Easy as Pie

I never really understood the term easy as pie, as my pies are never easy! Now my mom and my sisters...well their pies seem easy. They can roll that dough out with perfection and have a delicious dessert in no time at all...but I didn't get the pie gene by any stretch of the imagination! So I thought I would share this easier than pie recipe with those of you who also lack the pie gene.

2 packages chunky chocolate chip cookies (not soft) 27 total cookies - I use the brown pkg. (it's either Keebler or Chips Ahoy)
Appx. 1 cup milk
1 lg. cool whip (thawed)
Chocolate bar

Dunk 9 cookies in milk (about 6 seconds each). Place in bottom of 8x8 Pyrex dish. Add layer of cool whip to cover cookies. Repeat process and layer 3 times. Garnish with shaved chocolate or crumbled candy bar of choice. Refrigerate overnight. Serves 6-9.

Not bad for 10 minutes work. :)

The most lavish gift

What is the most lavish gift you have ever received from someone?
I received a very lavish gift from my DH for Christmas a couple of years ago...no, it was not a girl's best friend (which we all know is diamonds), however, that doesn't mean that I don't want diamonds or think that they are not lavish, dear sweet hubby. But instead, on this particular Holiday, I received man's best friend. That's right...the most lavish gift I've ever gotten - and this is why!
My husband likes dogs...even had a very special one growing up named Troubles! But, in all of the years that we'd been married, my husband had always said, and I quote, "we will NEVER have a dog living in our house"! NO NO NEVER NEVER huh-uh uh! And for 18 long years that was so! But life's circumstances have a way of changing minds...and after an event that changed the course of our very lives, my mantra became "life is too short". That little phrase paid off in a big way when one Christmas Eve my hubby slipped upstairs with a gift. Could it be pearls? diamonds? pots and pans? No...it was obviously something that made noise. Although I never heard a sound, my daughter, who has super-sonic hearing (yes, she's an only child) began to go nuts! As my husband threatened her within an inch of her life, I was more perplexed than ever as to what all the commotion was about. You see, I knew FOR A FACT that my DH would never bring another living breathing animal into our house - my daughter already had a cat! And I knew FOR A FACT that my DH would NEVER in a million years let us have a dog! So you can imagine my astonishment when my husband presented me with an adorable, precious puppy! I was surprised, shocked, stunned, amazed...I am thankful, grateful and forever blessed!
It isn't that Dach Holiday (that's what we named him) is such an extravagant gift - it's that my sweet, dear, wonderful, loving hubby put my desire to have a dog WAAAAAAAAAAY above his "til death do we part"NEVER gonna have a house dog desire! :)

WIP

Several weeks ago my DH and I began this Work In Progress. We were driving through a new neighborhood when I spotted this armoire for sale. Not knowing where I wanted to use it, I passed that $50 bargain up...but a week later visions of that pine armoire were still dancing in my head... and not wanting to pass up such a great deal, I asked my husband if he would return with his handy dandy pickup truck and load 'er up. Lucky for me, the piece was still there. The painting began...and this is what she looks like today! A couple more coats ought to complete the process and then, she'll take up residence in our bedroom.

Kari and Kijsa are celebrating a "Fabulous Flag-Flying Fourth"!...so I decided to make my contribution to their fun Fourth party! Be sure and check out all the other fun and creative ways that people are showing their patriotism this Independence Day!

Embellished

I adore all things embellished...so yesterday, while in the creative mode, I picked up my ribbon and supplies and forgot about cleaning...here's a sampling:

create or clean? hmmm!

o.k. - do you ever have one of those days when there is a lot of work around the house that needs to be done like laundry and ironing and cleaning? but for some reason, your brain just keeps focusing on ideas and projects and things that take you to a place that you shouldn't go (while you have chores to do anyway). a place where you can't write your ideas down fast enough and if you don't write them down, they are gone...because you are already on to the next light bulb? well, today was one of those days. when the day was done, nothing else was...not the laundry...not the ironing...and especially not the cleaning! :)

For Moi?????

I have been presented the Arte Y Pico award by Chris over at Refining Life! Wow! I feel very honored and humbled to receive this from my new blog friend, Chris. I have recently discovered her blog and always enjoy visiting. She is a lover of tea, a collector of teapots and decorative plates among other things, and her blog simply makes me happy! Thank you Chris for this award...I count it a privilege!

The link to this award will take you to a Spanish blog. As I understand it, this award was started by a new blogger who was very grateful for all that she learned and saw as she explored blogs from all over the world. It is a gift. My life, too, has been transformed by blogging...I have met soooo many wonderful people! Here are the rules :

1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribution to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award should list the name of the author and a link to his /her blog to be visited by everyone .

3. Each award winner should show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award .

4. The award winner and presenter should show the link of the Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

Here's the hard part - did you say I can only list five? just five? Well, I'm going to list five that I enjoy (among bunches)! Some I have been visiting ever since I began blogging... and others I have just discovered! But all of them either inspire me or challenge me or just make me laugh!

1. His Heart My Desire (Beverly)

2. Mind Your Manors (Amy & Rachel)

3. Southern Somedays (Bell-ah)

4. Southern Somedays... (Mrs. Decker)

5. Streams of Living Water (Bonita)

Ahhhhhh! So much better!

Repaired cabinets...

(thanks to Mr. Cabinet Man who stopped what he was doing and came to my house to repair my cabinets for free)

Reduced items...
(in the process of this forced redo, I combined five, yes five! bags of brown sugar and three bags of powdered sugar - (do you know what lurks in your cabinets?)

Restocked shelves...
a place for everything and everything in it's place. wonder how long this will last?

Puppy Love

I have a Big CRUSH on my DH.....
I know what you're thinking...
but it's not him...

It's my Dach Holiday!
He was a Christmas gift a couple of years ago, hence the name:)
Isn't he soooooooooooooooo cute?

Finished

Recently, while driving to meet a friend at Panera's, I saw this giant check mark in the sky. I began to think about my To Do List...and how when each task is completed, I get to add a check mark to my list. Then I got to thinkin' about God and what this giant check mark in the heavens could represent...He might have just finished another task...hmmm! So here's a snippet of what I imagine God's To Do List might look like:


Lay the foundation of the earth...check
Set earth's measurements...check
Place boundaries on the sea...check
Command the morning...check
Create Adam...check
Fashion Eve from Adam's rib...check
Enter the storehouses of snow and hail...check
Bring rain to make the seeds of grass sprout...check
Bind the chains of Pleiades...check
Loose the cords of Orion...check
Send forth lightening...check
Tip the water jars of the heavens...check
Weave a baby in a mother's womb...check
Bind up the brokenhearted...check
Heal diseases...check
Redeem lives from the pit...check
Clothe the lilies of the field...check
Comfort those who mourn...check
Show mercy to the merciful...check
Sacrifice My Son on the cross...check
Raise my Son from the dead...check
Offer salvation to the world...check
Offer salvation to Becky...check

Sure glad that I was on His List! How about you?

little did i know

little did i know that i would be cleaning out all of my kitchen cabinets today...but when i noticed that one of my cabinets was pulling away from the wall last night...well, we had to get the repair job going early this morning...so everything, and i do mean EVERYTHING, had to come off those shelves. i guess there's never been a better time to clean out my cabinets :)

our summer

swim meets...

fold-out seats...

drinks and sweets...

ferocious heats...

dd competes...

defeats and feats... :)

Mantelmania

Kari and Kijsa had another great idea when they asked us to share our mantels. I decided to get in on the fun and post a mantel of Christmas past. I enjoyed the simplicity of this fruit theme... it took all of five minutes to put up and even less time to take down:)

Time Warp

yes...i know i'm in a time warp because the last time i posted was nearly a month ago - and there is no way it could've been that long ago. where did it go? i don't know!

anyway, i got a forward from a friend of mine who NEVER forwards, so i knew it must be really really good...and it is...


WATCH THIS...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ

WOW! WASN'T THAT AMAZING? JUST LIKE GOD!!!

my cardboard testimony might read something like this -

I can't get NO satisfaction...and I tried...and I tried...and I tried
FLIP
Found complete satisfaction in Jesus -
No more searching!

i'd love to hear what your cardboard testimony would look like!

Check out my wall y'all

I have a favorite wall in my house. It's the wall that holds my daughter's artwork. All the years that we've called this place home, my kitchen wall has been our own little art gallery. I painted three rectangles on my wall (three different colors), placed frames on top of the rectangles, and ta da -I ended up with permanent mats! From the beginning, pictures have adorned this space and have been displayed in all their splendor and grandeur! You never know what you might find here... a giant finger-painted butterfly, a floral watercolor, a colorful abstract, or the more refined work of an 8th grade artist (as shown)! This wall has become a wall of memories... when I think back, I can remember gallery worthy pieces that were handmade just for me! Wow! Which brings me to this question...
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE WALL IN YOUR HOME? AND WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL?

if the shoe fits...

I must say that this shoe certainly does fit my personality, being a lover of ribbon and all. I found these half off - just $16 and some change. And talk about versatile...you can match them to almost any outfit by just changing the ribbon! Aren't they too cute?

The Champ

da da daa dada dada daa da da daa dada dada daa dada da dada daaa dada da da daa da daaaaa...
(That's the Rocky theme song, in case you didn't recognize it...we're singing that at our house these days!)















Yes, we have a champ in our midst. Our DD took first place in the discus event at her track and field tournament ... and, as you might imagine, I'm one proud mama!

Special Delivery

This is what I had delivered for my husband this morning!

Of course, I'm just kidding! I don't even know what that thing is...and it's almost as big as my house. Anyway, I wish I could have it delivered to my husband, because it has reeeally reeeally BIG tires and it's green and yellow...yep! he would LOVE it and LOVE me for it!