Purim, Pointe Shoes, Donuts, and Dear Friends

We started our day with an amazing worship service about Purim.  Life lessons from the book of Esther.

Afterwards, we had lunch with family and then off to Nashville for my daughters pointe shoe fitting.  Make sure they fit right, otherwise, you will be out  some serious cash. Did you know they only last for about one month of classes? Yikes!

It’s complicated.

After Molly had purchased her pointe shoes, we wandered around The Mall at Green Hills for a bit while we waited for some special-order donuts to be prepared.

This mall is beautiful, if a mall can be considered beautiful. Everything is white and bright. It seemed open and airy. However, given our income level, this mall is just for browsing.

Even Charming Charlie’s seemed more upscale than the one we visited in another town. 

Poked our heads in at Fuzziwig’s. Saw some old school candy. Did we really used to chew on wax lips?   Disgusting! 

Finally, we are on our way to Fox’s Donut Den.  Home of the Chocolate Butterfly.

We were actually getting these as a thank you for some dear, sweet friends who came to our rescue the other night when the key refused to turn in the ignition of my van, leaving me stranded in an empty parking lot, while my daughter was waiting for me to pick her up from ballet early because she was getting sick with strep throat. Not only did they get us home, but they also loaned us a car until mine could be fixed.

I know all of that deserves more than donuts, but they wouldn’t even let me put gas in the car I borrowed. In fact, they felt badly that the tank wasn’t full when they loaned it to me. What? ! They  are true servants of God and examples of laying down your life to serve others. We have learned that here.

I did buy two Chocolate Butterflies to share with my husband and kiddos. These things are HUGE!  We were blessed to be able to get these fresh and warm at 3:00 in the afternoon. Highly recommend.

It was fun to deliver these goodies to our friends. They have been such a blessing to our family.  Praising God for friends such as these and for the message we heard this morning at church.

Have a lovely weekend!

January 1st 2013

Started the day early with my oldest daughter.  We stopped at Starbucks and spent some time together.  Then back home to get my other girl peeps.  Two of them to be exact.

We headed out to do a little shopping. The girls had some Christmas money so we stopped at Plato’s Closet.  Over to Burger King for dollar menu sandwiches and then to Krispy Kreme where we used our “FREE DONUT no purchase neccessary” coupons.  I saved my donut and took it home and gave it to my boy peep who was not the least bit interested in shopping with the girl peeps.

Off to the bookstore to browse a bit and find a calendar for the new year.  I’m picky about my calendar and didn’t find what I was looking for.

Had a gift card for two free entrees at Chueys. Got take home food for my husband and I to have a stay-at-home date night.  The only affordable kind.  We had our free dinner and watched Downton Abbey on Netflix.  I snuck in some work on my little project and had to keep asking my husband what was going on in the movie. 

The last picture is from a book I’m reading by Gladys Taber called Stillmeadow Calendar.  It’s a journal of her life in the country.  I think the paragraph on page 37 describes my feelings for the new year.  Pruning. Letting go. Growing.

It isn’t over yet.

Holiday baking that is.
Tomorrow we will gather with my husbands family to celebrate our family Christmas.  So today involved a little baking.  Although my mother-in-law has already made Mississippi Mud and a few other goodies, I just couldn’t resist making some sugar cookie cutouts.

Of course we must have rainbow sprinkles on our yellow stars.

Royal icing on the snowflakes. I baked the cookies and my daughter decorated.

Then I decided to try this interesting recipe for lemon bars that I had seen floating around the internet.  It uses only two ingredients canned lemon pie filling and an angel food cake mix.  I improvised and made instant pudding and pie filling (you know, Jello pudding mix)  in place of the canned filling.  Uuuummm……..well….the texture was a little rubbery.  Probably because of my substitution.  They still taste good.  I’ll try it again sometime when I can use the actual pie filling before I decide to toss the recipe. I’ll let ya know how out goes.

And this is what happens to a lovely but undercooked almond cake when you try to microwave it to finish cooking the gooey middle, after you realize that the inside resembles pudding, and it’s already been out of the oven for 3 hours!
See how the middle is dark brown? It’s supposed to be a pleasant, pale, creamy light yellow.  Now it’s brown and rock hard and sitting in the bottom of my trashcan.

But wait! What is this? This white stuff? Could it be? Why, yes! SNOOOOW! In Tennessee!  Yippee!  A beautiful bonus at the end of the baking activities.

We mustn’t forget this last important and final step.

Hope you had a wonderful, blessed, Christmas! We have so much to be thankful for.  And so much to look forward to.

Today is a work day

My typical weekday morning in pictures.

I’m usually up by 5 a.m. I do a quick tidy of the living room and kitchen, if the kids didn’t do it before they went to bed. Put water on to boil for tea or start the coffee.

I love to sit in my rocker in the kitchen by the big sliding glass doors.  It’s the perfect place to have some quiet time before starting the day.  I keep my Bible in the basket next to my chair.  Don’t you just love the quiet morning hours when it seems as if the rest of the world is still asleep?  It’s the perfect time for prayer and meditation. For being alone with God. For drafting a plan for the day. Filling out to do lists. Sometimes, for just being still.  I bring my blanket, my heat pack, and my coffee or tea. Happy sigh.

Usually my daughter joins me for breakfast and coffee, and at some point my husband wanders in for some eggs and toast.

After breakfast this morning I was able to cut out some felt for a project I’m working on.  I just love felt. I’m amazed at the different things people make with this simple, inexpensive item.

Then, I walked all the way upstairs to my office where I work 40 hours a week. So thankful for a work-from-home job. It allows me the privilege of being home with my kids.

What is your morning routine like?
Do you have a favorite place to be still in the morning?