33 Miles

Sunday 33 Miles lead worship in both services and then had a concert Sunday night. It was amazing! I mean...I love their CD but seeing and hearing them live was just amazing. Jason's voice really is that awesome...just all by itself with no digital additions! They are one talented group of guys.

We ended up having a packed house Sunday night! Almost 600 people in attendance! Youth groups from all over and lots of adults too!

Then after the concert those of us that helped with the concert had a pot luck dinner with the guys. They are such sweet, awesome men of God. I sat across from Chris the guitar player during dinner and chatted with him about his new baby. His wife is due any day now...he was hoping to make it home before the birth so he wouldnt have to spend money on an emergency flight!

If you haven't heard 33 Miles then I strongly suggest that you head to their site and at least hear There Is A God. It is my favorite song by them!

What Its All About!

My kids were just too cute this evening. The boys begged and begged after dinner to scrapbook. See what having a clean scrap room can get ya! So they both made a couple of pages. Chad even came to sit and watch them. They both really got into inking! Nick especially!

The Tyler Swimmin page was done completely by him! I was quite impressed!

They both did a Chuckie Cheese Layout! I know someday they will love looking back to see that handwriting! For some reason I can't get those two layouts to upload..could be cause of the photos uploading to snapfish right now? Guess I will post them later!

After we finished their layouts they wanted to look at their albums. Nick absolutely LOVES to look at scrapbooks. He is so funny! "oh look this is our first ice cream cone." "This is our first time riding bikes." To him every page is about the first time doing something! So cute! He does get really upset looking at his baby book though...seeing all the wires and stuff on that tiny little body. Tonight he said,"mom, I don't even remember being in all that pain." Broke my heart! I assured him that I don't think he was really in pain..most of the wires were for monitoring him to make sure that he was ok. He has looked at his baby books a hundred times and tonight he finally discovers that he still has a bunch of the wires that were hooked up to him! He just thought that was so cool!

I started this blog as a place to journal everyday happenings so that I would have something to look back on for more scrapbook journaling and such...however I haven't done a very good job. So trying to get better. Decided to jump on here and get this fun evening scrapping with my boys documented!:)

I have been uploading photos to snapfish ALL day. It is taking forever...of course it probably wouldn't take so long if I didn't have 4 years worth of photos to upload! I have some of them backed up on CDs and some of them aren't....my digital photos are just in a MESS! SO trying to get that all taken care of and started out with uploading them to somewhere besides my hard drive so I can have a backup. Then to figure out which ones have been burnt to CDs and which still need to be! Then to get a better storage system figured out for all the CDs!

Thursday Catch Up!

I have been a bad blogger! Things have just been so busy with the Studio remodeling and all that fun stuff I just haven't been online much. The worst thing about not being online is missing my FAITH SISTERS! I could just spend hours on there trying to catch up with all that has been chatted about in the past week since I have been online! Some gorgeous new layouts in the gallery too! WOOHOOO! Faith Sisters also went over 200 members last week! AWESOME! There are lots of freebie digital designs added to the faith sisters shop as well! So many awesome things happening there! Gives me goosebumps to think about it!!!:)

I have been making myself spend time cleaning up clutter and organizing my scrap room! YAY! I still have a ways to go but I am happy to report that my room is now scrapable! I even spent last night scrapping for a few hours! Working on some Christmas Presents!

Tyler stayed home sick yesterday and I kept him home again today because he was so sick last night. He seems to be doing better today. Praise the Lord!!

We spent the weekend with the most wonderful group of scrappers EVER! I just totally loved them to pieces! Since they are only about an hour away I am hoping to be able to scrap with them more often! They were so much FUN!



Getting ready for Thanksgiving! We will be gathering at Mom and Dads. I am so blessed to have a large extended family who gathers together for the holidays. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays!:)

Right now I am working on uploading the last several years worth of digital photos to snapfish.com so I have them saved somewhere besides my hardrive. I think this is going to take me FOREVER! Will also be posting some applebutter stir pictures here as promised.

Meal plan for the week...um I a get a big fat F! This is what happens when I do not plan out my meals for the week! Mon- ate at Logans, Tues- ate at Logans (2 dinners for $12.99 and kids are only $2 a piece you just can't beat that!), Wed- Sloppy joes and baked squash (the squash was leftover from the weekend!), Thur- was going to be roast but my crock pot is at the studio so now???, Fri- Leftovers
Yeah so next week I gotta have a meal plan ready on Sunday!

Calgon Take Me Away!

SO TIRED! I worked all day at the studio. Accomplished alot so I am happy about that but I am so beat! My back was already tired from all of the sitting on the floor organizing photos this weekend. So I started out kinda sore and tired. Now I am REALLY sore and tired. Have I ever said how much I do not like be miss handy woman!

So today I painted ceilings. Glued cove base to the walls in the bathrooms and shower rooms, all 4 of them. Hung a bunch of ceiling tiles. Installed a flourescent light in the kitchen(that was a first!), cleaned the kitchen (health inspector coming Thurs for the every so often inspection). They had just worked on installing a new window and drywall in the kitchen so this wasn't your eveyday kitchen cleaning...oh no...it was the 3 hours to get it all drywall dust free kind of cleaning...and I am sure when I go back tomorrow some more drywall dust will have found its way back onto everything...does the stuff ever go away??

We didn't have take out...My darling brother cooked us dinner! He made a huge pot of chili and brought it down for us! Wasn't that so sweet of him! It was really yummy too. Perfect day for chili cause it was FREEZIN here!

Well I am so tired! If I wasn't so addicted to http://faithsisters.com/ I would have never have logged on tonight...but I just had to catch up with all my sisters! Tammy McClain posted the most awesome mini album for the Faith Prevails Challenge and I can NOT wait to scraplift it! If I wasn't so tired right now I would be tempted to go scrap in my semi-clean scrap room!

Meal Plan Monday!

Here is a picture of my trick or treaters! Derek (nephew) batman, Nick storm trooper, Brooke Cat, Tyler Soldier, Stevin (nephew) spider man.

Been cleaning up my scrap room and organizing pictures. Still have a ways to go but it is coming along! So excited to be able to scrap in my happy place again!!!

OK so I am totally loving this meal plan Monday thing! Lawanda you are so right..it really does help! Even though things got switched around a little bit last week I wasn't stressed out every day trying to figure out something to fix. It was wonderful!

So to add a little twist to the plan every week I am going to start trying at least one new recipe out of one of my MANY cookbooks each week! (If we like it I will share the recipe for you to try out too!) see below for this recipe I tried today! YUM!

So here is the plan for this week!

Monday- Chicken Ole' (see recipe below) Just fixed this for the first time. We loved it!

Tuesday- Take Out cause Chad and I are working at the studio prepping for our upcoming retreat

Wednesday- Crock Pot chicken, potatoes, green beans (yeah chicken twice in one week...it is on sale at Kroger! LOL)

Thursday- Tuna Noodle Casserole

Friday- Leftovers

Saturday - Chad is on his own cause I will be at the studio all weekend cooking for the retreat....we will be having taco soup for lunch and Chicken Cattatorie for dinner(OK I have no idea how to spell it but I can make it and it is yummy!)

Chicken Ole'

This one is from my Desperation Dinners Cookbook (meals in 20 mins). Fixed it for the first time tonight and my family LOVED it!
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves2 teaspoons olive oil1 extra-large or 2 medium onions2 large green bell peppers1 can fat free chicken broth (or two boulion cubes and one cup water)1/2 cup white wine1 can diced tomatoes2 1/2 cups instant rice1/2 cup sliced pimento stuffed green olives (optional)1/2 cup frozen green peas (optional)1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic2 bay leaves1 tsp dried oregano1/2 tsp ground cumin1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste1/4 tsp black pepper
1. If the chicken is frozen, run it under hot water so you can remove packaging. Place the chicken on a microwave safe plate and microwave 3 minutes, uncovered, on high, to begin defrosting.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil, over medium heat, in an extra deep 12 inch skillet that has a lid. Peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the skillet as you chop.
3. Cut each breat into 3 strips about an inch wide, then add the chicken (fresh or partially defrosted) to the skillet and raise the heat to high. Cover the skillet and cook while seeding the bell peppers and cutting them into 1 inch wide strips. Cut the strips crosswise in hald and add the peppers to the skillet all at once.
4. Add the broth and wine. Cover the skillet and bring the liquid to a boil. Meanwhile, drain the tomatoes. Keeping the pan covered as much as possible, add the drained tomatoes, rice, olives, peas, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, cumin, salt and black pepper. Stir well.
5. Cook at a rolling boil until the rice is tender, 5 minutes more. Remove the bay leaves, stir well and serve!

Exhausted!

It has been a busy week! With today being the very busiest day of all! Yesterday was jam packed too but after two days of it I am beat!

Tues- phone calls, cleaning, Applebutter with Lawanda (pictures coming soon)

Yesterday was spent on errands and cleaning. Had lunch at the Der Dog Haus with mom and dad before their house closing. Yay! The house is finally sold. Dad is having sellers remorse and wishing they would have just stayed there but I think it is the best thing. They now live closer to us..only minutes away. The old house was just way to huge for two people. Heck it would be huge for my family of 5! After lunch went to Home Depot to pick up some supplies for the studio construction...we are nearly finished..just those minor things....which still take forever to complete. Think we will ever be DONE? After home depot went to drop door knobs off at my uncles so he could take them down to the studio...then off to pick up Brooke at school. Then home to cook dinner and get the kids costumes ready. I decided at the last minute to dress as a farmer...such a shame that nobody got a picture of me :) Headed to Awana....it was a crazy Awana night with all the kids being so excited about trunk or treating afterward. The game room was AWESOME! They had black lights and glowy balloons floating around, it was really cool in there! (pictures later)

After Awana we went to the parking lot for Trunk or Treat. It was the first time for our church to do trunk or treat. We had 24 trunks....some of which were decorated so stinkin cute! Brooke decorated out trunk and passed out the candy. She did a fabulous job....all the kids loved it!!
After trunk or treating we stopped by mom and dads to trick or treat. Dad was having a band practice. He is now paid to fiddle in a blue grass band! Pretty neat huh! This was the first time I met the band.....the lead singer/guitar player said, "So these 4 are your grandchildren" Mom had to correct him that I was the mom and the other three were the grandchildren....keep in mind I was dressed as a farmer...and I had pigtails and a cowboy hat...maybe I should wear that get up more often???? hehe! The band sounds AWESOME! Can't wait to see them at a performance! So proud of my dad! Came home and checked emails and faith sisters. Then talked to sunny for hours! We got the new faith sisters challenge posted! Went to bed around 3am...cause Sunny made me stay up with her to finish her tribute layout for her grandma! It turned out beautifully!

Thursday- got up early, cleaned a little, checked email and faithsisters and then went to the studio to paint. Before I could paint I had to sand. In no less than 10 mins I looked like a snow woman. I hate drywall dust! Got all the walls that needed finished! YAY! Now just have to do a spot on the ceiling that had to be repaired tomorrow. Swept the floors in the bedrooms and then headed home for a shower. Got ready for the evening and then remembered that I had brought the wet paint roller home in a bag so that I could touch up a place in my bathroom....we painted our bathroom Gobi Dessert just like the hallways at the studio;) (YES....pictures of my newly remodeled bathroom coming soon...Lawandas hubby built me a beautiful vanity). So fix the wall in my bathroom...in my good clothes! Luckily I didnt get paint on me!

Then off to the store to find Brooke some shoes for her Choir concert tonight. She grew out of her black shoes! UGH! Had 15 mins to get shoes and be back at the boys school for family night at 5:30. We ate pizza and veggies and cookies and then looked at all the science projects. My nephew Stevin won first place with her How To Clean Pennies project! YAY Stevin!

Brooke and I had to leave for the Jr High so Chad and the boys stayed there at family night. Got to the Jr High at 6:15. The place was filling up quickly...had to save seats for Chad, mom and dad. I hate saving seats! The concert was great. Brooke looked so pretty in her chior robe. Chad made the comment that Brooke was by far the prettiest girl in the 7th grade choir. Maybe we are biased but I have to agree!:) Oh yeah....on our way back from getting shoes I stopped to beg my aunt to let me borrow her Cannon Rebel DSLR! Wanted to play with it to see how I liked it...since it is the one I kinda have my eye on. She didn't want to let me borrow it and said her stomach was sick when I left with it! Jeesh she has a whole lot of faith in me huh! OK So I played with it at the concert...and now I want one even worse! Chad played with it a little too....and tonight he asked me more questions about why I want that one. Crossing my fingers that I will be getting one for Christmas/birthday. PLEASE<>PLEASE! My camera is dead....won't work at all. Rather then spend a bunch to get it fixed I just want a new one...real bad!!

So after the concert we took the camera back to my aunt. I really didn't want to but I knew she would kill me if I kept it longer! LOL Then stayed there blabbing for way to long! Got home after 9 and still had to clean the house cause mother in law is coming tomorrow. YIKE! So got the whole downstairs cleaned up and swept...now just gotta clean the guestroom and upstairs bathrooms. It's good to have company so I am forced to get the cleaning done! Been so busy with everything else that the house has been a little neglected! well at least one level is straightened and cleaned now!

Now I am off to bed! JEEESH! ANd I thought I was tired before I started typing all that. I always get a little rambly when I am tired.....apparently when I am typing too! LOL