Cooking, It can be fun!

For most who know me cooking is something I enjoy...somewhat. It's not the actual cooking part I hate it's the cleanup I dread more then anything. You see...when I try a new recipe something devastating happens in the kitchen. Somehow every pot, fork, spoon, spatula, plate, bowl, cutting board, etc. gets used. Then what only took an hour or two to dirty up now will take me the rest of the day to get clean. BIG SIGH!!! And I'm sure there are a million other women out there who feel the same way. What are we to do? Well ladies I have an answer for you. I have discovered that if I cook things that I want to eat cleanup is not always so bad. I have discovered a cookbook that I love!! It is called The Pioneer Woman Cooks. It is easy to cook simple recipes that are very flavorful. Comfort foods. So if your looking to lose weight, this is not the cookbook for you. But if you have a man in the house that likes man food (steak and potato kind of man) then this cookbook is for you. Last night I made BBQ Meatballs and Creamy Mashed Potatos!!YUM YUM YUM Not enough words to describe how much these dishes blessed my tastebuds. And then this morning I tried the Sour Cream Pancakes. Heaven on a plate!!! These were good enough to eat without the syrup, but I went ahead and put it on them anyway. I mean lets face it pancakes are not pancakes without syrup!!! Now the only question is what to try next. The braised beef brisket or the chicken fried steak with pan gravy??? I'll let you know later.

Here is last nights supper!

I know, I know...your mouth is watering...Sorry!!!!

Weekend 5/14-5/15

This weekend has been a fun filled and busy!! Friday I had to take Jarod to Urgent Care and found out he has an infection in his lungs. So he is antibiotics for a week. And his cough sounds horrible but his fever is now gone and he is acting much better. Saturday was a workday at the church and our main project was landscaping a section of land next to the church. We borrowed my dad's rotateller to break up the ground and put down landscaping timbers and landscaping fabric. My friend Rachelle and I were sent to Plants-A-Plenty to pick up bushes, flowers, and ground covering. I never knew picking out so much landscaping greenery could be so tiring!!! But Fun!!! Afterwards I cleaned the church and Kris did some weed eating. When we got home Kris and I worked in the garden building an archway of sort for my cucumber plants to grow up (climb). Last year the cucumbers grew up the fence and almost pulled the fence down. So we built this contraption out of old gazebo corner posts.

We also tilled up a couple extra rows in the garden for some more planting room. And put down some weed preventer. Sunday morning we went to church and afterwards we had a fellowship meal. We have some of the best conversations at these fellowship meals. I love it so much!! We decided on the way home to swing by Walmart and pick up some stuff to make a flower bed next to the deck in the back yard. Kris has planted three Rose of Sharon bushes planted and we needed something to fill in the rest of the space in between them. And of course something to keep the animals from trodding on them. here is the finished project and some pics of the pretty flowers we picked out.

Well this took up most of the evening...So now it's time for some supper, shower and bed. Hope everyone had a great weekend. God Bless!!

Jarod's Progress

Well today May 11 was Jarod's last day of school. He has grown up so much and I am so proud of his small yet big accomplishments. He has gone from a shy and queit man when he first started school, to a very independent, talkative and sometimes too smart young man. But I love him so much. Thinking back on the school year that has gone by, my eyes tear to see everything he has done. Here is a pic of his first day of school.

And here is his last day of school picture.

Since his first day of school, he has grown 1 inch, gained 4 pounds and has increased his word vocabulary enormously. Just ask him about his day and be ready to talk all day about everything under the sky.

Congrats to my oldest little boy on successfully finishing your first year of preschool.

Spring Break

Well Spring Break is nearly over and I have accomplished....nothing. Except lots of reading. I have finished two books in the last week and am still reading at least 1 to 2 hours everyday on my Kindle. I love it!!! Kris took 2 days off this week and we went to Grandma Harrison's Tuesday night a came back Wednesday evening. And let me tell...nothing is better then Grandma's fried chicken, mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, green beans, rolls and banana pudding for dessert. My mouth is watering as I speak. Wedesday we woke up to coffee, biscuits and gravy and bacon. YYYUUUMMM! My Grandma lives directly across the street from a big park and with the weather being so nice the kids spent most of the day at the park. Garrett feel off the slide and busted his lip but that didn't stop him from dangling from the edge about 5 feet off the ground ten minutes later. We all had a great time and hope to go back more often. Today, thursday we went to Lowes and got new vinyl guttering for the house. The front guttering has rusted and his now leaking is numerous places. Come summer it will nice and white guttering up. Plus, we needed some over the back sliding glass door. Monday I accomplished a No-Sew window treatment for the kitchen. and it looks awesome. Kris goes back to work tomorrow and I have laundry waiting me as soon as I get out of bed, so I will finish up here and get ready for bed. First, I think I will read for a little while!!
Till later,
Jennifer

Starting Fresh

Well, It has been forever since I posted anything here. For starters my old computer has been giving us a lot of problems (locking up, running slow or not at all, blue screen of death) and it seemed that every time I would get on and type something to post the computer would run its own agenda that day instead of mine. So I decided to wait till we got the computer fixed or got a new one. So, this past weekend we decided to get a new laptop and get the old one fixed as an extra. We shopped for awhile before deciding on an ASUS. So far I like it. It runs ssssooo much faster and smoother then the old one. So, I am starting out fresh with my blog. I am going to try to keep this up to date every 2 or 3 days. My cousin even knows someone who is going to help me and make me an awesome header. So check back ever so often. Life is calling. Must go find the kids and see what new challenges they have for me!
God Bless!
Jennifer

Women of Faith Weekend

How can I begin to describe how awesome the Women of Faith conference was. There are no words that can describe it. All I can say is that if you weren't there, you missed a blessed event. The amount of spiritual encouragement that I received overfilled my cup. Lately, God has really put pressure on my heart to get up of my couch potatoe life and get busy learning about His Word. I have been going to Sunday night Bible Study now for 3...maybe 4 weeks and I LOVE IT! Can't wait until the R12 Campaign at church starts. At the conference mom purchased a book called Holding Fast by Karen James. Trust me you need to rush out and get this book if you feel your faith waivering. Or you just need to hear a good story of a wife and her spiritual journey. Well got to go for now! Will write more later!

God Bless Everyone and enjoy your weekend!!
Jennifer

The Days That Past

Well not much has happened since my last post. A week has gone by and really fast. Anyway last Saturday we went to Goltry to see my mom and dad for the day. We helped them clean out a storage shed and I found my doll house. (Jarod has been asking for one of these since he saw the ones at Hobby Lobby about 4 to 6 months ago) So I got mine out and let him play with it. He loves it. We ended up bringing it home and he plays with it occasionally. Sunday we went to church then over to my Mike and Peggy's (father and mother-in-laws) and Peggy trimmed my hair and highlighted it too. It looks really good. We went to Sunday school that evening and it was great. I am really starting to enjoy it. Monday of course came way too fast. But it was a pretty good day. Brinley was a little fussy but not as much as Tuesday. Tuesday was a horrible day for Brinley. She was a very upset little girl. I did everything I could but she just wasn't happy at all. Wednesday was a great day. The weather yesterday and today has been heaven. Brinley was the complete opposite today. She was extremely happy today. Greg and Becky both said that she was really gassy last night so hopefully that was her problem Tuesday. I also got some sewing done today that I have wanted to get done in weeks. I have a lot more that I would like to do but getting it done with two kids is a little difficult. Just like today, after ironing the material I unplugged the iron and set it on a chair. Jarod forgot that it was hot and touched it. He burned his first two fingers on his right hand. He cried for awhile and finally calmed down and took some tylenol and fell asleep on the couch. I feel horrible that it happened of course. Tonight I am going to the church to pay some bills, then back home. Tomorrow evening mom and I will leave for Tulsa when she gets off work and Kris gets home. Women of Faith this weekend!! Really excited. I love going to this. It is such a spiritual boost that I wish would last all year. So for know I need to get supper started. Hopefully it won't be so long between my next posts. And now a picture!! Which child of mine is this a picture of: Jarod or Garrett? Leave your guess in the comments!!

God Bless,

Jennifer