Friday, September 28, 2012

Five Minute Friday: Grasp

Five minutes of unedited, uninterrupted thoughts on "grasp"
go.

I will be the first to admit, I am not always living in the moment
living right here and now

I grasp onto my memories of the past
and think
"It was so much easier then..."

I remember back and smile to simpler times
But really, they were not as simple as I remember
and that is where my mind tricks me

Right now
in this moment
This is where my life is
This is where my thoughts dwell
This is where my heart lives

There is no reason to grasp at the past, nor the future
This moment is calling me to LIVE IT
And so I shall

Five Minute Friday
-Linking up with Lisa-Jo-

Monday, September 24, 2012

These are a few of my favorite things...

What comes to mind when you hear
"These are a few of my favorite things"

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

But who ever really thought to themselves:
"I think the whiskers on this kitten are MY FAVORITE!"

Maybe more like:
"I'm gonna cut these whiskers off so they stop POKING ME IN THE EYEBALLS"

-Not to get off track or anything-

I was laying in bed this morning
thinking of all the blessings in my life
thinking of a few of my favorite things

-The accomplishment of running farther than I ever have before
-Waking up early to have my pumpkin coffee hot (while its still cool outside)
-Then getting an iced pumpkin latte later
-Burning my "pumpkin" and "leaves" candles while its 91 degrees outside
-Hanging up my skeleton on the palm tree out front, just to have Mason tell me to take it down
 because its only September
-Hanging the skeleton in the entry way to scare him when he gets home
-Letting Bowie sleep in our bed with us while she recovered from her little surgery
-Getting lost in a christian romance novel set in the 1820s (yes, there is such a thing)
-The feeling of clean sheets
-The TRIUMPH of a clean house
-Visits with my sister at the cliffs
-Spiced bourbon in the making
-New favorite albums and the excitement of all the new albums to come out this fall
-Getting glitter everywhere and Mason smiling about it

These are a few of my favorite things
tell me yours

Friday, September 21, 2012

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie



















Okay.
Mason absolutely LOVES chicken pot pie. I have always been a little nervous to make my own because it seemed just a little too involved. Like too much work and it could flop!

I came across this recipe on ZipList from The Country Cook and thought, "You know what? I AM A WIFE! I have to give this a shot!"

Lets just say... Mason loves me more.
The recipe is not hard at all! A little time consuming, but if you have the time and plan ahead a little, its totally worth it! Promise!

Ingredients:
- 1-2 sheets of frozen puff pastry
- 2 large chicken breasts
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup butter
- 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 2 cups frozen peas and carrots
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water

First: Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Drizzle olive oil over the tops of the chicken and sprinkle salt and pepper. Let cook in the oven for 45 minutes, turning over once in the middle. (You can also skip this part all together if you buy pre-cooked chicken!)

Second: After putting the chicken in the oven, take out the pastry puff from the freezer to give it time to defrost. Once the chicken is done cooking, allow time for it to cool and then cut into bite size pieces.

Third: In a large saucepan, melt butter and flour together. The consistency will end up being similar to peanut butter. Slowly add in milk and chicken stock (keep stirring, it will be lumpy), and then add in garlic and onion. If you need to, using a whisk at this point helps break up any lumps. Turn up the heat until the mixture is boiling.
-I found it helpful to have all my ingredients ready before I started making the filling-

Fourth: Once the mixture has reached a boil, turn down the heat to low and mix in the peas and carrots and chicken. Give it a few good stirs and a taste test to see if you need any extra seasoning. (I needed a little more salt and pepper). Fill your bowls/ramekins with the filling and place on a baking sheet.
-If your anything like me, and had no idea what a "ramekin" was... here is a picture :)

Fifth: Preheat your oven to 350F degrees. Throw a little flour on your baking surface and open up the puff pastry. Using a rolling pin, smooth out the puff pastry just a tad until there are no seams and your have a little more pastry to work with. Place a ramekin/bowl you are using for the filling on the pastry as a guide and cut around the bowl leaving 1/2 inch extra, that way there will be enough pastry to hang over the sides.

Sixth: In a small bowl, mix together egg and 1 tbsp of water. This will be the egg wash that will make your puff pastry look professional :) Dip your fingers in the wash and run them around the edges of the ramekin/bowls. This will help the pastry stick to the top of your bowl! Now, place the puff pastry on the top of the bowls and press the edges down around the sides. Using a brush, lightly coat the top of the pastry with the egg wash. Load these puppies in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are light brown and perfect!

This recipe makes six servings if you are using 10oz ramekins. I ended up using bigger bowls and it made 4 servings. If you are cooking for two, the filling can be frozen and used again later!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and here's to fall baking!!


Thursday, September 20, 2012

So, this one time, at Michaels...

























So, this one time I was in Michaels
 -like two weeks ago-

And I was planning ahead and buying all my harvest stuff
(I couldn't wait any longer I LOVE IT ALL)

I happened to buy a skeleton for our palm tree out front
This thing had a mind of its own
(well, technically, it didn't have a mind, because it was just bones... but anyways)

I had it in my cart with some other things
okay, okay, my cart was overflowing
I LOVE FALL
and there was really no room for this little skeleton
so he was kinda sticking out

I was making my way out of the store
his legs were firmly secured between a hay bale and cupcake liners
but his arms were just waving in the wind, free as can be

I tried to squeeze by the checker who was in-that-moment bending over
and my skeleton man just simply...
how do I put this?

Spanked her

Like I said, mind of its own

The lady didn't really think it was that funny
But, did I happen to laugh all the way to the car
and then call my mom and continue laughing re-telling the story?
maybe.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

This WOULD happen to me...

So today
Let me give you the setting:

Bowie and I are taking a leisure  walk on the beach
(Yeah, who am I kidding)

Bowie is running out of control in and out of the waves
all up and down the beach
and I am trying to keep up with her
hair flying in the wind

Yep, that is an accurate setting. 

So, we had been carrying on this way for quite some time
and I see up ahead a gentleman with a dog coming our way

Bowie's leash was tangled up in her legs and I thought to myself
"I had better untangle this mess before they get any closer or this could be disastrous" 
I bend over to try and straighten out this wet/sandy/seaweed/great-dane-leg combo

...

And then
out of nowhere
the back of my bikini top goes
*bink*
and flies open
and my chest yells "FREEDOM"
(this has never happened to me before)

gentleman is still walking towards me with this look on his face


and then there is me
with a great dane puppy who is out of control 
and trying to run towards said gentleman's dog
while I am attempting to grab my bikini top 
and trying my best to latch it all at the same time
with waves and wind and bystanders thrown in the mix just for fun

I am pretty sure my face has never been so red
nbd
love my life

Friday, September 14, 2012

Five Minute Friday: Focus


5 minutes
ready set
go

Focus.
Bowie had training this morning
Focus, Bowie, focus!!

To get her attention
to get her to FOCUS
is such a difficult task
...especially in the face of distraction

What can I say?
Like mother like daughter?

This whole month
Focus, Deanna, focus
What is really important right now
-in this moment of distraction-

what is really important?
what needs my full attention?

Have I given this day,
my time,
my focus,
to the Lord?

Am I bringing glory to Him
and showing others the Love of Christ?

Focus

  Five Minute Friday

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Embracing the Camera with past favorites

This week was a blur
with a few "Hellos" and "Goodbyes"
with a few kisses here and there
I feel like Mason and I were roommates
-not marrieds-

Needless to say we did not get to take very many photos together this week
And our dog is on a spastic kick and wont hold still to save your life
so that went idea out the window

So as I sit here and reminisce,
looking at some of my favorite old pictures
I figured I would post them to share









Friday, September 7, 2012

Five Minute Friday: Grace

Set the timer
5 minutes
go

Grace
Its this gift that I can never deserve
or pay back

Grace
extended to me for no reason
except love

Do I extend enough grace?

Do I only give grace when I think people deserve it?
Do I give it to those who are least deserving
Because if I were to give it like Jesus
I would

I tend to give love, attention, grace 
to those who give it to others

But isn't it the least of these that need it the most
or maybe its the other way around

Aren't you glad you are not in my head all the time? :)

  Five Minute Friday

Sunday, September 2, 2012

these little rainbows

Coming home from work
all I can do is shake my head
Thats the best way to describe it

Sometimes I come home physically tired
other times, emotionally tired
But when you come home
emotionally and physically exhausted 
you cant help but cry

I was walking to my car
all my emotions threatened to run down my cheeks

I happened to look up at the sky

And there it was
a beautiful little rainbow
right above my head
... and I didn't cry

I know that rainbow was probably for a lot of people
but in that moment I was the one that saw it and was reminded

He is faithful