In the Storm

40 recipes l 20

a fellow bible study lady brought this coffee cake to our bible study to share and i devoured it. with my taste buds so whacky i was thrilled there was still a dessert out there i could eat. hoosier man and the boys made the cake because i was at work - but they saved me a piece! this is such a wonderful coffee cake to share and very easy to make.

40 recipes l 19

small group reaped the rewards of this dessert. i had been wanting to try this dessert for several months. the page was dog-earred in paula deen's best dishes magazine from august 2010 for quite sometime now. i've had it on our menu plan for a small group dessert for several months but kept pushing it back. it was worth the wait!

everyone at small group raved about these bars and several went back for seconds. love that because it means less in the house after they've all gone home.

(photo courtesy of paula deen)

it's done l ian's a b c book is ordered

Click here to view this photo book larger

Photo books are the perfect gift for any occasion.

 

 not sure if this is going to work; first time trying to insert a video. i'll try it out and see. i'm so excited about this book. i hope my grandsons get a kick out of it!!!

NOTE!!!!! If you select 'click here to view this photo book larger' it opens up into Shutterfly with the album.

date night l tybee island, may 2012

jeff got off work early the friday before memorial day, already planning on having a date, we dressed in comfortable clothes and headed out to tybee island. i really expected us to go ahead and go on in to a.j.'s dockside restaurant for dinner but jeff had other plans. we pulled in to a place off the beatin' track for a dolphin tour. having lived in savannah for many years i've never been on a dolphin tour. i was so excited over the surprise as much as the tour itself. we hit perfect timing on the 5pm tour with just minutes to wait and then enjoyed an hour on the coastal waters hunting down dolphins. we saw many standing up in the front of the boat. i have to admit that if we'd down this sometime before the beginning of the year i'd have been worn out from standing for an hour up on the ledge of a tour boat while holding on to a rail but I wasn't - and enjoyed every minute.

after our excursion with the dolphins and plans for some jet skiing this summer, just jeff and i, we headed on into A.J.'s and spent a leisurely hour waiting on a table, enjoying the breeze, the sun, drinks, and watching the variety of people - and their interesting wears. shrimp and grits were on the appetizer menu which we shared - but next time i will get two for a dinner with a salad. jeff had a very large bowl of gumbo which he enjoyed immensely and we watched the sunset from the dock, and our table.

after dinner we headed out to the beach, parked the van for free because it was after 8pm and enjoyed a hand-holding walk along the shore. the waves were crashing against the shore in advance of tropical storm beryl that was over the ocean to our southeast, and the spray was salty, and warm.

and then we drove home feeling wonderful from an amazing evening.

thankful thought l 004

thankful thought 004: homemade ice cream

yesterday was memorial day. it was also a lazy day. we did absolutely nothing productive. except make homemade vanilla ice cream. it was creamy. it wasn't too sweet. perfect. i am thankful that i can still eat homemade vanilla ice cream and the flavor is the same goodness i've always known. with my taste buds so out of whack i was thinking i might be extremely disappointed but i found the homemade vanilla to be simply - wonderful! the boys wanted to add chocolate to it but hoosier man ruled against it because he knew i wouldn't be able to eat it. we all had a spoonful right out of the ice cream freezer before it went into the refrigerator freezer for some hardening and flavor infusing. later, in the evening we all had a small scoop eat and savoured its goodness. yum! perfect beginning to our summer manifesto too!

places we've been

hoosier man and i we're on a date recently, eating at 5 guys and i jotted down all the places we've been, separately, and together (mostly separately) because of the military - either visiting or because we were ordered to go. it's an interesting bunch of locations, stopping off points, broke down visits, layovers until we're home visits, etc.

many of the locations bring fond memories or just memories, even if they weren't places we would have chosen to go. jordon: to jeff, mission accomplished. signed - God; korea: i had him with my laugh he had me with his hugs; kuwait: missed my boys' first birthday but had a great couple months; somalia: first taste of combat and saved two lives and didn't even know it (there's a story there of so much more too).

i've seen and made subway art before with different fonts and i've been considering decorative touchs for our room now that hoosier man has painted it. so i made this piece. it'll be printed (i think at staples for ease) and framed. the print will be 11x14 so a nice size and i'll mat/frame it a bit larger. i might still change up fonts as i come across others that look cool. it's alot of places for such a small space.

but i think it'll look neat in our room. hoosier man has been to somalia, djibouti, sierre leone, egypt, germany, korea, panama, spain, ireland, england, iceland, japan, and jordan. i've been to kuwait, korea, paris, french riviera, monocco, monte carlo, switzerland, bahamas, germany, belgium, spain, and japan. the only place we've been together is korea, which is where we met!!!

summer manifesto

it's drawing near to summer and time to identify our intentions for the summer. this year i've kept it short and sweet in the hopes that by the end of the summer i can check off each one as having done. while being purposeful about something doesn't always mean success it does mean that it is more likely.

there are somethings about this summer's list that are so simple, but i find i'm really going to need them in order to not relapse into procrastination and laziness but see progress (with anything) and accomplishment. one of those is 'go outside daily'. seems simple right. but it's hot and i'll sweat. but i must. swim is a must also. i have to find that place where taking 3 hours out of my day to go to the pool, swim, shower, come home does not seem like torture but - just part of my day...and go to the pool to swim!

i'm really looking forward to the 'unplugged' days. books will be read, games will be played, walks will be taken, fun will be had. even those very simple acts: make homemade lemonade, ice cream will feel like summer and bring joy.

31 things l transportation & purchase

52photos l treasure

my 52photos capture: treasure

i don't often use this treasure. i really don't want anything to spoil it, especially not the body oils that accumulate on blankets in sleep. my mom made this bit of treasure for me. each of my siblings received one. the check work pattern are made of my dad's shirts. he passed away earlier that year. but there's even a story behind the shirts. they aren't just dad's shirts. my mom had quite a time picking out areas of his shirts that weren't already thread-bare from wear. my dad held on to clothes until they were such - thread bare. it was always such a cause of talk and laughter. he probably had shirts older than my kids, and my oldest is 26. i got a kick out of the shirt my 14-year old son was wearing today. hoosier man said, that shirt is six years older than him. the shirt was hoosier man's and was 20 years old. made me think of my dad. good thoughts. and this treasure that my mom made. surprised me with.

52photos l stripes

my 52photos capture   l   stripes

the stripes of the Longaberger basket that we have turned into our fresh market basket to haul our fresh produce in when we hit the richmond hill farmer's market on tuesday afternoons. this week we came home with succulent tomatos fresh from the vine; cherry tomatoes for a delicious tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad; cucumbers ready for some onions and vinegar and some fresh dill; a couple poblano peppers waiting for a new recipe; and cubanero's for a salsa; zucchini for zucchini mozzarella, and yellow squach ready to be sauteed with onion and garlic. my mouth is watering just imagining. i love my 'striped' longaberger baskets, given to us by hoosier man's brother and sister-in-law last fall. i'm glad we are making good use of some of them.