I have given into temptation and man have I paid for it.

My company have all left the hills and I am now on the farm setting with Ash and Punkin while Honey helps out with the planting. Every thing is going well with the planting this year and I am soo thankful for that.

Just when I thought maybe we were going to get some landscaping done, the farm called and guess what friends, it wins EVERY TIME!

This time of year is sooo nice and sooo hard for me. I want to be out side with every fiber of my being and so a few times I have given in to temptation and man have I paid for it. I am sick now, I feel like my eyes are going to pop out of my head, my throat is extra sore, my ears and head hurts and as if that isn't enough I fell Wednesday and now my body feels like a truck has ran over it. So, for now I'm staying in as much as possible.

During the kids visit Punkin was sick so that kept all of us busy. It makes me sad when anyone I love is sick, doesn't it you?

Here are a few photos to share of our time together.

Playing the radio, watching a little tv and eating Gammy's biscuit!

Look mail for me....

Apple for a snack....

Gammy believes in everyone cleaning up even me!

I love my movies, my favorite is Alice in Wonderland, I'd watch it all day.
My favorite shoes rub blisters on my feet, see the band-aids?

This little bed was made by my Uncle in Virginia for Ash and given to her when she was 1-month old. Now I have given it to Austin and I think A is going to repaint it to match her room in the future.

I think we are doing well with our diet, we'll weigh again this weekend. I've been cooking a lot of meat and vegetables with select fruit for snacks, kind of following the Sugar Buster Plan. I did this years ago and lost thirty pounds and have kept most of it off. Now I only want to loose around ten pounds and it's easier if the whole family diets.  I had lost two pounds but I'll weigh this weekend after the Raspberry Roll I may have messed up. I made vegetable soup for supper last night and only had one bowl. Honey on the other hand had two bowls and a piece of french bread. We're still on the farm so when we get home we'll crack down. My man loves to eat and I love to cook and have spoiled him through the years with my very fattening southern dishes. 

Thanks for stopping by y'all and please come again!

And Here's Punkin

Man this was work but she is sooo worth it. While our kids went to celebrate their anniversary we stayed with Punkin in her home.

Here's our visit with Punkin:

She loves to talk on the phone, it's so cute although we don't know a word she's saying.

She ate the whole time, I mean steadily until I wouldn't give her anything else. Seriously for breakfast Saturday she ate three times more than I did, but she probably gets more exercise than I do too.

We had lots of holding and loving time... We had some friends from Indiana stop in for a visit and we let them hold and love her too.

 

She did a few things that got her in trouble like stand on my computer case, play in the dog's water and throw toys.  She pushed her highchair to the garbage can, I don't know what that was all about.

So we're packed up and ready to go back to the Hills, Punkin will be coming soon as we have company from Florida coming to help celebrate A's birthday.

Thanks for stopping by ya'll  and come again soon as I have a GREAT gluten free review on the way!

Awfully Good Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars

Honey and I had our "Strawberry Hill" Christmas party last night. We had never met most of our neighbors and this party is a huge deal for the neighborhood.

Honey had been gone all day and came in right at time to go, he had told me that he had some cheese spread given as a gift and so I went and bought special crackers so that we could carry it to share. I knew that it would take the two of us forever to eat it alone. I also made a double batch of my famous Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars because one batch is NEVER enough.

Honey finally made it home in time for us to shower and dress while my bars cooled so that I could cut them and place them on my Christmas platter. Before jumping in the shower I took the cheese spread and put it in a dip bowl to serve on a platter along side assorted crackers. After getting the dip bowl ready I licked the spoon I was using to discover that the cheese spread tasted like an expensive form of Velveeta cheese. I was soooo disappointed but decided to take it anyway after all I had all those crackers and what would I do with them?

I got dressed for the big event, at least I felt I was having a good hair day! I headed to the kitchen to get the bars ready to discover in horror that my bars had flopped! I have made these bars for years ya'll and I've never had them flop one time until last night, the middle never completely set up. It was getting late and we needed to get next door so I cut the bars and saved the outer edges, thank God I had made a large batch.

I cooked them longer than normal but next time I make a large batch I'll know that you have to cook them a lot longer.

They turned out awful but were sooo good.

This recipe is too good not to share, if you don't have to eat gluten free just use your normal cookie recipe for the crust and topping.

Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars

Ingredients:
1 Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
1 pkg cream cheese; 8 oz.
½ cup sugar
1 egg

Instructions:
Mix cookie mix according to pkg directions. I add sour cream to make it moister.
For crust, press half of the dough onto the bottom of a greased 8-in. square-baking pan.
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth. Spread over crust.
Crumble remaining dough over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

I had most of the cheese spread left so I plan to make dips and use it in my southern grits!! Yum it will be sooo good.

I met a lot of new people and had a great time, I just hope that I wasn't literally the talk of the party.

Meatloaf with No Onions

I'm beginning to slow down and breathe! We've been so busy getting our new home settled and I have a lot more to do but I plan on unpacking my boxes as I can, at this point there is no rush. I'm hoping Honey will be able to meet me to shop for some more furniture I need end tables for the family room, it's hard not having anywhere to sit things. I have found, or actually Ashia did, some nice lamps at Big Lots so I'm thinking about them, that would save money and they are nice.

Last night I decided to try and make a meatloaf without onions. I always make my meatloaves with ketchup and Worcester sauce and any type of form of onion gives Honey hives. So I experimented with some basic items and it was GREAT! I had some venison on hand with bacon added to the meat. It was the perfect meat for this meatloaf, I hope when I'm out of it plain venison or beef with be good too.  I didn't think to take a photo so here is the ingredients and maybe I'll remember a photo next time.


Meatloaf with No Onions

1 lb ground beef or venison
1 small tomato sauce
3 tbls Hunts Honey Mustard barbecue sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 to 1 cup GF bread crumbs
Top with sliced fresh tomatoes (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients, shape in loaf, place in loaf pan with tomatoes on top.  Cook until brown and crunchy around sides.

To go with this I made DeBoles Macaroni and Cheese, easy and tasty too and mixed vegetables. The meal was super good or maybe I'm just ready to start cooking in my own kitchen once again. Stay tuned as I have lots of mixes to review and meals to cook.



DON'T FORGET ONLY THREE DAYS TO GO...

I have a giveaway going on HERE
It will cost you nothing but a few minutes. The snacks are great and adults as well as children love them. I gave a little to my nine month old grand-baby and she loved it. I've only had two people leave a comment and I have three to give away so PLEASE go there now and leave a comment, that's all you have to do to sign up, you don't have to follow me although I would appreciate it! Thanks friend.



UPDATE ON HOME DECORATING

Here's what the house looks like so far...

One of the guest rooms.

I pray for peace to all who sleep here. I want my house to be a safe haven a place to get away from the storms of this life!

I saw these soaps years ago but at that time didn't feel I had a place to use them.  For those who know me you also know that I refuse to pay $8 for one bar of soap no matter how good it looks. Well, while A was here and we were shopping I found a box of three on clearance for $10. I was pumped and couldn't wait to get home with my purchase. They are now in one of my guest baths waiting on you to come see them. This bathroom wall is the same green as the bedroom above by the way.

 The master bedroom before and after.

 I love this bedding and room! it is huge after having a small one for so long so we are thinking about making a sitting room in it also. My desk takes up some of the space but there's still more to spare!

My bath Before and After. 

I have not began to hang pictures etc.

Thanks for visiting, I hope to see you soon!!!

We're working hard but where is the progress?

Honey and I worked around the farm Monday and then headed to the hills!

Honey gave the bushes on the farm a nice haircut! Now I know you are thinking that they look awful but they were so big that they covered the house. We'll see if they grow out of this one.

When we got in the hills we had to run to the flat land and take care of a piece of equipment. Finally we were able to resume our painting in the garage, remember we left it last week because of the storm. Well to make a long story short we've decided that we definitely need to hire someone for the inside of the house! :( We are not real good at painting and oh boy we are slow, so we have someone coming to meet with us tomorrow. If he doesn't work out we're going to take bids and see what happens, I do want to move in this place!

Have you tried these? Man oh man I like them. The last time I placed a gluten-free order they were out of my crackers so I've been using these instead. Try them!

I just got ready to go out to dinner with my hero and notice I am sporting my daughter (Sarah's) jewelry if you haven't checked out her page you can do so HERE! Hurry time is slipping by.......

Got to run, thanks for stopping by and do so again sometimes!

Does pollen just attack girls?

Is the pollen going to kill us or just make us think we're dying? The girls in our family have been sick for months with something like a cold, but I really think it's mostly allergies, and the men haven't been sick one time. Maybe it's because the Lord knows the men need to keep on working. Ash and I took Punkin back to the doctor yesterday for the third time with this stuff. They did blood work and she does have a virus but the doctor said he too believes a lot of it is allergies. I was feeling fine and today my head is killing me.

Austin on the ride home after her blood work, she was such a big girl she didn't cry at all but her eyes sure got big.

On our way to the closing for our new house that we will soon make a home.

After we signed the papers we went to check out the farm. When I noticed how green our grass is I thought about the old song, "The Green Green Grass of Home."

Always work to get done.

Resting while waiting on Honey to finish his work, it's been a long day, but praise God for all He did! Honey brought me home then he returned to work some more while I work on packing up and getting ready to move.