Life's great journey is made up of day by day delights.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Blizzard Preparation 101

Living up in Indiana, it's not uncommon to experience some down right icky winter time weather. It's also not uncommon for the news stations to hype up the forecast  and then the whole of the state freaks out (i.e. nearly punching eachother out for the last thing of bread or milk)......only to experience just a dusting of snow. While I did go to the grocery, I only went because I had almost nothing in my cabinets and actually needed bread and milk. The storm has just now started. I'm not sure what to expect. But let me share with you how I prepared for this blizzard:
1. Took pictures pre-storm.

2. Got my hair did.
3. Went shopping.
4. After unloading the groceries, I went to a craft store....because you know....that's a priority when 8 inches of snow and 2 inches of ice is coming your way. Here is the result of my craft store visit. Gotta love 50% off at Hobby Lobby!
One day that painters tape will be gone! haha I had a lot of this stuff already but the L-OV-E blocks are new. So fun! Just looking for something snazzy to put in the big one in the back. Any ideas???? I keep going to candy but I want to try something different.

Got these last year at Hobby Lobby (50% off). Love 'em? Me too. And they still have them this year!

How sweet. I love these and can't wait to make some yummy cup cakes and muffins!
5. Cleaned. Boring sooooo next!
6. Mani-pedi time!
I prepped with a bubble bath first which was wonderful but not really picture or blog appropriate. :-)
7. Got in super cozy pj's and tried a new FABOOOOOOOOOOO snack. Popcorn Indiana (made in New Jersey....go figure) dark chocolate covered popcorn = yummo.
Delish!
8. Pulled out my all time favorite movie, got my snack, and enjoyed some me time.
Pride & Prejudice and popcorn. Mmmmm.
SO if you have an impending storm coming your way, follow my steps. You'll be just fine!! :-)

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Cheeseburger Soup

I just love a good, warm, comforting soup in the middle of winter. Often it not only fills my belly but it lifts my spirits as well. :-)
Cheeseburger Soup is one of my latest e-mealz adventures and it was so good! It hit the spot and my husband devoured it which is always a good sign! If you're feeling a little chilled and need something to warm you up, try this recipe out!

Cheeseburger Soup
1/4 lb. extra lean ground beef
1/2 c.  chopped onion
1/2 c.  shredded carrots
1/2 c.  diced celery
1/2 t.   dried basil
1/2 t.   parsley
2 T.     flour
1         can chicken broth
16 oz. frozen hash browns
4 oz.   Velveeta light cheese, cubed
1 c.     {fat-free} milk

In a large soup pot, brown ground beef together with the onions, carrots, celery, basil, and parsley (I personally added some salt & pepper and garlic salt to taste but the recipe does not call for that). Drain out the icky, artery clogging greases as much as possible (don't worry! you'll be adding some more fat to it in not time! j/k...kinda). Add the broth and potatoes (they can go in frozen). Bring to a boil; simmer for 12 minutes. In the meantime, whisk the flour and 1/4 c. water until smooth. Blend into the soup; bring to a boil to thicken. Now add your cheese and milk!--->aforementioned fat. (I added about another 1/2 cup of shredded cheese b/c you know....who doesn't need more fat?). Stir until melted. Pull a chair up to the stove, find the biggest spoon you can, and eat it straight from the pot! Believe me, you'll want to.

I'm telling you, this soup is yumm-a-licious! You really can make it healthier than this but on a comfort food type of soup like this one I just don't care for the low sodium and the fat free taste. I should have taken pics.....hmmm....I need to get better at that. If it's not one thing, it's another. haha Give it a whirl and tell me what you think! ENJOY! :-)

What type of comfort foods do you like when it's f-f-f-f-freezing outside?

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Two Randoms

Pretty excited about two things. Neither are related but both fill me with extreme happiness!

1. My Redplum AND Unilever coupon mailers came in today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I L-O-V-E when they came in the mail. <3 I sort through all of them, snip-snip-snip them out and make a "plan of attack" for the grocery store. Just recently I made encouraged my mom try couponing. She's never used them but I set up her with her own coupon organizer, showed her how to get some good coupons, and then set her loose. Mom is pretty excited about the savings she will see. When I got my mailer in, I instantly texted her (how 2011 of her to text! ha!) and told her I had plenty to share and swap! We set a date and are going to meet up in a few days. It's fun to share this with her and to take money off of my receipts. $$$
2. As some of you may know, I know ASL (not everything but enough to get me by) and was heavily involved in the Deaf ministry at my old church. Since joining my husband's church I have lost my opportunities to interpret (soooo sad but praying for Deaf to come to my new church.) I've been really upset about not being able to sign. I've recently been teaching my sister-in-law some ASL for a school project (and just for fun). I have to tell you....she is getting better each time! Tonight she interpreted "At Last" by Etta James for me and she. Was. AWESOME. I was so proud of her! I have loved the chance to spend time with her, to use sign language, and to share that passion with someone else. To see her flourish in it is a true blessing to my heart!

Again, random. I know. But I just had to share!
What has happened to you recently that has made you smile? :-)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

What to do? What to do?

So if you haven't guessed by now, I'm a spaz. My mind is constantly going at a mile a minute! That comes to every area of my life, especially home decor. I have so many decorations I want to take my house but I just can't narrow it down to one option. Here is where you, my friends, come in! I'm going to show you some photos of areas I am going to be working on in the near future, explain what I'm thinking (hopefully it will make sense), and then you can let me know what you think. Sound like a plan? Ok, let's get started!

Runner in entry way. This is an intro to show you the colors I am working with (although it look pale in comparison to how vivid this actually is)......


This lovely shelf/coat rack has actually been around with my family for about 20 yrs. or so. My dad made it for my brother. My brother has since changed his room and so my parents gave this to us! PERFECT TIMING! I love the size of it but I don't know about color. I am tempted to stain this a darker color to match my living room or paint it. But if I paint it do I go with chocolate brown and then liven it up with my accents? OR do I paint it a bright color (a blue to complement the room) to spice up that wall? Also, the nick-nacks up there will change. They are just a temporary solution. What are your thoughts? Stain? Paint? Leave the same??



This is a wall in the kitchen that is in need of some big time love! We still need to finish painting and adding trim to the kitchen so try to ignore that. :) What I'm currently thinking is finding a BIG old picture frame or making one, putting it on the wall and inside of the frame putting one big shelf or mantle or putting two 2-3 shelves. Then on the shelves I can change my decor throughout the year. Next is a picture of the wall next to it to give you an idea of space...
(side: I'm going to move or get rid of that phone.Bleh!) Do you think it would be too much to have my shelf idea there since I have the plate display? If so, what do you think would be a better option? Should I just try to find a picture? AH! HELP!
Let me know what you think! I'm going to go on overload otherwise. haha  Can't wait to see you what you all think! :-)

Monday, January 24, 2011

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!

This will be a short one but I have to tell you all that I am so excited for next month! I have a lot of things I am going to be doing for the Valentine's holiday. I can't wait to get started. What am I most excited for??? Eric and I are going to my home church's couples retreat!!! I can hardly contain myself. I am thrilled because I get to be with Eric and with people that I really love. Plus, I think this will be an awesome experience for Eric and I. I know the Lord is going to show us a lot and we are both so excited for the weekend! :-)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Explosions (of every variety) Galore!!!

Last weekend, Hubby and some friends went to northern Michigan for a snowmobiling trip. I knew for months that he would be going and my heart ran away every time I thought of it. I did not want him to go. Could I have emphasized that any more clearly?? haha I didn't want to come home and not see him and know that he wouldn't be home later that night. I didn't want to go to sleep without him. I think that is almost what I dreaded the most! I didn't want to wake up without him. I didn't want him hurting himself or someone else. Yes, I wanted him to have fun. He deserves it!! But I just hated the whole idea of him going. Days leading up to his departure I was CRAZY. Anytime we talked about it I would burst into tears. My emotions would practically explode all over the place! (Sidenote: Whenever I type "place" I start to type "palace" then I have to correct myself. Ah, if only! haha) The night before and the morning of were my worst times. We had only been apart one night before this and I was....let's just say, less than strong. I went to bed crying till I could cry no more then in a moment of lovey dovey-ness I grabbed his pillow, t-shirt, and favorite cologne. T-shirt went on the pillow and then came the cologne....then came me.....squeezing it....wishing it were Eric. Did I really just admit that? haha The morning he left I was falling apart. Thankfully I had prepped ahead of time. I knew he would be gone so I planned to get together with a friend that night and the next night I planned to have some ladies from my family come over. It worked out to where I had that Friday off so as soon I closed the door to him, I wiped my tears away and cleaned my house like crazy. We all know this by now, I'm a neat freak....like to an ocd level so cleaning took a few hours because I'm not satisfied till everything is literally spotless. Cleaning was finished then I went to the store to pick up some things for the weekend. When I came home, I saw his work van parked out front and I lost it. I had done so well the whole day then I saw that and I lost all of my senses. Once again, I had to pull myself together. That night I went to Panera with a friend and we talked for 4 hours by the fire. It was nice and helped get my mind off of Eric. I purposely left some chores to do at the house that night so when I got home I wouldn't just sit and think about missing him. I hadn't heard from Eric because he got ZERO reception up there so of course that made it harder. Next day, I had work so that also helped pass time. I then rushed home, prepped some food and had my mom, Aunt, and cousin come over. In the midst of prepping, a bowl of leftover stuffing for my stuffed tomatoes fell out of the fridge and EXPLODED all over the kitchen floor!!! Also exploding (or rather spilling) was my marinara sauce all over the counter. *Sigh* We had a GREAT time eating and playing Password. But the fun had to come to an end. Once again, I had another night without my beloved. Another night of hearing things and making myself believe it was someone breaking in. Another night of tossing and turning. In the tradition of my mother I almost slept with a frying pan. If you know me, you know why that's true AND funny! Perfect combo. Sunday, Eric finally came home!!! We enjoyed a quiet evening at home and the next day we both had off. We were so excited to just hang out at the house and have a lazy day. The day started off as planned but then in the midst of watching Pawn Stars (our current tv obsession) we heard what sounded like a rushing river through our house.....UH OH!!! Within a few minutes Eric found a leak of some kind (don't ask me what). He went to his dad's and brought back this super heavy duty manly wet/dry shop vac. My job was to start sucking up water that was seeping underneath and into the carpet. I hooked that up while Eric went to his work to pick up another tool to fix this major issue! Every attachment imaginable was hooked up to the shop vac and I turned on the power. Little did I know that there is a blow side and a suction side and that I had plugged the hose into the blowing side! KABOOM!!!!! The insulation his dad had just used for their attic blew all over my perfectly clean house!! I could have cried (ahem....again). In between sucking up water I would suck up the pink fiberglass I found all over my house. Thankfully after about an hour or so of work we had the problem fixed because of my husband's awesome handy man skills! After that we slipped back into the schedule for the day: laziness. Although the day had gone not exactly as planned I was still so happy because I had him home. FINALLY. Yes, last weekend was definitely a weekend of emotional and insulation explosions. :-)
Have you ever had to be apart from your love for a few days? Did you handle it more sanely than I did? haha

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Through the Eyes Of Christ

At my job, I have the opportunity to people watch. I've always loved doing this! People are all different and all interesting, even if on the surface they seem otherwise. You really learn a lot about people just by simply watching them. One thing I've learned through these times of observation is that I am too quick to judge people. I may not share those judgments but they are there just the same. Whether I assist the customer or not, I think all sorts of things. Plenty of my thoughts are solely my noticing they seem nice or that they have good taste in handbags but just as often I am thinking....well maybe things I shouldn't. One day it hit me, "How does Christ see these people?" He see's their souls and need for Him. He loves them. Regardless of their messy hair or poor manners, He loves them. I don't mean to sound rude by saying "poor manners" but when you've worked in retail as long as I have, you see a lot of that! I want to see people as Christ see's them. I want to have love in my heart......sometimes a smile and friendly, positive attitude can mean the world to someone. And through that, the gospel seed might be planted. Isn't that what it's all about anyway? Souls. So that is what's on my heart. Seeing souls, instead of faces. Seeing people as my Savior see's them.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Here's Where I Am At

Here is where I am at for the New Year. Here's my heart. Here's what I want and need:
*God. He's what I want and need more than anything. I want to know Him more. I want our relationship to be strengthened in every way possible, a thousand times over. I read the attached blog yesterday per the recommendation of a Facebook friend and my heart was moved to where I instantly teared up. My heart was pricked when the author the devotion wrote, " Above all, let me never get used to being a Christian." I fear I've done that since I've grown up in a Christian family, grew up in church and Christian schools and faithfully attend church now as an adult. My prayer is not get used to being a Christian and to not become calloused to the most amazing, beautiful truth there is to know. Give me JESUS!
*Weight: My body and Fat need to say, "Buh-bye!" and part ways.
*Proverbs 31:10-31. Eric always says sweet (and...ahem...naive) things like, "you're the most perfect wife ever." I really do want to be the best I can be for him.
*The house is in need of some major re-vamping. It's not our forever house but it's the house we will be in for a while and so for our comfort (and future selling potential) it needs some serious upgrades.
*Getting myself in gear with my various hobbies: reading, jewelry making, etc.
*Spending more time with those I love: family and close friends and really, really getting to know them. Life passes way too quickly and I have a regret with not getting to know some family that have passed in the past year.
*Being more involved in my new church. I recently started assisting in children's church but would like to become involved in the choir, missions ministry, and the ladies ministry. Maybe even help start a Deaf ministry??? Please pray that some Deaf come my way. My heart is above all in that ministry and when I can't exercise that I feel a little lost.
I'm a list maker and an idea girl so this particular list could easily keep going on....and on....and on. These are some of my top priorities. What about you? Did you make any resolutions or have some things that are on your heart? :-)
P.S.- I had a Twitter account but never used it and when I tried to log back in....I couldn't so introducing the new Day by Day Delights Twitter account :twitter.com/DayByDayDlight. Check it out! If you are on there, follow me and I'll follow you. We'll be one big group of followers leading the way through a new year! :-)

Monday, January 3, 2011

Happy New Blog...er...Year!!!

SUPER quick re-cap of the month of December/holiday time:
*Birthday: day off, shopping, time with dear friend, opened a Roth IRA with hubby, hubby took me to Cheesecake Factory and bought me long lost LOVED perfume
*Holiday shopping, decorating, and baking galore took place. FANTASTIC!
*WICKED!!!!!!!! Finally got to see it after many years of waiting. It was....(let me catch my breath).....AMAZING. It was all that I dreamed of! As soon as it was done I was ready to watch it again.
*Crazy work hours. Enough said.
*Tons of time spent with awesome family!
*Last week of the year and into the new year I have had what my friend, Jill, at http://www.exceedinlyblessedblog.blogspot.com/ calls "the plague." I can't shake this thing! I missed almost a complete week of work. BLEH!

All of that leads me to this.....
My Christmas decorations are done. My house feels bare. Where do I go from here? Any ideas loyal bloggers??? :-)