Random Dozen

1. So I was thinking about how Jon Bon Jovi never seems to age much. His hair is smaller nowadays, but he still manages to look like a boy somehow. And then that made me think of the story of Dorian Gray. Question: If you physically lock in one age for yourself, which would you choose and why? 
24 , I was at a wonderful weight.  And grey hair hadn't started showing up yet. 



2. What is the best dish that you cook or bake (your piece de resistance?)  That's a hard one because I love to bake from scratch.   But my favorite would be cake for someone's birthday.  Because it's whatever kind they have requested so I know it's going to make them happy.


3. When you feel blue, what is one strategy you use to help yourself back to normal?  CHOCOLATE,  good worship music

4. When was the last time you danced in public?  LOL  Years ago, at least twenty.


5. Do you consider yourself a realist or dreamer?  Definetly a dreamer. 


6. As a parent, what is one thing that you have done well?    Always been there for them.  There's not much that I can think of that any of them couldn't come to me and talk to me about. 


7. Which is your favorite character on the Andy Griffith show?  Aunt Bea, because she's always in the kitchen.


8. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you know about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?  2  Probably not very much.

9. Have you never been mellow? Have you never tried … to find a comfort from in side you? (Sorry, Jorge was singing that song just now, and it just seemed to be perfect timing as I was creating this week’s questions.) REAL question: What is your #1 driving pet peeve?
Just one.  LOL  I guess the worse one is when you want to pass someone and both lanes are going the same speed.  If you get in the fast lane then pass whoever is in the slow lane, don't drive right beside them.

10. Which color best represents your mood today? Care to elaborate?  Blue,  I have been in a slump since the New Year and can't seem to get myself out of it.  No motivation to do anything other than the bare essentials.  Memes, and review/giveaway blogs, can't seem to blog about anything I have to think of myself.
11. If your spouse were an animal, which would he/she be?  Depends on which day of the week it is.  I will say a bear because if he could he would hibernate for the winter.

12. What activity takes up the bulk of your time on an average day?  laundry, doesn't seem like I will ever get caught up.

Winner of Football Gift Pack

Using random.org   # 3  Diana is the winner of the foolball gift pack given by blogspark. 

Congratulations Diana, I hope you enjoy it.  Also I hope ya'll have enjoyed finding and will continue to find new recipes from Mary .
I hope ya'll will visit her often.  She has some really awesome recipes. 

Thank you to all who entered.

Then Sings My Soul Saturdays "Jeff and Sheri Easter"

I have been seeing this meme for a while now.  But for lack of much to say this week.  I thought I would join in on this one.  Because the song says it all for me.  I choose this one because the first time I heard it was Sunday night.  I had the chance to see Jeff and Sheri Easter in concert.  They are so awesome.  My kind of people you know the ones they're the same whether on stage singing, or in a Wal-Mart. 

Random Dozen

It's time for another random dozen.  If you want to join in just, click over to Linda's for the linky and the rest of us that answer these questions.  It's a great way of getting to know each other better.

1. When was the last time you craved a food--what was it, and did you cave?   Yesterday morning, I wanted a chocolate Krispy Kreme doughnut.  But luckily we don't have a Krispy Kreme so I didn't have one.           

2. M & M's or Skittles?   M & M's

3. Have you ever read the Bible completely through?  shamefully no

4. How long does it take you to really wake up in the morning? When the alarm goes off I'm out of the bed ready to start the day.  The rest of the family hates it because I get up singing.

5. Have you ever been on a cruise? If not, would you like to?  No, I haven't but would love to.

6. Who is your favorite actress?  First one to come to mind is Sandra Bulloch, but there is several.

7. ______ is something that I will just never understand.  People that lies

8. How much of a technology junkie are you?  Not much at all.  It amazes me when I learn something new on here.

9. Do you enjoy selecting greeting cards for people, or is it more of a cultural "have to" for you?  I would send and buy more of them, if they weren't so expensive. 

10. When was the last time you got a new style/haircut?  Right before Christmas

11. What do you enjoy shopping for most?   clothes, or either anything for my daughters or grandaughter

12. What's the last thing you think of before you leave the house?  I make sure I have my keys before I close the door and become locked out.

Key Lime Cake

Michael tasted a Key Lime cake during the Christmas holidays.  So for his birthday he decided that's what kind he wanted.  Well I wasn't sure about a recipe for it so I looked online.   Then while at Wal-mart picking up what I needed.  There was a lady in there buying 20-30 boxes of cake mix.  I was thinking I only need one box just leave me one.  I must have had a look on my face because she said don't ask.  I said okay.  But she continued to tell me what cakes she had to make over the weekend.  So I asked her had she ever made a Key Lime Cake and she said sure this is what you need.  Same as what I had found online but so I thought I would share it with ya'll.  It reminds me of lime sherbert, and maybe that's why he like it so well.  I remember eating lime sherbert with diet sprite in it while I was pregnant with him.  Guess I wanted to watch my calories better the second time around.  With Megan they told me I needed more calcium so I ate ice cream with milk in it alot.  But paid dearly, by gaining 50 lbs while I was pregnant with her.


Key Lime Cake

1 box lemon cake mix
1 box instant lemon pudding
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup cooking oil
4 egg3-4 drops green food coloring

Mix it all together,  Bake in two round pans at 350 for 20 minutes or until done.

The recipe online called for a glaze but I used a cream cheese icing so I've put the recipe for both.

Glaze:

2 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup lime juice
Mix until smooth and drizzle over cake.


Icing
1 stick butter
1 box cream cheese
1/4 cup lime juice or enough for right consistency

Beat until smooth and spread on the top and sides of the two layers.

Chicken white bean chili and a giveaway

I love finding new recipes for the crockpot.  And I also love getting stuff for free, but who doesn't?  So when blogspark offered me the chance to do a giveaway and I needed a recipe to go with it.  I came up with the great idea of letting someone else come up with the recipe. So this giveaway will feature Mary.  She has some wonderful southern recipes on her blog.  I don't remember how I found her blog but I go back often to print out some of her recipes.  So if you love southern cooking that's quick and easy go check her out.  This one also tells that it only has 3 weight watcher points per serving without the extra garnishes.  And as we all know it's a new year and most of us are looking for ways to eat healthier.
So for the recipe you must visit Mary's  blog .
Now the giveaway.   It is for ONE Old El Paso “Tackle the Taste” gift pack that includes two free cans of Green Chiles, as well as a football-shaped ceramic serving platter, two sets of football-themed plates, cocktail napkins, and a themed table runner.

It can also be used after football is over if you have a football themed birthday party.    In the meantime here is a coupon you can use towards your own purchase of  Old El Paso green chiles.

First mandatory entry, you must visit Mary's  blog and then leave me a comment with the name of one of her other recipes.

This giveaway will end Monday January 18th.

Disclosure :  I received no compensation for the giveaway other than the gift pack fro Old El Paso through Blogspark.

Chapter 1..............Growing in the Lord

One of my goals this year is to be a better wife and mother.  I've started reading A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George  again.  So I thought I would share it with ya'll.   I hope to cover a chapter a week, but we will see how it goes.    I've also linked the scripture to Bible Gateway.com  Whether you are married, or hoping to be married in the future.  I feel this book will help us if we truly obey and listen to what God is telling us through it.                          The first thing we have to do each and every day is to put the Lord first.  For months after my divorce, eight years ago.   I wondered if there was something more I could have done.  Had I not prayed hard enough or forgiven enough.  But we and God can only do so much.   The person we're praying for has to be willing to change.  God's not going to force himself on anyone.  We decide, whether the things of the Lord are really that important to us..or not.  We decide whether we schedule in the time it takes to grow, to meet with God regularly, to stop, look, and listen to Him by reading our Bibles.....or not.    We grow by putting God first.  That's how spiritual growth occurs.  The most tried and true way to put God first is by reading His word daily and obeying.  Also by spending time with Him through prayer.  My biggest fault is venting to everyone else instead of God. 

Step #1  Discover through reading the Bible what God says about your life and how He wants you to live it.   By reading His word we learn more about Him and His standards for righteousness.

Step#2  Discern through studying the Bible the meaning and implications of what you are reading.  Praying and seeking God to understand what He has said in His word.

Step#3  Through heartfelt obedience what we have read and learned, discovered and discerned.  This is where we put our knowledge into action into our lives.

How is your heart?  Is it strong in faith....or weak?  A woman and a wife after God's own heart is someone who follows after Him and close behind Him.   (Psalms 63:8)  The awareness of weak or sinful areas in our walk with God can be the beginning of even greater growth.  

Are you satisfied with your current condition, spiritual maturity, and rate of growth?  If so, you will grow no more.   If not, if there is a holy desire to grow in the Lord, to know God in a deeper, more intimate way, to be a woman after His heart, to strive toward His standards, to please Him, to be more Christlike, to identify, attack, and triumph over ungodly conduct and practices ........then yours is the soft, responsive-to-God heart that will grow in the Lord.

First is commitment, there is a commitment section throughout the book.  In which it will ask us to determine to grow, to determine to move out, to determine to take action, to determine to do the "putting off and putting on" of the practices and attitudes God calls us to , to determine to pay the price to follow after God...........to put Him first, whatever that cost may be and however high it may soar, no matter what.

Second, we are to write in our own way, in our own words, and from our heart, our personal commitment to God.  Make a commitment------a decision-----and determine to grow into the woman------and wife-----you yearn to be-----a woman after God's own heart, one who will do all His will.  Acts 13:22

There is also a Heart Response at the end of each chapter.  It's little things that make a big difference..

1.  Read your Bible every day.

Something is better than nothing.  Here are her suggestions of our Bible reading to go along with the book.

Day 1...............................Genesis 1

Day 2................................Genesis 2

Day 3................................Genesis 3

Day 4 ............................Ephesians 5

Day 5............................Colossians 3

Then go back and begin at Genesis 4 and finish the book of Genesis.

2.  Pray for your husband three times every day.

Pray before he wakes up, at noon, and right before he comes home. 

3.  Plan to go to church this week.

If your a little rusty on your church attendance, or haven't been going at all.  Place this all-imporant date on your calendar. 

4.  Sign up for a Bible class or Bible study.  Another great way of experiencing the joy of growing in the Lord.

5.  Purchase or borrow a Christian book on any topic.  As you learn from others sharing their knowledge and their passion for God and His son, you too will grow in knowledge.