Good Finds : Tom O'Brien TV Show

Since I don't want to talk about this weekends loss to Maryland ... I'll let Coach TOB do it for me. 

http://www.gopack.com/allaccess/?media=183736  (click here to watch)

Good Finds : Hair Curling success !!!

Yay for parent's ... yay for birthdays ! Yay for early birthday presents (I was suppose to be a Turkey day baby but I wanted to cook a little longer, December 1st)

Which means, Mom and Dad normally give me my birthday presents early on Thanksgiving :)  This year was 3 GREAT GIFTS !

1. Conair You Curl - AMAZING !
2. Tresemme Dry Shampoo - Bye bye baby powder !
3. Barely There Undies - Soooo comfy !

 haha yes these are 3 things I highly ... HIGHLY recommend you own :)

Here are some pictures of my first attempt with the youcurl ... I love it ! The curls stayed all day !

Here I am today ... a little dry shampoo and a little curl freshen up this a.m. ... yep, one happy girl :)

From our kitchen to yours - Holiday Hits

Heyyyy ! I hope ya'll had a great Thanksgiving ! We did :) 

Our feast included :
Turkey
Ham
Dressing
Corn
Green beans
butterbeans
brocolli casserole
collards
deviled eggs
canned cranberry sauce
hobo beans
mac n cheese casserole
mashed potatoes
parker house rolls
funfetti cookies*
pumpkin crunch cake*
pumpkin pie

Thankfully all I had to make was the two * above :)

Here's another meal that's a staple at our house :
Tortelini and Rosa Sauce

Yummmm !
Frozen cheese tortelini
(Sauce)
Ragu chunky garden combination marinara sauce
4 Cheese Alfredo sauce
Italian seasoning
1 tbsp butter

Pan sear a chicken breast in italian seasoning and evoo and enjoy !!!

I found this bread at Walmart... delicious ! A must buy from now on !

Yeahhh I think we gained about 3-4 lbs each this weekend ... oh well ! haha I bought this work out dvd for $2.98 online and I plan to start it today :) haha lets see how long I stick to this ...

Blog Browsing : My Coffee Table

Okayyyy I know I've been a slacker with blogging lately ... maybe it's because i'm BUSY ... or it's the HOLIDAYS ... or I'm BUSY and it's the HOLIDAYS !? haha anyhoo there are still plenty of faithful bloggers out there baking and crafting and sewing and growing so take your mouse over to the bottom right side of the page and check out some of my favorite blogs :)

Happy Thanksgiving !!! We have so much to be thankful for !

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. "  John 3:16

Weekend Warriors

Needless to say ... it was a GREAT WEEKEND !!! NCSU's 4th victory over UNC !!! Sorry I've been too busy to blog ... I'll pop some more posts out in a while!

Enjoy this video :)

Blog Browsing : The Story of Jonah

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.


Wow! This little girl is so talented ! I was smiling the whole 7+ minutes as I watch and listened to her tell the story of Jonah ... enjoy :)

From our kitchen to yours : Greek and "Japanese" Cuisine

Well hey there !

I really love cooking :) and thankfully I married a man who, like me, enjoys eating !  Here are two of our favorite meals ... enjoy !

Greek Roasted Chicken - Kotopoulo Fournou
My dad's side of the family is Greek.  Growing up we had many amazing Greek meals prepared by my Yiayia (grandma in greek).  My favorite, and the easiest to prepare is Kotopoulo Fournou it's the most American friendly Greek meal I've ever had so I thought it would be safe for Charles and oh me oh my does he love it !

Ingredients
Chicken (bone in or bone out breasts) the best is bone in quarters without the skin
Lemon Juice (plastic lemon or 2 fresh lemons)
Oregano
Salt and Pepper
or Cavender's Greek Seasoning (my favorite)
Butter
Olive Oil
Potatoes (any kind)
Baby Carrots

Okay to tell you the truth, I have never looked at a recipe or measured anything out for this meal (you can use the link above as I guide or just kinda go with it like me)

Preheat oven to 400
Grease a large pyrex baking dish (olive oil or cooking spray)
Cut off skin of chicken /excess fat (or leave on if you like skin, bone side down)
Cut potatoes into large cubes
Cut baby carrots in half 
Lay all items in Pyrex dish without overlapping
Lightly sprinkle olive oil over everything
Lightly sprinkle lemon juice on everything
Lightly sprinkle oregano, salt, pepper over everything (or just use Cavender's Seasoning)
Cube butter/margine place throughout the dish

Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven. 
Cook covered for 25 minutes.
Remove foil and cook for 35 mins or until potatoes have begun to brown/crisp
(If using boneless chicken breasts, start cooking potatoes/carrots about 20 mins before chicken or your chicken may be dry)

Remove pan from oven and enjoy !



American "Japanese" Hibachi Chicken
Soo Charles and I both LOVE Japanese food! WOW it's sooooo good ! I especially love the white sauce :)  Since we enjoyed this meal so much, I decided it would be fun to try to recreate it at home !

Ingredients
Boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into bit sized pieces)
Vegetable oil
Soy Sauce
Teriyaki or Sweet and Sour Sauce
Rice (day old rice is best)
2 eggs
Zuchini/yellow squash or bag frozen veggies
White Sauce I made this months ago and keep it in an air tight container in the fridge

Get cold rice from fridge (left over rice) or cook rice according to amount desired/instructions (we cook 1 cup of rice ).  If cooking rice, I have found that if you let it cool to room temperature, it works better/tastes better so I put mine in the deep freezer to cool while I'm preparing the rest of the meal.

Sautee chicken in a tsp of vegetable oil on medium high until half way done. Add sauce to chicken, cover with lid and reduce heat to off or low)

Disreguard the messy stove :)

Scramble 2 eggs in a small pan (no salt/pepper/milk) just scramble into little pieces.  Take rice and mix in soy sauce to taste/a light brown color.  Heat a wok to medium low with vegetable oil in it, roll oil around to coat pan.  You can also use a really large saute pan and increase the heat

Add the rice to the wok to reheat/fry in oil.  Add the scrambled eggs once the rice is hot.  Take frozen veggies and cook according to package directions (I add a little soy sauce to them) and just cook them in the microwave.  Or saute zuchini/yellow squash in a pan with a little soy sauce/olive oil and set aside.

Turn on burner to heat chicken.
Plate a service of rice, chicken, and veggies, mix and enjoy !
I cover mine with our white sauce :)

YUM !

I caught Charles licking the bowl :) haha good thing he didn't have the camera or he would have caught me "face in bowl" too !

This is a messy dishes/involved meal but TOTALLY WORTH IT !

Weekend Warriors : Here we go Pack !

What a weekend ! Seriously, our weekend are almost ALWAYS jam packed!  I joke but I would really appreciate a weekend to recover from our weekends :)  Here's a recap ...

Friday night: Dinner was my go to / kinda favorite meal (Grilled BBQ Chicken, mac n cheese, and green beans.  I slacked and didn't make corn bread)

We also rented 2 movies from Blockbuster Express (like Red Box, but better in New Bern because a lot of people don't know about it!) Welp, here I go blabbing my big mouth ! They are at Food Lions and Piggly Wiggly's and since we've signed up, we've gotten a free movie code almost every week ! This weekend was a buy one get one free, so $1 for 2 flicks :)  So we watched :

Hilarious ! Charles and I really liked this movie ! Some mildly crude parts but definately PG-13 :)

Loved it ! I had seen it but Charles had never.  Bless his heart he will watch all chick flicks with me and he even said "hey honey, isn't that your Mc Dreamy guy from that show you watch?" Well yes it is ! haha I had the precious songs stuck in my head all day :)

Saturday :  A little get together with our faithful NCSU Alum friends in New Bern hosted by this great family oh yeah and over here too ! It was Senior day and home coming and we put a royal smackdown on Wake Forest :) We're so proud of the Wolfpack ! We have had a great season and are truly thankful for what being a part of the Pack means ... i.e. sticking with your team NO MATTER WHAT... and a shout out to the wolves (I use to be this precious little thing at NCSU) 

                               

Thanks Nate :) Awesome job my friend !  Charles has a man crush on you and well, i'm kinda a fan of your belly (there's power in that thing, seriously my motto is "fear the belly")



We had a delicious meal and I made a few easy/yummy goodies :)

                                                                     Rice Krispy Treats

Puppy Chow

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

With a few changes - Omit all fresh/Chopped apples and use 1 1/2 C of unsweetend apple sauce instead

Sunday: Great time at church (BFG and Worship Service)!  Speaking of ... we are transitioning from "Sunday Schools" to "Life Groups" and also we're doing the "Orange Curriculum" in the Children's Ministry... any words of advice/stories of your church ?  We are very excited ... okay I could talk a lot more about this but not in this post :)

Then I went to a Baby Shower for a sweet friend :) and we had dinner/dessert with another sweet couple !

See what I mean ... I seriously need an extra weekend to recover from my weekend :) 

Good Finds : My AMAZING husband !

Okay okay ... I know what you're thinking ... CHEESY! But seriously ... he is amazing! I praise the Lord and thank him DAILY, often multiple times a day for this amazing man I have in my life.  Speaking of my life, I need to share "my story" with you sometime !  mMm it's a good one filled with twists and turns, heartache, pain, and unbelievable grace and joy :)

Okay back to my post.  Soooo Charles had off today, and I did not, i.e. he had some free time last night because he had the whole day to himself today.  One would think, why not be lazy and do the same things we do every night (Kim - cook, clean a little, watch stupid tv shows, bed.  Charles - eat, study, read, bed.) but oh no ... to my surprise and amazement, my husband and I had a rare weeknight bonding time.

Both comfy and relaxed enjoyed a meal together (leftovers) while watching an episode of Andy Griffith on DVD.  We then, cough cough spent a little time together cough cough as married folks do and had a sweet sweet time of prayer aloud together for each other.  We then decided to play a few games, board games and card games that is :) Charles dominated the night winning Settlers of Catan (yeah nerdy game but really fun) and Rummy!

Isn't he precious ! mMm I love him so much !

The fun didn't end there ... we then had a great time of fellowship and read a few Psalms together ... aloud to each other and in unison.  How precious hearing God's word spoken from my husband's sweet lips to me and over me.  And then we ended the evening eating yummy apples and watching one of my trashy shows Hellcats .  Then went to bed.

Okay I know you really don't care at all about my little ole plain Jane life, but I do and welp, I'm going to write about it in my little ole blog :) 

Sometimes we get so selfish, we think that we are #1 and that we are so busy living life ... GOD gets in the way.  Yes, I said it and you know you feel that way sometimes (and if you don't feel it, you act like it).  You feel like your life is too busy to read the Bible or take some time to pray other than at meals and if there's something wrong.  Well you know what, that's wrong and God desires a RELATIONSHIP with us, not a "oh hey how are you, uhhh I need your help, yeah thanks see you later when I screw something else up", an everyday "I love you, I need you, I am so thankful for you."  And my wonderful husband, a truly man of God who is taking our marriage seriously and is dedicating everything we do to the Lord took the time last night to truly show me how much he cared about me by bathing me in the word and covering me in prayer.  If that doesn't bless your heart, I don't know what will ! 

Good Finds : Spray Paint Handle

Okay so I've been pretty busy at work, thus, no time to blog :(

I leave you with this ... short and sweet ...

Rust Oleum Spray Paint Gun

Any Lowes, Home Depot ... Heck Walmart and Target should have them too!  Say goodbye to sore painted finger tips with this puppy!  Spray painting is a cinch with this tool !  My wonderful mother in law bought this for me last Christmas :) 

Okay that's all for now ... back to work !

Weekend Warriors - Falling in love with Fall

This past weekend was filled with many great things !
1. Watching NCSU vs Clemson (not so great)
2. Finally seeing Toy Story 3
3. Mike's Farm with our BFG
4. Lunch with friends Sunday after church
5. Homemade Laundry Detergent adventure (Will post once I do a load with the new detergent)

Charles and I at Mike's Farm  (Back Swamp, NC)

Mike's Farm is a petting zoo/gift shop/hay ride/country cookin' Eastern NC attraction.  It was a great experience on a cool fall evening !  The gift shop was already decorated in gorgeous Christmas "attire", there is a fudge shop and bakery that was busy baking yummy goodies too !  Our Bible Study Fellowship group makes a yearly trip to enjoy the family style country cuisine ( fried chicken, pork, mashed potatos, greenbeans, corn, mac n' cheese, ham biscuits all you can eat) Oh my ! I'm getting full just looking at these pictures :)

Good Finds : Ben & Jerry's Carrot Cake Ice Cream

So I was planning on making Chicken fajitas for dinner last night (I swear Charles and I eat so much chicken we're going to turn into chickens one day !)  Anyways I got home and was getting prepped for dinner and I come to find out ... we're out of chicken !? Okay we did have 1/4 chickens (with bones for grillin) and whole chickens (for roasting) but not more chicken breast ! Yikes, okay okay I could have changed my dinner plans but I had already had my taste buds set on chicken fajitas (thanks to my great friends who helped me with my dinner dilemma on facebook!)

So I did what any middle class American would do, I headed to Walmart... haha yeah take that how you may :)  Assuming it was going to be a mad house, I made a short list and headed out, Charles comes home at 7 for dinner so I knew I had to have it made by then.   I don't know about you but if I go to the store right before a meal/when I'm hungry ... some "extra" things end up in the cart :) 

There's one item I had my eye on for a while ... here it is ladies and gents ...

Go ahead and drool, I know you've spotted this at your local walmart too :)

Alright I am now going to direct you over here Rodzilla Reviews for a more "indepth" study of this delectable treat, he nailed it ! (sorry for the mild language in his post)

My "scoop" :  haha lets just say I didn't think Charles would be happy with my $2.50 splurge for a pint of ice cream (he probably though it was that time of the month) I should have bought this awhile ago, Walmart had it on sale for $1.98!  Sooooo after our delicious chicken fajita dinner I showed him the secret in the freezer ... he was happy ! He grabbed one spoon (awww we shared)  and we sat on the couch and played along with Jeopardy and ate the yummy treat together !!!

Get it ... and enjoy it :) We limited ourselves and only had 1/3 of the pint together last night ... I'm sure we'll both be racing to the freezer after dinner ... tonight might require 2 spoons :)


** And on another note, I LOVE Carrot Cake ! I have a killer recipe that I will share with you soon :) **

How to curl your hair with a sock! Puhleeze ...

So after my last post, a friend commented on facebook with this video.  She said here sister has tried it and it works really well !!! Well if you know me, or if you don't know me you're getting to know me through this blog, I am willing to try ANYTHING ... atleast once ... so here it goes !

Here's a slide show of my attempt of this process :

Sock Roll

High pony tail

Rolled sock bun (really difficult)

After 8 attempts :(

Cute little bun

Sittin on the top of my head

In the morning. The bun survived !

A hot mess :(

Sad little fluffy kinky curls

Attempt 1 ... fail

Seriously ... this was a lot more difficult than this girls video!  When I had my ponytail on the top of my head, my no-layered hair turned into 5 different layered sections and was nearly impossible to get a nice, neat, tightly curled bun :(  Oh well, I put a comb through it for soft waves, pulled it up half way and was out the door !  I'm glad Charles wasn't awake yet to see this ... he probably would have laughed ! Y'all let me know if you try this method and it works for you !

Blog Browsing : Gotta have it !

So I just found an old classmates blog http://dwellingandtelling.blogspot.com/ and I stumbled upon a fantasic find ... okay okay here's a little background on this styling tool I want so badly.

                                               Conair You Curl Clipless Iron

I use to have long, gorgeous hair that would scrunch perfectly !  Now my hair is not even wavy, it's just limp and funky looking when I try to scrunch it :(  This morning I was getting ready for work and Charles said "honey, I like how your hair use to look,  it just looks wet now."  Agreed, agreed, and agreed. 

                                                                              

                           

And you're telling me this little tool can make my hair look like this !?!?!  Cough Cough my birthday is coming up Cough Cough December 1st,  and Christmas Cough Cough is right around the corner ... haha



Weekend Warriors

Ever since Charles and I have been married, it seems our weekend have always been busy!  Don't get me wrong, we love doing things but come on ... give me a break... it's the weekend for pete's sake !  Just 2 little ole days where you have to cram in cleaning, family, friends, church all before the dreaded MONDAY returns. 

Wait wait I left out something, aren't you suppose to relax on the weekend ?  That rarely happens for us!  But when that time comes ... we are truly thankful for a little break!  Here's a few pictures from this weekend :) Enjoy !

Our redneck bonfire ... complete with roasted marshmallows

                                C.G. i.e. NCSU Football Player (what a sport)

                      I made him dress up for our church's Fall Festival with me :)

 Strike a pose !

          Me - NCSU Cheerleader   

We got a lot of really cute compliments from folks Halloween night :)

I love him so much !!!

Home Sweet Home : The joys of homeownership

Homeownership ? Is that a word !? Oh well :)  Charles and I own 2 houses.  We live in one (smaller house 2 bed 2 bath) and we rent out the larger one (3 bed 2 bath and bonus room) which we will move into once we have a family (and then rent out the smaller one).  haha Hope I didn't confuse you too much on that !


                                       Here's our house :) Isn't it precious !?

 But you know what's not precious ... sunfaded faux shutters and front door :(  We adore the sunlight that covers our home but it often puts a toll on your property.  Our neighbor is trying to sell his home and it's the exact same color as ours.  While over at his home this weekend I complimented his shutters and door.  He then said "well I've still got almost a full gallon of the paint, would you like to borrow it ?"   Free paint !? Yes please :)  Then I went on and said some silly comment like "if our property looks nice on the outside too, I'm sure it will help yours sell faster !"  Yeah, Kim "the dork" comes out ... So I went to Walmart, got some supplies and went to work !

                                             Freshly painted vs Sun faded

       Welcome to our home :)

  Much better :) Thanks for the paint neighbor !