Happy Independence Day

July 4th means more to me this year than any before. Today I'm thankful for my freedom that cost the lives of so many. I woke up with my brother on my mind. I am thankful for him and all of the other soldiers who sacrifice in order to serve our country.

When it comes to freedom though, I think of my sweet Savior who died so that I can have the ultimate freedom.

Let It Be Known...

...that as of 6:15 p.m. this evening, I finished painting the very last bit of trim work in our home.

Since we bought our home last Spring, we've painted every single room in this house, 19 doors (all front and back so that's actually like 38), 2 sets of folding closet doors, all window facings and door facings,  all the molding, and approximately 3,082 square feet of baseboards. The baseboards I might add were the worst in that we were on our hands and knees painting those.

Here's what my week has consisted of:

• Monday: trimmed out and painted one of the guest bedrooms and 2 linen closets.
• Tuesday: began painting trim work and doors for these rooms, stained the new cedar shelves in the pantry.
• Wednesday: put shelves back up in pantry and reorganized everything, finished the last bit of painting we had left.

Tomorrow I plan to clean out the bedroom I painted and get things together to donate/give away. Friday I'm planning to sand and re-stain my great grandmother's trunk, along with a few other odds and ends.

I'm afraid our house will no longer feel like home since we no longer have to spend every spare minute painting!

Now that all of the painting is over, I'm ready to dive head-first into some hardcore decorating.

And yes, I will list this under the label of 'milestones' because for these homeowners, it is a big one!

Friday's Favorites: Summertime Edition

1. Flip Flops
While technically I wear these from early Spring to late Autumn, they're still a Summer favorite.

2. Summer Dresses
I mostly wear comfy, cool dresses in the Summer. Old Navy usually has really cute dresses, which is where I found these. Too bad for me, I have to travel to get to an Old Navy store.

3. Watermelons
Yummo! I live off of watermelon and tomato sandwiches during the Summer.

4. The Beach
It's just not Summer until I've been to the beach.

5. Seafood
Speaking of the beach, I cannot go without indulging in seafood. I love it all except for oysters.

6. Lemonade
While I'd love to say that our lemonade is homemade, it's not. We are country time fans. Their pink lemonade is my favorite!

7. Dove Energy Glow
I think this has made the top 10 before, but you can't talk about the beach and summer dresses without addressing the tanning situation. While I usually get a little color from just being outdoors, I'm not a sun goddess. This pale girl needs a little help!

8. Fourth of July
This would be one of my top 3 favorite holidays. I love the cookouts, family time, watermelon, and, of course, the fireworks.

9. Being Outdoors
We spend a lot of time on our porch just sitting. Since this is the South, it's nearly impossible to get out and about before 5 p.m.

Speaking of outdoors, these two showed up on the lake about 2 weeks ago. While we've always had ducks or geese show up from time to time, these are the only ones that have stayed. They've been hanging out right in our back yard! I hope they decide to make this their home.

10. Our Anniversary
We have about a month until, and we've been trying to plan something fun. We usually travel to the beach for this occasion.


While this favorite does not have anything to do with summertime, I thought share it. I added one of those traffic feeds to my blog to see where people are visiting from. If you scroll down it's on the bottom left hand sidebar, you can also click it at the bottom of the box where it says "Real Time View" to all previous visitors.  It's been really neat to see all the different places: Bangladesh, Utah, South Carolina, Tennessee, several from Butler and the surrounding area... pretty neat! I encourage you to share your thoughts by leaving comments- I'd love to hear from you!

As always, Happy Friday!

FREE Brag Book

Now through 6/25 you can enjoy a FREE photo brag book when you use the promo code BRAG only at Walgreens.

Plus, you can ship it to the store and receive free shipping!

Click on the picture above to head on over and get yours.

The brag book includes 20 pages and you can choose from several different styles.

People are always asking what our house looked like before we did anything to it. So, I compiled all of our before pictures into this free brag book.

Frozen Coconut Caramel Pie

Ya'll, this pie is divine! My grandmother made one and we loved it. I'm definitely not a coconut person, but I didn't know it had it in it until she told me. So, even if your not the biggest fan of coconut, you'll still love this!

You'll Need:

• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 carton (16 ounces) frozen whipped cream, thawed
• 2 graham cracker crusts (9 inches each)
• 1 jar (12 ounces) caramel ice cream topping

Directions:

    In a skillet, melt butter; add coconut and pecans. Cook by stirring over medium heat for 10 minutes or until golden brown and toasted; set aside.

    In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and milk together until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into crusts. Drizzle with caramel topping; sprinkle with coconut/pecan mixture. Cover and freeze for 8 hours or overnight or until hardened. Remove from the freezer 5 minutes before slicing. Yields 2 pies (6-8 servings each).

Enjoy!

Great Post

One of my blogger friends posted this about our attitudes and how they affect our outlook. It was just what I needed to hear, and I'm sure a few of you will feel the same way.

Click HERE to head over to her blog and check it out.

Friday's Favorites

1.  Good Health

We are praising God for my husband's good health! We had a scare a few weeks ago, but we are so thankful everything came back okay.

2.   VBS

I taught the 5th-7th grade class and really enjoyed working with the older kids. It was quite a change from what I'm used to. I had prayed specifically for one student in particular. My prayers were answered when she gave her life to Jesus Wednesday night. I'm so excited to see her baptism tonight, along with all of the kids who accepted Christ. 

3.  Wax Warmer

My friend T had one in her home and it made her whole house smell so good. Last night while she and I were out I picked up one from Wal-Mart. My favorite scent is the Pomegranate and Passion Fruit.

4.  Allen's Battered Whole Green Beans

Ya'll, these things are sooooo yummy! I fry them and oh my goodness, I could eat the whole batch right by myself.

5.  Boundary

While I love my sweet Louie man, I don't love what he does to our patio furniture. He has one chair in particular that he sleeps on, but lately he's been getting on all the chairs. My mother-in-law mentioned this spray that she uses for her dog. It keeps your pets away from areas you don't want them. Since it has a bit of a stinky smell, I just sprayed it on the wicker and not the cushions. So far, so good!

6.  Fresh Vegetables from my Dad's garden

7.  Frozen Caramel Coconut Pie

My grandmother made one and I had to get the recipe. My husband LOVES this pie. I've had several people request the recipe, so I'll post it later.

8.  Summer Afternoon Thunderstorms

9.  Pivot Mirrors

I want to change out our current mirrors in our master bath to these which would make number #154 on my house to-do list. 

 10. Biolage Hydrating Conditioning Balm

I was surprised to find that Wal-Mart now carries this line. Before, I could only get it at the salon. While I've tried to cut back on my pricey salon products, I couldn't resist this. It's actually quite a bit of conditioner- my tub has lasted over a month and still has some in it.

 

Happy Friday!

I'm in love with getting FREE stuff!

As you know, my husband and I have been following the Dave Ramsey Financial program. We've really looked at ways to save our money. Lately, there's been a lot of hype about coupons and finding good sales. We decided to try out a new grocery store that offers customer rewards cards, good sales, and of course, good coupon deals. 

Last week, we saved $53.97 by just using our customer rewards card- which was FREE! 

Here is a list of some free items we recieved during Saturday's shopping trip:

1. Free box of Froot Loops (cereal was BOGO).

2. Free Tyson Chicken Breast (BOGO)

3. Free 16 count box of poptarts (BOGO)

But the kicker was this:

We bought a package of Tyson chicken nuggets and a package of Tyson chicken breast patties and recieved these four items FREE:

8 piece package corn on the cob, bottle of barbecue sauce, 2 liter Coca Cola, and a container of Bryers ice cream!

We received this weeks sales paper in the mail yesterday and decided to cash in on this sweet deal.

I bought this...

.....and got these four items FREE!

 

 

Lately we've been using a less expensive brand of detergent, but I just couldn't resist this deal! The total with tax was $12.83 on the large bottle of Gain 2X concentrate detergent (which was cheaper there than the stores in Butler) and saved $11.66 by getting the fabric softener, dryer sheets, bleach, and shout for FREE! To top it off, the shout bottle had a coupon :)

 

 

This week they are having a sale on Colgate toothpaste, 10/$10 - which makes them $1 each. In the Sunday paper there was a coupon for 75 cents off, so by using your coupon you could get a tube of Colgate Total (what we use, or whatever you like) for only 25 cents! If your store doubles coupons, you could get it for free- in fact, they'd owe you. :) I have coupons for this sale and plan to take full advantage of it. Looks like I may be on my way to getting our stockpile going.

I'm attending a coupon class next Monday night at 6 and I'm so excited!

Hello Summer

Summer break is finally here and this year I plan to take advantage of it. This is the first summer since high school that I haven't had to work, go to school, or both. For the past two summers I've had to listen to my fellow teachers talk of how they spend their summer days at the pool or just lounging around the house. I had to spend mine typing papers and sitting in lecture halls. This summer I plan to discover how it feels to be a lady of leisure. I've intentionally not made any major plans because I want to wake up each morning and decide what I feel like doing that day. In fact, the only plans I have include a season pass to the water park which I happily purchased yesterday! Little did I know that my purchase would include a free sunburn. ;)

I just arrived home from a wonderful three day visit with my grandparents. It was so good to hang out with them and just relax.

Well, I'm off to enjoy a tomato sandwich and my favorite movie.

This is the life.

3 Years

Today marks 3 years of blogging for Sylvia's Graces. 

Remember my very first post here? 

Here's to many more years of blogging!

The Proverbs 31 Woman

Every Mother's Day the Proverbs 31 woman is discussed in churches across the world. Now I don't know about you, but this description of a woman always makes me feel inadequate.

Often times, when I'm studying a particular verse or passage, I'll look at different translations. This helps put things into focus. When I looked up this passage in my Quest Study Bible, I came across the following breakdown of the passage.

Is the "Wife of Noble Character" a realistic model for today's women?

With poetic flair this passage shows that a godly woman can find fulfillment in her home, in the community, and in a career. This passage does not limit a woman's role to any of of these areas. Nor does it create unrealistic expectations for women, calling them to do everything in all of these areas. 

How is this woman a model for today?

This wife of noble character is  productive and ingenious. She can even be intimidating to women who would seek to follow her example. But while everyone can benefit from her example of initiative and hard work, the main lesson she offers is her outlook rather than her output.

All of this woman's qualities and accomplishments grow out of her fear of the Lord (verse 30). Fearing God is her central virtue, and this attitude toward God is as crucial for today's women as it was then. The fear of the Lord not only undergirds our growth in wisdom, but also draws us to the grace of Christ who forgives our sin and equips us for righteous living.

Another timeless virtue of this woman is her service to others: her husband, her children, her servants (v. 15) and the poor and needy (v.20). She serves them with eagerness (v.13), resourcefulness (v.16), and strength (v. 17,25). She is neither hindered nor demeaned by serving others. Rather, she is fulfilled by it, because godly service is the source of her nobility.

The Most Beautiful Thing

The first Sunday after the tornado devastation, a small group of people from my church rode out to Cromwell to see what we could do to help. When we saw a group of people gathered around the remnants of a home, we had to stop. These people were so inspiring. They were sharing God's word, encouraging one another, and praising our Lord. 

Ya'll, it was the most beautiful thing to see people lifting up their voices and turning their hearts and eyes toward Jesus. 

Jesus was in their midst. You could feel his Sweet spirit covering the place. And just as it always happens when you've been in His presence, I left wanting so much more of Him.