Life Happens

My Husband's Birthday
This week, we celebrated my husband's 30th birthday.  Hard to believe he's finally joining me in the thirties!  We went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant to celebrate, and I got some balloons, a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, and a can of Pibb for decoration.  If you knew my husband, you would understand the Doritos and Pibb, so for those who don't: the Doritos are in honor of sticking to good eating habits for six months now, and the Pibb is in celebration of his vow to not drink any Pibb (his favorite pop) from the beginning of the year to his birthday--six and a half months, a big commitment for him.  He got to enjoy some old favorites on his birthday!   We were up to visit my family over the weekend, and while we were up there, we celebrated his birthday with a golf-themed ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.  We had a few days of birthday celebration for him, but he left for a business trip the day after his birthday.  :(

An Owl for My Sister:

Crescent Roll Pockets

So, at work today, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the half of the can of crescent rolls that I would have left over after I made a pot pie for dinner.  Then I had an idea.  I decided to try making them into chocolate-stuffed and cinnamon-sugar-stuffed pockets!  Below are the steps and recipe for the creation I call "Crescent Roll Pockets":

First, create four rectangles from pinching the seams together of each set of triangles, like in the picture above.

Pat the rectangle out and make it more uniform in shape, if necessary.  For the picture above, I sprinkled about a teaspoon of cinnamon on the dough, then roughly 1-2 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

For this crescent pocket, I decided to try and make it cinnamon-sugary.  I spread butter over the dough, then mixed 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of lightly-packed brown sugar in a bowl, then spread it over the butter.  You can certainly experiment and create whatever flavors you want!  Just be sure to leave an edge around the dough for sealing.

To fold the dough, follow the steps in the pictures above, and when you've folded all of the sides in, pinch the seams together on the top to seal and keep the stuffings in.  Bake them in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until they are golden brown, then remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 10 minutes.

 While the pastries are cooling, make the glaze: 1/4 to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk, and about 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  Mix all together in a small bowl, adding milk a little at a time until you get your desired consistency for the glaze.

When the pockets are cooled, drizzle the glaze over the top.  Then, grab a fork and enjoy!  You're welcome.

A Loss in the Family
I mentioned earlier that we were up to visit with family over the past weekend.  The reason was because my uncle, my mother's brother, passed away from an illness.  It was a sad time, for obvious reasons.  He was always a good uncle to us, and he was always nice to us.  I have many good memories of him, and he was a neat man.  He liked to dabble in all sorts of hobbies: he tried growing crops, he did canning, he created barbecue sauce, he brewed his own raspberry wine, he restored antique telephones, he sold Christmas trees, and just generally seemed to enjoy life.  He seemed to succeed in anything he tried to do!  He even gave us one of his phones a few years ago, and it's been a prized possession of ours ever since.  Now, it's something that will always remind us of him every time we see it hanging on the wall in the kitchen. My husband didn't know him extremely well, but he always enjoyed the times that we were able to visit with my uncle.  Please pray for my uncle's children, grandchildren, my mom, and my mom's other brother, who are still grieving, but are glad for the time they were able to spend with him on earth.

Sad Garden

Sad, sad, sad.  It's certainly struggling under the severe conditions that seem to have settled over this part of the country.  While I water whenever I can, it doesn't seem to help that much.  There's such a difference in the plants when it rains, as opposed to a good soaking from the hose.  Though I would love to have a rain barrel, and not have to use chemically-treated city water in the garden, a rain barrel does no good if there has been no rain!  Everything is still alive, but it seems that the hot sun beating down all day just makes them so droopy.  It's cloudy now, and there is rain in the area, so here's hoping for a good soaking from mother nature!

A blossom on my pumpkin plant

My heirloom chocolate cherry tomato plant--hoping to keep some of the seeds and do it again next year

Rain's a-comin'!

I feel like some days are a real struggle.  Life is hard, even though we have all of these incredible conveniences today.  The world is not a friendly or nice place, so we take comfort and refuge with family and friends that we love.  And that's not a bad thing; we are meant to have relationships with the people around us.  But are we building the kind of relationship that we need to have with the One who created us?  He loves us more than we can imagine!  He will give us strength to endure each day, each hour, each trying minute of our lives.  The trials and grief, along with the joys of life, all work to mold us into the person that He wants us to become.  "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

Beware The Ides of February...Oh, wait...

I Feel Like Ramblin'
I don't know why I chose the Shakespeare reference for my title this time, I just felt like being random.  So!  I've been getting much of what I wish for lately...first I wished for lots of snow.  I sure got that wish!  Then, I wished for it to all melt and for spring to come.  It's been spring-like and the entire 12+" of snow that covered the ground has all but melted away!  Now, I wish that the spring weather is here to stay, and that I had millions of dollars!  I'm very much looking forward to the days when I can open the windows to air out the house after along and stuffy winter...get some spring cleaning done...get my garden planted!  I'm ready for all of the sickness to fade out and the sinus problems to disappear for another year.  Last year at this time, I was preparing for my sister's wedding, which I still think about often.  It was one of the best weddings I've ever been to!  Everyone had a great time.  And it was so nice and warm out!  Lately I seem to be waxing nostalgic.  I keep thinking back to my sister's wedding, back to good times with friends...college...people that are no longer here.  Life sure is full of changes.  I know, the only thing constant in life is death and taxes.  What would life be like if no one or nothing ever changed?  What if you could stop time when you finally accomplish everything you always hoped for when you were young, and just bask in the happiness?  What if you never had to say good-bye to people you loved?  I guess that's where faith in Jesus Christ comes in, even though your faith doesn't save you from going through some pretty difficult situations in life.  I think that I feel like I'm in a stagnant part of life right now, which makes me look to the past instead of planning for the future.  It's easier to look at the past--you already know what happened.  No one ever knows what the future will hold.  I guess that's why we should appreciate what we have right now, and who we have right now, because there may not be a tomorrow.  Carpe diem!  Carpe chocolate!

Uncertainty can be troubling, and unfortunately, life is full of it.  There are many verses in the Bible about trusting God when life seems questionable.  I like this one: "Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken."  Psalm 55:22.  Honestly, it's not always easy to trust that God has the best things in store for us, but He does!  You might see it right away, over time, or never at all, but God's way is always the best way, and He will always watch out for His children.

Cabin Fever

Top o'the mornin' to ya!

Aaah, do I have the spring fever.  I'm looking outside at the beautiful white landscape, ready for it to be gone and warmer weather to set it.  There is so much snow everywhere, but with temps forecasted to be around 50 by mid-week, that should take care of a lot of snow.  It seems like it's been an exceptionally hard winter this year, and I will be glad when the trees have leaves and I can once again go outside in sandals and a tee-shirt instead of heavy winter socks and a bulky winter coat.  Aahh, I can almost smell the spring air, and feel the warm breeze.  I enjoyed the weather briefly yesterday, when I made a trip to the store to get hubby some items to make him feel better--he seems to be having some sort of sinus problem and had a very sore throat for the past few days.  He seems to be doing much better today, though, which is a good thing!  It was very nice out, and I got away with just wearing a lightweight jacket.  I'm ready for that to be the norm!  Maybe I just need a warm-weather-destination trip. 

Valentine's Weekend

Well, today is Valentine's Day.  We celebrated the holiday on Friday though, which was good since my husband came down with the sickness Saturday.  We had a nice dinner out, exchanged gifts, and had an overall very relaxing weekend at home.  My hubby is sending me to a local day spa again this year as my gift.  I really like the spa, and it's such a nice experience.  He sent me there last year for the first time, which was a wonderful surprise and a great pampering experience.  If you've never had the opportunity to spend a few hours at a day spa, I would highly recommend it!  You won't be disappointed.  

Recipes

Yesterday, to end the weekend, I made a pot of beef stew.  Can I just say YUM?  I tweeked a recipe that I found online for beef stew (from Paula Deen's beef stew recipe) and have my version posted on the recipe blog.  I'm not bragging, but it was delicious and really hit the spot last night!  I also made a half-sized Hershey chocolate cake on Saturday, and that was a wonderful dessert.  If you want to see the recipes and haven't visited the site, click here.  Thanks to everyone who has checked it out.  I hope that you find recipes on there that you try and like, and I would love to post some of your recipes on there as well!

Today we celebrate love.  You don't have to be in a romantic relationship with someone to enjoy the Valentine's holiday, although that is generally the main target audience of this day.  Chances are, you have family and friends that love you just as you are!  God certainly does.  He created you, and you are His children.  He loves you no matter what.  Ephesians 5:1-2 reinstates how much He loves us: "1Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us...".  God loves us so much, and wants to be with us always, that He allowed His Son to die for our salvation!  Now that's love.

Snow Day!

Photo from the All Things Digital Website

Hello from snowy, slippery Ohio!  I had a snow day today thanks to the storm that has debilitated a large chunk of the country right now.  I guess the groundhog is predicting an early spring this year...we'll see.  I have to say, I don't trust anything a groundhog says.  You know how they are.

Because I was home today, I took the opportunity to do housework and baking.  I tried a new recipe for dinner rolls which can be found on the Recipes page under "Top Notch Dinner Rolls".  I found this recipe on The Amish Cook website.  This is a good and informative website about Amish life and culture, and frequently features pictures and recipes of Amish life, as well as the "Amish Cook" weekly column written by an Old-Order Amish woman named Lovina Eicher and read in many newspapers across the country.  This is her editor's website. Okay, now that you have all of the background, I have to say these rolls were very good!  I am posting the full recipe, and it makes around 30 decent-sized rolls.  I would recommend halfing it if you are a small family like us.  I'm going to try and freeze the rolls, and I will comment on the recipe about whether this ends up being a good idea or bad one.  This is a great bread recipe, and I think it would make two good-sized bread loaves if you want to try that.  We are having meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and the rolls, and for dessert I whipped up a chocolate pudding pie in a graham cracker crust.  I enjoy being home to make a hearty meal for a cold, snowy day!  I hope everyone has weathered (haha, pun intended) the storm well, and that everyone stays warm and safe for the rest of the winter, no matter how long it may last!

The weather has been rough this winter.  I really think that this winter has been the worst in quite a while...cold, snowy, gray and dreary for the majority up to this point.  So it warms me to think of how much God loves His children, and remembering that always gives me hope of what is to come!  Think of these verses: "He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he."--Deut. 32:4; "Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you."--Psalm 9:10; "Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies."--Psalm 36:5.  Praise God for His unconditional love always!