Sloppy Joes

Lately around our house, if it's not easy, it doesn't get fixed for supper. I have more on me now than I've had in long, long time. So, my slow cooker has become my best friend. And when a recipe can be either slow cooker or fast cooked and still taste the same? That makes me happier than a "tornado in a trailer park." Name that movie.

Anyway, my friend Lisa found a recipe for Sloppy Joes that will, as Tim Hawkins says, "make you wanna slap yer momma!" (Speaking of Tim Hawkins, Kristen from We are THAT Family is giving away an autographed copy of Tim's new DVD, I'm No Rockstar. If you haven't heard of Tim Hawkins, good grief, go to YouTube and search his name. NOW. He will make you laugh so hard you can't breathe.)

Sorry...I digress. This recipe for Sloppy Joes is the best one I've ever tasted. SO much better than store bought. You can throw it together in the slow cooker and have it ready for when you want it, or you can zip it up and have it ready in less than thirty minutes.

Here you go:

Simple Sloppy Joes

2 pounds ground beef (I used one pound ground deer and 1 pound ground beef)
1 large onion, finely chopped (I used half of a medium)
2 garlic cloves, minced (I used one)
2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
1 cup ketchup
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons soy sauce
hamburger buns

In a large skillet cook beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat
is no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato sauce and paste, ketchup, brown
sugar and soy sauce; mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and
simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon mixture onto individual hamburger buns.

This serves a TON. The sauce in this recipe is actually doubled from the original recipe, so if you don't want as much, just halve the stuff after the garlic. But we like lots o' sauce. The meat, onions, and garlic stayed the same, but the liquid stuff and brown sugar is doubled. MMMMmmm....I served 6 last night, had enough leftover for 5 tonight, and put probably enough for 4 more in the freezer. Did I say a TON? It's also CHEAP. Less than $.75 per serving. If you can get ground beef on sale or if you have ground deer (no one will be able to tell it's deer meat), even cheaper. If you can splurge a bit or if you have a coupon, I LOVE to serve this on the larger Sister Schubert's dinner rolls. Oh. My. Word. "It's like eating a baby angel." There you go, Kat.

Linking to Jen's Tasty Tuesday!

A Mother's Love

It might not be Mother's Day weekend, but this could quite possibly be the sweetest video ever. If you like dogs and cats, that is. If not, watch it anyway to be amazed at the leopard and baby baboon. It's amazing.

WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!

Sarah Mae is giving a tassel away!

I have to throw this post up reeeeeeeally quickly and I'm sure with tons of typos, but I've hijacked Sound Man's computer in the sound booth at church to tell you that Sarah Mae is giving an Open Sky exclusive tassel away! Go check the post out! Woot!

P.S. The pumpkin tassel sold this morning, but I will be adding more later! If you'd like one custom made, please let me know. Leave me your email address and I will get back to you ASAP!

That I May Know the Hope...

Where I'm at right now...

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Ephesians 1:17-21

Bird Nerd, part ad nauseum

I can't help it. Birds make my heart pitter patter. Which, I guess, is why I love bird tassels. It seems to me that y'all do, too, since almost half of my tassel sales have been bird related (either birds, nests, or roosters/chickens). Which is why I'm sharing my two newest tassels listed in my Etsy Shop:I lurve these colors on this brown bird tassel. The bottom fringe looks more brown than burgundy, but it's really brownish-burgundyish. I totally made that word up.

Then there's this fun black and gold little dude. He's just plain cute.

If you needed any more convincing that I'm a bit of a fanatic about birds, let me remind you of my Christmas presents last year...Got Crow Creation's Mini Felted Titmouse. I cannot get over how cute this little dude is. PLEASE go see how wonderfully talented and creative this girl is! She crafts such beautiful little birds, one of which is smaller than a dime, nest and all! I may have to ask for another bird from her this year. They are so reasonable, too, at just $12.

Sadly, I can't find the Etsy shop where my next bird-nerd gift came from...evidently they have closed up shop, which makes me sad, since she did beautiful pendants...I get so many comments when I wear this. "That is SO you, Heathahlee!" Is what I hear most often. That makes me smile.

And of course, my Susie Harris sign.I do love her and her stuff! I'm so grateful to say I can call her a friend in real life.

Okay, enough bird talk. For now. When I give Kat's daughter, Fep, her birthday present, I'm sure I'll add that to the list. Oh, who am I kidding? I can't wait to show it to you...I just hope Fep doesn't see this...It's a horrible pic but it was taken in horrible light with my phone. I wanted Kat's approval and for some reason haven't taken any pics with our regular camera. I hope she loves it. I sure do!

Silhouette Craft Cutter Giveaway at ASPTL!

ANOTHER great giveaway this week! The wonderfully talented spray-paint queen, Kimba, is giving away a Silhouette Craft Cutter (worth $300!) to one of her readers! I want one sooooo much! My mind reels at the thought of what I could do at Christmas with that thing. Here's the first thing I'd do...click the link:

"Oh Holy Night"

Isn't that so pretty! So simple, but I love it!

Head over to A Soft Place to Land to enter.

It's my (birthday) party and I'll cry if I want to....

But only because my sweet husband prayed the sweetest prayer and started crying himself.

Here are pics from my 4oth (yes...I hit the big 4-0 Tuesday) birthday party. Sound Man planned the party almost single-handedly, and did a great job. He did, however, after realizing he had left several people off the invitation list, vowed never to plan a party again without enlisting the help of a capable female. Heh heh heh. But look at the colors he chose for my decorations...he did good! Blue and brown. Even the cake was my favorite color combination. My friends Jeff and Lisa graciously allowed us to partay at their house. Lisa also made my D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S. fresh strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. Oh. My. Word. It's still scrumptious three days later.
This house was FULL! I think mostly because all the kids were there, too. The boys went outside to play, thankfully...they had too much energy to be stuck in the house!

There were no less than three squishable, kissable babies there...My friend, whom I will call Mr. F, is a detective with our local police department. You do NOT want to mess with him. I'm SOOOOO glad I can call him friend! But to see him with my friend Renee's granddaughter in his lap makes you realize Mr. F. is just a big softie at heart!

My friend, Sherry (Sherrylynn to me), with our worship pastor Brent and his wife Hollie's new baby. He wasn't too happy in this pic!

One of the highlights was when I got to feed one of the plethora of new babies at church. She belongs to Mike and Natasha and is soooooooo precious! She's only six weeks old! She and Brent and Hollie's baby are just a TINY portion of all the new little lives born into our church family over the past two months. I want to snuggle with all of them!
And the furry babies couldn't be left out. This is my friend Kim's daughter (who is the spitting image of her mother) with Skip, Jeff and Lisa's dog, who just happens to be Jonathan's brother. We think they are, along with Golden Retriever, part Border Collie. Skip got the lean body and long hair, and Jonathan got the muscles and big build. But you can still tell they are brothers.
My friend Kim and me. My intention was to get pics with all my girlfriends, but somehow that didn't materialize. I didn't even get a pic with Lisa. And Kat wasn't able to be there, which made me sad, but I know I will celebrate with her later.

We just sat and talked and ate. And talked some more and ate. And held babies. And I loved every minute of it.

I love my church family SO much. I don't know what I would do without them. And I'm realizing more and more, even after fifteen years of marriage, that I don't know what I would do without my precious Sound Man.

I wish I could load the video of my birthday card he got for me that he said he almost peed himself listening to. He and Kiddo and I have listened to it over and over. It's Hoops and Yoyo, so you know it's funny! If you're my facebook friend, I loaded it there today! Go listen to it! But don't have diet coke in your mouth. You have been forewarned.

Giveaway at The Inspired Room!

I lurve giveaways. This one is especially good because it's a book whose subject is near and dear to me...Living with What You Love.

Melissa's post almost made me cry it was so sweet. If you love decorating with things that hold sweet memories for you, you need to read her post!

You can click here to enter. The giveaway is open until Friday 9:00 P.M. Pacific time. She will be giving away FIVE copies! Woo hoo!

Good luck! You can also click here to read about that pillow. It's also near and dear to me.

Validated by Country Living

As I was flipping through the pages of Country Living a few nights ago, imagine my delight when I saw this:

Here's what it says: "Give a luxurious lift to cabinet latches, doorknobs, even lamp pulls, with a silky tassel."

I've been telling anyone who will stand still for three seconds (and even those who won't) for years what all you can do with a tassel. AND that they could purchase one from me, if they so choose. Then I saw this:

Thirty dollars (when you count tax) for a plain, run-of-the-mill tassel? No way.

If you're looking for a tassel to add a little bit of beauty to your home, buy one that shows your personality. You don't even have to buy one from me. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd love it if you bought one of mine or asked me to make you a custom tassel. I've made several for my blog readers as well as my IRL friends in the past year, and have an order for a Golden Retriever tassel in the works. But, I'm not the only tassel maker out there.

Find one that suits you. Country Living would agree.

Sunday Funny

Must be Southern Baptist.

HA! Have a great day celebrating our Savior!