Isn't God Grand

Today I decided to do a little yard work. Very little. Anyway as I got outside and was mowing down some high patches in the yard I noticed my Redbud Tree had little purple buds all over it. I was so excited! I love my Redbud tree. The kids got it for me a long time ago for Mothers Day. I dont remember what year but I know they were pretty little. Even though it did grow a little crooked I still love it and was pumped that it had the buds all over it. Then I moved on to the front yard, mowing down patches of fresh thick clover! Ahhh Spring. Then I noticed my Japanese Maple that the kids got me last year for Mothers Day! Here is a picture of that lovely day! Anyway, I have been just a little nervous since Winter set in and this tree lost all it's leaves. Of course I know that is Natures Way. Maybe I havent mentioned it on my blog before but I really dont have a green thumb. As a matter of fact its probably on more of the blackish end of the color wheel. So today when I looked at my Japanese Maple and saw the tiny buds I was sooooo happy! I think it SURVIVED! Woo Hoo! Spring is GREAT! After seeing the buds on two trees I opened up my eyes and saw fresh greenery on my rose bush, (cant wait for those blooms.) I saw new growth on the Green Olive Bush, (Cant wait for that fragrance!). I also saw not one but TWO butterflys! Wow

Spring time is awesome. I LOVE Spring Break. I love being off of course. But it is great to see new life bursting forth everywhere. Its like a peek at the hope of things to come. A sign that things, even dry dead looking things are about to become new!

Isn't GOD GRAND?!

So as I think of Spring, I think of things that may look dry and dead around me, and I know GOD IS GRAND! He can make ALL THINGS new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new) Also Revelations 21:5 "I make everything new" Man, thats exciting. Just as exciting as seeing new buds on my trees. Even moreso!

Great Recipe Post

We had a DELICIOUS supper tonight if I do say so myself. Well I do say so, but I am not going to keep it all to myself. I am going to share with you! Thus - A RECIPE POST!

So I started with desert first of course. (That's best according to my friend Pattie, especially if it involves chocolate!) It does involve chocolate, and lots of it. I got this recipe for Truffles from The Pioneer Womans blog. I don't read it often but have checked it a time or two. Recently I clicked on it and this was the recipe she had up. Well this is my version of her recipe. Here goes:

These are the ingredients you will need for these truffles. Bakers Baking Semi Sweet and Unsweetened Chocolate Squares. An 8 oz. box of each, 1 can of Eagle Brand Milk, Vanilla Flavoring, 2 boxes of Bakers Dipping Chocolate. (Normally I would use Almond Bark but this is what the store had so I used it and I like it.)

First you break up the pieces of chocolate and place in a double boiler. I do not own a double boiler so I used a glass bowl in a saucepan of boiling water. Make sure you dont have too much water in the saucepan so it doesnt overflow when you put the bowl of chocolate in like I did. Wait a few minutes for it to begin to melt and then before stirring add the can of Eagle Brand Milk. Fold together. It will become a pretty thick mixture. When it is all mixed well add a teaspoon of vanilla flavoring. Mix well and transfer to another bowl, cover with foil, and place in freezer for an hour and a half - or more if you are busy in an hour and a half. Next remove from freezer and roll into small bite sized balls and place on waxed paper. Then place all "truffels" into freezer for 30 minutes. Next melt the dipping chocolate or almond bark, dip truffels, and place onto waxed paper. Now for a trick that I would never have tried in a million years. Sprinkle a little of this onto them while they are wet.
I did about 3, then sprinkled, then 3 more, then sprinkled... The sea salt on the truffels is GREAT! Seriously, try it! Now I didnt go buy the Sea Salt especially for this. I already had some. Why, you ask? Todd got it one time when he was COOKING supper. He was grilling steak, and baking potatoes. He bought the potatoes that come in some package with INSTRUCTIONS! That was part of the instructions so he got it and followed instructions! LOL Anyway on with MY supper.

For the main course. I marinated a nice thick sirloin steak last night. I used Emeril Lagasses Steak Seasoning, EVOO, Worchestershire, a little cooking wine, and ground pepper. It sat overnight in the fridge and soaked up all that goodness. So all I had left to do for that was throw it on the grill tonight.
The last recipe I have for you is one I got from a Rachel Ray show recently.
First I cleaned some new potatoes and popped them into boiling chicken stock. I used one box of chicken stock, and also some frozen stock I had saved from the last time I boiled chicken. (I cant remember why I boiled the chicken, but anyway I am glad I froze the stock.) Let the potatoes boil for 30 minutes until tender. Then comes the good part. Remove them from the liquid and add half a stick of butter. Now take a flat edge like a glass and squash each potatoe gently and allow them to brown. When browned flip each potatoe and brown on the other side. (Rachel Ray then added some freshly grated Parmesian Cheese, but I had to skip this part since I am the only one in this house that would enjoy that) I served them as is. They were GREAT!

Then I just made some butter beans and rolls and the meal was complete. When I took the Sirloin off the grill I let it sit for about 5 minutes so that when I cut it the juices wouldnt all run out. Then I sliced in at a slight angle to serve. So this was our meal tonight! And this was our desert!Yum Yum! I think I'll go have some seconds. hehehe

Celebrations Again!

2010 is proving out to be a year of celebrations just as I felt it would be. Our High School Basketball Team just won the State Championship this last weekend. When we got to the Semi Playoffs I wanted to go to that game so badly but it was on a Tuesday and both Todd and I had to work on Wednesday. Not only did we have to go to work Wednesday but Todd of course had to be there at 3 am. Us getting home at 1:30 would not have worked to say the least. So we didnt go. But when they made it to the final game which was played on Friday, I REALLY wanted to go. Now Todd has to work on Saturdays as well, and he still has to get up for work at 3 am. I was concerned as to how this was going to work. I asked him to please see if he could get someone to work for him that day. His job is not like most where you can just call in and not come to work. He explained to me that 'so and so' was working out of town and that there was no one to do it. First thing the next morning I gave him a call to see if he had "worked it out yet". LOL He hadnt. But that afternoon after talking to his boss, it DID WORK OUT! I was so excited. We knew we didnt want to drive back that night getting in at 1:30 in the morning. (The game was in Lafayette, La) So we stayed in a Drury Inn there in Lafayette. When we got to the hotel we were informed that they were serving SUPPER which was included in the price of the room! Wow, so we ate Chili Dogs, Baked Potatoes, Salad, Chips, and Salsa. There was also popcorn and a few other things we didnt try. It was nice and saved us an expensive meal out. Then off to the Cajun Dome! It was so exciting. Tons of people from Vidalia were there. It was so nice to see such support from the Vidalia fans. We were so proud of our boys and their coaches for doing such a wonderful job. We made it to the Finals last year as well and got the 2nd place trophy then. It was so awesome to be able to come back this year and give it another try. So no matter how it ended up we knew we were proud of their effort and talent in this sport. But low and behold these guys stepped it up once again and blew their way right to the Championship Trophy! Did I mention that it was exciting? Now to back up a bit, my plan was to switch the lens out on my camera on the trip to Lafayette. But Todd wanted me to drive so he could rest a bit on the way up since he had been up since 3 am. So I did. That resulted in me forgetting to switch my lens out and not realizing it until we were at the Cajun Dome. I knew if I left the regular lens on the camera the pictures would not be what I wanted from so high up in the Dome. So I chose to leave the camera in the car. :( No pictures from the exciting game. I do hate that because as you all know I am a PICTURE FREAK! But I did make up for it the next day when the State Champions returned to their home town! Many of us greeted them at the school when they pulled into town. That was exciting too. Josh was already in the caravan that went out to meet them and follow them in. He has really been behind them and is a great fan of the team. If we had known they were doing that we would have been right in there behind them. But we jumped in from there and followed them all through town! It was fun going through the neighborhoods and honking horns and waving flags and yelling for our team. Finally we made it back to the school for hugs of congratulations, hand shaking, and a bit more celebration. We are proud of the Vidalia Vikings Basketball Team who are the Louisiana STATE CHAMPIONS!
What a great time we had this weekend. :)

Way Back Wednesday

Fun Times

Well unfortunately for Casey and Charlie they were a little under the weather this weekend. I didnt find that out until late Friday evening. Once I found out I offered to take this little sweetie for the weekend. Fortunately for us, they accepted my offer. So this is what we did during our visit.

First we made a quick stop at Wal Mart to get a few groceries and pick up a doll stroller for her to play with, but they didnt have one. Once we made it home the sun came out and it turned into a pretty day so we played outside. Avery loves to drop things into my chimnea, so of course I let her.
Then she decided to go for a nice long drive. This drive mainly consisted of opening and closing this:
Bue she did do a little driving. I guess she got a little borde of it. I dont really know what these expressions are saying? Any thoughts?

So anyway after the drive we headed to the kitchen to do some cooking. This girl can make a mean spaghetti sauce!
She thought it was pretty good too and ate a ton of it.
We also went to the big Natchez Mall and did some shopping. We got these great shoes

and some popcorn and a cookie. Poppa shared his popcorn after she finished her cookie.Later on we had a visit from some friends who brought a gift for Avery. A DOLL STROLLER! Yep, exactly what we had gone to Wal Mart for earlier and they were out of! Avery loved it and strolled her babies all around. Thanks Ms. Angel! (That baby doll was mine when I was little. Aunt Eva Marie made it for me!)

Oh and I did get to make good use of my new glider!

Sunday morning we got ready for church. She got to wear the sweet dress Grandma got her for her birthday!She did great at church. She took a nap even though I dont know how she could sleep during that great sermon!

Then back to the house to play in the sunshine some more.
Here she is fussing at the puppy who wouldnt come over to play with her.
Sunday night she went back to church with us and she was in Nonnas class. You would have thought we were at Disney World. She had a BLAST! She colored and used the markers and stickers and never tired of the fun. She doesnt like to get her hands dirty, and when she was using the markers she would get some on her hands and look at them and sorta squeal with worry. It was funny. I would assure her that it was fine and that I would wash them later and she would continue on for a little bit until she noticed it again, and would squeal in horror again. After assurance go on again. It was pretty funny. We had a really nice weekend with her. I think the whole family will be in this weekend for some more fun! :)