5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Oh My Gosh! I almost forgot it was Tuesday. Today has been a hectic day. It doesn't help that I was on vacation ALL week last week and have a lot of catching up to do! Or because of this, everyone that works with me decided to punish me and leave me here by myself this week :o) Thanks guys! Ok, enough whinning. Here we go; Your Recipe for the week. In honor of me not having a lot of time on my hands today, we are making 5 minute Chocolate Cake!

You will need:

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Pour into a large coffee mug (grease the mug, a quick squirt of Pam should do the trick) this isn’t mandatory, but it will make cleaning the mug later a lot easier (I learned that the hard way)

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! Serves 2 (if you are feeling generous)

Cheese Straws

Here we go again, It's Tuesday!
I figured since Christmas is NEXT WEEK (ok, where exactly did December go) I would post a recipe for the Holidays. This is something you can make and put into small tins to have around your house so that you have gifts to give in return for those unexpected gifts you receive, or to serve at your family gathering.

(Or be like me and eat the entire batch yourself)

Cheese Straws

1 Pkg Pillsbury Pie Crust Mix
1 Jar Old English Cheese Spread
1 Tsp. Chili Powder

Place ingredients into food processor, mix until well blended.
Place dough into a pastry bag or pastry “gun”
Squeeze straws onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees
until crispy (about 7 to 10 minutes)

Stressed???

I get weekly newsletters from a ministry called Marriage Today and I thought this weeks letter was TOTALLY appropriate for this time of year. So many of us get stressed out from the hustle and bustle of the CHRISTmas season. I do it every year, I worry about money, feeling that I am spending and inadequate amount of money on each gift, worried if I am getting them the right gift, trying to find deals on food prices, and usually trying to work all of this into a VERY tight budget, until the point where I am not very pleasant to be around. God has to remind me every year that CHRISTmas is about CHRIST, not about shopping or over spending your budget or about the perfect meal...It's about the birth of Jesus, and love, and being with family.

Marriage Today is a wonderful ministry, by the way, and Jimmy and Karen Evans are great teachers. If you would like to visit their website and learn more about their ministry the website is http://www.marriagetoday.org/site/PageServer

The following is word for word the Marriage Today news letter from Jimmy Evans:

In the fourth chapter of Mark, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. The seed represents the Word of God and the soil represents the human heart. Out of the four types of soil, the third that Jesus told about was the thorny soil. Even though the seed quickly took root and grew in it, the thorns eventually overtook the plant and kept it from bearing fruit.
When Jesus interpreted the parable, here is how he described the dilemma with the thorny soil:

"Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." Mark 4:18-19 NKJV

The phrase I want you to notice in verse 19 is "cares of this world." The word "cares" literally means "an anxious awareness" or "stress." Jesus is warning that being stressed out and worried about the things of life will keep us from being fruitful Christians.
Stress also takes the joy out of marriage and makes us much more susceptible to problems. Take financial stress for example. It is the number one problem people list as why they are divorcing. But beyond financial stress, just being overworked, worn out, and involved in too much robs us of the emotional, physical, and mental energy needed to love each other. It also makes us cranky and less willing to deal with others in a loving and patient manner.

I heard a saying one time that I agree with. It goes like this: "If the devil can't get in front of you and stop you, he'll get behind you and push you too fast." Our society has never been so wealthy, accomplished, and miserable.

In the pursuit of having it all, we are losing the most important things in life--God and family.
One answer is prioritizing the important things and being willing to protect those priorities. The cares of this world must be dealt with head-on if we hope to bear godly fruit in our lives and marriages. Another answer is downsizing and saying 'no'. God can provide what we need if we trust in Him. The result is true blessing with peace in our hearts and homes.

Hashbrown Casserole

Here we are again...Tuesday...

Hope you enjoy...This is one of my favorites

You will need:
32 oz. Hashbrowns (cubed hashbrowns in the bag)
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Pint of Sour Cream
2 Cups Shredded Cheese
½ Cup of Chopped onion (I like a little more than this)
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Pepper
¾ Cup Butter (melted)

Mix all ingredients into 13X9 Baking Dish

Bake on 350 degrees for 1 hour

Not Me! Monday

Well it's that time again...Not Me! Monday brought to you exclusively from the marvelous imagination of MckMama.

** Disclaimer ** I am not a professional blogger yet and am not sure if I am "linking back" and doing Mr. Linky justice...I just haven't had time to sit down and figure it all out...So please click on the Not Me! Monday button on my sidebar to be directed to MckMama's not me's for the week.

I did not skip out on going to the bank, cleaning the house, and paying bill's in order to get a few extra hours of sleep on Saturday before heading to my parents to watch the SEC Championship Game...Go Florida!

I did not eat until I could no longer find any food in my house Sunday and lay around lazily like I had nothing to do...and I most certainly did not polish off an entire bag of Hershey Kisses Peppermint....

I did not take one long look at myself Sunday afternoon thinking wow these jeans used to be baggy, and I did not promise myself I would go on a diet starting first thing Monday Morning...and it's a good thing too because if I promised myself that, then I couldn't go eat Sushi later this week with a friend from work...Good thing I did not do that...Not Me!

Blueberry Crunch

I am starting Tasty Tuesday’s! I will post a new recipe every Tuesday (or hopefully every Tuesday depending on my work load that day). So here it goes...my first recipe for “Tasty Tuesday”

Blueberry Crunch

1 ½ cups of flour
1 stick of butter (Melted)
1 cup of chopped pecans
2 - 8oz packages of cream cheese
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 can of Blueberry Pie Filling
1 tub of cool whip

Mix Flour, Butter, and Pecans in the bottom of a 13x9 pan press down and bake for 20 minutes at 325 degrees

Cream together the powdered sugar and cream cheese and pour over cooked crust
Cover with Blueberry Pie Filling, spread Cool Whip on top
Chill before serving

This is a favorite at holiday meals...but I must confess, this is a “Ma Kimble” Recipe...My mother-in-law is one of the best cooks I know...I will be stealing her recipes from time to time :o) I will always give credit where credit is due....

Not Me! Monday

I did not spend most of my morning reading every one's Not Me's rather than working!
I did not just look at the clock and realize it is lunch time!
I don't have so much work to do that I can't see straight, since I have not been on vacation all of last week and 1/2 of the week before.

Oh, and I most certainly did not spend my entire 7 days of vacation-bliss sleeping in and not showering until noon. I did NOT waste my vacation like that...Not me!

Ok, I don't know anything about this Mr. Linky stuff and linking back to blogs, so I am sure I haven't done this correctly, however this post comes to you directly because of Mck Mama's Not Me! Mondays! You can click on the button on my side bar to reach Mck Mama's Not Me's for today and then click on the links under her blog to read other people's Not Me's!! It's a great stress relief for Monday's....I have been following for a little while, but this will be my first post!

Unitl Next Time!!

This will be my last post for about the next 10 days! I don't have a home computer and I will be off work from tomorrow until after Thanksgiving. A nice little vacation if I do say so myself. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few helpful Thanksgivng tips from Maxine before signing off!! Hope everyone has a Wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Only Hope

And so, Lord, Where do I put my hope? My only hope is in You.
~ Psalms 39:7 (NLT)

I have been extremely stressed out lately! Bill is still somewhat out of work, and the holidays are fast approaching. Not to mention the bills that approach my mail box regularly, or the small things in life that require money like, oh I don't know, food! So, yesterday when I got to work I opened my e-mail and there was this wonderful little verse from the bible waiting on me to click on it and read it. My ONLY HOPE IS IN GOD, not money, not jobs, not even my WONDERFUL husband that I love with all of my heart! My ONLY HOPE is in God! That gave me a peace, so I wrote it down in my little notebook that I keep on my desk...knowing I would need to look at it often.

This morning I was on my way to work, I was praying that the Lord would provide for us, already haven forgotten my little notebook with my hope in it. When my phone rang...It was my Daddy, my sweet sweet daddy, he is the most wonderful man in the world, a better father on earth couldn't possibly exist...but that is another story for another day...Anyway, my daddy calls and says there is an opening where he works!! Of Course, me in my flesh, became extremely panicked! He does contract work, driving to be exact, you have to have money upfront, money for gas and repairs to your own van..MONEY MONEY MONEY...then some old saying about working with family comes to mind...I started a very frantic prayer to God..."Lord, what if this doesn't work out, what if they end up hating each other, what if this isn't your will, what if, what if, and so on...I am starting to breathe hard, my chest is tightening up, and I am starting to have a panic attack...This can't be good...So I pull myself together long enough to walk into my office and what is the first thing I see on my desk, but my little notebook with the only hope in the world written there...Praise God for little reminders!!

On a side note, we don't even know if he will get the job or not, How fast do we sometimes let something that hasn't even happened yet turn into panic!

Some other scriptures to stand on:

Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.
~ Psalms 33:22 (NLT)

Let us hold tightly, WITHOUT WAVERING, to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
~Hebrews 10:23 (NLT)

Walking in the Fruit

In Galatians 5:22-23 the Apostle Paul tells us the Fruits of the Spirit are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, and Self-Control.

If we claim to be Christians and are filled with the Holy Spirit we should be walking in the fruits, EVERY DAY. These are the "fruit" we should bear as children of God...An orange tree can not bear lemons...In the same way we as Children of God should not bear the wrong kind of fruit, not only that, we should be bearing good, wholesome, delicious fruit (of the Spirit).

I realized when I read this verse today I haven't been doing this very well lately. My love has been replaced by anger, my peace and joy, by depression and anxiety, my gentleness by rough speech and downright meanness in some cases.

My prayer today is that I will begin to bear the right kind of fruit again. I need the nudging of the Holy Spirit when I am walking in the wrong direction and when I am allowing my emotions to control my behavior, rather than having self-control over my emotions and choosing consciously to make the right choice and to bear the right fruit.

Today is a new Day, Praise the LORD!!!

MY BIRTHDAY...

Well yesterday was my birthday. While I really just wanted to lay around and wallow in self-pity; I did get out of bed and leave the house. The day started a little rough, I had a flat tire on my way to work. The day got much better, thanks to some wonderful friends and my precious family.

Considering everything we have gone through in the past month (The miscarriage, My husband loosing his job, a co-worker with no insurance running into the side of my car, and terrible stress at work) I really just wanted to forget my birthday this year. I am so glad I didn't. I think this may have been one of the best birthdays I have had in a while, and it was definitely one of the best DAYS I have had recently.

First of all my best friend and her mother took me to lunch at Olive Garden (my 2ND favorite restaurant in Jackson) My friend has a 2-year old daughter (she has a 5 year old as well, but she was in school and couldn't join us) Well, she really just brightened my entire day. She talked and talked and talked the entire lunch, and I got some sweet hugs for my birthday. However, she didn't like the singing AT ALL when they brought my cake out, and our waitress and all of her friends gathered around our table singing, she promptly squatted down under the table and hid her face with her hands until it was all over. Since she was so traumatized we let her have the first piece of birthday cake. She, of course, enjoyed it, she enjoyed it all over her face and hands and everything else she touched. I really wish I had thought of taking pictures of the whole thing, because she was just absolutely precious.

Then last night my family took me to eat at Kyoto's Japanese Steakhouse (my #1 Favorite restaurant in Jackson) This is a Hibachi Grill where they prepare your meal in front of you as entertainment....It's great and can't be explained unless you have actually been. We honestly had the best time (I got away without being sung to this time) However, another girl at our table was having a birthday yesterday as well, they sang to her, and come to find out she had been to Olive Garden for lunch that day as well for her birthday. We finished the night off at Crispy Cream and took some doughnuts home with us.

It was a very simple day, but one of the best birthdays I have had in a long time. I spent time with my friends and my family, had lots of laughs and was genuinely in a good mood (those don't come a lot lately). My only regret is not taking my camera and having pictures of everything.
So I just want to take this time to say Thank you Lord for a wonderful day!

Getting Started

I am new to the world of blogging, but here it goes anyway.

I started out reading updates of people that have had problem pregnancies or just have the most adorable multiples I have ever seen. I thought it might be fun to start a blog of my own.

My husband and I met in December of 1999. His roommate was dating a close friend of mine, and they introduced us. We got married on May 20, 2006. We started planning for a baby in July of this year. On August 27, 2008 we found out I was pregnant. I had my first doctor's appointment on September 22, 2008 and found out the baby's heart wasn't beating. I was 7 weeks and 6 days. As devastating as that has been to us...I know God is carrying us through. I know that he has a plan and a purpose for my life, and it's to prosper me and not to harm me (Jer. 29:11). His Amazing Grace has lifted me so many times before, and I know he hasn't brought me this far to leave me here.

I walked away from God for about 10 years of my life. I had not been living the right kind of life, I had not been doing the things I knew were right, and honestly, I didn't care. In January of 2007, the Lord brought me back to him. I praise him everyday that he is in control of my life. Even when life gets hard, and it does....I know that God will give me grace to sustain. I just have to remember, even when things get rough, God is in control!!! He knows what we need, when we need it, and what needs to happen for an eternal purpose. It may not always be what WE think we need or what WE want, but God deals in the eternal.

So I have made it through my first post...Now you have the VERY limited edition of the summary of what brought me where I am in life today atleast the important parts...Hopefully I will begin to update things a little at a time.