Mr. Coffee Love

I love coffee, everything coffee. My kitchen is even decorated with coffee things. But in this house, I'm the only coffee drinker. My husband says he likes it but really only has coffee once a week.

Sad, I know.

As much as I love coffee, I have to admit, I only drink one cup a day. However I make it an experience. I put it in one of my favorite cups, use my best coffee, and the best creamer.

When I got married almost 8 years ago I was gifted my first Me. Coffee pot. I loved that thing. It was the kind with the insulated carafe. I loved it and used it until this past Christmas. It still works after 8 years and we will continue to use it when, we have guests, for years to come.

So all of this to say, my hubby knew exactly what to get me for Christmas. Can u guess...not that... no not that either. Ok, I'll tell you. A Mr. Coffee Single Serve Brewer! Oh look how cute it is!

I'm in love! Sorry honey.

It fits perfectly on my counter.

I don't like a lot of clutter on my counter, mostly because I don't have that much space to begin with. This Mr. Coffee even fits the larger cups, which is wonderful.

Now I can use any of my favorite coffee brands, hot chocolate, and teas. Heaven!!

I even found the insert, from another brand, where I can put in my own grounds. Like this coffee, mmmmm....

So what are your favorite coffee products? I would love to know.

I wrote this post to thank you to my wonderful hubby who gave me this brewer for Christmas. I have not received anything from Mr. Coffee and they have no idea who I am.

Great Finds at Grandma's

SL's grandma has a house full of stuff. Not trash, just stuff. Antiques, collectibles, and stuff. It is always fun to look through it and see what great things are in there. Last year she gave me this great bowl. I love it and my son loves to eat his cereal out of it.

This past weekend we were at grandma's house for my son's birthday and we happened to come across this awesome tin.

First thing I saw were all the colors and the design. I was hooked. I love it.



I then turn it around and see what is on the back.

It is a Bisquick tin. I didn't even know they made these. No one else there did as well. 

We tried to find a date but there was none.

I'm going to do some searching to see what info I can find about it.

I think I may put cookies in this and leave it on my dinning table.

It has to be left out so I can see it and enjoy it.

If you know anything about it let me know.



Signs of Life

This past week has been a crazy one. SL and I got some discouraging news last week. However, we have realized that is God giving us the answers we have been praying for.

We have had almost no rain since November. No rain means very dry grass. Very dry grass means fire food. Friday when massive storms where going through our northwest we had very High winds. Like 60 mph. Now it gets windy in these parts around spring, but nothing like this. So we had many fires in our surrounds because of this. Some were large fires, some were small, some are still burning 5 days later and destroyed dozens of homes and thousands of miles of land.

When you don't have rain for several months it can get warm. Something about the ground no absorbing heat, or the opposite. I don't know, the meteorologist explained it better. So all that to say, we have been very warm lately. No, not warm, HOT! Like 103 degrees! And it's not even Easter yet.

These are all pics of my mom's flowers at her house. I thought with the crazy heat, fires, and no rain it was nice to see some cool purple colored flowers.

I think I finally have the smell of smoke out of my house. Or my nose has just grown immune to it.

Now I'm dealing with a cough I assume is from all ths smoke and dust in the air.

Please say a prayer for all the people who have lost their homes, their land, their pets, their treasured things. It is a tough beginning for them.

A List

1.  I don't feel well.
     I think my head my explode from all the pressure.

2.  We finally got the germs out of the house.
     All three of us were having some sort of intestinal issues. Yuck.

3.  My kidney decided to attack me and give me immense pain.

4.  I did not have to cook or clean while we were sick. Yippee!

5.  Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert was on TV this week, 3 times!
     I love Les Mis.

6.  I saw my hubby SL get teary eyed at the end of Les Mis.
     Yep, he cried. So did I but I'm a girl and I cry every time.

7.  I have to explain everything that is happening because SL says he can't understand what they are singing.

8.  The US tour is coming somewhat close to us in May. I'm trying to get SL to make plans to go for our anniversary, which is in May.

9.  It rained yesterday. We haven't had rain in many weeks. We are in a serious drought. Our rain yesterday only lasted for 2 minutes. Yes, I timed it.

10.  My eyebrow is twitching. I look like a crazy person who wiggles their eyebrows.

It is time for a nap.

Reactions to The Pioneer Woman's New Book

If you read my blog yesterday then you already know that I received an advanced copy of PW's new book Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story. 

 I have decided to write about my reactions to Ree's novel. Don't worry, I will not be telling any spoilers. I want everyone else to be able to have the same experience reading her book as I did. 

Ree's love story is sweet, sad, hilarious, frustrating, and "Aww" inducing. Yes there were several times an audible Aww came out of my mouth. Many times I laughed out loud. The statement "Honey, she is asking if you have farted today!" comes to mind.  I laughed for 5 minutes when she wrote an entire page about a simple question about farting.  Sorry I wrote fart so many times. If it offends you, well, I'm just keeping it real. 

There are few times where her stories seem somewhat scatter brained and not fully completed.  Like there could have been more to that story than what she was telling. I felt like it was missing something. But I felt like these tales of romance were coming from a real person in real life situations.  

Now, I am no literary critic at all.  All of these opinions are my own thoughts. I encourage you to go and read the book and love it as much as I do. When you are finished maybe you will see the cowboy in your own man or just find your wrangler wearing cowboy. I know I did, just without the Wranglers. I wonder If I can get SL to wear chaps...

Ree's book comes out Feb. 1st. Go and get it, or buy the ebook. You will love it. She is also going on a book signing tour.  Go to The Pioneer Woman webpage for days and times in you area.

A suprise from the Pioneer Woman

Back in May of 2010 a friend of mine on Facebook sent me a link to a recipe on some lady's blog about a sandwich called "The Marlboro Man" sandwich.  I thought this must be some crazy lady to name a sandwich after cigarettes. My friend swears it is the greatest sandwich EVER! I thought she was a little crazy too, but she was my friend and I gave her a chance. I read the post about this miracle sandwich, and I was intrigued. I read a few more posts and recipes. Ok, I think I like this site now. However the true test will be to try out some of these recipes on SL. He says he is not a picky eater, well, I say HA!




Ree the Pioneer Woman

 I spent almost an entire day looking at The Pioneer Woman's blog. I thought this lady was strange telling the world about her husband's wranglers and her fascination about his forearms.  I tried to stop reading, but it was too late and I was hooked. (As I'm sure many of you are also) Silly me, I thought I had come across something new and great. Little did I know that she had been around the blogosphere for 4 years. I was even telling my mom and dad about this great new place where I get loads of new recipes to try out. My dad laughed and said "Well yeah honey. I 've been reading her site for almost a year now" 

A year! Really? A year? Where was I? Was I under a rock? Was my head in the sand? Where was I? I know I've been raising my two year old but I'm not that far out of touch with the world. I was a little, NO a lot, late to the party. But at least I got there right?

About 2 months ago Ree (the Pioneer Woman) told us about her new book that was to be released in Feb. It will be called Black Heels to Tracker Wheel: A Love Story. This was a continuation from her online posts about her whirlwind romance with a cowboy she loving calls Marlboro Man.  I decided I needed a good read, so I spent the entire evening reading all her posts about old boyfriends, the death of one sweet pug, and her fasted paced courtship. It was great! I found myself laughing out loud and crying about Puggy Sue. (Poor Puggy Sue). I wanted more, I thought how can I wait for Feb. to finish the whole story.

Well, last Saturday this came.

Yep that's right, and advanced copy of Ree's new book. Sent straight from the ranch. Now, I was not the only one to receive this gift. It was sent to 4 others as well. I was so excited I started reading it right then and finished it the next day. I had to pause to go to church because well, I am a minister's wife and it may look back to not see me there. I know some of those old ladies would ask my sweet SL where I was. He wouldn't be able to lie (lying is bad, very bad). It would probably sound bad to say "Well, she is at home reading because she couldn't pause to come to church. Yes, I know it is bad, but you go tell her to get dressed at come to church!" As soon as I was finished with lunch and put the little down for a nap it was back to the book I went. I finished that afternoon.

This is turning to be along post so I will write what I thought of the book tomorrow (hopefully).

One more thing, look...

Yep, she signed it.

Man those are bad pictures of me. It was late Saturday after a full day of looking at sofas with my mom. Hopefully your eyes are not burning and turning red. Sorry if they are.

Love, The Bored Minister's Wife

Blackberry Cheesecake

This week is our church's Thanksgiving meal. We love to get together and eat. There is nothing more fun at a Baptist church than gathering with 6 long tables worth of food. Yummy!! So I decided to try my hand at making a cheesecake. A real cheesecake, not these Jello out of the box ones. Now don't get my wrong, I do like the Jello ones. However, my world was completely changed when I tried a cheesecake from Copeland's. This cake made my skirt fly up. It was creamy, fluffy, and rich, I didn't know how to handle myself. I made it my mission in life, well for thanksgiving at least, to make a great cheesecake.

I made it on a Saturday night, and it tortured me not to taste it. I could smell it all through the house. I have never smelled such a wonderful smell in my life. Well, maybe the smell of my newborn son was just a little bit better. I pained me not to take a little piece of it. When my hubby was not looking a took a little bite off the top. I figured no one would notice.

This was my first real cheesecake:

Yep... I just licked the screen. Hope you didn't see that.

Ingredients


Crust
■1 box Vanilla Wafers
■½ cups Pecans
■1 stick 1/2 Cup Butter, Melted
■1-½ teaspoon Vanilla

Filling
■3 packages 8 Ounce Cream Cheese
■1-½ cup Sugar
■4 whole Eggs
■½ cups Sour Cream

Topping
■2 cups Blackberries
■½ cups Sugar
■2 Tablespoons Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Place vanilla wafers and pecans into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until mixture becomes crumbs. Add melted butter and vanilla and pulse again until combined. Pour into a 10-inch spring form pan and press crumbs into the bottom of the pan. (If they come up the sides, that’s okay!)

For the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add sour cream and mix again. Pour mixture into crust, smooth the top, and bake for 1 hour, 10 minutes. Turn off oven and open door and allow to sit in the oven with the door opened for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

For the topping, add blackberries, sugar, and water to a saucepan or skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Pour blackberries over the cheesecake and place pan into the fridge to cool and set for at least 2 hours—several hours is better

Enjoy

I love this product!

I really do love this Purex 3-in-1. I was able to get this detergent fairly cheap because I had saved some coupons. I paid less than a dollar for each one. I thought I would get it because it was going to be a cheap detergent that I could stock up on. Little did I know just how much I was going to LOVE it!  It is so easy to use that my husband has even started doing some laundry. It has the detergent, softener, and dryer sheet all in one sheet.  There is very little packaging and is great for stocking up on because it takes up very little space in my laundry area.  Let's talk about the smell, oh the smell. I am usually very picky about the smell of my detergent and softener. When I bought this I didn't really care what it smelled like because I was getting it so cheap that I told myself I would live with whatever smell it had. My first load came out and I could not stop smelling the clothes. It has such a light and refreshing smell that I have been washing everything, even my curtains. I'm not sure if I said this yet but I LOVE THIS PRODUCT!!! Just try it you will too.

I have not been paid by Purex nor do they even know who I am. I just wanted to share my fascination with this detergent.

Love This

I received a special gift recently. It is vintage and very colorful. I love it! In my family we eat a LOT of cereal. Every week or so we go to the store and pick out a cereal or two along with our cheerios. I’m tellin’ ya we love cereal. My “almost two” son really loves cereal. He could eat it all day long. He takes almost everywhere he goes. So, you can imagine how excited I was when this was given to me recently.

Someone special to us saw it and thought of our family, specifically my son. Isn’t it great? Look in the inside.

 


Please tell me you love this bowl as much as I do. I love fun and colorful things for my kitchen. Remember this….
I can’t help it. 

I will definitely be trying to find more of these bowls, hopefully with different cereals.