Valentine's Day Idea

While reading a link from

 Ann Voskamp

(One Thousand Gifts)

this morning

I came across this.

It's from DaySprings

I'm ordering for my hunny.

Maybe you should too :)

xo 

Movies and More

Already one month into the new year and 

I'm already too busy.

Some warranted

Some Not

My goal for 2012 was to quit being so busy

enjoy MORE down time

Pray more

Meditate some

Chill 

This weekend I think I'll do just that

I may stay in these all day

 Drink a little of this

Watch some favorite old movies I've seen 100+ times 

 A new movie I can't wait to watch (bad pic sorry)

And read this

All of these pics are from Pinterest which will probably occupy a lot of my time as well. 

That's my weekend plans blogger friends.

Hope yours is great.

xo

Feed My Family Friday

Linking up to Farmgirl Paints - Feed My Family Friday


 Farmgirl Paints


Buffalo Chicken Casserole

1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips

1/3 c. Buffalo sauce

5c. potatoes, grated w/ box grater (smaller grate)
1 c. light ranch dressing/ blue cheese
1/2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

(10 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup (I used low sodium)

1/2 c. panko

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In medium bowl, stir together chicken strips and buffalo sauce. Spoon into baking dish in a single layer.
3. In the same bowl, stir together potatoes, dressing, cheese and soup. Spread over chicken. Sprinkle panko evenly over the top.
4. Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes; uncover and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender and juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.

This dish was not really low fat but I did substitute the reduced fat cheese, soup, etc. where I could.   Of course I used Beef O'Brady's buffalo sauce - just happened to have it handy ;)

Enjoy

xo

A Winner Of The Prayer Books

Thanks to everyone who commented on my little giveaway.

I'm excited to share these books and some Valentine goodies with the winner.

I'm not a tech savy blogger - so I printed the comments,

put them in a bowl,

and drew a name :)

Tara from Between You and Me
is the winner. 

Between You & Me

 
xoxo

Blue Sky and A Little Giveaway

It's is a beautiful day in Tampa Bay

This is seriously a pic I took on my

phone this morning

The sky was perfect

Not a cloud in site.

A brisk 51 degrees

Doesn't get much better than this!

I'm hosting a little giveaway.

My first.

It's a set of Prayer Books

Donated by my non-blogger friend Barb.

Her Church had an abundance of them

and I am totally obsessed with them.

31 Days of Prayer

31 Days of Praise

Psalm 91 God's Umbrella of Protection

So I want to share with a blogger friend.

Just leave a comment and I will announce the

winner next Wednesday.

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." -1 Thes 5:16

Yay Shannon - American Idol....You Made It!

So so so happy!

My daughter's friend made it to Hollywood!

Tonight on American Idol.

A hometown Tampa Girl.

Auditioned in Savannah, GA 

 Here is a pic we took of the TV screen!

Here is Shannon and Savannah at Sav's 15th birthday party last year.

We had the party at our Beef O'Brady's restaurant.

We have karaoke on certain nights.

Shannon stole the show at the restaurant.

8 months later she is stealing the show on Idol.

Way to go sweet girl.

We will be voting for you!

Playing Along the Answer Game

One of my favorite bloggers Tiffini at  The House of Belonging tagged me in a post.  You are supposed to answer questions about yourself, ask bloggers that you tag questions and tag them.  Hope the ladies that I tagged will play along.
I don't have 11 bloggers that I feel comfortable tagging, so I'm just tagging a few :)

I loved reading about Tiffini - it's fun to know a little more about our online friends that God has connected us with.

::The Rules::

one\ post the rules.

two\ post eleven fun facts about yourself

three\ answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.

four\ tag eleven people and link them on your post

five\ let them know you’ve tagged them!

::Facts About Me::

1.  I have two children.  One is almost 19 Yikes and the other is 15.
2.  I LOVE my family more than anything. 
3.  My heart broke when my son left for college but it's healing.
4.  My husband and I own sports restaurants and bars but we don't drink. (I think that contradicts itself - LOL )
5.  I have three groups of best friends, cheer moms, Red Hot Chili Peppers (my girls that I worked at Chili's with 26 years ago) and Girls Night Moms (our kids have been in school since kindergarten together). I'm a lucky girl.
6.  I have the best parents in the world that are always there for me and my family.  One sister who is also my best friend.
7.  My husband is also my best friend - married for 21 years. 
8. I light candles everyday and I'm addicted to Bath and Body Works plug ins.
9.  I am a Native of Florida and have never lived anywhere else.
10. I'm most happiest when my toes are in the sand.
11.  I have a really bad cleaning problem and terribly OCD.

.

::Questions From Me The Blogger Who Tagged Me: 

1. favorite color

Pink

2. dream vacation
Ireland with my family

3. are you a hugger or not
I'm a big hugger - I hug everyone - even people I just met.

4. what do you want to be when you grow up
The best mom and wife possible.

5. when you eat out do you usually order dessert
No - If I didn't always worry about my weight I probably would.

6. what is your favorite indoor/outdoor activity
indoor - organizing (weird I know) and doing Nails with Sav
outdoor - planting and working in garden

7. what is your favorite day of the week
Sunday - my father-in-law comes for breakfast after mass.
And we go to mass as a family.

8. what was your favorite food as a child?
Chicken and Dumplings

9. what is something you learned this last week
How much my husband loves God
(he just returned from a wonderful men's retreat with our church -
I mean I knew he loved God but this week it's so apparent)

10. If you could change your first name what would you change it to
Grace

11. Do you have a nickname
Sher-bear (from my best friend Shannan and my daughter Savannah)

::Questions To My Bloggers I'm Tagging::
1.  What is your favorite food?
2.  What are your hobbies besides blogging?
3.  Are you addicted to Pinterest?
4.  What is your dream vacation?
5.  What's your favorite season?
6.  Can you recommend any good books?
7.  Do you like to exercise?
8.  What's your typical date night?
9.  Are you a DIY'er or do you hire people to do it for you?
10.  What color is your kitchen?
11.  What's your dream car?


Here's the lovely bloggers I'm tagging:

Kissing the Joy as it Flies

Perfect is Boring

Pink Martinis And Pearls

Upon a Dream

So So Bella


xoxoxo

Relax a little - it's a new year!

This morning started off on a good note.

Sav got up on time, got ready on time

got in the car happy!

They don't all start this way.

We have a 30 minute drive.

We left an hour before school started

to stop and get breakfast.

That didn't happen.

It was SLIGHTLY raining.

5 wrecks from our house to school.

FIFTY FIVE MINUTES

She literally had 4 minutes to get to class

without breakfast.

As I started to panic a bit

Sav reminded me that there was nothing we could do about it

To chill.  No lie.

She also reminded me that it's a new semester

so it really didn't matter if she was tardy

Awe to be 15 and stress free.

So after she got out of the car I laughed

and agreed that there really was nothing I could do

and did it really matter if she was 5 minutes late

other than she would miss morning prayer at school :) ?

My new years resolution was to slow down

not sweat the small stuff

quit being so busy

I think God may have been reminding me this morning

My Pinterest Party

Last night was fun.

A lot of fun.

I hosted a Pinterest party with my favorite pinners.

Everyone made a food item that they previously "pinned" and brought it.

They also brought craft supplies to make something they "pinned".

Check out our creations below.

Happy Pinning.

Day 1 Photo Challenge

A picture of me

(and my sweet mamma) 

January in Photos

This was posted from House of Smiths.  What a fun idea.  I'm gonna try it :)

Peace in 2012

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Happy New Year - A Baptism, A New Beginning

Last night we rocked the house of Jesus.

Witnessed a Baptism at MIDNIGHT

A life long friend.

My husband's  friend from childhood was baptized.

Another childhood friend was the pastor.

His little "rocking" church.

Submerged under water.

(a little different for us Catholic folks)  

An hour and half from home.

A foggy drive all.the.way.there.

But wow, is all I can say.

What an experience.

What a way to bring in the New Year.

We sang, we prayed, we hugged it out.

Then they served us  breakfast.

Right in the basement of the little church.

Tin pans and paper plates.

Eggs, Grits and Bacon never tasted so good.

Happy New Year and May God Bless You All BIG.

xoxo

   The church.

 Pastor Williams

     My husband and some little girls from the church.

     My sweet husband and a new friend.

     A welcoming church!

     Here we go!

     Praise God.

     Lifelong friends.

      With his daddy.

                  And his step mom. Does he look refreshed or what?

    The whole gang who came to witness.

                Some happy men right there.