One of my favorite recipes ....

I discovered this tasty dish on one of my favorite websites: http://thepioneerwoman.com/. It's so rich and yummy and has the perfect combination of flavors ... hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

CHEESY OLIVE BREAD

I'm hopping on the McLinky Blog Hop today .. why not join me?

The things that entertain him ....

My youngest son has always been able to entertain himself. It doesn't matter if he is playing with something expensive or something as simple as plastic army men. In fact, it doesn't even have to come from the store ... while outdoors with nothing to play with, he creates his own magic!

Then there was the Christmas when he came up with an idea to be his own gift ....

Most recently, he started collecting change. It didn't matter if it was in our home, outside, my car or where ever. When he stumbled across a coin or two, he would excitedly run to his homemade bank, empty out the contents and recount.

This went on for days until he had $10 exactly. He declared he was done and off to the store we went to purchase more items for his imagination.

I sure do love this boy and am blessed to be witness to his daily activities :)

Can you spare 5 iminutes?

I was truly touched by this story and I think you will be too:

http://www.nbcdfw.com/sports/football/A_Game

Another lifetime ..........

There are times when I see my friend's creations that it causes a little stir in my heart over a time in my life when, I too, created pretty things for children. Even though it was just a couple of years ago that I set this aside, it seems like it's been forever. I took a moment today to look over a site that features some of my work and thought you might like to take a peek too.

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=coppermop

I am grateful for the time I had to sew and create. It made me realize that I can do whatever I put my mind to. It'll be interesting to see if I'm lead to that place again in my future. If not, I'm okay with enjoying my friend's creativity.

Gotta link for ya

Here's the ad for the meal plan I mentioned before. I'm excited to get started since I'm now an official member and have seen the types of meals they have planned. So far, my family will be 90% impressed (there's always *something* they'll turn their nose up to, right?). You should be able to click on the banner if you want to sign up:

Lots of changes for '09

Not only am I focused on getting my spiritual life where it needs, I'm making other changes this year that should improve other areas of my life.

Brad and I attended a preview of Dave Ramsey's program. It's our desire to get out of debt, pay off our house and start living without dragging that financial burden around anymore. We will start the classes on January 22nd (happy birthday to me!) and continue for 13 weeks. I'm hoping it's something that we can also share with our children so that they can learn from his wisdom as well.

Yesterday, while browsing Dave's website, I discovered something that caught my eye ... E-Mealz.com. Hmmm, they say for $1.25/week, they will provide my meal plans and shopping list from the store of my choice. Sounds pretty good to me! I signed up and am looking forward to getting my first list (this Thursday). If the meals are anything like the sample menu they have posted on their site, then I know we will all love this. If you happen to check them out and decide to sign up, I would appreciate the referral .... not sure if you need to tell them Stacey Patterson or Spatter sent you.

I already thought that 2009 was going to be a better year .... with all these new changes, I now KNOW it will be!! Hope you are discovering new things this year to brighten your life as well.

A must read ...

One of the best blogs to read daily. I LOVE this woman's sense of humor!!

The Country Doctor's Wife: My Day in Court by CDW