HE IS RISEN!

A few weeks ago, I did a poll on Facebook to determine which bible version was the most popular. Here are the top three that won the poll. I compared Luke 24:5 - 6a in each version. While some verses vary greatly in language and terminology, I find it comforting that the most profound and joyous passages are pretty much the same:

3rd Place: New International Version

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen!

2nd Place: New King James Version

Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen!

1st Place and still most popular: King James Version

And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen:

Thank God, yes, He IS risen. We sing how Christ arose. We sing My Redeemer lives. We know we serve a risen Saviour. Death could not keep Him, the grave could not hold him. Praise God, HE AROSE!

May you all enjoy a blessed day as you enjoy the beautiful Easter Sunday and celebrate the fact that "He is not here, He is risen! 

Happy Easter!

The Upside Down Day.....

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives, with her cat Pat, her dog Wag, and her pig, Lester, in the house her husband built her — the UPSIDE DOWN house her husband built her, with the attic in the basement and the basement in the attic, and the chandelier on the floor (perfect for pretending it's a bonfire!) and everything is topsy turvy. These were some of my favorite books as a child. Well, today, I have felt like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, like I was living in a topsy turvy world upside down and inside out from what it was supposed to be.

It started off with me getting up TOO early for a Saturday and I didn't have much to do until time to leave for errands and shopping. Yet, when it came time to leave, I realized I still had jammies on and had not eaten breakfast. Mad rush to get ready and a quick stop at the little store by the lake for a Pepsi for the road (needed that shot of caffeine).

We had our day all planned around meeting my niece in West Knoxville later in the morning. But after my daughter realized her glasses were hanging by a thread and she hadn't had an eye exam in 3 years, we had to change gears and head to East Knoxville for a trip to Dr. Bizer's.

Now on a Saturday morning, at Dr. Bizer's, you can be sure you will have a crowd. I volunteered to take the children with me so they would not get bored. I expected to hear cries of "We want to go to the play area." "Can we get a bubble gum?" "I'm thirsty." "I'm hungry." But instead, my grandson pushed his 2 year old sister in her stroller and walked quietly with me as we stopped in some of the stores I wanted to visit and I was allowed to look at what I wanted. Shelby was content to be in her stroller and take in the sights in the stores. (Who were these Stepford Children?).

We had been to only three stores (each one briefly) when my cell phone rang. It was my daughter. She was done. Thirty minutes flat. Had her exam, picked out glasses and sunglasses and placed her order and she was ready to go. (Did aliens with organizational skills take possession of Dr. Bizer's employees?)

Then we went to a store and I got two wonderful bargains. One was a new pair of flip flops for myself. My flip flops were $22.00 on sales for $9.98 and I had a coupon off for $10.00 on my purchase, which made my flip flops negative .02 cents. I guess I got my .02 cents worth today. (Was the bargain fairy riding in the stroller, too?)

Then we met my niece at the mall for a quick bite and to see her new Jeep she came to Knoxville to pick up (it is gorgeous, by the way). The mall is normally a mad house at lunch time, Even though the mall was packed, we were served in about 10 minutes. (do you see a pattern here...nothing was as it normally was).

I had the whole day planned as to where to go and where I would be at certain times, but thanks to the glasses situation, we had to regroup and come up with a Plan B at the last minutes. At least I'm adaptable....even if it does make me feel like I've had a topsy turvy, upside down, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle type day.

I'm linking to Jeremiah 29:11for Fantastic Friday

Happy Good Friday! I was going to work today, but I've changed my mind and I'm taking the day off. I have a couple of nieces arriving for a visit tomorrow or late tonight so I thought I'd play hooky today.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week. I have several things for my post today.

First, I want to give a shout to Deb & Jack over at Jeremiah 29:11 and wish them a very happy, happy anniversary. My prayer for you today is that you have a day filled with wonderful surprises and heavenly blessings. 

Since it is Easter weekend, baking and cooking will be in full swing at our place these next few days. Hubby will prep all the veggies and eggs for the potatoe salad and macaroni salad tomorrow. I'll make my angel eggs tomorrow night so they will be good and cold come Sunday. But today, is for baking. It is not a holiday unless I bake something or several somethings (I like change so I need lots of choices for junk food!)

I have already been up and at 'em this morning so I could use the oven before the day gets too warm. 

One of my weaknesses is Hershey kisses. Pillsbury has a "break and bake" cookie that is Big Chocolate Chip cookies with mini Hershey kisses in it. So I ripped open the package.

 Placed them on the cookie sheet (so big it only makes 12, which is perfect for me and hubby. Two for him, 10 for me. Just kidding...I think)

 Then after 16 minutes, took them out to let them cool just a little bit.

 Then had 2 of them for breakfast with a glass of ice cold whole milk. It doesn't get any better than that.

Hubby has discovered Ghiradelli chocolates. It is his newest addiction. Yesterday at Food City, we found this box of Ghiradelli iced brownies on sale so I grabbed a box to make for him for Easter.

 While the cookies were baking, I gathered my ingredients per the box instructions.

 Poured it in a greased 8 x 8 pan

Took it out of the oven and warmed the icing pack like the instructions said

And frosted the brownies. This will be dessert tonight with vanilla ice cream. As usual, I have the dessert planned before I even know what's for supper. :)

Tomorrow I'm going to make an orange cake with orange icing. It's one of those semi-homemade desserts.

Purchase a Duncan Hines Orange Supreme cake mix. You can make the cake mix per the instructions on the box or you can substitute fresh squeezed orange juice instead of the water on the instructions. I also put about 1-2 teaspoons of grated rind in the cake mix. Bake as per directions and cool. For the icing, use one box Confectioners 10X Sugar, the juice from 2-3 oranges (mix to desired consistancy) and the grated rind from two oranges. This makes a nice thick icing. The amount of juice you need for the icing will vary due to how thin or thick you want the icing. I'm not making this until Saturday so I'll post a pic of the finished product later.

Tomorrow, I'll offer some more tips on fattening up your piggy bank with various ways of saving. So stay tuned.....

How's your piggy bank looking?

Everyone is feeling the crunch these days. It's hard to save when it takes every dime you make just to keep a roof over your head and food on your table, not to mention gas in your car.

Growing up in a family with four kids, you learn to stretch every penny. Over the years, I have found ways to make my dollars go farther. I thought I would share some of those tips today.

Many of you know I love to read. I can read one, sometimes 2 books a week. With a paperback book now costing $7.99 and up, it is too expensive to buy new books. I keep a running list of new releases so I don't forget what I want to read. Every few months, I take a trip to a local used book store, McKay's. I'll take all my old books & trade them in for McKay Money. I normally earn anywhere from $20 - $40 dollars that I can spend on more books. The key is to look closely at the used books for sale. If one is in mint condition, you could pay $3.95 for it. However, if you look at all the copies, there may be one that has a bent corner or a slight mar on the cover and they have those marked anywhere from .75 - $1.25.  Once you read them, you can take them back and get more money to get more books. Don't have a lot of used books setting around? Go to yard sales and buy some off the 10 books for $1.00 shelf to get yourself started. They don't even have to be books you'll read, they just give you a chance to have something to swap.

Does your local grocery store have a value card? I love my Food City card. I don't even purchase a newspaper without scanning my card. Many items are heavily discounted if you have a store card. Just about every time I shop at Food City, I have at least $2-$3 savings at the bottom of my receipt. When we get "weekly" groceries, I have saved in excess of $20 - $30 in some cases....without counting any coupons I used.

Visit Shortcuts.com
This is a neat site. It has electronic coupons that you can add right to your stores card (such as Kroger). That way you have no need to carry a ton of coupons. Just click an item and add it to your store card. When you purchase the item and use your card, the savings will automatically be deducted. The site also has printable and electronic coupons. Be sure and watch for double coupon stores.

I hate utility bills. We decided to see what we could do to save on our water and electric. These are things we used to do back in our younger days, but over the years have gotten a little relaxed about it. We have cut the amount of time we spend in the shower by about 5 minutes. When I take my bubble bath, I run about 1/2" less water for my soak. We don't use our dishwasher. With just the two of us, we can hand wash faster and use less water. We now do laundry one day a week (I have a zillion towels and wash cloths, so this is very doable). We place the maximum amount of clothes in each load. Since cutting out those little 1/2 loads mid week, we have been saving as well on the electricity for the dryer. Bottom line? Our water bill averages $55 - $59 per month. Since we have made those changes these past three months, our bill is running between $34 - $37.

Same thing with the electric. We make sure we do not leave the lights on when we are done in a room (a bad habit of mine). As I stated before, the laundry being done once a week has kept the electric dryer down. I have a fax machine for my work. I used to leave it on 24/7, but realized that most of my faxes were outgoing and I always know beforehand if someone is going to be faxing me anything. So now I turn it on at 8 and off at 5. I replaced two electric clocks with two battery powered clocks in the bedroom. We each have our own alarm clock. But you are only in your bedroom at night, so why should a clock be using electric all day. We have been using our toaster oven for small things like biscuits, pizza's, fish sticks...little things that take just about 10 minutes in the toaster oven. It heats up faster than a conventional oven, saving time and electricity. We also keep my little coffee pot unplugged (again, clock is being powered) unless I'm going to use it. It is only used for hot water for my hot chocolate, which I don't drink daily. I don't leave my printer on. I turn it on if I'm going to be doing any work that will require me to print anything. Bottom line? In the past few years, our electric bill for Feb - Mar averages around $156. Since making these changes, Feb was $115 and Mar was $110.

Check back tomorrow for more savings tips......

 



Little Quack

I remember one spring, Daddy got us a little baby duck. Mom doesn't remember why or how we got her. She was so cute and yellow and fuzzy. We named her Little Quack. I don't remember a whole lot about her and she grew up fast and we had to get rid of her. But none of that seems to matter. It just mattered that we got a duck.

Sometimes there are small moments in our life that make for lasting memories. I remember with fondness the sound she would make. After she was gone, I can remember Jack walking through the kitchen in tennis shoes and it made a squeaky sound on the linoleum and I remember us saying he sounded like Little Quack.

Isn't it strange the things we remember that don't have any particular meaning other than they were of a happy time in our lives. We should always cherish our memories. Our moments are numbered and we need to make each one count.

I will forever be grateful for having loving parents who devoted their whole lives to making us happy.

I was visiting Faith at Simplicity. Her blog on Monday was What are you cooking for Easter?

I really enjoyed it so I thought I would answer her question and post what we are having. The photos were found on various websites.

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 Virginia tavern ham with orange marmalade glaze

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Baked beans

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 Mashed potatoes with brown gravy

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Mustard style potatoe salad

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Macaroni Salad

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Deviled Eggs (Maybe I should call them Angel Eggs)

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Candied Sweet Potatoes (Yes, I know, that is 3 potato dishes, but we love our taters)

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Sweet yellow corn in lots of butter

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Graham Cracker Pie

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Texas Sheet Cake

I will make the chocolate Texas sheet cake, but my hubby loves to cook. He has finally gotten his appetite back after a bad 3 weeks of flu. He is looking forward to a wonderful meal on Easter Sunday. He made out the menu and the grocery list. He's raring and ready to go.

We cook a small amount of everything, but it's enough for leftovers for a few days. The kids don't come over on Easter Sunday. My son-in-laws Grandmother is 80 and has been having the family over every year. I couldn't take that away from her so my daughter and her family go there with my blessing. My daughter-in-laws family always goes out to the lake house for the weekend and the entire family goes. They go fishing out on the lake and have a great time, so my son and his family go there with my blessing. We try to get together the weekend before or the weekend after for a casual Easter gathering.

So what do I do while he is making all this delicious food? He always sends me outside to relax in the sun (if it's warm enough). So I pile up either outside on the swing or in the house on the couch with a good book. He doesn't like extra hands in the kitchen when he's cooking. I got a gem when I married him. Not only does he love to cook and is SOOO good at it, he is one of those "clean as you go" cooks so there is not a mess when it's time to eat. Then after we eat, we both pitch in to store the left overs and he does the dishes. (He says he can wash them faster than it takes to load them in the dishwasher.)

What will your Easter bring? I'd love to hear what your plans are and what your menu will be.

Monday Meanderings.....

.....Poor Garfield. That's how I feel this morning. I had a great weekend, but Monday has returned. I normally get up at 5:00 or 5:30. Today, I actually slept until 5:50. I got up, stumbled into the living room, turned the light on, grabbed my favorite fleece throw, turned the light OFF and laid back down on the couch. I slept until 7:00. It feels like I really slept late. Felt pretty good to do that for once.

.....I love Kohls. I'm very excited because I have finally found my Easter Outfit. I'm breaking my tradition this year and not getting a dress or skirt & top. I found a pretty top and white pants that I fell in love with. They were on sale at Kohl's and I just knew "This was it!" I tried them on and they actually both fit (which almost never happens with me.) I was ecstatic.

I thought I would take a gander at the jewelry just to see what they had. Do you ever have one of those moments when you see something and you just KNOW it was made to go with a particular outfit? Well, that happened with this necklace and earrings I found. The pattern is exactly like the pattern in the top. (Because of the lights in the room, I couldn't get a good picture, but it is green with the black pattern like the top. )

Now the really great part is that the total of all three items was $91.00. After all sales discounts and coupons, my cost for everything....$39.00. Did I mention I love Kohls?

.....I didn't have to buy new shoes. I had these adorable sandals I bought last year that I think will look really cute with the outfit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these people who worries about how I look or what others think about how I look. But I do want to at least attempt to "clean up well." :) I'm just one of those "if I look better, I feel better" type people.

..... Our Easter Cantata went very well last night (at least I thought it did.) I plied myself with cold medicine and cough syrup before I left and took me a bottle of water and some cough drops with me. I was able to hit my high notes and kept right on going until the next to the last song. Then it hit. The lights started getting hotter. The choir robe started feeling heavier. The hot flash came on strong. I felt that little tickle in the back of my throat. And I had to stop to cough and set down to get a quick drink of water. But I made it through and was able to finish out the last song with no more problems. So I was happy.

..... Now it's back to Monday and reality. I'm going to be chained to my desk today. I own my own business, but I do tax work for another company as well. Plus I'm involved in a project at church that I'm going to finalize today. So I guess it's time to get to work and see what challenges the day will bring.

Have a happy Monday!