Back to Reality

RC has been off since December 23rd and had to head back to work today. We were able to get a few small projects done at the house while he was off, my favorite being the start of the transformation of a dresser to kitchen island. Here it is so far. We still need to add the top, decide what to do with the knobs and apply some kind of distress technique to get the look I want, but I love it already!

The beginning of a new month, and a new year means back to saving money. One way I like to save money and reduce preservatives is making my own bread. My sister gave me a fancy, smancy breadmaker for Christmas and I am getting ready to use it for the first time. Will update with a picture of the finished product.  Nothing smells better than fresh baked bread!

Happy New Year from the Copes!

Well, 2014 is here! We rang in the New Year with family and friends and I can't wait to see what this year holds for us. Praying for God's blessing on all of those who read this.

Stephanie

Peppered Beef Brisket in Beer

This recipe is from the cookbook Southern Living Easy Weeknight Favorites. I made it as listed, except I reduced the meat in half (I left the liquid the same to ensure it wouldn't dry out) I cooked it for 8.5 hours and it was so tender I had to pull it apaprt rather than cut it. I also used some of the drippings to mix with my flour instead of water. Prep time 10 minutes; Slow Cook 4 to 12 hours 1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings 1 four pound beef brisket; visible fat trimmed 3/4 teaspoon pepper 3/4 cup beer 1/2 cup chili sauce 3 tablespoons brown sugar 2 cloves garlic, crushed 3 tablespoons all purpose flour 3 tablespoons water Place onion rings in a 4-quart slow cooker. Sprinkle brisket with pepper. Place over onion rings in slow cooker, cutting in half if necessary to fit. Combine beer and next 3 ingredients and pour over brisket. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours or LOW for 8 to 12 hours. Remove brisket to a serving platter, reserving juices in slow cooker. Combine water and flour, stirring well and slowly whisk into juices in slow cooker. Cook gravy uncovered on HIGH 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring often. Serve with brisket. Serves 10

Where Does the Time Go?

How is it possible that this sweet child has graduated from college? I remember changing her diapers, carting her around in my red Camaro to the mall and everywhere I went...I am SO proud of her and all of her accomplishments and just seriously can't believe that she is old enough to be a grown up, much less graduating from college!  She is going to be an amazing nurse and I know that all the patients and families that are blessed enough to be around her will be touched by her personality and just the precious young woman that she is!

It's really hard to believe that this weekend is Memorial Day!  I swear it was just Christmas!  I am wrapping up my last couple of weeks watching my niece and will begin the overwhelming task of REALLY getting to the house cleaning out project that I had hoped to be done or at least close to done by now.  The goal is to have the house ready to put on the market by the end of the summer, so I hope that each day will be productive and the more I get done, the more motivated I will be!

I have a pretty important doctor appointment today and I am nervous, anxious and maybe a little bit excited to see what's going on...we have exhausted all the testing as far as blood work can go to see
why we aren't getting pregnant the old fashioned way and today's procedure will be the last step before we have to move on to a specialist (if that's what we decide to do).  I am trusting in God's timing, provision and direction, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I want it to go a certain way and for us to find out it's a simple fix to move the process along.  I know that RC and I will take today's results and be able to make some important decisions about how to proceed from here.  I have enlisted the prayer warriors from my circle of precious friends and I know i'll be lifted up today and pray that my nerves will be calmed by knowing that RC and my friends are praying for me, no matter the outcome.

I am excited about a weekend at the beach coming up and I have missed our camping friends SO much...not going to church in NC mades the times I do get to hang out with them all the more special! I am praying for great weather and a chance to really relax and just enjoy time with RC and my sister and friends.


Speaking of my sister, she just had a "big number" birthday...turning 35...I scanned some oldie goldie pictures for an album for her...here's a collage of some of the favorites! It's hard to remember back to when she was born, but I don't have any memories of my life that she isn't a part of.  She has grown up to be a successful career woman and I am proud of all of her accomplishments!



I am going to end here for today because I've procrastinated long enough about getting ready that I need to hurry...story of my life!  Blessings to all who have come by here! :) S

Catching Up With Life...

I haven't blogged since last August.  That's a long time ago.  And I've missed it.  Sort of.  but also it's been okay to take a break too.  Life has been busy.  Married life has been GREAT.  I truly married the man I always dreamed of.  Seriously.  Not saying that in the fairytale way, but in the I'm so blessed by God to have been given such a wonderful man who treats me better than I ever thought possible kind of way.  Here is a picture of us from Christmas...I'm not sure I have a more recent one and I'll have to fix that...pronto!

In September, I officially stepped down as Nannie. But not really.  I am watching my niece Josie four days a week.  It's not the same, though.  I miss my kids, like a LOT.  I hate that I don't get to see them growing up and learning and changing and developing their personalities.  I am not sure what I thought the other side of being the Nannie, but I really thought I would get to see them more, somehow.  But I don't.  And that has to be okay, but it's just the way things are.  I think what I miss the most are the lazy moments, sitting on the sofa and just having them piled up all around me, hearing them laugh and be silly, even aggravating each other.  I miss the twinkle in their eyes when they figure something out for the first time or when I finally give in and pick up one of the younger ones just because they smiled so sweetly at me in the most rotten of ways.  I even might miss the routine...feeding them breakfast, taking them to preschool, picking them up afterwards and then nap times and the sweetest snuggles when I wake them up to pick up the afterschoolers.  I have new chapters in my life to write, but the one I left in September will forever be a part of me.  I can't imagine my life without knowing each and every one of the kids that I cared for. Here is a picture of part of my sweet group at my going away party....little pieces of my heart in every one of them. 

Life these days is considerably slower paced in many ways.  I am enjoying making our house in our home while moving every so painstakingly slow out of my house in NC.  I am enjoying being a stay at home wife, getting involved at our church down here and slowly making some new friends while doing my best to stay as connected as I can with my lifelong friends in NC.  I miss my sister, my second mom Susan and my dearest friend Lennie and all the times I took for granted that I would see them face to face many times in a week and not realize how different it would feel when that takes a 50 minute or more drive.  Sure they are a phone call away, and often I went days and sometimes longer without seeing them, but knowing they were just a few minutes away was somehow comforting.  Navigating new territory outside of  "my bubble" has been interesting, but I am being blessed by new friends and hugged and loved on by some wonderful sisters in Christ at our church as well as getting to spend time with my new inlaws who have been precious family friends for as long as I can remember.

I am going to slowly begin transitioning my blog, removing and adding tabs and things like that...and I honestly don't know if anyone every happens by here...I've also considered changing to Word Press because I have heard some great things about it.  All in due time...

Blessings to all who have passed by here...make a difference in your area of the world today.

Slow Cooked Barbecue Country Style Ribs

In an attempt to make budget friendly, time friendly and variety filled menu plans, I am always on the lookout for new recipes and easy ways to get supper on the table.

I found the original recipe online on a southern food website and tweaked it a little to suit my tastes better and it was DELISH!  I used country style ribs from Aldi's that were about $5 for 2 pounds of meat (so I halved the meat, but only back off the liquid a little just to be sure it didn't get dry), but the original recipe called for 3 to 4 pounds of boneless country style ribs,so I will give you that recipe in case you are cooking for more than two people. 

3 to 4 pounds boneless country style ribs
Sprinkling of meat tenderizer (to your preference or you can omit if you like)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 minced garlic cloves (I used the Pampered Chef garlic press for mine)
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup apple juice
1 bottle barbecue sauce (16 to 18 oz of your favorite) I used a honey flavored for mine

Grease 5 to 6 quart crockpot with cooking spray.  Wash pork and trim excess fat and dry with paper towels.  Put sliced onions in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Sprinkle tenderizer, salt and pepper on each piece of pork and place in crockpot on top of onions.  Sprinkle pork with half of brown sugar and minced garlic, flip and sprinkle other half of sugar and garlic on other side, making sure each piece is coated.  Pour apple juice evenly over meat.  Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours and check (original recipe called for 8 to 9 hours, but I found this to be too long).  When meat is almost cooked through, drain liquid and reserve for gravy if you wish.  Pour barbecue sauce over top of meat and onions and stir carefully to coat.  Continue to cook for 1 hour or so to infuse the meat and sufficiently coat all pieces.

I made mashed potatoes to go with ours so I used the drippings from the crockpot with flour, salt and pepper and a splash of water and about a tablespoon more of apple juice just for something different and it was very, very yummy!

Pictures of crockpot food are challenging, but I promise this dish was worth making again and RC loved it!  I had enough for our meal last night and 2 lunch meals for the next day.

Crockpot Barbecue Country Style Ribs

Gravy made with juices poured off after cooking meat

Photo Card Birthday Invite

Photo card invites are pretty popular these days, but they do require lead time to order and be delivered and can sometimes be pretty costly...being on a budget makes it necessary to evaluate how to cut spending on birthday party preparation (so you have more money to spend on cupcakes of course..HA!) and making your own invites doesn't have to be hard! 

I made this super cute one with a selection of pictures I took of the birthday girl dressed up for her tea party and made the pictures into a collage using the free Google Picasa software...super easy to do!  I took advantage of 10 cent 4x6 prints from CVS and printed 60 prints for $6 and tax.  Then I mounted each picture on a 4.5 x 6.5 piece of cardstock that I had in my scrapbooking supplies and used a single picture cut to size on the back along with the party wording...This is the end result...I used pastel papers because that will be the theme colors of the party, and I'm showing two different invites so you can see the front and back...I covered the party invite details for privacy reasons, but you would put your where, when, etc information there.  I think they are super cute and they took me about 1.5 hours to cut, mount and put the invites in envelopes.  All for a little over $6 for 30 invitations...of course if you have to buy paper and adhesive it would cost a few more bucks, but still very affordable, personalized and a great keepsake!