Ladies Crockpot Recipe Swap~ Fun Hostess Idea

Hello Friends!!! I have had a BUSY but BLESSED weekend. Saturday my Tea friend (Jen) and I traveled for a Valentine's Themed Tea at a mansion a couple of hours away! It was splendid! I will share tomorrow for Tuesday Tea.

BUT the BIG FUN event of the weekend was held on Sunday. Myself along with my Ladies Ministry Event assistant hosted a fun small group Ladies Crockpot Recipe Swap! It was wonderful and probably one of the best fun ideas we have hosted in a long time for our church ladies. 

We did have a smaller turn out due to the Superbowl (US thing) and sickness, but it was perfectly lovely and I actually really enjoyed the cozy group!

We called it a Crockpot Night of Comfort and Cozy!!! We had asked each lady to bring their favorite comforting crockpot (slow cooker) dish along with the recipe written or typed out. We provided recipe cards for people to sample each dish and then choose to write recipes of the dishes they liked. It was so awesome and the food was all so delicious. 

I made Pizza Dip THAT WAS SOOO GOOD!!! Here is the recipe!!! It was so easy, cheap and a hit!! I also made a crockpot dessert called Heaven in a Crockpot.....my friends...... IT WAS SO INCREDIBLY GOOD, EASY, AND CHEAP!! It was a hit. Recipe is here!

We encouraged each lady that they CAN do all things THROUGH Christ and that He comforts us as we do whatever we are led to do!!! We gave a practical but fun little "happy!" A can of veggies to add to a comforting meal later on with a reminder that WE CAN!!!

Here are some other set ups of the tables and things we did! We had such a fun time. We did a race to complete a word search puzzle on all Cozy words. We did a Get to Know You Bingo (it was a hit) and we put up posters asking people to share a comforting thought of encouragement for all of us to read throughout the night as well as share how Jesus has comforted us. 

Do you see me???? These are some wonderful sweet ladies!! I laugh so much with them!!!  OF COURSE, we had some door prizes!!! Comfy blankets and chocolate!!!

My sweet assistant and MENTOR!!! I love this sweet lady so much. Her name is Cindy!! Cindy is a "retired" pastor's wife and now I am her Pastor's wife. We work so well together and treasure this lady of grace, class, and wisdom.

We had such a wonderful evening!!!! If you are looking for a neat hostess idea for church ladies or an idea to do with family and friends, this was a HIT!!!

I will be honest I slept in today (Monday) and I have had to really pace myself after last week's productivity and the weekend. This is actually a smidge of what was done because I had to host a speaker and family for lunch and clean the church before Sunday. But I will spare you all that. :) My weekends are usually a normal persons Monday-Thursday packed into two days as a Pastor's wife. Mondays tend to be a little lower key for me. I do a little reset of the home and then catch up on laundry and rest and read a lot more on this day.

I can't wait to have you POP IN TOMORROW for TUESDAY TEA!!!!

I am also adding this to Sweet Tea & Friends monthly Link Up! Visit here. 

With Love, 

Chrissy T

Scripture and a Snapshot~ February 8th

 

Psalm 113:3

"From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!"

Hello!!! I am linking up with Kym at A Fresh Cup of Coffee for Scripture and a Snapshot today!!! 

Psalm 113 is a call to Praise the Lord!!! Check out this short chapter today! Take some time to Praise Him!

Please go check out other photos that give glory to God at A Fresh Cup of Coffee!

With Love, 

Chrissy T

Decluttering One Thing at a Time~ Junk Drawer

 Hello friends!! This week I am on a roll. I organized our pantry, freezer and fridge on Monday. On Wednesday I organized our little office supply cabinet and today I tackled the JUNK DRAWER! 

Tell me I am not the only one that has one!! I know I am not!!  Even the most organized people have one spot that just happens to junk up occasionally.

I do not know why I put this off as it only took me 7 minutes to clean out and take things to their real home or trash items as needed. 

All better....

I showed our pantry before and after on Tuesday. Here is the fridge & freezer I did as well on Monday.

And the after below of the fridge and freezer! Yes, I have stocked up after this picture. We do actually have food! :) 

 We also have a deep freezer. But it actually was cleaned out in January. I will spare you! 😏

Friday was a slow day for me. I intentionally planned it that way. I worked pretty good in the home this week as well as did a lot of church to do's and met up for a lot of mentoring this week. I met with a total of 4 women/young ladies and also had Bible study on Monday night and a ministry class on Tuesday night. So....my tank was running low and I am all talked out to be honest. I do have a super social weekend ahead which meant that I really needed to plan my Friday carefully. 

After I did a lot of puttering in the home and tackled the drawer, I went walking at our local nature trail. 

 The sun was out in all of its glory!!! It was actually warmish and I got a little warm on my nature walk in my sweatshirt. It was 70 degrees today.

I love taking up close and personal nature photos. This trunk of a tree was so pretty. 

These two trees fell a few years ago over the trail and it adds character!!! I love them. 

Nothing like a trail to me!!!!! I love getting out!!!!

And who doesn't like moss covered trails, trees, and ground?! I do. I LOVE THE POP of color it shares and its layers!!!

This is the cute little trail sign for the nature center. I am so thankful to have a tiny spot in the middle of the city to enjoy a little nature. I usually have to travel off for all my hikes and nature walks most of the time. It is nice to have a little spot in a pinch when I don't want to travel.

I am heading to a Valentine's Tea at a beautiful bed and breakfast with a friend today. I can't wait to show those pictures for Tea Tuesday!

With Love,

Chrissy T

Blogging Block~ Around the Little Brick Street

 Hello friends. I am here! I made it to Friday! Blogged every single day!! But to be honest, the more I am reading other blogs, the more I blog daily, the more.... I just feel blocked. As in why in the world am I blogging!! I have so intensely (yes, that is the word) have enjoyed blogging this week. Honestly, it kept me accountable every single day to get up and move, to putter around the home, to find things to capture to share and I needed (need) that this time of year. 

BUT......

    Our city is actually a good size (population 30,000 plus) but we still have a small part that is dedicated to the beginnings and the founding buildings. It is known as Olde Towne Brick Streets. They decorate for Holidays and I love the cozy of it. Lots of Hallmark and Lifetime movies are filmed here. 

BACK TO THE BUT....

I began to feel outdated. I have been on and off the blog scene since 2004 and whenever I do come back, I always blog like the "old days" but to be honest.... I liked it better. I treasure those days and wish a lot of the times it was still like that. I enjoy visiting blogs that represent that. I tend to stick with those because they feed my soul, bring a smile, and make me enjoy this hobby of blogging. 

We have all sorts of old murals that I always love seeing when I come down to this area. I decided to take a 20 minute walk yesterday in this area as I was in between task. I had errands and a mentor lunch date with another young girl. It was so refreshing!!!

As much as I have tried to be more modern, updated, and in with the times..... I just always go back to this style. For some reason it has gnawed at me the last week that maybe my blog isn't interesting. Why would anyone care what I am sharing about my little ole life in the deep south. 

I was thinking maybe it is just time to hang it up for good. Just let it go and shut the door. But then I evaluated what my heart felt. How I felt this week. How it brought me joy to record my days. I love looking back my days. It helps me when I have the lows and highs. It is like a fun personal diary! 

This tree was on my walk, and it was fantastical!!! I loved all its gnarly branches and I wish I could really show you the massive nature of this beast of a tree. It is so random in the middle of our little Olde Town area. It has moss spreading all over it. It looks as if it is something out of a majestic forest. 

Today, I had a little block. I almost didn't post. I had a lot of negative self-talk. But as I got to thinking..... who am I doing this for. If it makes me smile and makes me feel motivated and I have a core few of likeminded souls that pop by then to me, it is worth it. I am going to just keep on keeping on for now...

P.S. ~ This is not meant to be a negative post. Just a real one. I believe in transparency. I believe in authentically sharing the highs and lows of life and blogging. I am not looking for comments or anything I just simply wanted to document how I am feeling currently! Because I know I will look back and smile and be thankful I keep sticking with this place of memory keeping. :) 

With Love, 

Chrissy T

Enjoying the Flow of My Week

Hello! I have had a good week this week. It has been long time needed. I have tackled some projects that were overdue. I have enjoyed reading. I have soaked up some sun, connected with others outside the home, caught up with a longtime friend by phone (it has been a long time) and enjoyed cooking some soups. I have been enjoying some blog reading. It has been a nice balance of productivity and slow enjoying moments too. Enjoying the flow this week. 

I ventured outside today to feed the birds! I love birds. They bring me so much joy! I have this app that is free that I enjoy. I use it all the time to identify bird sounds. 

 

I tackled the "office cabinet" which I really call the "bill cabinet" Haha! I do not have an office in our home. Well, I was going to, but our young adults keep coming back home. :) 

I am a Pastor's wife and also the church secretary. So, I do all the bookkeeping and paperwork. So, I have this little cabinet that looks pretty and fits perfect in my dining room to hide it acts as an office cabinet. 

This little basked I have had for 20 years!!!!!! I love having an organized spot to store current mail and paperwork. Keeps me organized and from piles!

After working on the cabinet and going through supplies, 2025 papers, cleaning out last year information and working on bills and church records; I took a nice refreshing walk. It was actually a lot colder than I anticipated due to the wind. BUT it was refreshing!!

LOOK AT THIS LEAF??? Isn't it just fantastic???? It was HUGE!

I came back home and set a timer and enjoyed reading two of my books for a little bit and resting. It has been a nice week, but I needed a tad bit of rest. I try hard to listen to my body!!! 

Today, is busy. I have church to do's, a lunch with a girl I am mentoring, then a meeting this evening. So, I am glad I had a little slower paced yesterday!

I have enjoyed recapping my days here on my blog. I don't know if it is even of interest to anyone. :) But I am just going to keep blogging! :) 

With Love,

Chrissy T

SUNSHINE~ SOUPS~ SMILES~PANTRY CLEAN OUT!!!

Hello Beautiful Friends! I hope you all are hanging in there!! I am so excited to say WE HAD SOME SUN!!!!!  I fully took advantage of that MONDAY and took a wonderful walk after I did some chores. One of my goals I shared Monday was that I wanted to tackle cleaning my pantry in the month of February! Posting that gave me just the boost I needed and I accomplished that the same day I posted!

Yes, this sun brought a MUCH NEEDED SMILE to my face. It did however RAIN all day yesterday (Tuesday) BUT the sun blessing on Monday kept me smiling during the rain. I raised some of my windows and listened to it as I did some chores.

It is sunny today but cold! BUT your GIRL WILL BUNDLE UP AND HIT THE WOODS at some point hopefully today! I even stepped outside this morning with my warm drink in hand in the cold and let the sun hit my face for a long bit. It felt so nice. 

I have been making a lot of soups this week. Normally, I never make a soup back-to-back. Monday is always soup night in the fall/winter season BUT my soul has been craving nourishing soups sooooo that is what we have been enjoying. Luckily, my family likes soups. :)  After I cleaned my pantry, I tackled my refrigerator and I made some potato soup on Monday with ingredients needing to be used up. I had mashed potatoes and I turned it into potato soup and it was probably one of the best ones I have made. I also used up some ham from Christmas I had frozen to use later.

I came across this recipe on Pinterest. It was just this image with no directions, but I feel it is self-explanatory. I loved finding the little star pasta to use in it as suggested. Thank you, Amazon. :) 

It was good. It was a brothy nourishing soup. Perfect soup for if you are unwell too!!!! It was basically chicken noodle soup with small star noodles and sprinkle of parmesan. 

Here is the pantry before...no judgement. Lots of things leftover from the holidays and it was just time to clean it out. Plus, our young adult sons have their own things they like. 

All nice and orderly! I have spaces for the guy's stuff. Our oldest is eating healthy and drinks protein shakes so he has his own little section. He has lost almost 90 pounds this past year. I am so proud of him. 

After I did this, it inspired me to clean our refrigerator and freezer. I will show that tomorrow to spare this post being so lengthy. :)

After I did these chores I went to treat myself to a cup of soup and drink and then went walking as I showed above. Monday night I had a devotional book club coffee meeting with ladies in my church that I lead at Starbucks. It was so enriching and a perfect ending to my day. 

How has your week been so far?? Let's do a midweek check in!!

With Love, 

Chrissy T