid?  ME TOO!)

 

 

Blessings to you!  You are loved!

7 years ago…A princess was born.

She was born a month early.

I had no amniotic fluid so we had to deliver.

In the middle of labor, my blood pressure bottomed out and a HUGE man threw me on my side.

I laughed because I was enormous pregnant and never been thrown before.

Hubby had left the room to get coffee.

He came back in the room “Did I miss anything?”

I laughed harder.

Then the OB told me to push.

Then she called me “Lana” like sauna.

I told her my name is “Lana” like banana.

Then she was born.

A beautiful baby.

A precious bundle of joy.

Who hiccuped, weird.

Her lungs were not developed.

Her first car ride was in an ambulance to a better hospital for precious bundle of joys,
who hiccuped weird.

Every few hours we would get to see her.

They wouldn’t let me hold her.

They wouldn’t let me stay with her.

My hubby had to go to a foreign country to lead a mission trip.

My other children left to their Grandparents 9 hours away.

It was all very surreal.

She stayed in NICU for weeks, it seemed like eternity.

Then one fine HOT day, I got to drive her home.

I remember just staring at her.

The house was so quiet.

She was beautiful.

A precious bundle of joy.

She just came to give me kisses.

She had the hiccups.

This time they were not weird.

They were real.

They were such a beautiful sound.

She is so loved!

We are so thankful for her.

Her mocha eyes and her cute freckles.

Not to mention, her hearty laugh.

Happy 7th Birthday, Princess!

You are loved!

Blessings to you!  You are loved!

I NEED help! Which is it…hen or rooster?

Okay, seriously.  I’ve been a chicken researcher on Google.

I never planned on being that when I grew up.

I really wanted to be an astronaut or airplane pilot.

I guess in this time of my life, a chicken researcher will have to do.

Now if you are still reading…which, I’m thinking no one is…

Can you tell me if you think this is a rooster?

So, can you tell? 

Some say you can tell if it is a rooster because their “Saddle Feathers” are pointed. 

I was a horse judge not a chicken judge.  I have no idea where the saddle feathers are on a chicken. 

Also, they have NO spurs.  When do chickens get spurs?

 

 

This pretty one is a hen.  Her name is Daisy.  She is friendly.

The bantams do not like their picture taken.  They are snobbish. 

Well, thank you for looking at our chickens. 

We are not chicken experts.

We have enjoyed them, though. 

Everyday we stare at them like they are weird creatures from outer space.

I guess since I couldn’t be an astronaut – staring at chickens will have to do. 

Did I mention they also eat lots of bugs?  Love that!

 

Blessings to you!  You are loved!