Random Things That I Love!

There are a few things that have caught my attention lately that I believe some of my huge following would love to check out!  So I'm just going to post a few things here and if you do decide to take my advice and check them out let me know.  I'm thinking about doing this once a month or so... don't be surprised if you see a shameless AtHome America plug!  :)

I'm going to start off in the kitchen because this one has caught me off guard with how much I LURRRVVVEEE it!  It's called Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Seasoning.

Tonight I replaced my usual "shakey cheese" and used Jane's Krazy good Mixed-Up Salt on my homemade pizza.  Delish!  I use this in almost every thing that season!

Next item that I love I discovered at Grandma Nana's house.  We rarely buy ice cream, but going to Nana's house almost always means that we will have a Schwan's Sundae Cone... but recently she purchased something special...

This beauty is Schwan's Raspberry Rumble ... oh.my.word.  Listen this description:
Triple count perfection in this raspberry bonanza. SCHWAN'S® famous vanilla ice cream is marbled with rivers of deep red raspberry puree swirl and kicked-up with raspberry coated crunchy-clusters. The wild extravagance of raspberry-filled chocolate truffles will put you over the top. Get ready to rumble.
You can buy some yumminess here. 

Ok, leaving the kitchen for a bit.  Some of my favorite blogs...

My girl Sarah and I are tight... even though she has no idea who I am... she's my go to girl for ideas and inspiration when it comes to decorating.  I believe that she's one of the most well known decor bloggers around and my favorite part is that she's thrifty!  Perhaps that's why her blog is called Thrifty Decor Chick.  You can find her here!  Tell her Mama D from Turkey Bottom Haven sent you... if nothing else we'll confuse her! :)

Another new favorite is Funky Junk Interiors they're a little more... well "funky" and one of those one person's trash is another person's treasure type of sites.

 I love it, because my heart starts thumping and bumping when I see a piece of "junk" and turn it into something wonderful.  Even Ben caught the fever when last Spring I started pulling old windows out of the ditches off gravel roads... he laughed at first, but before the end of the summer he was looking for old chairs and talked a friend out of sending some to the dump.  Our neighbors even got a kick out of it when they were throwing things into the dumpster after the floods and Ben and I both made them stop a few times so we could use it!!  Love that.

Perhas that's why I have fallen head over heals for American Pickers!!!!!  Love this show!  

 Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz star in this show on the History Channel... though at our house we watch it on Netflix for the Wii.  "Pickers" go on the road and find what we would call "junk yards" or even hoarders and they pick through rusty gold until they find things for their shop.  Their shop just happens to be in Leclair, Iowa!  Shout out for Iowa!!  Mike has a thing for bicycles, while Frank is obsessed with oil cans... they find them and resell them for a profit.  Some day Ben and I will be pickers!  It's the American Dream after all!  :)

Ok, you've been warned about this last one.  I love, love, love some a few pretty much all of AtHome America's Limited Time only Easter Seasonal items... you can find them here!!!  Of course you could always host your own show and earn them FREE!!  Or starting in March you can order them on my website http://www.athome.com/kellydriscoll.  Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cheers!

One of my great petpeeves in life is when people make comments about the size of my family... at least in the negative.  One of my great joys in life is when people make comments about  the size of my family... in the positive of course.  :)
How many times have I heard people say that having as many kids as I do would drive them nuts.  Or they can't "handle" the ones they have and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... Honestly.  I don't care if you have 2 kids or 14 kids. Leave us alone.

Rant done.

For now.

But, one thing that I do know is that sometimes I think having 5 kids is far more fun than having less than 5 kids.  There I said it.  Want a great example?  Here's one of the best that I can think of... Yesterday was my anniversary.  Ben was working 2nd shift.  We had Awana and life is always rushed.  I had zero motivation to cook.  After spending 20 minutes standing in the pantry looking for something that would spark my cooking interest I gave up.

I decided to make peanut butter toast.  I even texted Bethany to get another mom's approval. :)

When I announced that we were having peanut butter toast for supper ... ALL FIVE KIDS ERRUPTED IN APPLAUSE!!!  Granted, Jack Henry was being a bit of a crowd follower, perhaps Gabriel too.  But, they were genuinely excited!

Think about it... when was the last time that you were completely lazy and five of the most adorable faces shone with glee and admiration for you.

Yep, mother of the year award right here.  Probably because I get more votes than most people, but that's not the point! :)

The Four Friends

In Mark chapter 2 we read about a man who was paralyzed.  We don't know why or how... but we do know that this same man had 4 friends.  These 4 friends cared enough about this man that they carried him on his mat to Jesus.  I imagine that they must have really loved their friend.  We also know that the house where Jesus was teaching at was full... so full that there wasn't room in the doorway of the house so that the four friends could budge their way in.  It was literally a full house.
In my mind's eye, I imagine that there were people shoulder to shoulder each one inching their way closer to Jesus and hanging on every word.  I see people at the door and windows leaning in to catch a look at Jesus... to pick up on even one word, one phrase, one tidbit of hope.  I also believe that each man there had a need something that they wanted from or of Jesus.
The four men each had a corner of their friend's mat.  They had walked an undetermined distance.  They were probably tired, hot and thirsty when they got to the house.  And arriving late they see that there is no way to get their friend to Jesus.  They could have looked apologetically at their friend and turned to go home.  They could have made a plan to wait where they were in hopes that Jesus might see them when He was done teaching.  They might have thrown up their arms in defeat and cried with their friend and accepted their friend's lot in life.
But, these men were quality men... quality friends. They were determined.  And they started cutting a hole in the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching.  Can you imagine?  As debris started falling down and people started getting ansy as to what was happening.  Perhaps the owner of the house tried to work his way out of the tight crowd so as to put in end to the vandelism of his home!  Perhaps those on the outside stopped what they were doing to look at these men to see what they were up to...
And finally when the hole was cut the men found a way to get their friend on the roof and then lowered him down to be touched by Jesus.  They had faith that Jesus could heal him.

 "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Mark 2:5

When he saw the faith of the friends.

The end result was that the scribes... men who were teachers of the law... questioned Jesus' authority and so that Jesus could prove that He indeed had the authority to forgive sins, Jesus healed the man and he ended up walking out of the house.

Can you imagine?  Here are four friends that were driven by love for their friend, who by faith knew that if only they could get Jesus to see them that He would heal their friend.  Yet, those educated men who were Jewish teachers of the law had no desire to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, the Savior of men and the Healer of both sins and physical afflictions.

How blessed would each of us be to have four friends to carry us to Jesus in the time of our affliction and in the times of our trials?  Friends who by the world's standard may not be educated or reasonable... but who are driven by love and faith to hold us up to Jesus in prayer?

How blessed am I?  More than words can say.

Please read about the four friends here. 

High Noon...

Have you ever heard a song that sang to your heart... no it sang the song of your heart?  Ever since I heard Andrew Peterson's "High Noon" I knew that it was my heart's song.  It's the one song that makes me want to find a cure for tone deafness and pitchless-ness  (trust me it's a word, at least in this blog!).  I have visions of singing it for special music on Easter morning.  It would be a truly inspiring duet with my uber talented hubs.  The kind of performance that would have people crying out to Jesus!

Ok, maybe it would just bless the hearts of those in attendance like it does mine.

I've tried multiple times to convince Ben that he should sing it solo at church, but he's not exactly on board.

I assume that most of you have never heard this song and I tried to find a link to it on youtube.com and didn't have any success... at least not sung by Andrew Peterson.

So I will have to leave the lyrics here and leave it up to the rest of you to encourage hubs to sing it at church:

High Noon by Andrew Peterson

High noon in the valley of the shadow
When the deep of the valley was bright
When the mouth of the tomb
Shouted, "Glory, the Groom is alive"
So long, you wages of sin
Go on, don't you come back again
I've been raised and redeemed
You've lost all your sting
To the victor of the battle
At high noon in the valley
In the valley of the shadow

Now the demons, they danced in the darkness
When that last ragged breath left his lungs
And they reveled and howled
At the war that they thought they had won
But then, in the dark of the grave
The stone rolled away
In the still of the dawn on the greatest of days

High noon in the valley of the shadow
When the shadows were shot through with light
When Jesus took in that breath
And shattered all Death with his life
So long, you wages of sin
Go on, don't you come back again
I've been raised and redeemed
You've lost all your sting
To the victor of the battle
High noon in the valley of the shadow

Let the people rejoice
Let the heavens resound
Let the name of Jesus, who sought us
And freed us forever ring out
All praise to the fighter of the night
Who rides on the light
Whose gun is the grace of the God of the sky

High noon in the valley of the shadow
When the shadows were shot through with light
When the mouth of the tomb
Shouted, "Glory, the Groom is alive"
So long, you wages of sin
I said go on, don't you come back again
I've been raised and redeemed
All praise to the king
The victor of the battle
High noon in the valley
In the valley of the shadow

Copyright 2003 New Spring Publishing, Inc.

Countdown to Cancun... :D

So because I work with the MOST AMAZING COMPANY in the whole world and because I've worked my pretty little bum off I've earned a trip to Moon Bay Palace in Cancun, Mexico!  Woot wooters!  I love it! White sandy beaches.
Sunshine.
No blizzards.
No kids.
No blizzards!
And the knowing that I earned it.  It wasn't given to me, I didn't win a free trip.  I worked hard and did what I needed to do to go!

Did I mention no kids and no blizzards?
What could be better than a week vacation in Cancun???  Um, how about a week's vacation for 2?  That's right, I've only earned the trip for 1 so far.  So, this is my last month to earn a trip so that Ben can come along with me.  If he doesn't go... well, then I won't go either.  I mean how much fun would I really have without my best friend?  So this is it.  February is do or die time.  Well, honestly I won't die if I don't go... but I might throw myself on the floor and stomp my feet and cry like a little baby! :)

I am reminded that what is impossible with man is possible with God.  Of course, God would want me to go to Cancun.  He wouldn't want me to throw a fit like a spoiled 2 year old.  He wants me to get a nice tan... errrr, well, that's another miracle altogether!

I am also reminded that AtHome America's new motto is "Better Together"... think of all the things that are better together... peanut butter and... chocolate (you better not have said jelly).  Um, Spring and Cadbury Cream Eggs.  Pizza and Mt. Dew.  Ben and Kelly.  You and me!  So I'm asking my friends, my family, my creepy blog followers (if there are any) and my not so creepy blog followers to help a girl out!  Book a party... a homeshow, a book show or even an E-Show (online show) and help me meet my sales miracle!

This could be Ben and I with your help... well, if I would be caught dead in a bikini... if Ben had a six-pack hair... if I had a tan... if I didn't have 5 kids... and the list could go on and on and on.

Let me know if you'd be willing to book a show by the end of the month ... and as a reward you'll earn double hostess benefits and your name will be put into a drawing to be my best friend.

No towing means...

Blizzards and cars = stupidity.

The other night at dinner Ben grumbles about the coming snow storm that promised to turn into a blizzard.  I'm not a big fan of his job when it's snowing... at all other times I love it almost as much as he does... anywhoo, he starts telling us that his day will go something like this:
Driver found in ditch: "I'm ok, I'm going to call for a tow truck."
Officer Hubs: "I'm sorry, but because of the weather there's a Tow Ban.  You'll have to come with me."
Driver: "Well, I'd rather get my car out so I'm going to call for a tow truck."
Officer Hubs: "You can call for a tow truck, but they can't come and get you because there's a Tow Ban."
Driver Idiot: "Well, that's ok I can have my buddy come tow me out."
O.H.: "No.  You'll have to come with me.  Your buddy can't come get you.  There's no towing because of the weather."
Idiot: "I have a lot of stuff with me.  So, I'll just wait here."
O.H.: *deep breath, count to ten, pray that I don't punch idiot in the face* "You have to come with me.  I will take you.  I will not take your stuff and you cannot get a tow truck.  Please, get into my car."

And so it goes.  By the end of the story he's pounding on table saying, "NO TOWING MEANS NO TOWING!"
The kids and I were laughing... out and out giggling at the show that Daddy was putting on for us.
When it was done Chubba asks what a tow truck is... I go into a long description about a truck that has a hook on the back that he attaches to cars that have gone into a ditch, had an accident or maybe broke down along the side of the road.  Chubba is confused and finally says... "That kinda sounds like Mater."

Ahhh.  Mater.  If only I would have thought of that.  Would have saved me 5 minutes of my life.  At least I can be sure that he knows what we were talking about when he was laughing like a maniac.

So today at lunch Hannah prays that no one will go in the ditch and ask Daddy to get a tow truck because (the kids say in unison) "NO TOWING MEANS NO TOWING!"  Gabe even slammed his fists on the table like Daddy.  :)

So the blizzard rages on and some of you in real life will drive against wisdom.  Some of you will drive too fast or take your eyes off the road or try to pass someone or will simply hit a patch of ice and find yourself in the ditch.  Let me tell you that if an officer pulls up and stops to take you to safety... you should be exceedingly grateful.  Chances are he has children at home praying that he'll come home and that he'll be safe on the roads.  And so while you may not have made the best choices and find yourself in need of a tow during a Tow Ban... the only reason he's on the road is to help you.