Whew! One of these days I really am going to be more consistent about posting entries on this little blog. I always think of things I want to write about but when the ideas hit I am in my car or in the middle of cooking supper or getting Colt ready for bed. Maybe I should start wearing a clip board around my neck so I can jot down my ideas when they hit!

CHANGE IS GOOD

My first order of business with this little blog of
mine has been to find a better name for it. Pipes Place just isn't cutting it for me. After flip-flopping back and forth between various ideas and options, I think I have decided on sincere-beauty. . .  not because I think I am beautiful but because in 2010, I want to be about becoming sincerely beautiful as described in 1 Peter 3:3-4.  I love this verse and want to use it as a guideline for my life this year.

PIONEER WOMAN
 I have recently began reading a new blog. Many of you probably already read it. It is the Confessions of a Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond. First of all, I LOVE her name. Ree. How simple and cute is that? She lives on a ranch in Oklahoma with her rancher hubby and their 4 children whom she home schools. In addition, she appears to be a fabulous cook and photographer. My mom got me her new cookbook (Pioneer Woman Cooks) for Christmas and I absolutely LOVE it! She took all of her own photos and it is not full of weird recipes, but real life, home cooked recipes with ingredients I think I can actually find at the neighborhood Kroger. I am in the process of figuring out which of her recipes along with my own that I can use to have an "assemble and freeze my meals in advance day"! I have wanted to do this for a long time and I think I am finally motivated to take on a weekend full of cooking, assembling and freezing some meals to have ready for those times of the year when I don't have it "together" which, by the way, happens too OFTEN. Anyway she really has a way with words and a camera. And the fact that she grew up a city girl and is now a full fledged ranchers wife in the middle of nowhere is amusing to me. I highly recommend you check it out if it sounds like your sort of thing.

FAMILY STUFF


Moving on, my step son arrived on Sunday. We had an absolute blast playing our new family Christmas present - a Nintendo Wii. I am embarrased to say that I have become quit addicted to it. I think my favorite is Super Mario Brothers, but I am also becoming quite the hunter by playing the Cabela Big Game Hunter game. . . . it is really cool and scary and fun. The funniest part about it is how tickled Jordan gets that I even play that game! He thinks it is "so cool" that his momma likes to play this pretend hunting game. Needless to say, I think it will be a great way for us to bond. Jake on the other hand is super good at tennis. I've played him a few times and I think that is also one of my favorites because it is so close to the real thing. It's crazy! I came down stairs last night to find James playing bowling - by himself! So he is even enjoying it! Colt isn't really old enough to make the connection between pointing the remote and pushing certain buttons at certain times but we let him think that he is participating. I am so happy that my intuition was right about it being a great way for to bring us all together this week. We are even planning a New Year's Eve family game night with appetizers out the wazoo (thanks to my new cookbook)! I can't wait!

I guess that is all for now. Thanks for stopping by my little blog. I hope you and yours has a wonderfully Happy New Year!

With love,
Jen

How Sweet It Is . . .

The weather that is! We are in the midst of absolutely FABULOUS weather right now in our neck of the woods! It is supposed to be in the upper 50's tonight and the upper 70's during the day! Last night I just had to go for a walk in our neighborhood, but I waited until dark to be sure it wouldn't be too hot . . . wasn't even hot at all! And, to top it off, Jordan decided to meet up with me (on his own free will I might add) so he rode his bike while I walked. It turned out to be a great time for us to talk . . . I miss the days when I ALWAYS had a captive audience. But, it does make it even more special when HE initiates spending time with his momma . . . I love it! It's one of my most favorite "surprises" when it happens. Anyway, I guess that is it. I've gotta pick out my Sept. 1 memory verse - any ideas? I hope you all have a wonderful week. I'll try to post again soon!

Beautiful Day

Ok - so it's been awhile - as usual! But, I'm bound and determined to keep going with this blog. I'm not sure anyone has even read it since I last posted. Oh well!

We have had a fabulous day today! The weather here is FANTASTIC! It is about as good as anyone could ask for and I think it is supposed to last through this week. . . YAY! Anyway, after church we loaded up our bikes and some food for lunch and drove out to the lake for a picnic. Mom and Ray met us and we found the perfect little spot in the shade. Colt got to do LOTS of bikeriding and we enjoyed grilled hot dogs and SMORES! YUM! It certainly wasn't anything fancy but we had such a good time just relaxing and enjoying this beautiful weather. These opportunities to spend time with each other - outdoors - don't happen very often in AR so I'm thankful that today's weather was cooler . . . and that all of our schedules "jived" . . . that REALLY doesn't happen very often!

Here are some pics of our day! Jordan was there but left early to go workout. Unfortunately, he left before I got my camera out. . . I'll catch him the next time!

Oh well - gotta go for now! Gotta get geared up for the first FULL week of school (and traffic)! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

A Fresh Start!

Ok, so I am going to try this blog thing again. I hope that it is an outlet for me to get things off my mind. I don't know that anyone will really care about what I am writing, but I'm not concerned with that. I like to write but don't ever do it. I think it will be a stress reliever for me, so here goes . . .

SCRIPTURE MEMORY TEAM

At the first of the year I decided to participate in a scripture memory challenge on Beth Moore's blog (livingproofministries.blogspot.com). The goal is to memorize 2 verses each month of the year. On the 1st and 15th of each month, Beth posts a scritpure memory team post and we all enter our verse, with the reference and translation and our name and location. I don't ever talk to another soul that participates, which seems like it wouldn't be motivating. But, I am actually sticking with it. Earlier this week, I picked my 12th verse. So, some of you might be asking "why is she doing this and for what?". Well, so many times I now bits and pieces of scripture but can't remember where it is found. I thought this would be a fun way of memorizing scripture and it has been so much fun for me! It is a challenge which keeps me going and keeps me trying. I write the date next to each verse in the margin of my Bible and I also keep a list of them on an index card so that I can recite them whenever possible. In January there will be a Living Proof conference in Houston that will be free for all participants, BUT I will have to recite a certain number of my verses for entrance into the conference. I am so pumped!

COUPONING
On another note, I have recently started couponing! So far I have made two grocery trips and have saved around 50% off my grocery bill each time!!! PLUS, I am bringing home a TON more food for the same amount as I was spending before. I actually am running out of room in my pantry because of all the stuff I am getting. I have listed several of the websites on this blog in case you want to try it out for yourself. My favorite new way to save is by loading e-coupons onto my Kroger card. When you scan your card at the check-out, it autmatically deducts the coupons for any grocery items that match - PLUS you can stack the e-coupons with paper coupons for even more savings. . . here are a few examples of my bargains: last night I got a box of plain Cheerios for $.90, a bottle of Kraft BBQ sauce for $.25, 2 Maybelline mascara's for $6 (B1G1 free)!! Anyway, I neve thought I could be "one of those coupon people" you see on the morning talk shows bragging about their bargains - but I am loving it! I love getting a great bargain. Speaking of bargains, our family vacation is even a bargain this year. We are getting 7 nights in a beachfront condo for the price of 4 due to a real estate special! Woo hoo!

BOYS

Well, all of my boys are finally home. Jake arrived Wednesday night after a brief visit with our Houston fam. He is taller, his voice is deeper and his frame is thicker! I think he is going to be a stout boy as he continues to grow! Jordan got home this morning from his 10 fishingtrip tothe Boundary Waters of MN. I think he was happy to have access to the often overlooked comforts of home - like a REAL toilet! And, of course, Colt is always here, but he has been beside himself with excitement to have his bubbas at home . . . he loves them so much! This morning he said to me "mommy do we have a sister?". To which I answered . . . "nope, just brothers - no girls except mommy". Sometimes, I find myself wishing for the little girl I've never had and never will have. I think about things like who will I teach to cook, scrapbook, plant flowers, etc. And then I hear a thud from the other room followed by hysterical laughing and I quickly realize that I have all I will ever need in my house full of boys! They bring something out in me that I'm not sure I even knew existed before I had them around to show me. They are carefree, fun-loving and mischevous little personalities make me realize how fun it is to just fly by the seats of our pants sometimes! Life doesn't always have to be so structured and serious . . . they have taught me that it is OK to have fun on purpose!