Busy, busy, busy!

Whew!  Life has been busy around  here these past few days.  Let's see, our trip to Nashville included....

• Dave Ramsey Live Event...thanks again, Jon, for the tickets and the hospitality!
• Lunch on Sunday with my brother and sister-in-law (Ray and Linda - yay!) and a couple of their grandkids
• Nice dinner out with my mom and dad (they always enjoying eating away from the Center!) and time spent visiting with them
• Watching the Green Bay Packers best the Steelers....sorry, Ray....I know you are a big Steelers' fan!
• Making (and indulging in) chimichangas...at Jon's request...oh, but how we enjoyed them
• A safe....and uneventful...trip to and from Nashville in spite of the snow and rain!

Only problem with a trip to Nashville is that there are soooo many friends and family members either in Nashville or along the way that we don't get to see unless we have more time...bummers!  We may have to make a "dedicated" trip...one dedicated to seeing all those we'd like to see but don't normally get a chance to during our whirlwind jaunts.

Since we have been home there have been the normal "post-trip" chores, along with some more "settling in" chores.    Finally found something for the middle of the dining room table..

Ooops...the color is "off"

Found the bowl at WallyWorld, the balls at Michael's (gotta' love a 40% off coupon), the pine cones are from our back yard, and the table runner...well, actually, it is two placemats put together!   I have searched and searched for something I felt would work that was at a price I was willing to pay....and I think these work real well, at least for the time being!  I also found some everyday dishes (once again, at a price I was willing to pay) at Ross....

and they had two boxes (eight place settings), so I grabbed those puppies up and put 'em in my shopping cart before you could say, "Jack Rabbit"!  I REALLY had gotten tired of using our limited number of dishes that we had carried arouund in the motorhome all those years!  It all works together very nicely, don't you think?

Yesterday was baking day....yum, yum...the freezer now has a fresh stash of baked goodies for our and/or our guests' dining/snacking pleasure.  My oven is HUGE....I think I could cook a whole Thanksgiving dinner in it all at one time, so when I fire it up I like to take advantage of all that nice heat and do several things at the same time (saving on that electric bill, ya' know).  All in alI my baking efforts yielded two batches of brownies,

two batches of Weight Watcher's chocolate pumpkin muffins (mix one box of devil's food cake mix with one 16 oz. can of solid pack pumpkin and bake for 20 min. at 400....how easy and lo-fat is that?)...I used my mini-bundt pans for one of the batches....sure would be good with a little ice cream with chocolate syrup on top, but then I'd add back in all the calories and fat I just saved! 

My baking list also included two batches of the carrot apple muffins (recipe from Mother Earth News) I had tried a couple of weeks ago.  This time I made some of them using my muffin top pan (LOOOOOVE that thing....great for making giant cookies, too),

Mmmm....my mouth is watering now!

...and then I remembered how one year I made or gave something to my honey every day starting with Feb. 1st and ending with Valentine's Day.  I realize it's a little late to do that, but I thought I could do a little something special for him every day from now until Valentine's Day....

Apple carrot muffin with cream cheese icing....tastes just like a mini-carrot cake.
And all dressed up, to boot!

Add to all that baking a little cleaning, a little indoor gardening (I'll share that with you another time), planning our garden (can hardly wait for all that organically grown fresh produce)....yes, we have been busy! 

And in the midst of it all, God keeps showing me new things....things that are helping me deal with some stuff that I have carried around for a loooooong time.  Sometimes I wonder how He has the patience to keep working on me....after all, I am approaching what I used to consider old age very quickly (no, 60....not 70 or better yet, 50!).  You'd think I would have more of my "stuff" worked out by now....guess I'm a slow learner, but I'm so grateful that He doesn't give up on me...just keeps showing me things and giving me those "Aha!" moments.  Thanks, God...you ARE pretty awesome, and I am so blessed to be one of your children!