gps. found.

Amazing. I know. 

So I filed a police report regarding my stolen GPS the day after it happened. Someone suggested I should do so because the police somehow communicate with the pawn shops. 

Sure enough... got a phone call today from the Ft. Worth Police Department telling me they located my GPS. They found it in a pawn shop in one of the neighboring towns. So in about 30-45 days I have to attend a property hearing with all my documentation to retrieve my GPS. 

So here's is the irony... I am now in the possession of not one, not two, but THREE GPS's!!! I got one when I was in California, but never felt that great about it or the price I paid so I've left it in the box and kept the receipt. And then I found one at Sam's that I LOVED for a great price - which will be the one I keep. And now my original. I waited over a year and in a matter of one month I've owned 3. Crazy business.

Thanks for all those people who consoled me on my stolen GPS! Rejoice that filing a police report CAN actually do some good!! 

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday... GIVEAWAY!!!

Today is the day that has been talked about for AGES! The day where you will wait in expectation! The day where you will dream of the big prize! The day where you hope that Mr. Random.org has a favor to pay you... today is TEMPT MY TUMMY TUESDAY GIVEWAY! Hosted at my dear friends blogs... Lana and Lisa!!!

The awesome prize is 

So now for my recipe. In honor of my friends Lana and Lisa (whose birthday is tomorrow, btw!) I will post a recipe that Lana gave to me last year. And, I believe, Lisa gave to her.

MINTY CHOCOLATE TREATS


*this is not my photo. Very pretty, just not mine. I ground my peppermint to almost a powder.

Using a food processor grind the following ingredients together:

1/2 container of Oreo cookies (or any chocolate/cream cookie)
3/4 c slivered/sliced almonds
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 c sugar

Transfer the ground ingredients to a bowl.
Stir in 1/4 c chocolate milk
1/3 c light corn syrup

Mixture is thick and gooey.

Shape in to 3/4 inch balls and roll in crushed peppermint candy. If you want really fine, ground up peppermint use the food processor to grind)

Store in refrigerator.

Now post your own holiday recipe or foodie item, tip or trick and run on over to Lana AND Lisa's blog and post!!!

Christmas Photos...

So off we go for more photos!!!! This time in Brooke's Christmas dress.
I love the one with the look of total annoyance. HA! Reminds me way too much of myself!

Christmas Craft

So this was a little craft project we did today. And when I say "we" I mean "me".  I had great intentions of it being something Brooke could help me do, but didn't really think it through when everything has to be hot glued. But aren't these just the cutest? And super simple!

And then we had our usual Sunday afternoon naps. Got gussied up and went to Grapevine for a little impromptu "yeah-momma-got-her-camera-back" photo shoot! This probably wouldn't have been necessary were it not for the fact that we didn't buy Brooke's OH SO ADORABLE school pictures. They must have known just how adorable they were and jacked the price WAY UP. For one 8x10, 2 5x7's and 4 (or 8) wallets was $60 (yes, SIXTY!) dollars. Yea, ain't gonna happen. And I spent $27 on Brooke's Christmas dress and decided I'd just do my own pictures. We also went to a church in Grapevine and listened to their Christmas performance. It was so lovely! 

And now I'm exhausted and headed to bed. I'm going to have the most ridiculous busy week on the books and I need all the rest I can get! 

Don't worry... photos from tonights shoot is forthcoming!

My heart hurts...

Oh my gracious... do you ever have a certain moment where something weighs so heavy on your heart that is just hurts? Maybe it's because I've been hanging out in a land where all my worlds have collided. Where every decade of my life is represented and housed in a single location. Where the memories... good and bad... can be recalled in a single instant. And it has served to remind me that... after living here for almost a year and half I have made no friends here. I have never made friends easily and knew this would be a challenge when we moved here, but it's this holiday season when we have no friends to celebrate with that is has seemed to hit me the most. 

My prayer really is that the Lord would bring some godly people in to our lives. Some people we can share our daily lives with. We hear so often about the importance of friendship, especially for women, and how they serve to enhance our daily lives. And then a part of me wonders if I've closed myself off somehow. I'm still very hurt over our move and how after 2 decades (for Jeff) and 1 decade (for me) of living in the same town, and a member of 2 churches we could not hardly get anyone to help us move. If it wasn't for the help of some dear friends keeping Brooke and allowing Jeff time to pack and then the help of 3 friends who dedicated a couple of hours (you know who you are) I would have thought that we had made no impact on people whatsoever. Does it sting a little to know that after 3 emails begging people to help that we could get hardly none? I can't describe the depth of pain. To this day it hurts more than you know. And the fact that people didn't even respond to say they couldn't help is beyond painful. No fond farewells. No hugs good-bye. Nothing to say "We love you and will miss you."

So... maybe somewhere deep inside I've put up my walls to prevent being hurt again and thus created this friendless atmosphere for myself. But I so dearly love having friends. People to celebrate with, rejoice with, cry with, have fun with. 

Wow... what a downer blog, huh?!! I thought blog world was suppose to be happy world!! So... this is just an opportunity, once again, to have a front row seat to an answered prayer. I know the Lord knows the value of friendship... he hand picked 12 of his own to surround Himself with. If anyone can bring someone along to share the joy and laughter of sisterhood with it is the Lord. He knows my desire and my fears better than anyone. 

The song "More Than You'll Ever Know" by Watermark immediately comes to my mind when I think of friendship. I have always reserved this song for my best friend, Sandy, because if ever these world emulated a friendship it would be ours, but as an upbeat note to this downer blog I'm quite certain she's okay with me sharing the words... and I promise the next blog will be more upbeat!

Something brought you to my mind today
I thought about the funny ways
You make me laugh
And yet I feel like it's ok to cry with you
Something about just being with you that
When I leave I feel like I've been with God
And that's the way it ought to be, yeah

Cause you've been more than a friend to me
You fight off my enemies
Cause you have spoken the truth over my life
And you'll never know what it means to me
Just to know you've been on your knees for me
Oh, you have blessed my life
More than you'll ever know
Yeah, yeah, yeah, more than you'll ever know
Yeah, yeah, yeah

You had faith
When I had none
You prayed God would bring me a brand new song
When I didn't think I could find the strength to sing
And all the while I've been hoping that I'll
Do the kind of praying for you that you've done for me
And that's the way it outght to be, yeah

You have carried me
You have taken on a burden
That wasn't your own, yeah
May that blessing return to you
A hundredfold
Oh oh yeah, a hundredfold

Most Wonderful Time...

There truly is no denying that my camera has arrived!! And to test the baby out we went to downtown Fort Worth this evening to check out the magnificent tree and other holiday dressings. 

Go to the album and check all the pics out! 

DOWNTOWN FORT WORTH AT CHRISTMAS. 

Here's a little preview... 

Pacific Ocean at Sunset

Welcome Home!

I finally feel like my body is put back together... my camera arrived today! YIPPEE!! I now feel whole again. Oh how I have missed my camera! I seriously can't remember the last time I was without a nice big camera. I've had one all the way back to high school. So here's a product of my returned camera back... how sweet are they?? 

I miss my camera!!!

I'm still waiting to receive my camera from shipping it off to be repaired. I miss it so much. Especially this time of the year! I can't take a single (good) picture of my tree or my daughter or decorations or anything. And with all the great Christmas scrap kits coming out... errr... I'm so irritated! Thanks to my favorite boss in the whole wide world she has said that I could borrow her husbands. So maybe I can actually get some Christmas pics of my daughter this weekend. My camera is suppose to be shipped soon, but I need this weekend and can't wait a whole other week to get pics done. 

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday... Pretzel Delights

This delightful little holiday treat was introduced to me by my best friend Sandy. It's by far the EASIEST holiday treat I make. The most time consuming part is removing the wrappers from the Kiss, which of course, can be done while watching TV. 

All you need is:

- twist type pretzels (and I really do recommend the name brand because every off brand I ever bought had to many broken pretzels, which you can't use for this treat)

- Hershey's Caramel (or Peanut Butter) Kiss. 

Preheat oven to 350. Lay pretzels out evenly over a cookie sheet. Place a Kiss in the center of each pretzel. Place in the oven for about 3-5 minutes. Depending on your oven you will need to watch very carefully for the that first batch to gauge the time. You will kind of see the tips give just a little and you'll know they are done. You just need them to melt to the pretzel so the Kiss does not come off. 

Now... head on over to Lisa's blog and check out all the goodies for this week's Tempt My Tummy Tuesday! If you're not tempted, you're not paying attention!

ENJOY! 

The Lord giveth... the Lord taketh away...

So imagine my excitement when I get my first bonus check last week... AT LAST I get to purchase the GPS I've been desiring for over a year. Ever since I moved to this crazy town and had no idea where I was going. So of course I rise early on Black Friday, venture out with all the other crazy's and stand in a line for an hour to the GPS of my dreams. And now a distant dream it is. After 4 days in my beloved possession, someone felt like they shouldn't have to work for the item, broke in my car (that was in my driveway) and stole it. FOUR DAYS I had this long awaited item. I'm sure there is a lesson here somewhere, but right now I'm too ticked to soak in the lesson. 

Of course I cried all the way to work yesterday morning. I'm sure the dry cleaning lady thought I was completely off my rocker as my face was still tear soaked and I'm passing off my clothes to her. I was still crying when I arrived at work. After about 2 hours at work I'm able to focus a little more about putting things in to perspective. My job is to save people's homes. To keep them in their homes. And I'm distraught over my 4 day old stolen GPS. Granted, the GPS represented a month long battle of late nights and difficult, heartbreaking conversations for my bonus check. 

Jeff promises that if his promotion ever comes through I can get another one. We'll see. I just had to spend $228 to repair my beloved appendage - my digital camera!!! So I don't know have the heart to spend another $200 any time soon. 

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday... Christmas Crunch

mmmmm.... it must be Christmas-time with the smell of brown sugar, butter and lots of calories wafting through my house. And as my precious friend, Lana, can attest... this treat is truly a holiday delight!! I had resigned to not sharing the recipe this year. Of course the reasoning was totally selfish. I mean, if I continue to give out the recipe then "my" special season treat will cease to be special. :)  It's so special that it has it's own cooking dish and mixing spoon. But how could I resist the plea of my friend to post the recipe?! And besides, once upon a time the recipe was shared with me. One of my best friends mother-in-law shared the recipe with me many years ago.  So here it is... 

Christmas Crunch

1 lb box of light brown sugar

2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

1/2 c white corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 16 oz box of Crispix, Corn or Rice Chex cereal

1 lb peanuts

Bring mixture of brown sugar, butter, salt and corn syrup to a boil for one minute. Remove from heat and add vanilla and baking soda. Mix in cereal and nuts until thoroughly covered. Spread out on one or two large cookie sheets. Bake at 250 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool on wax paper. Break into pieces once it's cooled. Serve to anyone you want to impress! 

Now head on over to Lisa's blog and check out the rest of the delightful Tempt My Tummy Recipes... special edition... holiday treats!!!