Pintrest

OK people, I just have to say it…admitting it out loud might help. I am obsessed with Pintrest! It is such an awesome program! To be able to save all my photography ideas, recipe ideas, and stuff I just plan think is cool, all in one place is amazing. The creator of Pintrest is a genius!

Don’t have it? Comment me with your email address and I will invite you in (it feels like a special secret society lol!)

Win A Missie Sue's Necklace!

And for the GRAND OPENING of Missie Sue's Etsy Shop I am giving a necklace away! It's easy to enter and I am giving you multiple chances to try to win! 

• Follow Thirsty leave a comment stating that you did (or already are)!
• Check out Missie Sue's on Etsy and tell me which necklace is your favorite (one entry)
• Post this Giveaway to your Facebook and leave a comment! (one entry)
• Post this Giveaway to your Twitter and leave a comment! (one entry)
• Post this Giveaway on your blog and leave a comment! (one entry)
• Leave a comment about why you want to win! (one entry)

There will be more necklaces soon on my Esty store, so check back frequently! If there is something you want to see in necklace form let me know! Or wanna buy in bulk? Let me know! We can work out a deal! I am bringing the Keep Calm and Sew On to quilt retreat for my entire family!

The contest will end September 30th!

 

Verse to memorize

This week’s verse to memorize is lengthy! I am a bit daunted by it, but I am going to break it down into pieces and then it will come together swimmingly!

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

On a side note – I finally found a 2^nd job but man am I tired already. I am working at Target again (I worked there for 3 ½ years through college and a little after). Paul and I need to pay down the drain tile loan and then start saving to buy me a call. I can only pray that the 11 year old car I am driving now will last until we are ready to make another purchase.

I also have some fun news! I started an Esty store with some fun jewelry! I am going to post more about it tomorrow…but if you want a sneak peak visit: Missie Sue’s!

My favorite resturant pizza at home

There is this restaurant in our area that has amazing pizza. If you don't know about Zorbaz, you need to. All of the restaurants are located on a lake and it is a summer tradition! Next summer vacation in Minnesota and make sure to have some pizza!

But, if you can't make it to Zorbaz or just want a tasty, low cost pizza at home, than make my At Home Remake of the Joze Zorbaz (every thing is Zs at Zorbaz)

Meet the amazing Joze Zorbaz pizza!

What you need:
Pizza crust (I used the Wildtree Pizza Crust)
Pizza sauce - either from the grocery store or homemade (I used Wildtree Perfect Pizza Sauce seasoning with a touch of Sherry and garlic for a little more zing)
Half red onion, diced
Fresh jalapeno, cut into slices
4 grape tomatoes or one large Roma tomato, sliced
Can of black olives, sliced

1/4 cup ground beef
20 to 25 pepperoni slices
1 tbsp minced garlic
Fresh cilantro (optional)
1 cup of shredded cheese

WAIT - You NEED a close up...look at those amazing toppings!

What to do:
Prepare the crust according to package. Top with pizza sauce. Equally place on toppings: pepperoni, ground beef, red onion, tomato, black olives, garlic and jalapenos. Top with shredded cheese. Bake according to crust directions. (I baked my homemade crust at 500 for 15 minutes).

Top with cilantro and a side of guacamole and serve!

Leading me to...

A couple nights ago I read a blog post from a fellow blogger whom I cherish, Beth. She lays it all out on the table, opens her heart in honesty and tells you like it is.

Her post is about being grateful. I read it and thought, man I am so ungrateful. But then, I started to wonder if that is really the word I needed to use.

Last night I was laying in bed thinking about how I just needed a change, some excitement, just to get out of town for a moment. Was I being ungrateful?

I have a job, although I wish I was paid what I am worth, I have a good job. I have a cute house, although someday I wish it was newer, I have a good house. I have a husband who loves me, although some days I tend to (obnoxiously) compare him to TV husband, I have a husband who loves me and wants to spend his life with me. I have an amazing family, although sometimes I wish we were closer together, I have a family who cherishes each other. I have an awesome group of friends, sometimes it almost feels like too many, but there isn’t a single one I would give up.

So grateful…I realize I may complain a bit, but I am grateful for all my blessings. So in my quest to find out why I was laying in bed wishing for a change, even though I have amazing things in my life, I flipped to the concordance of my bible. If you didn’t know, you can find anything about everything back there. It’s good stuff.

So, back to the concordance. I was flipping through A to G when I turned to the Fs. And you know what word jumped out at me….fulfilled. And with God, I believe that nothing happens for a reason. I was meant to find that word.

I have a lot of things and amazing people in my life. But I am not living my life to the fulfillment that God has promised. The words fulfillment and fulfill are used 42 times, most in reference to God’s word being fulfilled through the scripture. The one that stuck out to me the most was in James.

James 2:23 – And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called God’s friend.”

Through all the fulfillment of the scripture and the way that God works in our lives, there is one outcome I need in my life. To find fulfilness (I think I just made up that word) in my life I need to be righteous and, I hope one day, to be called God’s friend.

How amazing is that. I lose track of my days, get lost in materials, TV, blogging, books and so much more, but I also love out on the fulfillment of living the life I was called for. The closeness with our Maker, our Father, our Friend.

Fall decor

I set up some fall decorations since the chill is in the air! I cannot believe how quickly summer went and that leaves are already changing...I love fall, but it is hard to see the summer go!
I just added leaves and pumpkins into my normal decor, easy to incorporate and just adds a touch a color.
Everything cost less than $20 too!

The wine and the vines are my normal decorations. I just snuck in pumpkins instead of the normal candle and fall leaves!

I really want to do some more fall craft...I have seen some super cute ones on crafting blogs!

What fall decorations do you put up?

Caramel Apple Cake - YUM!

Along with fall comes apples! Our tree is full of apples ready for the pickin'. Paul says we have to wait until after the first frost, but I decided to grab a few right away. They are a little bitter, but they will go well in a super sweet cake!

What you need:
Cake:
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 pkg. (4 serving size) JELL-O Vanilla or French Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 cup water
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 medium Granny Smith apples (or 6 from the apple tree outside), peeled, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup Kraft Caramel chips (they are little unwrapped caramel balls!)
Topping:
20 KRAFT Caramels, unwrapped
3 tablespoons milk

What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, eggs, oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter flavoring, caramel chips and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Beat on high speed 2 min.
3. Gently stir in apples. Pour into prepared pan (9x13, fluted pan or tube pan - greased)
4. Bake 50 min. to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes.
5. Microwave caramels and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 min., stirring every 30 sec. until blended. Cool 10 min. until slightly thickened. Drizzle over cake.

Verse of the week - #WFW

For more Word Filled Wednesday visit  Internet Cafe Devotions!

Breakfast on the go

I have found the only way I do well on a diet is to come completely prepared. If I don't have breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus snacks, all pre-planned I tend to grab junk.

I really like Smart Ones Breakfast sandwiches, but at almost $4 a box for 2 it would be SO expensive to have them every morning.  So I decided to make my own!

Here are my quick breakfast sandwiches! And the best part is they are only less than $0.90 each!

Here what you need:
A microwave safe mug
5 eggs
5 english muffins
5 Fat-free Kraft Single slices
5 baggies
Wisk
Black Pepper
Pam

What to do:
Spray inside of mug with Pam. Wisk egg, teaspoon of water and black pepper in mug. Microwave mug for 45 seconds to a 1 minute (egg will start popping when it is done).
Put a slice of cheese on each english muffin, slide egg on top (you may have to push it down a bit...my eggs fluff up a lot) and then top with the other part of the muffin.
Wrap in Press and Seal or a paper towel and then put into a baggie. Freeze!

All you have to do in the morning is wrap the sandwich in a paper towel and microwave for 1minute to a 1 minute and a half, turn over and microwave for 30 seconds. Enjoy!

** Weight Watchers -6 pts per sandwich with a whole egg or 4 pts  with just an egg white **

Weekly memorization

Today I decided to start memorizing a verse a week. I was in AWANA as a child, all the way from 3rd grade to 12th grade, and I know how important memorizing all those verses was to me. Even to this day I still remember a lot of the verses and they often come to mind when I need them the most.

As an adult I know that I should keep up the memorization, first to keep me in the word, to make sure that I am following the word and to have it at the tip of my tongue when I need it.

I am using the FighterVerse app on my iphone. It has 2 full years of verses to memorize, along with memorization help, including a song for the verse!

Here is the verse for September 5th:

"Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Cor 9:6-7

Join me every Monday for the weekly bible verse to memorize!

Quick and Easy Rice Pilaf

I love semi-homemade food. It looks like I put a lot more time and energy in the meal then I did. Great taste, half the time!

One of my favorite semi-homemades is Rice Pilaf! Check it out, doesn't it look tasty?

All you need is:
2 cups Instant Rice
Handful of shredded carrots
2 Tablespoons of diced onions
1 stalk of celery
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp olive oil or grapeseed oil

What you do:
Finely chop all your veggies. I use a Pampered Chef chopper...love it and it is SO quick and easy. In your pot warm oil and then add veggies and garlic. Saute until the garlic is fragrant..about 3 minutes or so. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, mix in instant rice and cover for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and then serve! Tasty and SO easy!

The Hunger Games

I have to tell you how much I loved reading the Hunger Games series and how excited I am for the movies. It has been a while since I have been this into a book and once I started the Hunger Games I could barely put it down. I finished it in less than 6 hours and was so absorbed into the story line and the characters.

Here is a synopis (It sounds so dark, which it is, but it is so good too)
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.

The movie comes out March 23rd and I already have date night planned with the hubby. There is only one trailer so far but I cannot wait to see more. Jennifer Lawrence is a great actress (she was in X-Men First Class as well).

Check it out! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Meatball Kebabs

With a long weekend, make that a long holiday weekend, there is one thing I know my hubby and I will be doing...GRILLING!

And for a festive flair I like to make meatball kebabs! Interesting, a little different and mighty tasty!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

1 lb. raw lean ground beef

2 large eggs

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tsp dried parsley

2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 16 chunks

1 medium green bell pepper, cut into 16 chunks

1 medium onion, cut into 16 chunks

Instructions:
Mix together meat, breadcrumbs, eggs, garlic, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Form with damp hands into 16 meatballs.
Slide four meatballs, alternating with peppers and onion, on 4 bamboo skewers (soak skewers for a half hour so they don't burn too quickly).
Grill for 10 minutes over medium high heat, turning every two minutes to make sure that the meat is cooked evenly.
Enjoy!

Making some extra money

I know I have been absent lately…it seems like summer has gotten away from me. Along with being out of town on weekend I have been working extra hours to help gain extra money for bills.

Are you in my predicament? Seem to have less cash than usual or extra bills you didn’t plan on? Here are some tips to gain extra money or put some into savings before that next emergency surprises you!

• Coupon! I save SO much money couponing. A local business goes to a large metropolitan area and bring backs inserts for $1 a paper. I get 3 papers full of awesome coupons (the coupons are better the closer to a large city than they are in a smaller town. We get coupons from Minneapolis because we barely get any in Fargo). I save way more than $3 with all those coupon deals. I save anywhere between 20% to 40%!

• Find coupon bloggers in your area and check out my couponing page to find deals on inserts and great couponing deals! You can get free stuff and stock up on the things you use all the time! I got 10 boxes of cereal for $9 (that’s $0.90 each!!!)

• Apply for some part time work through your local temp agency. We have friends who work at a temp agency and they get random jobs all the time. Two weeks ago I put stickers on bags for $10 an hour for a week and next week I will deal Blackjack for 4 hours for $14 a hour!

• Since Christmas is right around the corner (sad but true) many retail businesses are stocking up on seasonal help. Apply at your local mall locations, Target or Wal-Mart and work an extra 15 to 20 hours a week for a few months. Plus, you can get a great discount on your Christmas gifts!

• Put up a flier at work that you can babysit nights and weekends. People already trust you because you are a good co-worker and they know your schedule!

What other ideas do you have to make some extra income??