High on Fumes

If the Thomasons are acting like they are on something this week...

well...they might be. Really? What you ask?

Let's see...Lacquer thinner, stain, sealer...u name it. 

Yes. We ripped up our carpet last week & we are staining our concrete floors.

That's us...DO. IT. YOUR. SELF. ERS. 

We already had it in our kitchen, but now we have it pretty much everywhere 

except for the bedrooms. 

It's a long process. My house is a total disaster zone. 

Furniture in my bedroom, in my kitchen, in my garage. 

I can't park my car in the garage...bummer on the cold car in the morning!!

And yes...I have to just LET. IT. GO. because the mess can make a 

clean girl go CrAzY!!! But hey...I'm on fumes. 

As they say...the pain is worth the gain. And it will be when it's all put 

back in the appropriate area & I will no longer have to deal with carpet in the 

living room! Can I get an AMEN?? 

As for now...I'm high on fumes it seems. Shooeeweee!!! 

I am also in the process of looking for a sectional. 

Um...can you can they are Expensive!!! GEEZ LOUISE!!! 

But what we are saving on doing the floors we can get a some new furniture.

Super yeah!!!! I will have to post a pic when it's all done. 

You all have a great day!! Hi Ho Hi Ho it's back to work I Go!! 

p.s. I think I did a little bit of yelling in this blog...sorry. HAHA

Becoming Less

First week...


I lost 3 pounds!!! Woo hoo!!


I thought I would start each week with something I am changing.


First I sat down & calculated points for foods I was planning on eating.


I went to the grocery store & really took the time to look at labels & make healthy choices.


One of the main changes I tried this week was portion control.


When I felt myself getting full...I stopped. 


I didn't take too much...I measured out a portion & knew the points. 


I know...it sounds so simple. But for  me...not so much.


I prayed each day that I would let God fill me...not rely on the food.


So this week if you are struggling with food
1. Get a plan
2. Pay attention to how much you are eating.


You will notice a huge difference in  a week! 


This verse really spoke to me this week....
Philippians 3:19
Their end is destruction their God is their belly & their glory is their shame,
 with minds set on earthly things. 

Why I count it all JOY...A day late..:)

So I'm a day late..but I can still be JOYFUL!!

Join my friend Angel as we count our JOYS today...

a day late...:)

Why am I filled with JOY?

Welp...we finished painting the inside of our house & my

arm didn't fall off.

Notes from my past youth girls who are grown women now.

We riped up our carpet!! Yeah!! Gonna stain the rest of our floors.

Even in the midst of my sister going thru the most difficult time of her life,

I know God is going to use this to draw her closer to Him.

The True Loves Waits series that our youth is going thru on Wed. nights.

My husband & his desire to see others come to Jesus.

Rainy days.

Learning to take control of food instead of it controlling me.

Subbing for the first time all month!! 

My kids & how much they make me laugh. 

Winter Jam concert! Watching my girls worship! 

Have a great day!

Bye Bye Rubber Ducky

10 years ago we moved into our new home.

My kids were 4, 2 & 10 months. Just babies!!!

When they were babies I had their pictures taken in a little bathtub
with a rubber ducky. So I decided this bathroom would be decorated
with those cute pictures & ducks.

And it was good when they were little...but now they are 14, 12 & 10.

Not so much...& Lauren now has her own bathroom upstairs.

While we were snowed in last week I decided it was time to update!! 

And Taa Daaaaa...here is how it turned out!! 

We took down the big plain mirror, new shower curtain, new drawer pulls, 

sanded and re-stained the wood, put up new molding, painted & glazed the walls.

The pictures really don't show the true color, but it's close enough. 

Saying goodbye to the duckies was like saying goodbye them being babies.

But it's time...sniff sniff...boo hoo. 

Becoming Less

I am starting a new weekly blog called....

"Becoming Less"


John 3:30
He must become greater...I must become less. 


I have an idol in my life that have made many attempts to get rid of.
I let go for awhile...but find myself wandering in the desert again.


Again & Again.


Recently I started reading through Old Testament again...
and in my BSF study of Isaiah we have been talking about how 
the Israelites worshiped Idols. 
Found myself judging them for their Idol worship.
But then I look at my life & realize...
Who am I to judge them with all the idols that I worship in my life?


What is this idol I speak of?
F. O. O. D.


Some of you are thinking...really? 
And Yes...I seriously love to eat.
Sweets have a stronghold on my life..seriously.


I have had tons of friends who have been very successful at 
Weight Watchers. I keep feeling like I should go to a meeting. 


I have gained 13 pounds since October...I know right?
I am out of control...I haven't weighed this much in a long time.


But let me tell you...it's not about the weight as much as it is about the
disobedience in my heart where food is concerned. I treat food as a
BFF...not something to survive on.


 I eat for fun...entertainment & comfort. 


So I went to a WW meeting last night. 
I need some accountability...support...direction.


I will go every Thursday night.
On Fridays I will blog about my week of Becoming Less.


Not only in size...but most importantly in my relationship with Christ.


I was a little reluctant at first to start this post. But honestly I'm hoping someone
out there is struggling with this also & can pray for me. Or maybe I can 
encourage someone to a this step with me. 


I'm excited. I'm ready. I know I can do this. 


Next week I will tell you my goals & what WW offers you
so come back & join me. 


Becoming Less....

Why I count it all JOY Wednesday!!

It's Wednesday....so get your JOYFUL heart ready to

 Praise Our God for He Is Might to Save!

Grab my friend Angel's button & join us!

Why am I JOYFUL this week?

The snow is almost gone!

It is suppose to be 70 degrees today!

WOW what a difference a week makes!

This little guy made his debut into the world last week.

Jeremiah Adsit

His mommy & daddy grew up at FCC & now they are on staff

in our children's ministry. Jessica is Brooke's small group leader. We love them!!

Brooke finally got to have her friend party on Friday night. 

We played Minute to win it games. They had to pull all the Kleenex out of a 

box in one minute...my floor was covered in Kleenex afterwards. 

Of course I had to make it a Canon moment...

My mom made us cupcakes for Valentines...yummy!

I am going to start a new Friday Blog this week.

Don't want to miss this journey that I am starting!

We have began painting the inside of our house.

Though this creates a disaster area for a week or so...

it's been something I've wanted to do for years!! 

I will show you pics later.

It will be worth the mess.

Back to BSF yesterday...it's so refreshing.

God has blessed me with being able to be a stay at home mom 

all of these years. One choice I will never regret.

Going to the movies with Jaden's class today!!

(part of being a SAHM)

Studying the Book of James at church.

Tokbox with my PWs yesterday.

3 amazing kids

One Incredible husband

One Awesome God

Psalm 66:1

Shout for JoY to GOD,

all the earth!

Love Letters

I watched Jenna Bush interview her grandparents yesterday...

They have been married 66 years...almost unheard of these days...

They talked about how love letters are not saved like they used to be
because of emails...text...twitter & such. It's not on paper anymore.
The Bush's read some of their letters...oh they were precious.

I was inspired to write a letter to Matt yesterday. But then I sent an
email out to my PWs that I am meeting with today & Suzanne said
she decorated a piece of paper for everyone in her family & they all
 had to write something nice about each other on it. LOVE THAT!!

Ya'll don't know this...but I have some MAD scrapbooking skills...
I used to scrapbook all the time with one of my friends. So I put those
skills to work & made some cute pages for us to write on & we all
took turns writing something nice to each other....

It's amazing what they will say to each other...LOL!!
I cherish this piece of paper with their handwriting on it.
Thought I would share a few pics from last night...
Matt brought home Olive Garden to give me the night off!

And he & Jaden brought us home some flowers...

We made chocolate covered strawberries...

My Valentine...:) 

So this is my challenge to all of you....get out a piece of paper...

Write a love letter to your spouse today. 

Will you join me in saving hand written love letters??

My hunka burnin love....

About 25 years ago I noticed this really cute boy on a Mountain at YouthQuake...

And that really cute boy is has been my Valentine for 18 years now. 

I love you Matt Thomason....Thanks for Being Mine. 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO MY HUNKA BURNIN LOVE!!

White As Snow

All this snow will be gone (hopefully) by next week.


As the ground is covered in white right now...


I think about how it will wash away all the yucky stuff


that has been around all year on the trees...rocks...roads.


It's like God's way of washing the earth clean & starting


over for the year.


As when He sent His son Jesus to wash away my sins...


"Sin had left a crimson stain....He washed me white as snow.


I took this the other day while playing in the snow. 

Isaiah 1:18

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

 though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Every time we sing that song on Sunday...I am so humbled. 

Thank you for cleansing me Lord.

What do you leak?

Our sermon series this month has been over the book of James.

Oh how I love that book...need to wear my steel toed boots because I am
gonna get my "TOEs Stepped On"!! And girls...I need my toes smashed!

James 1:19
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak
and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous like that 
God desires. 


One thing I have always struggled with is losing my temper...
Aka...a little firecracker.

I think we pass on things to our children without intentionally meaning too.
I have always told myself I would not be like that with my kids...but regretfully...
I am. I can lose it pretty quick sometimes...then later...I feel so rotten about it.
Shame over comes my heart.

This is one area that I feel like God is telling me to work on.
Calm down...show patience...show His love...you don't always have to have the
last word...keep quiet.

Thankfully God gave me a husband with enough patience for the both of us!
Seriously...Matt is so calm.

My tongue...do I keep a tight rein on it...no...not like I should.
I gossip...I say hateful things...I boast...I'm prideful...I lose it.

James 1:26
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue,
he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.


Sunday our Pastor Charlie said...
"Your heart leaks thru your mouth"

This week I've really been thinking...What is leaking out of my mouth?
A righteous life...or unrighteous life...it's either one or the other.

I am praying that I allow God to leak out of my heart...because He is who
is in my heart. I so desire to change the way I speak to others & about others.

Especially to the ones who live in my house. They are precious to me & sometimes
I know I wound their spirits with my tongue.

Thankful for a church that speaks God's word & challenges me to grow in
my walk with Him. I am blessed every Sunday morning with their love!

Luke 6:43
For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. 


Praying my mouth is leaking God's love & compassion & truth!
Asking for you to pray for me & with me!
How about you? Is this a struggle for you?
Are you easily angered??

Why I count it all JOY Wednesday!!

Well Hello Wednesday! I am doing pretty much the same thing

as I was last Wednesday...watching the snow!!!

Join my friend Angel as we celebrate our JOY!

Why Am I filled with JOY?

Really...It's all about the snow this week.

So obviously this week's joy is gonna be ruled by Snow Pics...

WE made snow ice cream...IT was yummy!

 Brooke's cute little snowman...

And I'm so JOYFUL for my man clearing the driveway...

Cuz we weren't goin nowehere until it happened!!

This is what our road looked like last Friday...& again today.

But I'm Joyful...just to stay home & chill. 

We repainted our kids bathroom...I will post pics soon.

I bought some Cinnamon Bun Creamer...oh my word. Scrumptious!

I am so so so thankful for this vehicle...we would NOT be going 

anywhere without it!!

Watching my kids play in the snow...

My FCC family took treats to all of our community workers

 this week. LOok at all the fun treats they donated!

Giving God the Glory & spreading HIs love!

I am so so so thankful for this vehicle...we would NOT be going 

anywhere without it!!

My girls...honestly...we are goofballs...I love them

My HS small group girls...we celebrated Emily's Bday 

a while back. Love them all. 

Spending the morning at Jackie's. Good Chat...& she made me 

a homemade Latte...YUMMY!! 

I have really enjoyed our time out of school. THough

my house is a wreak...it's ok. I don't mind doing 

nothing...really. 

JOYful for our study of James at FCC. 

James is my favorite book. 

Packs a punch thru the entire book!!

So what fills you will JOY my friends?

The JOY of the LORD is my strength!!

Photobucket

For the last few months my Iphoto has consistently asked me

"your start up disk for Iphoto is almost full....do you still want to upload these pics?

Umm...of course I do...duh?

It's confession time....

I . have . over 25,000 pictures in my Iphoto....

No wonder it's full.

I have already deleted about 3,000 nonsense pics and it's still full.

SO I had to take action...quick... Ok as quit as Matt T. would let me.

We have an external hard drive that I back up my computer on...we use it as
a time machine so I have everything on it.

But I needed a photo storage hard drive...Got one at Best Buy.

Was that safe enough for all my precious pics???
What if it crashed??? NO!!!

That's when a friend of mine recommended Photobucket. 

It's an online storage site for your pics....love it.

I have been uploading all my pics on there then I'm gonna dump them onto
my external hard drive for safety.

Now I can sleep at night... knowing my sweet little 25,000 pics are safely tucked away
online & on a hard drive. Shooooweee....sigh of relief. Though it's gonna take me
FOREVER TO GET THEM UPLOADED!! LOL!

HOW about you? How do you store your pics?

Lettuce Wraps....Pei Wei style

I try to menu plan for a month at a time...

But lately it seems we have had the same thing over & over.

BORING~!!!! WE NEEDED TO SPICE IT UP!!

So when I  my friend Amber posted a recipe 

for Lettuce Wraps....I was like....YIPPEE!!! 

We love Pei Wei's Lettuce Wraps & couldn't wait to try this!!

I bought some Spring Roles....made some Fried Rice & BAM!!!!

We were eating a Pei Wei dinner at home!

It really wasn't that hard...just several steps & I had to buy several new ingredients.

I tweaked it a little here & there to make it fit our family. I doubled this recipe for 

all 5 of us & had a little left over. 

But here is the Recipe...

Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
3 tablespoons oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnut (next time I will use more)
2/3 cup mushroom (I forgot these)
3 tablespoons chopped onions (used green onion)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4 -5 leaves iceberg lettuce
Special Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot mustard (didn't use)
2 teaspoons water
1 -2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste (I bought sweet chile sauce instead)

Stir Fry Sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar


Directions:
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 25 mins

1 Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl.

2 Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.

3 Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.

4 Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.

5 Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.

6 Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.

7 Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done.

8 Remove chicken from the pan and cool.

9 Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.

10 As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.

11 Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.

12 When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.

13 With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.

14 Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.

15 Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups".

16 Top with"Special Sauce".

I will definitely make this again someday...fun to try new things!!!! 

Why I count it all JOY Wednesday!!

It's a SNOWY Wednesday so let's get our JOY on!!

Join my friend Angel & grab her button & count your JOYS!!!

Why Oh Why am I JOYful this week?

Saturday we had a day of 70 degrees & we played outside 

& did a little shopping! Perfect day!

Then on Tuesday...it snowed 21 inches of snow!

A record amount here in my hometown!

We can't even get our 4WD out of the garage!!

Friday night Grandpa & Grandma Thomason came down for the evening

& took us to Logans Steakhouse for the kids bdays! YUM!!

Then we played the Wii games....even got grandpa to dance!

Got to go to my first HOG show with Lauren last week...they are so CUte!!!!

I can't wait till she has one!!

Brooke got the day off of school due to the snow so we made the best

of it & started it off with snowman pancakes!! :)

I made Lettuce wraps & they were yummy thanks to my blog friend Amber!

I will post all about it & share the recipe with ya!! 

I love snow days hanging with the kids. I am pretty sure we are

stuck in the house for days!!! 

JOY...this picture expresses pure JOY to me. We have a 

couple in our church that just had a baby on Sunday.

They are young...not married yet...but trying their best to 

do what is right for the baby. She had to have an emergency c-section on

Sunday & baby Zane is 4 weeks early. But this is Nate right 

after Zane's birth calling his family. 

He was bawling when he came out...pure JOY!

So we are snowed in...eating...playing...sleeping...cleaning...

making the best of it!!

You shall go out in JOY

and be led back in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you

shall burst into song,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 

Isaiah 55:12

HaPpY 12th BiRtHdAy Brooke!!

Brookie...that's what we call her...

Or sometimes Smookie....

Our Brooke....She is something else.

Actually she is pretty much a carbon copy of me...God love her!!! LOL!

She is full of life...loves her friends & family.

Brooke is a chatter...singer...dancer.

She is a goof ball!

She is loud & laughs loud!!! Which makes u laugh too!!!

She is not afraid of strangers...infact I won't be shocked

if she ends up on the missions field someday.

You never know what's gonna come out of that

silly mouth of hers. She tells ya like it is!!

But at the same time can be very sensitive & a pleaser.

Brooke is a little more girly girl than her sister...

she likes bows...headbands & cute zee clothes.

She loves little kids & makes a great babysitter.

Brooke loves to entertain & play games. 

She is my girl who will crawl up next to you 

& watch TV all day! A snuggler!!! 

Very typical middle child. 

Today we will stay inside due to the snow & play 

& snuggle! 

WE LOVE YOU BROOKE!!