I Choose to be Positive

Things I Love found on DaySpring.com

Redeemed

Scripture Reference:
I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.
Isaiah 43:1

By Grace Alone

Scripture Reference:
By the grace of God, I am what I am.
I Corinthians 15:10

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Guilty Pleasures

I have been craving chocolate all.day.long. Everything I have ate today has just not satisfied my craving, not even being aware of what that craving even was. But, as I was organizing the baked goods cabinet...there it was!
A bag of Snyder's of Hanover Pretzel Dips. Yum!
I can only find these around the Christmas holiday and tend to buy a bag of each flavor each time I go to Wal-mart or the grocery store. My favorite is the Hershey Dark Chocolate, but still love the Hershey Milk Chocolate and the White Chocolate ones too. I found this to be a HOT topic to debate this past holiday season...Which is your favorite?
I am still not sure how this lovely little bag of chocolate covered pretzels got lost, but I am so appreciative that it happened. It is after midnight and I don't have to share this bliss with anyone. I don't feel guilty, I wouldn't dare wake anyone for anything so frivolous as this. It isn't my fault that they only make them in a itty bitty 7oz bag and my craving is stronger than that for sure. I have no idea why they only are available around the Christmas season, but I will go ahead and celebrate July 4th with this bag...and my honey's birthday since it past midnight it is officially here. Bless his heart, he is still at work on his 24 hour shift and won't be home until later in the morning. I can't promise that they will last that long, so I will have to bake him a cake instead...which is why I was digging/organizing the cabinet in the first place.
This craving has officially been satisfied. *smile*
I wonder how well these freeze so I can make them last through out the year when I stock up again this fall? Hum?

My Love for my New Garden Gloves

I am in love with my new garden gloves! Is that possible??? Yes! I love them! They were a little more than the average garden gloves, but they are worth it. We purchased them at Evergreen in Colonial Heights for $7.99 each pair.When they claim to 'fit like a glove'...they absolutely do. I can feel what I am doing when I work in the yard now. I have always just borrowed my dad's bulky gloves or had ones that were too thin with a lack of protection. These Atlas Glove's Nitrile Touch are fabulous and do fit like a second skin. They are made with a tough Nitrile coating and breathable Nylon lining. While being tough, they are soft, flexible,comfortable, knit without seams, extremely durable, and machine washable. What more could you want from garden gloves? I appreciate the grip that they have as well. I chose the purple ones and my sweet 86 year old grandmother got the pink pair. We will be weeding in durable fashion!
I am not doing a review of this product, I simply like to shout it to the world when I find something that I love and is useful. All opinions are my own and my Nan Nan's. *smile*

Kick-Off Summer with Frozen Lemonade Cupcakes

Posted by thenaptimechef 

 My mom loves lemon flavored desserts, so when I saw this on Babble I thought I have to try it for sure. It sounds clean and fresh for summer, but the butter cream icing is what really sold me.  I love recipes that call for a cake mix, it makes it easy. This recipe is extra easy with it calling for a frozen lemonade concentrate, you could use yellow or pink lemonade.
 
Frozen Lemonade Cupcakes
Adapted from Wilton
1 (9 oz) can frozen Lemonade Concentrate, thawed
White cake mix
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Buttercream Icing
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoons lemon juice
food coloring (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. In an electric mixer, add the cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, and lemonade concentrate. Mix on low for about 30 seconds and then increase to medium speed for 90 seconds. It is okay if the batter is still lumpy.
3. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and spray each liner with some non-stick spray. Fill each cup about 2/3 full of batter. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before icing.
4. To make the icing, cream the butter, confectioners’ sugar, salt and lemon juice in a stand mixer until completely combined. Add a few drops of food coloring if desired. Beat the icing again until light and fluffy. Spread on the tops of the cupcakes and serve.

Reflecting on a Fabulous Weekend

Well, I ended my fabulous holiday weekend with being sick. I was so aggravated! It didn't happen until Sunday night, so only Monday was a wash...only I'm still sick. I ended up with strep throat and it doesn't go away on its own, so I should start to turn around now that I dealt with it instead of waiting to see if it would just go away. Mommies aren't supposed to get sick!

What this down time has done for me is let me reflect on all the wonderful times we crammed in this weekend. My work-a-holic husband took the entire four day weekend off and we had my step-son with us the whole time, that never happens! It was wonderful! Michael cooked several amazing meals, he loves to cook and I don't deny him of the privilege. We love his cooking, especially on the grill! The chicken and steak kabobs were fabulous on the grill and then he did hamburgers and hot dogs. He made breakfast every morning, but his buttermilk pancakes are what stand out the most. YUM! We were at our pool a lot through out the weekend and it was so nice, not too hot. Saturday we took off to Dollywood to surprise Christopher and it worked, he was so excited. He got to ride his first roller coaster and his first train, his favorite was the water rides...the wetter he got the more he liked it. Mya was too little for the majority of the rides, so she and I enjoyed strolling around the park laughing at the boys and taking pictures. On our drive home that night we saw Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson tribute singing in a parking lot in Pigeon Forge and right down from there was Elvis himself dressed it the full white stand up collar singing in another parking lot with a crowd around him. And I ain't even kidding!  Just when you think you've see it all.

Chicken and Steak Kabobs

Christopher helping flip daddy's buttermilk pancakes

The Happy Campers

 

Mya's view of Dollywood

 
We got to have our neighbors over for a cookout and we made s'mores over the copper fire pit, it was so much fun. Kim had her first s'more at age 42, she can mark that off her bucket list now. We got to telling stories and laughing, somehow we got the kids scared of the dark while they were catching fire flies. We didn't really tell scary stories, just of the crazy storms we have been having lately. Even the adults were wishing we had left more lights on. We got to go to some friends house to do more swimming, cooking out and had homemade ice cream. I'll have to get Ben to share that recipe for sure!

It was a grand holiday weekend, I just need a vacation to rest up from it now.

Favorite Memories of Cooking Out

I just entered for the Bush Bean's Grilling Set at Wenderly's blog. All I had to do was answer the question of what my favorite memory of grilling out was.

My very favorite  memories of cooking out is my dad pitching the tent in our backyard for it to dry out after a camping trip we had just returned from. My parents would let me invite my friends over to have our own backyard slumber party. They would have a bonfire to let us roast our own hot dogs and s'mores. Life was simple then. I look forward to enjoying these same summer time events with our children.

I can smell the wood burning now and imagine the gooey marshmallow melting the Hershey chocolate...we may be headed to Food City after the pool today.

Happy Memorial Day y'all!