Candy Cane Cake

i always love new recipes...and my favorite are ones that are easy and really cute. I found this recipe in a magazine and thought i'd share it with you...








Candy Cane Cake

Cake
1 box white cake mix
water, oil, and eggs called for on cake mix box
1/2 tsp. red food color
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs. milk or water
1/2 tsp. vanilla, if desired

Decoration
crushed candy canes or hard peppermint candies, if desired

1. heat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. make batter as directed on box. pour about 2 cups of the batter into pan. into small bowl, pour about 3/4 cup batter; stir in food color and peppermint extract. carefully pour pink batter over white batter in pan. carefully pour remaining white batter over pink batter.

2. bake as directed on box or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 min. turn pan upside down onto cooling rack; remove pan. cool cake completely, about 1 hour.

3. in small bowl, mix icing ingredients. if necessary, stir in additional milk 1 tsp. at a time, until smooth and spreadable. Spread icing over cake. Sprinkle top with crushed candy. store loosely covered.

***the first time i made this (last week) i got the icing to thin - more like a glaze. it soaked into the cake making it kinda soggy, SO i am going to try again, but this time i think i will just sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and just leave the icing off. So be careful when making your icing! a little milk goes a LONG way.

perfect timing

we always say that God has perfect timing in everything that He dose, but when things go sour it can be so hard to believe that even in these horrible circumstances God's timing is still perfect. i really believe that we have to prepare for the battle. if we do not trust this truth before the storm arises we won't be able to believe it when it does come. this weekend we found out that josh's brother was very sick...no one, not even the doctors knew what was wrong. it was a scary couple of days not knowing what to do. and while we were at the hospital we met a couple who lost their new baby. the daddy had fallen asleep with the baby on his chest and had rolled over in his sleep and smothered the baby. why does God even allow such horrible things to happen we ask?? why would God allow a 20 year old boy to have such a terrible side effects from a medication and allow him to be admitted to a mental hospital when there is nothing wrong with him? why would he allow a father to accidentally hurt his own baby??? these are questions that just baffle our minds. we don't have answers and never will. sunday night we got home from the hospital and josh just opened the Bible and began reading and God gave us Psalm 104. the whole psalm talks about how God takes care and governs His creation. what comfort to rest in that even though we don't understand God is in control. "bless the Lord, o my soul! o Lord my God; you are very great...o Lord, how many are thy works! in wisdom you have made them all...let the glory of the Lord endure forever; let the Lord be glad in His works...i will sing to the Lord as long as i live; i will sing praise to my God while i have my being. let my meditation be pleasing to him; as for me, i will be glad in the Lord." to all of these questions and circumstances the only answer we have is that we have to trust with obedient hearts that God cares for us, His creation. if you get a chance read Psalm 104 and see exactly how God cares for His creation.

this weekend my faith in the truth that God's timing is perfect was strengthened. i believed it before this storm, but it was amazing to see how God let it grow from a fact in my head to a comfort in my heart.

the storm in not quite over, so i look forward to see what else God has to teach me through all of this.

it's not christmas w/o the christmas tree

6 of My Favorite Christmas Tree Memories: (no specific order)

1. The scent...I have NEVER had an artificial tree before!!! It is the scent of Christmas.

2. White lights...sorry to all of you die hard colored light fans, but I'm a white light kinda girl. They are so bright, you don't have to ues the overhead light all season. They remind of what I imagine the angles looking like when they came to see the shepherds. (I don't know they could be "colored" angles and all give off different colored light...guess we'll have to wait and see.) And the pure white light also reminds me of the bright star that lead the wisemen to Jesus.

3. Last year was my favorite time cutting down our tree...first it was Josh and I's first Christmas so that made it special, but it was extra special b/c it was Josh's first time cutting down a Christmas tree (he had always had an artificial tree, NEVER had a real one before last year). As a first timer he had NO IDEA what is involved in seeting up and caring for a live tree. He had about had it when we had to buy 2 different tree stands and when the lights didn't work at first. He also had no clue how BIG the trees are. So he picked out one that looked not too big and deffinitely not too little (in the field). But when we got it home it was WAY TOO BIG!!! We measured it to be 6 - 6.5 feet across the bottom branches. It was so big we had to move the couch out of the house for Christmas. We named her Ulga b/c of her size.

4. Stringing popcorn...as a family we would watch It's A Wonderful Life and string popcorn to put on the tree.

5. The train...my dad spent hours some times setting up the train that goes around the bottom of the Christmas tree. Once it was set up we would see how fast we could get it to go before it would fly off the track.

6. Ornaments...I love pulling out the ornaments and all the memories that come with them. I remember this UGLY gingerbread man ornament I made for my dad and every year I didn't want to put it on the tree, but Mom always managed to get it on there even if it was in the back.

Help me come up with (at least) 4 more of your favorite memories.

Santa comes to Williamston

on saturday some of our favorite girls came to hang out with us. isabella and kate come every couple of months for dinner and we go to the park to play...well the very first time they came we told them as a joke that Santa lives in the cabin at the park, b/c he comes every Christmas. they believed us. so we took them to see Santa on saturday. kate really enjoyed it, but isabella get scared and did not want to visit santa. we enjoyed the lights in the park and watching the girls play. and we loved having thier big sister Rachy come !!




***santa is at the spring water park in williamston every night form 6 - 9 pm for those of you who would like to go.








kate told santa that she wanted a watch for christmas















it was cold... see everyone's pink noses.

699 miles

699 miles to Gramma and Pop Pop's house (that's just one way)...but it's worth it every time. Thanksgiving for our family is 3 day festival. It begins on Wednesday with rest and shopping for groceries, and for dinner we have Gramma's Rigatoni (we start stretching out our stomachs the night before so that we can eat more on Thursday) . Thursday begins early around 5:45 -6:00. Gramma gets up and makes the stuffing, stuffs the Turkey, and starts to cook him. When the rest of us decided to get up we snack on cold Rigatoni for breakfast and there is a few of us who will go for a run. Cooking a turkey is hard work. We take turns basting him and taking his temperature to see when he's done...you can't over cook or he'll be dry. We prepare for the side dishes while the turkey is cooking so that they are ready for the oven when the bird is done. We have a very strict menu: Tukey (of course), broccoli cheese casserole (don't be fooled there is triple the amount of cheese and buttery crackers than broccoli - this is not a healthy dish), squash casserole (same as broccoli casserole - LOTS of cheese), mashed potatoes, gravy, pickles, olives, apple suace, green beans, corn, rolls, and the best stuffing (and this is NOT the same as dressing for all the southerners who don't know) . We eaqually divide the stuffing from the turkey among all of us...so we usually only get a bite, but it's the best bite of the whole meal. What takes us 6 hours to cook only takes about 20 minutes to eat. We gobble til we wobble, so we have our annual football game (this year I got to be captain of my team). The game doesn't usually last very long b/c the turkey has made us sleepy and we are ready for pumpkin pie. Friday we eat leftovers for lunch and the girls go get pedicures (Gramma's treat) and we end the festival with pizza from Perini's - the best pizza ever!

Wednesday we prepare for Thursday, Thursday we celebrate, and Friday we have to recoop from Thursday...as crazy as it may seem it's the best 3 days of the year.

What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions??? Things you do every year? Foods that you always eat? What is a tradition you'd like to start?

$10 doesn't go as far as I remember

I remember when I first started going out to dinner with my friends, I was able to buy a lesser expensive meal, drink water, and leave a tip for $5-6. I was able to have dinner and go to a movie for $10.00...it was $5.00 for late show. Now even if I do drink water and order a cheap dinner it's $10.00 and a movie is $7.50 for the late show. I have seen this same thing at the grocery store. 2 weeks ago I went in to the grocery store with $10.00 and the only things I came out with were a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, and a package of lunch meat. The total was like $9.94. 3 items!! Well, it happened again today...I bought a bag of carrots, a few stalks of celery, an onion, a green pepper, a can of black beans, a can of chicken noodle soup, and a 1/2 gallon of milk. My total = $9.63. I know I sound like your mom with all my rantings, but it's out of control. Has anyone else seen this happen to them lately??? You go to buy like 3 things and you drop $20.00.

My Dad...Best in the World

I'm a little late on posting about this race since this was 2 weeks ago, but it's a good story. This race was very special to for several reasons...I got the run it with my Dad, how cool is that? We ran the whole thing side by side. I always start out pretty slow especially when it is 50 degrees out like it was that morning, and Daddy stayed right in front of me. If he had taken off I would have probably slowed WAY down. But he pushed me through the burning throat and lungs. By mile #2 I was right there with him. I knew we were making pretty good time b/c we did mile #1 in a little over 8 min and mile #2 in about 9. So I knew even if we slowed down we had 13 min to finish in 30 min. I had run the course before so I knew where I was going, but Dad had no clue. So I tried to tell him what was ahead and I reminded him that we end on a hill, so it wasimportant not to bust it too soon. Well I did forget that there were 2 other hills before that last one. Ya! BIG surprise. We made it through the 2 surprises and then the adrenaline kicked in on that last hill and I took off. I felt bad to leave him behind, but I kept going. I knew it would push him. And it did we were right at the finish line neck and neck. The thoughts running through both of our heads was should I let him/her finish first. But being the nice Daddy he is he let me finish first. That competition at the end really pushed me and we finished in 27:21 and 27:22. I was SO excited I had beaten my fastest time by nearly 1 and a half minutes!!! This was the first "Me and Dad" adventure we have had together in a long time. I was sad that Josh couldn't be there b/c of work but it was really sspecial to run it with my Daddy. Thanks, Dad, for the competion and the great run together. I'll see at the Reindeer Run in Anderson on December 9th, your birthday!!! I'll let you finish first this time. =)

Hidden Sales

Don't you just love the days where you are wandering around the store killing time on your lunch break and you come across a great sale. That happened to me at K-Mart today...just about 30 minutes ago. I had gone in to pick up the new George Strait CD "It Just Comes Naturally" for Josh (SSHHH!!! don't tell it's a surprise)...It's a really good CD I'm listening to it now (don't tell Josh that either). Anyway back to the story...I had gotten the CD and was cutting through the Purse/Accessory section and I came across these these large tote bags that were really cute! Some of them were that khaki canvas color with orange on the handle and the other ones were navy blue with green handles. They were the perfect size for your beach towel, ipod, sunscreen and favorite book or for a change of clothes if your staying somewhere just for the night. "I think I might
need one of these," I thought to myself. Then I noticed that they were on the sale rack so I took a
gander at the price tag...$4.00!!! (And it wasn't even a Blue Light Special!!) And then I began to
think "...with a large single letter Monogram on them these will be fabulous Christmas gifts,"
SO I bought ALL of them. And have made several lists of people I can give them to (maybe you are one of them???) Well it did not feel like a sale when I got to the register and my total was $50.00. But to justify this shopping spree I have been reminding myself that when Christmas comes I will be glad for the me surprise find at K-Mart. K-Mart. Where you can find a hidden sales. Check it out for yourself one day when you're wandering out of boredom.

Fun Times with Josh

we have lots of fun together...josh's new thing of the summer has been learning to ride a motorcycle. we are currantly unable to afford to buy him a bike, but my dad has graciously let josh borrow his first one. when he first began riding he would tell me how nervous he was and that my dad and brother would go so fast that he felt like he couldn't keep up. but now i must say that he is a very good rider. this i know from experience...saturday was the first time i rode with him. i have to say i was a little nervous, only b/c all the other times we talked about him taking me for a ride he said no. well, i was in for a surprise. at first he said that he would just take me around the block, but then i relaxed and began to enjoy it...i never got scared. he did a great job, and we ended up going for about 30 min until i got cold.
i was so relaxed, that after a while the helmet got heavy and began to give me a headache so i rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. while we were riding i kept thinking about how my trusting josh by getting on the back of the motorcylce was a lot like how i should trust him in our marriage. while we were riding i could not always see where we were going and the way things looked to me were different from reality and what josh saw. josh had a clear view of the road, where i had his big melon-head in my way. i know that God gives josh a clear view of how and where to lead me, but so many times b/c my view is different and often times skewed i argue and questionhim instead of trusting. i freak out b/c i see danger, but josh sees clearly b/c of God's grace and the special wisdom given to him.
i am so thankful that i had a moment of insanity and got on the back of that motorcycle, b/c in those 30 min God taught me how much fun it is to obey His command about trusting my husband even when things may not look right to me. and i was able to encourage josh in a special way by showing him that i trust him to take care of me, even though my actions don't always say that.

How Well Can You Spell?

Spelling is NOT my gift as many of you have probably seen from my blog. Not having spell-check is one thing I would change about Blogger. Well, here it is the Encarta "How Well Can You Spell?" quiz. I can't. I made 5/15. This puts me on the B Team or even the C Team for the spelling bee. Tell me how you do...
http://encarta.msn.com/quiz_36/how_well_can_you_spell.html

Goose Hunting

The only thing I had ever huntd before was a good sale Old Navy or Ross until Saturday. Saturday I hunted me a goose. I have gone to the pond to feed the geese before, but never went out to kill one. This was WAY different. You have to wear camo, water proof boots, a hat, and lots of bug spray. Did you know that from the sky the geese and ducks too can see your eyes?? That's why we had to wear the hats, so they couldn't see our eyes.

The funniest part was getting me dressed to go...as you can see from the picures. The pants I wore were Josh's old ones. They have cinches on the sides and we pulled them ALL the way in. And we borrowed some boots from his parents that were a womens size 8 and I wear a 6 1/2...I deff had some clown feet going on.

My only jobs were to remeber the bug spray, and to carry my bucket (to sit on) and my Propell. Josh did the rest..he even had to carry me and my bucket a few times over the water.

We saw one goose, but he was on the ground and Josh said that killing it like that is not very sportsman like. So we came home empty handed. (I was kinda glad...what in the world would I do with a dead goose???)

We had a great time! The best part was spending time with Josh doing something he loves. He was SO excited about me going that he has talked about it all week. And I will deffinitely do it again.

Fall Education

We all need to always be learning about something, especially things we love...like Fall. I found this little quiz and thought I would share it with you. It's only 10 question...I only got 5 out of the 10. I had a few things to learn. What will you learn???

http://encarta.msn.com/quiz_13/Getting_to_the_Bottom_of_Autumn.html?GT1=8506

FALL...it's coming!

it's coming!!!
What's coming? you ask. FALL is coming!! i knew it was on it's way the other when i was sitting on my porch putting on my shoes for a run and there was this refreshing breeze. it wasn't hot and thick like it is in the summer. another big clue is that i sweat less on my run after work. and everyday i have the great urge to make chicken soup or chili for dinner.
fall has to be one of the greatest things about living in south carolina. all of the seasons are here in s.c. and they each are special. summer as a kid was hands down my favorite..no school and my birthday is in july, but as i have grown up fall fall has caught up. fall was the worst as a kid b/c that ment back to school and no more swimming which was my absolute favorite thing to do. there is spring that is beautiful and full of life. and winter is great for the rest it brings and the slower pace of life.
the funny thing about me writing about this whole "love" for the autum season, is my brother and my sister and i used to harrass our mom about how only "old" people rant and rave about how beautiful the leaves are and how wonderful fall is. so i have now graduated to be an "old" person who loves this time of year. it was the middle of august and i was dying to start decorating for fall, but i did restrain myself and i waited to the first weekend of september. i hope that you all grow "old" in you love for fall this year.

My first 5K race

Well I did it! I ate pasta and chocolate cake the night before. I got up on time. I ate some breakfast. I picked up my bag of stuff. And I ran...the whole time! I have never run and not stopped to walk at some point in time. That was the GREAT accomplishment of the day. It was the perfect morning for a race. It was cool, even a little chilly to me, and the sun was just starting to come out when we were running. Beautiful! There were maybe 100 people in the whole race. It was a good first race, not too big and over whelming. The majority of the people were older, there was one man who was 73! I did not see many people my age. At the end of the race I had a BIG surprise...I place 2nd for my age group (19-24). My first race and I placed! That was very exciting. Though I may have placed I was very humbled by the fact that there was a lady (probably in her 30's) who beat me while pushing her 2 year old son in a stroller. She passed me once, but then I passed her. BUT on the last stretch down hill she passed me again and beat me by 30 sec to a min. I cannot imagine running faster than I was on Saturday. I was faster than I have ever been (I finished in 28 min. and 42 sec.); she was faster and was pushing a stroller!!!!

I was also humbled by the fact that the man gave me the wrong trophy. They called my name, I walked up there, and on my way back to Josh I looked down and he had given me the 3rd place trophy. Not wanting to make a scene, after it was all over I walked up there to ask which was right, they had called me as 2nd, but the trophy said 3rd. And the lady in charge said, "No, you were second. I'm sorry. He gave you the wrong trophy. Come back next year." So, the whole coming in 2nd thing you'll just have to believe me. But I felt bad for the 1st place girl, b/c she got the 2nd place trophy. And the 3rd place girl got lucky b/c she got the 1st place trophy.

The best part was having my #1 fan there cheering me on. Josh sacrificed Saturday morning sleep, he funded my running even though he thinks it's carzy to pay seomone to run when I can run for free on my own, and he was very encouraging. His last words of advice were, "You are like the Little Engine that Could, you keep running, don't stop." I would have walked if he were not down there waiting for me.

Pics...#1 starting line (you can see by my puffy eyes that I am not used to being up that early). #2 final stretch (this is where I had just been passed by the lady with the stroller). #3 the girls from Dottie's Body Shop. #4 me and Josh.

Springwater Festival

This Saturday is the big Springwater Festival in Williamston...There will be the car show and you can ride in the old-timey fire truck. Bascially it will be the gathering of all the hillbillies from the surrounding towns like Opossum Kingdom, Pelzer, Cheddar, Slab Town, Belton, Grove Station, and Piedmont. You probably have never even heard of these places (except for maybe Pelzer b/c of the light people)...Ya, I had not either until I moved to Williamston. All of this to tell you I will be running my very first race this Saturday at the Springwater Run. I am pretty exctied and VERY nervous. I thought about running in it on my own, but I chickened out. But then..

A few weeks ago I found this little gym to work out at called Dottie's Body Shop. Yesterday I went to join and Dottie, the owner, sucked me in to running with them. They have a group of girls running in it, but no one in my age group (20-24). So I met up with them last night and we ran the route (there are some major hills), well I was last but I did finished. It was pretty humbling to be beat by 50 year old ladies. =) I have no idea what a "good time" is but I ran it last night in 30 min and 9 sec. Marie, is that an OK time? What do you usually run??

I don't think 4 days b/f the race is when you are supposed to start training, but we'll see how it goes. And I think I may try for the Midnight Flight next Friday...I've got to talk to Josh b/c I think that one is like $30.00 to run in. I really think that they should pay me to run...I must be crazy to pay money to run. Hopefully I'll get a cool shirt and then it will just be the most expensive t-shirt I've ever bought. Still sounds crazy!

I'll let you know how it goes...pray that I don't sleep through it. It starts at 7:45 am and I love to sleep late on Saturdays. Gotta Run!!!

12 days with OUT A.C.

Yes, on July 28th our AC went out...and we did not get a new one until August 9th. Ya, that addds up to 12 days. And then the day after we got our new AC unit I heard on the radio that we just had the 2nd hottest July in US history. True or not it was deff the hottest July for Josh and I. Not only was it the hottest it was the longest and the cranckiest. Needless to say Josh and I have never bickered or gone to bed mad in the 1 year and 2 months that we have been married as we did those 12 days.
This is the old AC unit...very old. Our landlords could not even remember how long ago they had it put in. (right)
Our new AC (top left) came with a remote control, a digital thermostat, an energy saver option, and a filter system. I never thought buying a new AC would be like Christmas...I'm a dork.
Well, that fancy new thermostat read 89 degrees when we turned in on...no joke! Can you see me sweating???
Now that my pics are all out of order...Marie I need some help with that.
Any way, it took 3 or 4 hours to take the old one out and put the new one in, but it was worth sleeping with the covers on that night.

my first post

Thanks to my friends Marie, Mary, and Hope I have now officially entered the "Blog World." Wow! this is SO much fun and it's only been 3 1/2 minutes!!
My first real post will be about Josh and I installing our new air conditioner...