what's cookin'?

where have I been?

dishcloth swap

The Questionnaire

favorite bible story (blogger friend school)

This week the assignment at Blogger Friend School is Favorite Bible Story and I do know my favorite.. But it may be a guilty pleasure...
It is: The story of David and Abigail
read it here: 1 Samuel 25
I feel so much for Abigail married to Nabal, a mean-spirited angry man who treated everyone with contempt. Then here comes David- young man beloved of God and she makes a choice to do right in the eyes of the Lord and help David. When she tells Nabal he gets so angry he dies. At this point I imagine this hungover mean man getting so angry that he is jumping around like rumpelstiltskin and he has these red veins popping out on his forehead then he has a coniption and down he goes. Then David comes and takes her away to be his wife. Now that is a happy ending!
I have always had trouble dealing with angry people. I can't stand to see people being miserly and stingy and cruel-hearted. How hard is it to do a little thing like feed someone when you have so much?  God cautions us many many times not to be hardhearted and bitter.
May God bless us with tender hearts!- B

sew what?

Sew these! Here are some nifty ideas from sew mama sew. I will definitely try the appliqued kid's artwork tee and for all us skirt-wearers check out all the skirt patterns! They even have one made from old ties. And notice that this is TUTORIAL ROUND FIVE. That means if you hit sew mama sew home there are many many more tutorials to chose from. Anyone else feelin' crafty? - Mrs. B

easy apple soap

That you can make. Check it out over at Crafty-moms

Sounds yummy!Enjoy- Mrs. B

who's afraid of the BIG BAD WOLF?

Last night my husband was outside walking our dog and lo and behold a  wold confronted them. Yes a wolf. It lunged and snarled at my husband and the dog. It was HUGE. I am a mn farmgirl so my husband called me out where the animal was trapped in the backyard to identify it and I took one look and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. It's A Wolf! I said and I high-tailed it back in the house. My worry is does it have rabies? It was also on our steps sniffing and looking in the windows. We were able to get a couple blurry pics and so we sent them off to Fish and Game and they said oh it's just a coyote. No it is not! It is as big as a German Shephard and has huge feet and is broad and has light fur. I know a coyote. They have big ears and are rather skinny and are about 25-35 lbs. Or somewhere in that size. This animal was TRIPLE that. So now we have a problem animal and of course fish and game doesn't care. So what's your opinion.. Is it a coyote or a wolf?

revolving door dinners... take 2- don't ever go hungry!

A few months back I wrote about not throwing away any food. ANY. Throwing away food is throwing away money. Could you imagind dollars and cents going into the garbage? Yikes.  It is the same thing. Anyhow I wrote before about "revolving" door dinners. That's what I call the way we cook and eat dinner inn our house,. Everything that isn't ate will show up again in some way  throughout the week. For example Here is this weeks meals in our home ( as you can see I am looking ahead to the weekend)

wednesday: steaks in mushroom gravy, rice and mixed-veggies in garlic sauce. ( steaks are usually out of our price range but they had a big sale)
Thursday: "rice hash" - which was the last steak shredded and mixed with diced onions and the leftover rice and fried with a bit of margarine in it. Near the end I added a can of corn to this. I heated up the leftover mushroom  gravy and poured this over the top of the rice hash. Also we had collard greens. Collard greens that were brown in bits so they were giving them away for free and no one would take them! We did and just cut off the brown bits. We also got 10 ripe bananas that became two loaves of banana bread and two banana custard pies. We had one pie for dessert that night.
Friday: canned beef sauteed with half a chopped onion and sprinkled with worchestshire which became the filling for hot beef sandwiches. Mashed potatoes with this and of course beef gravy over top and fresh snap beans with seasoning, other banana pie for dessert.

( looking ahead now...)
Saturday: spam burgers with some day old buns we have, tater tots and salad
Sunday: leftover turkey from earlier in the week becomes the meat for potpie, we will use new veggies as well as leftovers from throughout the week in these two potpies. We made extra pie dough and refrigerated it- this will be the lower crust and instead of a traditional upper crust we will use stuffing on top. This will make for some extra substance and a little crunch. I have been saving bread heels and I think I have enough to make some chocolate bread pudding. :)

for monday: if we have leftover tater-tots we will have tater tot casserole and use up the rest of the salad from before. ( i will be sure to make extra for this purpose.)

- What else do we do? we eat oatmeal. Any leftovers go into the bread machine and become oatmeal bread, which cuts down on the price of the bread( have you seen the price of flour lately!)

Or the leftover oatmeal can go on top of fruit and baked for a dessert or put into meatloaf or cookies or meatballs or made into oatmeal pancakes. This is so much more economical than eating dry cereal. And better for you too..

Please message me if you have any good leftover ideas as well. Me and my family  say THANK YOU!!!

Here are some good sites when you are out of ideas as well:

1. recipe goldmine leftovers- lots of good ideas

2.beans r us- read this article. at the bottom there is a pinto bean pie!

join this group:

The Tightwad Times- It is a spin-off of the tightwad gazette.

When in doubt you can always add the leftovers to broth and cook up some soup or chop up the meat with some pickles and mayo and have some "salad sandwiches".  There is a place for everything! Be creative. - Mrs. B

Guess who we saw?

Yep we got to see BIBLEMAN live! Who's Bibleman? If you want more info check out this site: Bibleman

There's also FREE printable activities at the bottom of the page!

You can also see when he'll be in YOUR neck of the woods. Hey if he goes to Alaska during a snowstorm he'll go anywhere!- Mrs. B

p.s Our boys give him two thumbs WAYYYYY up!

pay it forward - bfs #25

This week at Blogger Friend School  ( see nancy's nook for more info) we are talking about paying it forward. How God has blessed us and how we in turn bless others.

One time comes to mind: We were in a pretty tight financial situation. We had a four year old and a little baby and my husband was in school. We drove an old plymouth k car ( remember those?) It sat so low to the ground that it scared me everytime I hit a bumb but even worse it was a two- door and had these terrible seatbelts that would continue to tighten in the backseat. If you put the rear-facing baby-seat in it wouldn't be long before it would start to slide the babyseat from a horizontal to an upright posistion. - Not very safe. Well, a family at our church upgraded their vehicle and so they gave us - yes GAVE US. Their old minivan. Perfect for us. It was in good condition and it was all shiny and detailed when they handed it over. I was so THANKFUL. So when it came time for us toi upgrade we donated it to Big Brothers Big Sisters. My husband said later that he saw a mom with little ones riding around in it.  :) Praise God. For he is so Good, He is worthy to be Praised!

Here is the song:

I Will Enter the Gates with Thanksgiving in My Heart

I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart,
I will enter His courts with praise,
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad,
He has made me glad,
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad,
He has made me glad,
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.

Where is the cheapest place to fill up the tank?

proctor and gamble - this time it's not a hoax!

Remember when that hoax went around about Proctor and Gamble? The one where they give money to devil-worshippers? Well, this time what they are doing isn't a hoax.

I recieved an email from American Family Association that said:

Procter & Gamble promotes explicit open-mouth homosexual kissing.

I read the article and after doing some research sure enough, they do. Proctor and Gamble have a soap opera on NBC called As The World Turns and in it there are two males that open mouth kiss. AFA also sent a link so you can watch the scene and see for yourself. WARNING: It is explicit and disgusting.  Here is the link:

homosexual scene from ATWT

I guess P&G thinks the average woman has no morals and will willingly watch this show and buy their products. Please take a stand with me and say no to P&G. How many young children saw this disgusting immoral behavior?

Please boycott their products as listed here: Product list

And here is their phone number and address:

Alan G. Lafley, Chairman
Procter & Gamble
1 Procter & Gamble Plaza
Cincinnati, OH  45202
Phone: 1-800-331-3774
or: see any product label

Please stand up and say that this is wrong. This company markets themselves as a "family company". Yet they promote the opposite- with money we hand over at the checkout counter. There is enough christian moms and wives that if we stnad together we can make a difference!-  Mrs.  B

things that make me go HMMMM....

1. A plus size model is a size 10

2. women inject botulism into their face ( botox)

3. women are getting silicone butt implants

3. stiletto heels - nuff' said

4. breastfeeding is something that makes people uncomfortable come on PEOPLE! I would be more uncomfortable about the covers of the magazines in the supermarket aisle. ( everytime I see vogue and cosmopolitan I flip it over so my sons don't read the FILTH)

5. Living in Debt is good. Have you ever heard of the term "good debt"? It blows my mind.

6. A mother staying home is because she is LAZY. Ha ha ha ha ha.

7. People send their kids to public school for a better education than they could give them..

8. and lastly we are having the Olympics in a country where they murder people for believing in JESUS. Isn't there any olympic athletes who can stand up and say no to this?

ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! SO what makes you ladies go hmmmm?

where have you been?

FITNESS FRIDAY - HYDRATION

New Blog Look!

From a very talented artist , Allison at Mission Field Designs.. Scroll down for her button.  I highly reccomend her.

P.S. Ladies I have beetn sick. Ughh but I am back up and moving around again and I have found all kinds of info for Fitness Friday. I will be sending out info later this week. Probably by Wednesday. - Mrs. B

What did I dream about? ( blogger friend school #18)

When I was a little girl I liked to plan my life.

I remember laying under the living room chandelier with a sears catalog and my pen and scissors planning my life. I would pick  myself- what i would wear and hairstyle. Then I would pick a husband and a wedding. We would of course have a home and then children... I always knew I wanted to be a wife  and mother.  And maybe on the side I could give Dolly Parton a run for her money..

While keeping up with all the latest styles.. Of Course! *snicker*

The appropriate verse that comes to mind is from Proverbs:

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

Oh yes... and the days past as well! Thank you Jesus for giving me my wonderful life. You planned it better than I could've ever imagined! Thank you Father!  - Briana

p.s. And no I never ever thought I would be homeschooling. I didn't even know what that was!

What am I reading?

"Do you think rats do not have hearts? Wrong. All living things have a heart."

Who wouldn't love a book about a brave little mouse? This is a book about forgiveness and being brave. It would be a great read-aloud. I also see they are making this into a movie... I hope they keep to the authors vision. .. - B

will be fitness- ( fridays?)

It's time to submit to my Spring self-promise to get in better shape. - other than round ha ha. So I am starting Fitness Fridays where I will list once a week what I am doing to lose weight and get healthy. Anyone else want in?  Comment me if ya do. I'll add your name to this.. This week should be easy as I only have one day til' Friday! *grins*- Briana

note to self: eat a healthy breakfast!

Blogger Friend School - Wall of Prayer

I was to go to K-loves wall of prayer website and post a prayer to a serviceman. This is what I posted:

This is my Brother-in- Law. He has been to Iraq 3 times. He lives on base from my sister. They see each other TWO TIMES A YEAR. Please pray that their marriage is strong through this and please pray for my sister as she is all alone. Please pray that their love grows stroner ever day and disagreements don't tear them apart. Please pray that they both come to know the Lord and give their lives to Him. -

May the war end soon.- Mrs. B