Saturday's Song - While You Were Sleeping

I love this song and they (Casting Crowns) even did a Christmas version of it....maybe I'll post that one around Christmas...but it makes me tear up thinking of how many of those will be caught "sleeping" on that day. It makes me sad that our country and so many Christians even are being deceived. I know I don't want to be caught "sleeping" when that day comes. I want to be ready and alert to His call.

While You Were Sleeping
Casting Crowns from their album Lifesong

Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you're lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight, tonight

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night, in the night

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night

Friday Faves - Room(s) in my house

It’s Friday Faves again with It's Almost Naptime and this week is about our favorite room in our house. I have two rooms that are my favorite my living room and my craft room.

My living room is where you will find me hanging out most often. I have a wonderful down filled sectional couch that I just LOVE. In fact there is one spot (along the chaise side) that I think has formed to my hiney. I can kick back here and watch TV, be on my laptop, or read a good book. My sister loves my couch so much that when she comes to visit, she prefers to sleep on it versus the guest bed. I have been known to sleep on it myself if I’m not feeling well and instead of keeping my husband up all night (since he is a light sleeper) I just sleep on it. I love how open my living room is to my kitchen and the vaulted ceilings, it is so spacious that I don’t feel closed in at all. By looking at the picture below, you can tell I LOVE pictures. Here is a picture of my living room first and then a very short video (at the bottom) of what I can look around and see while on my perch.

My other favorite room is my craft room. I have been using it much more this year than any other time since I’ve lived here (8 years). It used to be a room that was considered my craft room/office/catch-all for ALL things that didn’t have a place, but last year I removed almost everything out of it (except all the furniture and large cases) and completely re-did it. I gave all the miscellaneous stuff a proper home somewhere else in the house or garage or just plain ole got rid of it and have been organizing it to be useful. I mostly use it for rubber stamping/card making but I could also do scrapbooking, if I were to ever get back into it. I really love it now and like to be in it, where as before, I hated to even look into it. I do plan on doing a paint job on it in sometime within the next year, I am wanting a real light pink, mint green and chocolate brown…just think spumoni ice cream colors. I am also in the process of (slowly) taking my wood mounted stamps apart and just using them as rubber mounted but I have SOOO many that it is quite a task. That is why I am doing bit by bit, that and I haven’t figured out a great idea for storing them this way yet but I know it will be more compact once I’m done. I have been stamping for about 18 years so I have accumulated quite a bit in all those years and every so often I do clean out and get rid of ones I haven’t used in quite awhile. Here are a few pics of my craft room (I did do a short video of it but since Blogger was taking several hours to upload one small video I bunked that idea and am adding pics instead). (You can click on the pics to make them bigger)

Do you have a place in your home you favor more than others?

I would link back to Missy's (It's Almost Naptime) site for you to see any other's who have participated this week, however, Missy didn't get her post done yet, so I'm going ahead with mine and if I see her posting for Friday Faves, I will update my post with it.

Oh I love these - The Whole Jar Of Peanut Butter Cookies

I always like to try a new cookie recipe and Peanut Butter cookies are one of my favorites. When I came across this recipe on Allrecipes.com (one of my new favorite websites) I thought, wow, with a whole jar of peanut butter they should be real tasty...and they are.

I did under cook mine a little bit because both Scott & I like a softer Peanut Butter cookie than crunchy and that did the trick for us. I also left out the chopped peanuts just because I'm not a fan of peanuts in my cookies.

The Whole Jar of Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (18 ounce) jar peanut butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped peanuts

In a large bowl, cream butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, yolks, and vanilla; mix until fluffy. Stir in peanut butter. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Finally, stir in the peanuts. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Roll dough into walnut sized balls. Place on the prepared cookie sheet and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should look dry on top. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to cool completely on a rack. These cookies taste great when slightly undercooked.

Since the dough needs to be refrigerated, it works great if you only want to bake a dozen or so and save the dough for baking more later...kinda like I did...and we still have dough in the frig to make more.

Saturday's Song - Desert Song

This one I'm doing special for my sister, she has been loving this song right now and is feeling it speak to her.

We need to praise the Lord no matter what season of our life we are in. Whether we are feeling dry in the desert or being refined in a feiry trial. Whether we feel as if we have been doing battle with the enemy non-stop or in those times we are being filled by the spirit during the harvest so we can go on to minister to others.

Desert Song
Hillsong from the This Is Our God album

This is my prayer in the desert
And all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in the hunger in me
My God is a God who provides

And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

Chorus:
And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon forged against me shall remain

I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

And this is my prayer in the battle
And triumph is still on it's way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand

All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow

Friday Faves - Music in my car

It’s Friday Faves again with It's Almost Naptime and this week is about our Favorite Music in our car right now. I LOVE music. I’ve said many a time I can live without the TV but don’t take away my music. It has been a long time since I’ve kept track of how many CD’s I have in my collection so I’m sure it is somewhere between 300 – 400 by now. I have a lot of them loaded onto my iTunes but I like to keep the CD’s for the car or as a backup. Most of what I listen to though is Christian (worship music, contemporary & southern gospel), Country and some Pop (but not a whole lot).

These are the CD’s I currently have in my car and the one in the player RIGHT NOW is the Hillsong “Faith+Hope+Love”…I went out and got this one the first day it came out as I mentioned before that I would. I love ALL the songs on this CD and if you are a Hillsong fan, it is a must for your collection.

As far as some of the country music I listen to I love the sounds of Little Big Town, Sugarland and Lady Antebellum they all have a strong vocal harmony sound that makes them all seem very mellow. I’ve always been a fan of Martina McBride, her voice is wonderful, and so I have every one of her CD’s.

The Cedarmont Kids Sunday School CD is actually a favorite of my granddaughter’s. She always wants me to play it when I have her in the car with me (but she calls it the green one since I also have the red & blue CD’s). She really likes me to play “I’m in the Lord’s Army” over and over and I can handle it but her papa doesn’t handle redundancy so well if he is with us.

Top to Bottom / Left to Right:
Christy Nockels – Life Light Up
Hillsong - Faith + Hope + Love
Sugarland – Love On The Inside
Passion – God of This City
Jeremy Riddle – The Now & The Not Yet
Lady Antebellum
Hillsong United – All of the Love
Newsboys – In The Hands of God
Little Big Town – A Place To Land
Cedarmont Kids – Sunday School Songs
Sara Bareilles – Little Voice
Martina McBride – Shine

To check in on everyone else's faves click on over to Missy's site

A weekend with the Flores'

I'm very tardy in blogging about this but 4 weeks ago we spent a wonderful weekend with my girlfriend, Nichole, and her husband, Terry.

Nichole & I have been friends since we were 15 (22 years ago), we went to church together, school together, had many sleepovers and so many other fun times, she was like part of the family. When I got married 8 years ago and moved away from all of my family and friends, I also left her & her family behind. We had talked about raising our kids together and being able to talk about married life and just continue to be really close. Her kids even refer to me as their aunt and I never had any kids of my own, which at first really disappointed Nichole. Now that I live 7-8 hours away our times we get to see each other and talk are so very few.

For the last 8 years that I've been away her and her family have come up to visit 7 of those years; there were even a couple of years that she brought her girls up and they stayed for spring break. I love these times together because I get to devote my time to her and not split it with visiting my family when I go home. In the last few years, our husbands have had a chance to get to know each other and enjoy fishing together when they come up.

This year they came up but left all the kids back at home with their grandparents because they were also participating in their first tri-athalon. They both did really well considering it was their first and are excited to do more. It was something they had decided they could do together, both would enjoy and stay healthy in the process.

After their tri-athalon we decided to go up on the Coeur d' Alene River so the guys could fish. Initially, Nichole had mentioned us doing something fun and letting the guys go fish but we weren't really interested in shopping or a movie and didn't know what else to do so I suggested we just take some games and pack a cooler with sandwiches, fruit and drinks and go up with the guys. While they spent their time fishing we could play games (something Nichole & I have done SO MANY years in the past, since she is my fellow competitive game player friend). We enjoyed ourselves, just relaxing by the river and spending time catching up.

The only bad thing about our weekend was after taking a picture of Nichole along the river, I dropped her camera and we couldn't get her lens to retract, it was stuck and wouldn't take any pictures. I felt HORRIBLE but she tried to console me and tell me it was okay it could have happened to anyone. I knew the next day when they were planning on leaving they were going to go on the Hiawatha Trail with their bikes and wouldn't have a camera to take pictures so I sent my back-up camera, battery, charger, etc... with her so she could still get pictures. While they were on the trail after taking some shots somehow my camera came out of their backpack and fell and they didn't notice it until they got to another place to take a picture. Once they got off the trail they checked in to see if anyone had reported finding a camera and it was turned in but it wouldn't work, so she felt bad too. When she called to tell me about it, I just laughed because it helped ease some of my anxiety about breaking hers, and she expressed that she now knew how I felt.

Here are a few pictures from that weekend:

Another good dinner recipe - Swiss Chicken

I came across this recipe from another LPM Siesta and tried this one a couple of months ago but came across another recipe that was similar I wanted to try to see which one I liked the best, as it turns out the first recipe tried was the best so here it is. It is really easy too.

Swiss Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I pounded out my chicken breasts so they were about the same thickness)
Swiss cheese slices (enough to cover)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
¼ cup butter or margarine
Bread crumbs or stuffing

Place boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a baking dish, cover with slices of swiss cheese, add cream of chicken soup on top of the cheese like your frosting a cake, then melt some margarine in a pan or a bowl, and add Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing until moist and cover on top of the dish. Bake 1 hour at 350.

(I didn't have the "herb" flavored bread crumbs so I used plain bread crumbs but added a little parsley, basil and onion powder over the top)

Cards made in the last few months

It has been a while since I posted the cards that I finished...maybe one day I'll actually post each card after I've finished it.

Mother's Day Card:
I created the scallop border on my Cricut using the Cricut Design Studio & the George & Basic Shapes cartridge & ran it through the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. The tulip stamps are Stampin' Up. The inside I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut out the scalloped rectangle & the stamp used inside is Inkadinkadoo. I scraplifted this from "The Pink Stamper".

Father's Day card & both my sons-in-law Birthday cards:
On this one I used some fishing wrapping paper we had & ran it through the Distressing Stripes Cuttlebug folder. The fly stamps used are Close To My Heart & the inside is a font (LD Flyfish) from Scrap n Fonts.

Graduation cards: I made a couple of these this year one for Scott's niece & one for my second cousin. Fortunately for me their school colors happened to be the same & they were in two completely different states.

On this one I created my own embossed vertical lines on the main piece of blue cardstock. I cut out the "2009" & "Congrats" with the Cricut & Doodletype cartridge. For the 2009 I used the Cricut Design Studio to weld it altogether & ran it through the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder - but first I inked up one side of the folder with blue ink to get the raised dots to be blue. The Cap & Diploma stamps are DeNami. It needed a little bit more so I created my own tassel with white crochet thread & I inked up part of it to be blue.

Sydney's Birthday card:
I first stamped up the pink cardstock with Versamark & Scrappy Cat Sparkle Flourish stamps. I also used Versamark to stamp the Dragonfly (Magenta) & used PearlEx over it for the shimmer. The flowers are from Michaels in the wedding section in a pail as confetti from "Brides" that I inked up with pink along the edges & put rhinestones in the center.

Lisa's Birthday card:
On this one I stamped with Versamark several stamps from Heidi Grace's Paradise set & then ran through the Birds & Swirls Cuttlebug folder. I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut out all of the scalloped rectangles & used another stamp from the Paradise set for the sentiment. The inside I used a panel that I stamped & embossed the same as the front but I used the Versamark Dazzle in Frost to ink along the raised embossing. The stamped Happy Birthday is from Parked on Rubber.

It shouldn't be so long before I do my next card since it is my Grandma's & her birthday is only a couple of weeks away...better get working on that card I guess.

Saturday's Song - The Motions

I've been feeling this song lately. I feel as if I've just been going through the motions and I don't want to. I was listening to a podcast of Joyce Meyer's recently and she asked if we were just biding our time, waiting for the Lord to return or if we were actually doing something for the Lord while we are here. Yep, I felt conviction. I pray I don't continue to just go through the motions, I live passionately for Him.

The Motions
Matthew West from the album “Something To Say”

This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)
take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way (I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go)
take me all the way (through the motions)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions

Friday Faves - Website

It’s time for Friday Faves again and this weeks topic is our Favorite Website. I’m so glad Missy made a list of upcoming subjects because it allows me to work on a post ahead of time and get my mind working on something to say, Thanks Missy!

We are supposed to give our favorite website but not a blog. Although, blog’s have become a favorite of mine within the last year and I follow so many different people from all over. I think the first two blog’s I started to read are “Bring The Rain” and “The LPM Blog” and it went uphill from there. Some are family, some are card makers, some are my favorite authors, some are connected to a ministry I love and I’ve picked up several from others that I follow. Just like Missy’s blog. I read “Baby Bangs” which I started following because she is Beth Moore’s daughter and also one of the contributors to “The LPM Blog” and she linked over to “It’s Almost Naptime” (Missy’s) on a funny post and I’ve followed ever since. I like blogs that are comical because I love to laugh. Sorry, I had to venture onto blog sites just a little bit.

I have a handful of websites I visit on a daily basis (Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, Craigslist, CDA Press). My laptop has become another appendage on my body, just ask my husband. I know I wouldn’t be so connected to it if I were working but since I am home and it is my biggest outlet on trying to find a job, I’m on it A LOT and checking several job searching websites A LOT. One of the cool features we have with Internet Explorer 8 & Google toolbar is it has these tabs you can open different websites and keep open along the top and each time I want to open another tab to go to another website it saves my favorites as thumbnails making it much easier for me in my OCD state to visit them in the appropriate order. This is what it looks like:

I’d have to say my favorite website would be Facebook, since it is visited most often and on occasion even from my cell phone. I used to be big on MySpace but have been converted over and just check MySpace on occasion for those friends who haven’t made the switch yet. I live far away from all of my family and several friends so using Facebook is a wonderful way to stay in touch with them on a daily basis. I’ve also been able to re-connect with my youth pastor and several individuals I used to go to church and school with and lots of extended family I rarely get to see at all. I love seeing what everyone is up to. I get to see pictures of what my niece and nephew have been doing and almost daily pictures of my grandkids, since I’ve introduced my step-daughter to uploading mobile pictures. I get to see them grow up through a social networking site since they are not close and our visits aren’t very often. I love how we can banter back and forth with each other commenting on each other's status or photos.

My husband on the other hand is so ever faithful to check weather.com and orvis.com....he's a junkie for these sites.

If you would like you can click over here to see the others who are contributing to the Friday Faves post.

Saturday's Song - Beautiful Jesus

As I watched this video, I had tears in my eyes, not only for what Jesus did to save us, but also for Mary, as a mother watching her son go through what He did for us.
I am glad to call Him a friend of mine.

Beautiful Jesus
By Kristian Stanfill

Your love, oh God
Displayed for us
As crimson covered
Over sinless hands
Your majesty
For all to see
In raging storms and quiet cloudless days

Beautiful Jesus
Beautiful Savior
Nothing is greater, brilliant Creator
Friend of mine

You're powerful
Above this world
The universe is under your command

Your glory shines
A holy light
That leads our hearts to praise
Your holy name is on our lips

Beautiful Jesus
Beautiful Savior
Nothing is greater, brilliant Creator
Friend of mine
Perfect in power
Matchless in glory
Nothing is greater, brilliant Creator
Friend of mine

My lips will sing
My heart will bring
Praise to you, the holy King
My lips will sing
My heart will bring
Praise to you, holy!

Friday Faves - Perfume

One of the blog’s I follow (Missy at It’s Almost Naptime) is starting a “Friday Faves” and the subject is perfume…right up my alley so I thought I’d join in.

I am a woman highly driven by my olfactory senses. There are some scents that trigger my memories, and I think that is so bizarre how that can happen. I love it when my husband wears a great scent as well. I change all the time and I go to the Fragrance Festivals to get special deals on all the good ones and see what is new out there. I used to just buy real inexpensive grocery store scents but realized the scent did not last very long and if I just spent a little more on my fragrances, the scent not only lasts longer but I can make a bottle last a long, long time (years in fact). There are so many that are favorites and I’m sure I will go overboard on listing them so I won’t put too much explanation into each one.

I used to be a big fan of Victoria Secret’s Rapture, but they quit selling it a long time ago. I heard it had pheromones in it which would explain why my husband REALLY liked it and I had heard from a couple others that wore it, when it was out, that their husbands liked it as well when they wore it.

Donna Karan Black Cashmere (it is a heavy scent that lasts a long time) - fragrance notes are patchouli, jasmine and heliotrope.


Tom Ford Black Orchid (another heavy scent that lasts awhile) - fragrance notes of patchouli, sandalwood, truffle, dark chocolate, ylang-ylang, black currant, bergamot, orchid, fruity notes, incense, and vanilla.
This one is also a fragrance for men and it smells real good on my husband and my dad.


This is one I’ve been trying in the store a lot lately and I think it will be my next one to get; I’m just not sure the scent is long lasting enough for the price.
Juicy Couture - fragrance notes of mandarin, watermelon, marigold, hyacinth, passion fruit, creme brulee, vanilla, patchouli, lily, caramel, woods, tuberose, and wild rose.


Jean Paul Gaultier Fragile – fragrance notes - a floral rich with tuberose.


Michael Kors – fragrance notes - dewy freesia, tamarind, chinese osmanthus, incense, fresh tuberose, white wings peony, blue orris, arum lilies, cashmere woods, musk and vetiver.


Jean Paul Gaultier - Top fragrance Notes: anise, orange blossom and tangerine. The middle notes are: ginger, orchid and ylang-ylang and the base of the fragrance is: vanilla, musk and amber.


Some of my fav’s that my husband wears. Most of them have a “clean” smell to them and after he has showered and put one on…I…well lets just say a good scent is a turn on for me.

Viktor & Rolf Antidote – fragrance notes - mint, mandarin orange, gaiac wood, cardamom, grapefruit, jasmine, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange blossom, amber, patchouli, musk, and vanilla.


Nautica Classic – fragrance notes - watery florals and tones of aromatic woods.


Joop! - fragrance notes - exotic spice and florals, with woods, patchouli and honey, very masculine.


Jean Paul Gaultier – fragrance notes - warm fresh mint, lavender, orange blossom, bergamot, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, musk, amber, vanilla, and woods, manly and warm.


Carolina Herrera 212 – fragrance notes - mandarin, grapefruit, iron woods, and sandalwood.


My husband has never been a fan of this one but I’ve always liked this scent on men is
Obsession – fragrance notes - mandarin and spice, with low tones of musk, sandalwood and amber.


I just don't know when to stop there is also Organza & Amarige by Givenchy, Tracy by Ellen Tracy, Premier Jour and...and...and. I guess if I had my way, I'd have a different one every week...but then I'd be really broke.

From the looks of it though I lean towards scents with vanilla, tuberose, gardenia (because tuberose & gardenia smell similar to me), musk, sandalwood, and patchouli and I can go up to my fragrance sales guy at Nordstrom's and tell him I'm looking for something new with... in it and he can always help find a new one that will compare.

I'm just glad my allergies aren't affected by these types of scents, I would just be devastated.

Saturday's Song - We Will See Him

This week I read a post by Pete Wilson (Pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville) and it really spoke to me. I have linked that post if you will take a minute and go over and visit it. I feel the same way he does at times, but I never recognized it as my bucket needing filled, I needed that word. But I too LOVE worship. I love it in the car, at home relaxing, cleaning or while I’m in the shower. I have to say it is my prime source of communication I have with God….I love to worship Him.

This song is on their album that comes out on Tuesday the 4th, so far I haven’t found a Hillsong song that disappoints. I listened to all the clips on Amazon and I will have to invest in it, this is one I’d love to learn. I don't have the lyrics to it since it hasn't been released yet.

While listening to it in my own living room, I can just feel the spirit of the Lord come over me. It makes me ready for that day when we will see Him. I have always been fearful of the rapture, mainly because of a fear of the unknown. As I recently heard Chonda Pierce put it....she wants to ease into Heaven...like in her sleep. She said we all don't know what it will be like, it could be a big yank. I guess I just need to have faith that it won't be so fearful, especially if I just rely on where it leads me, will make up for it all.

We Will See Him
By Hillsong on their album Faith + Hope + Love

We Will See Him from Pete Wilson on Vimeo.