My Life as a Domestic Goddess

Monday, October 10, 2011

Butterfinger Bliss

I am a little late posting this, but I thought I would share it anyway. A week or two ago I decided to make a cake. I am not normally one to bake, but I have been looking on Pinterest and have found quite a few things I want to try. I found the recipe here, but I decided to change the name and and I swapped a few ingredients. Here is what I did

1 box chocolate cake mix (+ I used a chocolate fudge cake)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 jar hot fudge sauce
1-8 oz container of cool whip
4 Butterfingers, crushed (The food processor works great for this)

Make and bake cake according to box directions. As soon as it comes out of the oven, poke holes with the handle of a wooden spoon all over the cake. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top( I found that the edges tended to get more of the milk than the middle so I think next time I will focus on getting more of it in the middle.) (I let this set overnight) Next spread fudge over the cake and then spread cool whip over the top lastly top with crushed Butterfinger bars (I feel like the canned reddiwhip would work too, if you wanted to make it pretty). Make sure you keep the cake refrigerated. Also after about two days the condensed milk has had a chance to permeate the cake with all its yummy goodness…sooooo good!

Monday, October 3, 2011

2 have and 2 hold

See what I did there? Today is our 2 year anniversary and I couldn't be more thankful for how God has blessed me with a husband like Drew!

In high school I used to get so upset when my friends were with people and I was all alone. It seemed like my prince would never come, it wasn't like there weren't offers, it was just I had made a commitment that I wouldn't date anyone I couldn't see myself marrying.The point of dating is to find a mate and let's face it you aren't getting married in high school so the whole idea is pretty pointless. After high school I had pretty much given up and through a few moments of bad judgment on my part I went on a date and "talked" to someone that even to this day makes me wonder if I was under the influence of some sort of narcotic. Luckily I had a moment of clarity and walked away before anything became "official" which led to this person telling another boy in the college group that I must be insane. Luckily this boy didn't take the word of this so called expert seriously and decided he would take his chances and sit by me in Sunday School. At this point I wasn't even looking, and was a little taken aback that this boy would even think about sitting by me.

Let me rewind about 5 years and tell you that I remember being a 9th grader looking at a newly graduated church maintenance boy and thinking how absolutely dreamy he was, but knowing he would never give me the time of day. You can again fast-forward to October 2006. Those 9th grade thoughts creeped in and secretly I must say I had a little party in my head.

Sunday school turned into phone calls, phone calls turned into dates and on December 20, 2006 I got my first and only boyfriend. Three years later on October 3, 2009 he became my husband. I often look at Drew and think back on the days when I thought I would be alone forever, and can't help but feel thankful that God spared me from relationship after relationship and instead orchestrated this beautiful love story for me. There is not another person on this earth who can deal with my mood swings, my need for waking up time in the morning, the nights when I would just rather order pizza than cook, my incessant talking, my need to vent about my day, not to mention all my other countless eccentricities the way that Drew does. Drew is such a helpful, compassionate, fun loving person and he exceeds all the dreams I ever had about what my prince would be like. Most girls look for their prince to ride up on a big white stallion, mine rides a 450 Kawasaki and that is so much better!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Asking God if He could play it again...

So this coming Monday marks 2 years that I have been married to my sweet husband, and today starts what I have deemed Anniversary Weekend Palooza, which really just means that this weekend will be spent going places and enjoying time with the man I love. I plan on doing a whole blog dedicated to October 3 and all that in entails, but I thought I would start the weekend off by sharing the song we chose almost 6 years ago to be "Our Song" (I have come to realize that it is fun to choose a different song to represent each season of life, but this is the one that started it all. I knew any boy who would sing along to T-Swift with me was a keeper!)

Monday, September 12, 2011

Heavy Heart

Today my heart is heavy. As most of you know I work in the construction field as a secretary. This isn't my dream job, but I have definitely met some interesting characters and had some experiences that I otherwise would not have had. Having said this, there is one worker in particular that for some reason has always had a soft spot in my heart. He is a little rough around the edges and most people don't care for him, but for some reason I like him. He is always friendly to me and I always feel like he looks out for me.

For a few weeks now, we have been talking about sharing our faith and discipling at Shoal Creek. Each time this subject has come up this man has popped in my head. I have prayed for opportunities to share with him and have even prayed for the right words to say, but each time I could have said something I felt like it wasn't the right time. Last week, he wasn't at work. This is highly unusual because this guy is at work, even when he isn't supposed to be. I was told he was in the hospital and they were doing some tests. The tests came back this weekend and he has lung cancer. In our field you don't work when you have cancer and I don't know when I will see this man again. I am confident that he is not a believer, but the one ray of hope I have is that this man's son also works with me. I am praying that I will get another chance to share with him and possibly even minister to him and his family during this time.

Please pray with me that Dennis will not only come to know Jesus, but that he might be healed. Also please keep me in your prayers as I seek to share and minister in this situation. Pray that God will give me wisdom and boldness in what I feel called to do.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Where my heart is...

So recently I have been struggling with where I am in life. Let me first begin by telling you a little about where Drew and I are specifically. First and foremost we have two very exciting things taking place. One we should be closing on our house before the end on the month. This purgatory of renting has not been my idea of fun, but I feel like God gave us this experience for a number of reasons. I feel like number one this season has taught me a little bit more in my journey of impatience, and has hopefully made me a more understanding person which will translate into making me a better person to rent from should Drew and I decide to have rental properties in the future. We really have had an easy time of it, with the lady who currently owns our house allowing us to make it our own. Secondly for those of you who are unaware, Drew and I recently moved our membership to Shoal Creek Baptist Church. This was not a decision we made lightly and I will say that it was a very hard decision to leave our former church. We loved so many of the people there and much of who we are spiritually was a result of growing up there. God gives us seasons in life, and we both knew that season was over. Although hesitant at first, I know God knew exactly what He was doing in sending us to Shoal Creek. I don't think either of us could have imagined what God had and continues to have in store for us here. In just a few months God is growing and working in both of our lives in ways I never could have imagined. For the first time in our married life we are in a "grownup" class and have taken a break from teaching the sweet little ones. Although I know that children's ministry is where my heart lies, I also feel like God wants me to take a step back from teaching Sunday School for a while so He can use other couples our age to help grow and strengthen our walk with Him. I am excited to be teaming up with my sweet friend Amy Hallagin once again to teach Preschool Choir in the evenings, though. This is the first time I have done a class with preschoolers, but not the first time I have worked with Amy, we make a good team and with the good Lord on our side I think we can handle it.

Having said all this I find myself in a very strange place. I don't know that I would call it a place of discontent, but rather a place of confusion. I don't really know where I am supposed to be. My heart wants to be at home working on my small craft business, which with God's blessing has been doing remarkably well,as well as at home cooking and cleaning for my hardworking husband. At the same time, it is hard to step out with something like this because some weeks may be great, and other weeks I may not sell a thing. I find myself sitting at my desk at work thinking about all the things I could be doing at home and wondering what I am doing with my life. I graduate in December (hopefully) and I am constantly bombarded with the question of what I am going to do with a Communications degree. I DON"T KNOW! I understand that God had me take that path for a reason, but that reason has yet to be revealed to me. In all honesty the driving force behind my college career was a promise I made to my grandfather that I would finish and finish strong. Really there is no other reason, I chose Communications because it interested me and if I was going to study something for 4....5 years it might as well be something fun. Having said all that Communications, being a secretary-- neither one of those things makes me feel as fulfilled as it does when I have an opportunity to stay home and clean the house from top to bottom before Drew gets home. I love having a hot meal on the table for him and I get a tiny thrill in the pit of my stomach each time I see that someone has ordered something else from my little crafting business. That is where I want to be, but alas it seems like the whole world feels like you should be in the work place until you have kids. What about I love Lucy? She wasn't out wasting her life away pushing papers while Ricky sang La Bamba, no she was at home cleaning and getting into trouble with her BFF Ethel. My Ethel lives in Nashville now, but I am sure we would find a way to do something that would make Drew say "KIMBERLY, you got some splainin' to do!"

This is where I am, where my heart is, and a little of where I want to be. Prayers and words of wisdom are appreciated.

Monday, August 29, 2011

sisters from a different mister

Today is my BFF Jenna's birthday. Since about the 8th grade we have spent our birthdays together in some form or fashion. This year I visited her in Nashville and had an absolutely wonderful time. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures so I am forced to pull from the past and share these little doosies with you...

We have the papers to prove we are at least halfway intelligent.

We are also slightly disturbed.

We have commonly been referred to as the Colgate twins.

We go on roadtrips and occasionally wear matching shirts.

This is just a small sampling of the hundreds (and I do mean hundreds) of pictures we have taken over the years. She wrote about me here last week, and it pretty much sums up our relationship and how precious she is. We know each other. She knows that sometimes I think without speaking, that sometimes I sound harsh even when that isn't my intention, she knows my insecurities and strives to help me overcome them, she listens to me talk about my struggles and then offers godly counsel, she knows about my past and will always be a part of my future. She is my girl and I will snatch a weave for her any day. HAHA!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Hey, hey it’s my birthday!!!

I always do a blog on my birthday and this year is no different. I decided to share 23 things about myself. Some things you probably already know and others you might be surprised to find out.

23. I love to make things like this…