Cooking Under Pressure and changes around here

I’m making a few changes around here.  As you can see I’ve changed my blog layout and will try this for a while to see if I like it. 

I’m also trying Windows Live Writer to write my post.  So if this post up really weird, I’ll keep working on it.

I’m also making some changes around my house.  We have lived in this house for 4.5 years and I haven’t changed the previous owners paint in the dining room, kitchen or family room.  I have in other parts of the house though.  This is the current color in the dining room.  It’s faux painted and from a distance it is nice, but Buster never really liked it and I don’t like it with our furniture.

You can see I have it taped with painters tape. I went to work and primed the entire room and am in the process of deciding on colors.  So hard to choose!

The other thing I wanted to show you is this:

I received this as a gift at a bridal shower 22 years ago. It is a pressure cooker.  I have NEVER USED IT!.  It really intimidates me and I’m not sure how to use it.  One of my grandmothers used one quite often and I remember the noise and the spitting and sputtering that came from the kitchen, but that is about all.  She isn’t here to ask anymore.  Soooo, do you use a pressure cooker ever and if you do what do you make.  I want to give it a try assuming the seal is still good and it works.

When I get some new paint on the wall I’ll show you my new colors.  I’m also resurfacing our fireplace so I’m off to the stone yard today.

I like change, but decisions are really  hard.

Remember This...

Remember when I raised my hand like this:

And ended up with this in my garage:

Well, we turned it in to this:

A few months back I volunteered to help with a fundraiser at my daughter's school. We had some of the students paint tiles and then we turned them into different projects.

This is the top of one of the table tops. I learned that grouting is not my calling in life. I don't know what is, but I know grouting isn't it.

Paige painted the bird in the bottom left corner.

I was really proud of how they turned out. The kid's artwork and creativity really made each project special. There were a few more, but I didn't get pictures of everything. Parents bid on these at the school dinner/auction so they all went to a good home. It really was fun and I enjoyed working with other moms on the project, but it will be a while before I raise my hand in any meetings especially if grouting is involved.

Fun in Florida

Last post I mentioned our historic driving trip to Florida during the Christmas Holiday. It was historic because my husband does not enjoy driving long distances. He's an airplane kind of man. He knows the ins and the outs of the airport, where to park for which gate, which line to get in. The man can zip thru an airport in no time to get to his plane in just the nick of time. Stick him in a car for a 2100 mile trip with me and my bladder and two kids. Not his idea of a holiday. But we made it. I looked back at Leah riding in the car and laughed. She looked like a hostage. She felt like one too. The child takes after her daddy.







But once we made to Florida there was lots of fun to be had at both grandparent's houses. We even learned about a game called Ladderball from Uncle Dave. Some call it Hillbilly Golf. It's a big hit in the RV Parks from what I understand. Shuffleboard is so old school. Ladderball rules now. We went straight to Wallyworld and bought our own.

Paige, Leah and cousin Mickey at my parents.

Paige brought along a gingerbread tree decorating kit. So the cousins got busy putting it together. It made a nice centerpiece while we were there.

You should have heard the singing. Mr. Scotty has a karaoke machine.

We had a wonderful Christmas with our family.

There are so many pictures I could download.

The other highlight of the trip was meeting up with one of my favorite bloggers Tracy P. Tracy lives in Minnesota and I live in Texas, but we managed to meet at a park in central Florida. Can you believe it. She and her family were there visiting her dad.

We decided to get the families together and the best place would be a park. Thanks to Google one was located. The kids and the husbands could keep busy while we chatted.

Here are Paige, Leah & Mickey playing at the park. It was great place to meet.





The wind really picked up and the kids and husbands had played basketball and were thirsty so we moved the party to a local restaurant. It was nice to just sit across the table from Tracy and hear her voice and get to know her better. Tracy and I both pray with Moms in Touch groups. There was so much I wanted to talk about, but didn't want to bore the husbands with an all blogging and MITI conversation. She is as wonderful in person as she is on her blog.

Here we are: Windblown but happy to get together:

Here are the kiddos: Tracy's two and my two plus my nephew. The kids had their own table at the restaurant. (Learned that trick a few years ago. ha)

It was a long trip, but totally worth it in my book. I even got a smile out of Buster.

Celebrate What's Right in the World

It's my birthday!

Yes, today the 4th of January. Let's just say there are a lot of fours happening for me today age wise. I joked with a friend I may have to buy a lottery ticket. We had a wonderful trip to Florida for Christmas. Drove this time. That will go down in the Brasington Family History Book cause it probably won't happen again....or so says Buster. I met a blogger friend. So fun. I'll get pictures posted soon.

This video link was e-mailed to me by my dear friend Linda. I almost skipped over it. I'm so glad I did not. I usually try and keep my post brief and to the point, but this is a 20 minute video. If you don't have time to watch it now, please come back and view it when you can. You will not be disappointed. It gave me a great perspective as I begin this new year.


Celebrate what's right with the world - Dewitt Jones @ Yahoo! Video

It seems they have removed this video from the internet. Sorry about that. It's too bad because it really was a nice piece to watch.

One of the phrase that really struck me was "Be the best FOR the world not IN the world."

I pray you make the best of this new year. I plan to.