Wednesday, April 23, 2014

25 Years....A Celebration

This entire week is a celebration.
Of our 25th Anniversary.
We actually crossed this milestone in March but Warren was 
very busy 
(along with hundreds of others)
 with the preparations of launching Sight and Sound's current
show, Moses.  We decided that it would be prudent and a lot less
stressful to wait until things settled down a bit before leaving town.

This is the appointed time.
We left Easter morning which meant we missed our church family at the 
annual Sonrise Service for the first time in seven years.
That kind of hurt....but it was a long drive to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
We were so touched when our friend, Deanna, sent us a video from the 
breakfast as she interviewed several in attendance to give us 
messages.  In fact the messages were about how they liked the 
makeover of the Fellowship Hall.  It was so fun to hear the different 
kinds of responses from teens... to men... to ladies.

And now get ready....here come a bunch of photos from our visit so far.
We've been to local beaches, the Aquarium, Beaufort Historical District and Waterfront
and several local eateries.

 I love that there are many, many public beach accesses here.  No charges for parking.
And very clean beaches.

From the North Carolina Aquarium.  They seem like friends, don't they?

While still a bit on the homely side all of the colors help.....

I've always loved sea horses.  So unusual and kind of elegant.

As close as I care to be to jellyfish.  
After being stung once....
I keep my distance.

Everyone loved the otters.  
They are so cute and social. 






Sweetly brightening the path on the way home from the beach.  It appeared to be a "volunteer" 
as it was all on its own.

Beaufort, North Carolina




Ham and Cheddar hush puppies...with orange dipping sauce

This was fabulous!
Butter cake with blueberries, lemon custard and vanilla cream.
Oh my.................





Everyone on the beach is windblown....
Myself included.

But I've come to be just fine with that.
And you probably would be too.

By the way, 
if you are a Facebook Friend you may have seen most of these
and may be completely tired of the subject.
However, there are a few special people in our lives who are not 
on Facebook and will enjoy seeing these.
So....my apologies if you are feeling inundated and overwhelmed by 
all of the media surrounding our adventures. 
Hugs.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

This Week's Big Project

It has been a while since Mrs. Rabe and I have shared a project. 
It used to be that we were together at least once per week with home school group
or something at church.
However, since I'm all "graduated" that is no more.
And things at the church have been rather settled for a while 
when it comes to 
projects.  

But we were discussing the upcoming wedding of our dear pastor 
and our friend, Jenny.
I looked at Deanna and suggested that it would be so great if we could
paint the fellowship hall before the wedding.
She had been thinking the same thing but hesitated to say anything.
That was all it took.
A plan was hatched and colors were chosen. 
All that was left was to set a time and rope in the husbands to assist us.
Well, I really thought we could do it ourselves....
but I was wrong.

That was a HUGE project.
One that required not only our husbands but several others from the church.
Huge thanks to Denny, Jenny, Georgia, Mike L, Rachel, Sarah, Kyle, and Kamryn
for assisting in this project with Warren, Tim, Deanna and I.

We realized that it has already been six years that we've been in the building.
The yellow and bold orange has worn out its welcome.

From our Titanic Event a couple of years ago.

We had also grown into the room so that the prior separation 
between dining and living space no longer made sense.
We need all of it for eating.




 For now we have repurposed many decor items that were already on the walls.
We purposely chose colors that worked with most of the things we had.
Over time I believe we will add photography and art from the congregation.
We want this room to truly reflect those who worship together here.



This was fun.
And it was very hard work.
But it was quite worth it.
We told our husbands this at the end of the project and they were 
very glad that WE thought so. 
Ha. 




Saturday, April 12, 2014

Funny Woodpecker



I took Bandit out this morning, as usual.
Chloe wasn't quite ready to get up and looked at me with that 
look which clearly said..."Nope!"
She is quite the little old lady these days.
Unless it has something to do with playing or walking....or eating.

Otherwise she sleeps.
And she likes it.

But Bandit has lots of energy and loves her early morning 
squirrel chases.
So, out we go.

As we popped out the back door I heard a very loud cheeping
followed by what sounded like a woodpecker pecking on metal.

Turns out I know my sounds because that is exactly what it was.
This funny bird was sitting on my mother in law's chimney.

It would cheep, cheep, cheep and then peck hard at the metal cap.
I have no idea if we should be expecting a flock of woodpeckers 
to come soon or if it might have been warning them to 
stay away....
but some message was being sent.

It brought a smile to my day.
Funny woodpecker.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

PB&J Cream Cheese Cookies


Last week I got up early to make cookies for a baking contest in Warren's department.
Warren got up and basically dissed the cookies.  We don't agree on whether it was because there were so few finished when he saw them or that they were too dainty for a "shop party".
Nonetheless it was all a part of the master plan because I decided if he didn't want them there 
I would simply take them with me to my ladies study that very morning.

As I walked in the door a greeter met me and she exclaimed, 
"Oh good!  There hasn't been much brought for the food table!"

Ha! 
 Now that felt better. 
Even though I wasn't signed up to bring anything God knew that these would 
be appreciated.  I felt better yet when upon returning for my plate I found it 
completely empty.

The ladies enjoyed these dainty treats.
Much more than a shop full of men would have.

I adapted this recipe by adding two tablespoons of creamy peanut butter, 
rolling the dough into balls, making an imprint filled with jelly before baking,
and then adding a basic peanut butter glaze.