Just keep swimmin.

Amazing weekend so far. Definitely counts for one big wondrous thing. 0:)

We went to the Shumaker's place last night to visit, played Blurt, watched Eugene’s brother get really mad {he & Eugene are ultra, psycho, unhealthily competitive together…but that’s how brothers are!} I so enjoyed my day off yesterday – seriously made me so happy.

This morning we took the pup to the pond again {he loves it so much we just had to!} I worked, but only until 9 pm…another big wondrous thing! He had so much fun swimming. Reminds me of Finding Nemo {don’t tell him I said this, but Eugene secretly loves that movie!} I took a lot of pictures because I enjoy it, so feel free to skim if you’re annoyed with the quantity of pup pics!

The pond has very large albino and regular catfish.

 

He loves to retrieve cattails.

   Cutie pie.

Another two days to relax and visit with family and friends – how wonderful!

Coffee Cake & sunshine.

I got a wicked craving for coffee cake last night, so 30 minutes later we were scarfing down the yummy treat. I used my baking mix {name brand is usually Bisquick} and got complemented as “such an amazing cook” by Eugene  lol.

Bisquick Coffee Cake

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a square 9 x 1 ½ inch dish with with cooking oil.  In a small bowl, mix together the streusel topping and set it aside:

• 1/3 cup Bisquick
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 heaping teaspoon of cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons of margarine

Mix the first three ingredients together. Then cut in the margarine with a fork until the mixture is crumbly.

Then in a separate medium-sized bowl, mix the batter using:

• 2 cups of Bisquick
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2/3 cup of milk
• 1 egg
• 1 splash of vanilla extract

First, mix all the liquid ingredients together and the dry ingredients separately.

Then combine the two and mix well. Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Now sprinkle that with the Streusel topping. If you’d like, you can take a butter knife and zig-zag it through the topping for a marbled effect.

Pop it in the oven and bake it for 18 to 22 minutes. It should look golden brown on top when it’s done. Let it cool for just a few minutes so it will come out of the pan nicely, but to experience this coffee cake at it’s best, it should really be served warm. {We couldn’t wait so we ate it right after the timer went off!}

It didn’t even make it through 24 hours… all gone. Yeah, I know – we’re bad. :)

I took today off from work because I worked last Saturday. I did laundry, got groceries and soaked up some sunshine. This is me in my happy place. Mmmmm.

I’m so thankful for the long weekend {even though I work again on Saturday}. Long weekends = family time & cooking/baking & time outside. All wondrous things!

It never fails & another home decor project.

It seriously never fails that the day after I give the pup a bath, he digs his face into dirt and mud. Lovely. I treated myself to an hour outside in the sun after work yesterday, and the pup couldn’t help but to dig tree roots out of the grass next to me. At first, I tried to stop him, then I decided it was an uphill battle not worth fighting. So yeah, he won this one. {You’re not surprised, right?}

Um…you got a little something in your teeth.

Mud must relax him.

I also decided to fix the big clock I have in the living room. I bought it for cheap {like $12 bucks} at Big Lots earlier this year. When I got it, it was a terrible gold color that just looked chintzy. So I bought cheap-o Walmart black spray paint and attempted to make it look better. It worked, but it still didn’t look like I bought it that way. I felt like it was evident the clock was my DIY effort, which has kinda bothered me since then. I bought Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint a while ago for the Wall Art project and I had plenty leftover. That spray paint is WAY better than the Walmart brand…I mean, it’s ridiculous {btw, why does everyone spell that “rediculous”?!} how much of a difference the name-brand spray paint makes!

Ok, so I don’t have the picture of the before-before picture, but just picture an ugly fake gold color around the clock. Then add on cheap and poorly done black:

See it was really dull and uneven.

So, I just taped around the edges and covered the face with paper {hopefully Eugene didn’t want to save his sermon notes from Sunday, oops lol!}

Took the thing outside and sprayed it with short even strokes of this new friend of mine {only needed one coat!}

You can see the small specks of bronze that pick up the light and make it look oh-so-better.

And replaced the finished project back in the corner wall of the living room. Mmm, no more bothering.

Pleased as punch with the second round of fix’er up’n.

 

You dirty dog.

After {what seemed like} weeks of walking Espn in the rain, then taking him to swim in the {disgusting} reservoir water, and then in the creek & pond at my parents’ place, I decided it was high time to give the dirty dog a bath. He’s so cute when he’s sopping wet!

Lookin a bit like a sewer rat. {no offense, pup!}

See what I mean…nasty dirt left over from the cleanse.

 
Here he is so fresh and so clean clean. He gets so excited after baths. Chased his tale for a good 15 minutes straight before I could snap this picture!

My brother-in-law sent me a text picture of baby Cate, and Oh My Goodness she’s so cute! She already looks so much different than when I was there. Beautiful as ever.

Summer food.

Yesterday, I took the pup for a run when I got home from work. It was sunny outside so HOT. {I loved it!} He lays on the tiled floor after our exercise because it’s cooler than our carpet – this pup is pooped!

We had just enough time to slap some burgers on the grill and boil some corn on the cob.

Can we say food for the summer!? Delicious. Oh, and to top it off, on our way home from Small Group, we stopped at McDonald’s for some frozen yogurt cones. YUM…makes me flash to 4th of July’s. :)

In our small group last night, we sat on a deck outside at my Pastor’s house and discussed the chapter we just read on Divorce. Ugh, not the most uplifting topic, and definitely a sensitive one for so many people. But the biggest thing I walked away with is that I’m so thankful Eugene and I decided before we said our vows that divorce is never going to be an option or choice for us. And because of that decision, I actually have one thing in my life that I know will always be a source of stability. We will always be married. Don’t get me wrong, I know we’re going to have the roller-coaster effect with peaks and valleys {we’ve seen that even just in our 11 months of marriage}, but just knowing that Eugene will always be my husband, I will always be his wife, we will always be partners is such a wonderful comfort. Our lives have been rocked with change so much this past year, and we expect even more changes next year, but we are each other’s constant. Praise the Lord for constants.

Finally, here’s the recipe for the enchiladas. I roughly based these off a Betty Crocker recipe. I made them ahead of time at lunch, and baked them a while later. You could even make these 24 hours before you’re ready to bake them. We ate every one of them, and they made great leftovers. With how easy, delicious, and inexpensive this recipe is, I definitely will make this again.

Ground Turkey Enchiladas

1 lb ground turkey
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Chili powder
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce
1 can {less or more} of corn {I used frozen corn}
6-8 flour tortillas
1/2 cup salsa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees {if you’re not making them ahead of time.} Spray 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray. In a skillet, brown your turkey with chili, onion and garlic powder seasoning.

Once the turkey is fully cooked, stir in the sour cream and 1 cup of the cheese.

Lay out your tortillas, and spread about a teaspoon of enchilada sauce on each tortilla. Then add about 1/2 cup of your meat mixture. {I did all the tortillas at once so I could make the meat amount evenly distributed.} Add however much corn you’d like. Then roll up tortillas, and place the seam side down into your baking dish.

In a small bowl, mix together your remaining enchilada sauce and your salsa.

This gets poured on the rolled enchiladas.

Top with your remaining cheese.

Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray; cover the baking dish with it. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the whole thing is nice and hot! {PS, Eugene baked ours for me while I was at work, and he forgot the foil part, so our cheese in the picture below is probably a bit more crunchy than it probably needs to be. I still love him though!}

       
Serve it up with some sour cream on the side and enjoy!

Weekend filled to the brim.

Friday was nuts. Nuts, I say. But after work, I enjoyed time with Julie for my hair cut. Precious time with a great Godly friend. After that, Eugene served me the delicious dinner he grilled {bbq chicken, corn, and baked potatoes.} I made banana bread using my new bread machine {given to me by one of the most generous men I know – my dad.} We basically took it easy Friday night, just relaxing together.

Saturday morning, we took Espn to the reservoir to see if he would like playing in the water. He definitely did. We thought me might swim, but no such luck – just bouncing around like a dear in the water – but he loved it! How cute is the picture above of my two boys walking together. Melts my heart!

 
Just getting used to the new place.

He would find the muddy side water first. Lovely.

The prancing deer in action!

Not quite swimming, YET!

I’m looking a bit rough…can you tell it’s a Saturday morning!

Then, just for kicks, we stopped at Wiggley Field, the dog park on our way home, because they were hosting “Woof Stock” festival. Har har!

Lots of dogs and lots of overly excited owners left our pup a bit overwhelmed! But we did catch a glimpse of a cute little family:

Saturday night, I worked a wedding reception from 4:00 until 1:00 am. It went well, but wore me out! Sunday, we woke up early to teach our kindergarten boys that God can help them when they are afraid just like he helped the Israelites when they were fleeing from Pharaoh and walking through the parted waters.

After church, we looked at three more open houses {actually liked two of them!}, and then headed to my parents’ place with the pup to enjoy the sunny weather. And guess what, I took him to the pond, and he can SWIM! Lol, I know that it’s highly unlikely that it’s exciting to anyone other than me, but it made me smile for sure! {Call me lame if you want!} I sat outside in the sun, watching Espn dive for cattails in the pond. Then we enjoyed steaks, grilled tilapia, and vegetables for dinner. Amazingly refreshing time.

I stopped at Walmart and got some super deals on dress shirts {$3.00 for a silk shirt!} and caught up with my college friend from Indy. We capped the night off with the season, series, show finale for LOST. I’m a bit disappointed because I feel like they just copped out for the ending, but it’s okay. The show’s still great.

Sheesh, that’s a lot of stuff, all super special and meaningful to me, but probably very unexciting to an outsider. I’m thankful for the wondrous weekend!

Enchiladas & banana bread recipes to come soon. {I promise!}