Presidents’ Day Product Giveaway!

Hello wonderful people!

I know this is long overdue, but I’m living life on life’s terms.

Seriously, the past week has been full of several unexpected illnesses and deaths and other random life events and the combination of all those things hit my spirit really hard. I took some time to process everything and blogging was less of a priority.

But JOY comes in the morning! And I am happy to be back with you with my first bright and sunny PRODUCT GIVEAWAY!!!

I mentioned on my Facebook Fanpage that I had a custom circle scarf made by Suuchi.

First, let me tell you about the process of ordering the scarf. It was sooooooo simple! I literally ordered it from my phone (and we all know that mobile sites can sometimes be a pain). I opened the link, scrolled through the photo gallery of fabric swatches until I selected one I liked, entered my measurements (I had these readily available thanks to the tracking features on myfitnesspal!), added my coupon code, and proceeded to checkout.

Since I had a full discount code I paid nothing. No shipping. Nada.

It was a lovely experience. The only thing better than receiving my beautiful scarf is this– I have a code that will grant the same experience to one lucky reader. See below for details on how you can enter to win!

Suuchi Presidents’ Day Giveaway

Here are some shots of me in my scarf that you can entertain yourself with while you await news of the winner! Thanks for stopping by!

Book Review: Big Dreams, Big Prayers Bible for Kids

I’m back with another book review!

I was extremely excited to receive an advanced copy of this text to review because I still vividly remember when my mom gave me my very first bible and how special that moment was for me.

Given that this is a children’s bible, I was surprised to see that it did not have many images in it at all. It is very much like a traditional bible in this sense which would make this more appropriate for an older child, in my opinion (maybe one who is 7 or 8) or for a children’s church leader to use with a small group or for his/her instructional study.

Continue reading →

Fran’s Fixings

This week I received my “Frosty Vox Box” from the Influenster Blogging Network. For full disclosure, I received this for testing purposes from Influenster. Now that the formalities are out of the way, on to the fixings!

This month, I’ve been working on Operation, “Empty Out the Deep Freezer” and it’s been going rather well.

Last week, I made Vegetable Beef Stew and Pan Seared Steaks. I had more meals planned, but with holiday parties and sporting events, I ended up only making dinner two nights last week.

So on to this week. I found some drumsticks in the freezer that I decided to thaw, but then I was thrown a curve-ball when Brandon said he wasn’t in the mood for BBQ chicken…. say what? How can you not be in the mood for BBQ chicken???

But back to the recipe….

With BBQ out the window I set myself to the task of identifying another recipe to use for the chicken. Thankfully, dark meat is pretty forgiving, so I knew I had that working in my favor.

Then arrives the #FrostyVoxBox.

When I saw the bottle of McCormick Gourmet’s Thyme I knew I found my solution. I’m a big McCormick fan, so I partnered the Thyme with McCormick’s Lemon Pepper grinder and went to work! Here’s photographic evidence:

My “recipe” was pretty simple. I set the oven at 375°. I didn’t measure the seasoning (gasp). I believe in adding seasoning until it looks right…. AGAIN, chicken is pretty forgiving, so while this may not be the best method, it works. Just make sure you coat each side evenly. I used a vaporizer to apply olive oil to each side, covered my Pyrex dish with aluminum foil then baked the chicken for 30 minutes. Then I removed the foil and baked the chicken for an additional 30 minutes. I served the chicken alongside collards, stovetop stuffing and rice. Nothing fancy.

My final review. Thyme is on my side. YES it is. 🙂 I look forward to using it in more recipes.