Real Life: Live & Unscripted

It's pageant time!

Whewwwwwwwww this year it came up QUICK for Jaelyn. I THINK it's because Kaylas was JUST a couple months ago lol. I need more time to prepare MY body lol.

The day of the pageant is ALWAYS crazy. ALWAYS lol. Running from the time I drop them off at school lol.

 

 

One before all the madness happened lol

 

 

One on stage...

 

 

 

 

Time to walk the stage...

 Video of the walk:

 

screaming and all lol

 

 

Aiden took a nap :)

Annnd the winners for 10th grade are announced:

 

 

woohoooo! lol

Yall know Kayla did the recording lol

And some pictures lol

This is my FAVORITE picture lol

Ok that's it lol. I took WAYYYYYY more pictures than this but uhhh lol. yeah lol

Toodles!

Chicken Parmesan Wraps

Sooooo pinterest... lol. That's about all I can say lol

I saw this on there and I was like whoaa that looks good!

I made this YESTERDAY lol. I hardly EVER post recipies that quick. It was THAT good.

Original Recipe

Chicken Parmesan Wraps

makes 6

8 oz raw chicken breast

1 cup marinara sauce, plus more for serving (see my favorite recipe here)

6 egg roll wrappers (each 7 inches squared)

1 cup baby spinach leaves

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Place the chicken breast in a small pot and fill with enough water just to cover. Bring to a boil on your stovetop, reduce the heat slightly, then simmer for about 12 minutes, or until cooked through. Drain and let cool before shredding with two forks, pulling against the grain of the meat.

Mix the meat with the marinara sauce in a small bowl.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Lay the egg roll wrappers on a clean work surface.

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE, GET SOMEONE ELSE TO COME HELP SO YOU CAN TAKE PICTURES...

Ok, continue...

Layer each with a few leaves of spinach, then chicken, followed by mozzarella and parmesan.

(Ignore the crappy cell phone picture lol)

Lightly brush two adjacent sides of the wrapper with water and fold the upper left corner downward, covering the filling, and press to seal on the bottom right corner. Press to seal each of the sides. Repeat with remaining wraps.

 

Place all 6 filled wraps on a greased wire rack set over a cookie sheet, coat each in cooking spray or a light brushing of olive oil, and bake for about 12 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn a golden brown.

Serve with warmed marinara sauce for dipping.

 

I didn't use marinara sauce for dipping. I used the Asian Sesame dressing from the other day. I seriously put it on everything and it was OH so good on this!

The only thing I will do differently next time is add more spinach. This is GOOD. I actually cooked the entire pack of egg roll wrappers. They KILLED it.

Nutrition information for 1 wrap:

Calories: 178, Fat: 4.4g, Cholesterol: 32.8mg, Carb: 17.7g, Fiber: 1.1g, Protein: 15.7g

Pics from my G2- Phone Dump

My friend gave me a really nice journal!

Gotta brush my Gizmo!

This dressing is THE BOMB!!!

Couple pics from the bowl game.

Gizmo know he can stretch out lol

That was SO good lol

See Gizmo sleep lol

My very first IPOD lol. I STILL have it lol

YUM!

My pantry is finished! WOOHOOO!!! Well the inside is lol. Still need to sand and paint the outside lol

Yep you are seeing that correctly lol

I love this shoe lol.

That's cheating lol and it takes ALLLLLLLLLLL the fun out of it lol

GREAT stuff!

They have the fastest shipping ever.

 

Whew ok, that was fun lol

Toodles!

Soul Food, My Walk With God

I've had 3 people in my life that I was seriously holding on to. 

I seriously did NOT want to let go.

I wanted so much that two of them would see the change in me and want to do differently themselves.

Well what I'm learning is that God won't always use YOU to witness to someone else. I'm not talking about beating the Bible over their head, I'm talking about living your life before them.

One of the people, when ever we went out to dinner or when I was around them, I could NOT look them in the eyes,  (That's a post for another time) and there was a general "I don't like the way I feel around you" type deal.

Another one was cool, but they didn't think for themselves. They were easily led by other people and umm well that's just not good.

The last one, there was a huge, huge, huge, emotional attachment and it was one that I'm just not able to deal with anymore and I had to let them know.

I don't think I'm ever rude so when I let them know that I really need to cut all ties, there was such a release. I wish I could explain it. I cried because I care deeply for them but them being in my life wasn't a good thing.

I'm so glad I'm not a people pleaser anymore. I thank GOD for deliverance in that area. Had I still been in that place I'm sure I would STILL be holding on and not doing what's best for me and my relationship with God.

If I can't be a blessing to you and I don't have ANY peace when I'm dealing with you, it's time to move on. I don't want to block someone else blessings and I SURE don't want them to block mine.

I thank God for letting me know when it's time to move on.

I REALLY pay close attention to the people I allow in my life and in my space. Physical space or mental space. I'm VERY careful.

Be careful who you are holding on to. Some people REALLY do just come in your life for a season.

Ok, that's it lol

I'm not perfect, just striving to be the woman God wants me to be. Keeping my life lined up with the WORD!

Even the BEST plans change lol

So, y'all know I'm working on getting my house back together after all the renovations.

THIS is a job lol.

I feel like I've just moved into a new house. BOXES EVERYWHERE lol.

I'm still organizing my kitchen/dining room/pantry lol, so the next room I do will be my studio.

Remember THIS post? Wellllllllll all of that has kinda changed. I think I've found something that will work even better for me.

I ran across THIS post and fell in LOVE with her shelves!

(Source)

I was like eeeeeek! I LOVE it!

Y'all see the bookcase? This little "nook" is behind my door. I'm going to get a better picture of it:

I can put shelves on BOTH walls and still be able to leave my door open all the way up.

DOUBLE space. If you ask me and that leaves my other wall open for other things lol.

I'm still going to make a version of THIS

table. It will be a little taller and NOT as long. Kinda like THIS

one.

Lowe's/ Home Depot and Target carry these cubes so I'm going to price check them and see who has the best deal.

I STILL need to go to IKEA, but not for that bookcase. Funny how you think you realllly want something and it's not exactly what you need. I just got a spiritual meaning out of that one. WHOA. Post on that coming soon lol.

Ok that's it for now! Y'all have a great day.

Can't WAIT until I can post some progress pics lol. Right now everything looks like the above pic... BOXES lol

 

GREAT BOOK!

I guess this is my first book of 2012 lol

The Proverbs 31 Woman

I've spent the earlier part of this morning reading this and whoaa.

It really opened up the scriptures for me and made me O_O at my own life lol.

It's a super quick read, only 40 pages or so but VERY good.

I'll be back with  more later!!!

Toodles!

2011 Wrap Up

Hey guys! I was told I needed to do a blog post sooooooooooo here we go.

I hope all of you guys had a very Merry Christmas! We really did. My pics are actually still on my camera sooooo lol. I'll upload them later lol

In January we brought the new year in on a cruise ship! It was AWESOME!!! We might start doing a cruise every year. We really had a blast.

We also became members at our new church home. It was the best decision we have EVER made.

February was a super busy month. My anniversary & Jaelyn turned 15. Still not ready to believe 16 is right around the corner. Even looks like I did a tad bit of sewing lol

In March I became an Auntie!!! I LOVE my little nephew!

In April We had the worst storm ever. I didnt' write about it until May.

In June Jaelyn went to China for 17 days. She STILL needs to write a post on it for you guys. That was an experience for her AND me lol.

In July we went to Orlando for vacation, had a GREAT time in Disney and when we came back in August our kitchen / dining room remodel was  complete!!

In September, specifically September 25 our brand new kitchen / dining room, my studio and the downstairs den was flooded.

No links to that because I didn't blog about it.

September 25 - December 28 was a TOTAL blur.

Through this whole situation I developed a level of patience I NEVER prayed for lol.

I praised God through ALL of this. I won't even much lie and say I wasn't frustrated at times. I was. I had one huge breakdown because a LOT of stuff went wrong all at the exact same time and we had to pretty much jump through fire to get things done correctly. Had issues with the contrators and boy oh boy. But God kept us through it ALL.

I mean we had these huge fans in the house... while it's 70 outside... it was 97 in my house.

It was hard for us BUT it could've been worse. I thank God that things turned out as well as they did.

There are a few things left to finish up and I'm still unpacking our things (we had to pack them all up and put them in storage so the work could be done) but I will take it one box at a time.

NO complaints from me.

In October Kayla turned 12 and we got a Maltese ::)

In November I turned 34 and Aj turned 10!

That brings us to December lol.

This has been such a great year. Y'all know I don't do resolutions. The BEST thing that happened this year was getting back in a real relationship with God. NOTHING will top that.

I'm truly looking forward to 2012.

I'm waiting to see what God has in store for me and my family... and some great vacations lol

Here's our family pic that will be in our church diretory :)

  Happy New Year from the Nixon's!

Blog Secret Santa

Thank you sooo much! I have NO idea who you are lol. I'm still trying to figure it out but I don't even have ONE SINGLE GUESS!!! LOL

I will be using my IKEA gift card veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy soon! LOL