A New Life Lines post & Friday's Fave Five ~ Cooking tip to a Thank you

To read my Life Lines post, "Your Plans ~ God's Purpose," go here!

For more Friday Fave Five's, click on the tulips!

This week I made chicken enchiladas ~ a favorite dish! There are so many enchilada recipes so I am not including mine today but I would like to share a tip with you. When I am assembling my chicken enchiladas I dip the flour tortilla in the chicken broth before adding the chicken mixture to it. Don't leave it in to soak, just give the "flours" a quick dip. It adds flavor and makes the tortillas more tender.

I visited a nearby thrift store Monday and found 6 white cloth napkins to add to my favorite growing collection. Using cloth napkins saves money and makes even a sandwich for lunch seem a bit special. I got four like the one on the left for $1. The 2 embroidered ones were .50 cents each.

At the same thrift store, I found a Southern Living serving dish. Dishes are one of my favorite things to purchase!

This dish is just the right size for a side dish for our family of 5. It was $3.49.

Guitar Girl, our favorite daughter, had a paying gig at a local place. She played for 3 hours and made a nice little sum. They've asked her back and this is a great way to help out with college expenses. She'll have her B.A. in journalism in 2 years. When she graduated from high school last May she already had a year's worth of college classes completed, thanks to dual enrollment. Yeah....we're proud!

I teach (part time) high school Spanish and Literature at a private school. Yesterday was my last day and last night was the honor roll and graduation ceremony. I had the privilege of reading scripture and praying at the beginning of the graduation ceremony. This is a card from one of my students. My favorite line is..."Thank you...for helping me find a better understanding of God..." (No, spelling doesn't count here, sweet student.)

Have a beautiful Friday. You're favored of God!

Friday Fave 5!

Five of my favorite things from this week! To join in, click on the Friday Fave 5 button. Come on! It's fun!




I feature here a perk of teaching. It's a perfectly delicious pumpkin roll. A family from the school where I teach gave me this homemade happiness. This morning I sliced it and put it in my toaster oven. Oh. My. Gravy. Was it good! A sweet start to my morning...thanks sweet family for thinking of me at Christmas!

Along with the slice of pumpkin roll, I enjoyed another cup of my new favorite coffee - Gloria Jean's Ginger Snap! Oh Snap...I hope it's not offered only during the Christmas season. See the cute ornaments on the label?

We use a Keurig coffee maker. If you need a new coffee maker, you really should consider a Keurig! Oh Keurig Coffee People...I need to be your spokesperson. Seriously. If you're reading this...holl~ah!

These are just sooooo cute! I picked these up from Gap Kids for my nieces. They're striped on one side, polka-dot on the other and have fringed ends. I added these to a couple of mini bags from Vera Bradley and voila! Cute City for Christmas! (No peeking, H, W & K! Get off my blog!)

Earlier this week while driving TechSon home from school, we stopped at Frida's Cafe & Bakery. I picked out a few goodies. These were all European baked goods which, turns out, TechSon and Skate~Boy don't much care for. There was nary a chocolate chip nor sugar cookie in the bunch! So they were MINE, all MINE...(insert creepy laugh here). One Fine Man & Guitar Girl had a few nibbles, too. When they could find where I hid the box...

Check out the cookies on the top right. They are called Mediterranean Maccaroons. 'Never had them before but I will no longer be a stranger to the call of their crunchy, chewy, coconuttiness. Enough said.

Hello Scrabble game that Skate~Boy and I have been trying to finish lo these past 4 days! We take lots of breaks. 'Still fun though. Look how bad we are with our 3 and 4 letter words! As there are only 3 tiles left in the bag, we can probably knock this out in an hour. Or two. Or three.

Friday Fave 5 - A Few of My Favorite Things This Week

These are a few (5)of my favorite things this week.

It's Citrus Season in Florida. I love these Florida tangerines in a green bowl!

Poinsettia plates above my buffet table - I have three of these I bought last year just for display. I put them up yesterday.

The tablescape I am working on. I may change it up some. My house and decor is a work in progress...most of the time. (See the red bird.)

Williams Sonoma winter scene mugs - An early Christmas gift from some very dear friends.

Also...Christmas napkins. If you've read my posts, you know I love the birds!

I've been looking back over our Ski trip pictures from last year. This is one of my favorite pics from the trip.

Baby sleeping in the snow!

Friday's Fave 5 ~ replacing my Friday's Favorites!

1. Cheese grits - On Fridays I don't teach classes, so this morning I got to fix my favorite breakfast comfort food - cheese grits (don't even think about making instant). And to all ya'll nawthenuz, if you don't like grits, you just haven't had them fixed right!
2. A really good BOGO - Yesterday I went to Publix and bought one Hellman's Light and got the other one free! Sadly, Publix is now an enabler in my addiction to stockpiling the Hellman's. But what if I run out of Hellman's for all that leftover turkey next week and we can't make sandwiches? You tell ME, what would I do then? I get the sweats just thinking about the possibility...

3. Holiday themed kitchen towels - what can I say, I get a thrill from textiles. (I finally had to put my foot down (on a rug, no doubt) about my penchant for buying rugs - I'm serious.)

4. Christmas music! Now while I am dismayed at how Thanksgiving seems to have been totally overlooked in retail, I do love me some Elvis singing Blue Christmas.

5. Fridays off from teaching so I can clean house and catch up - Okay, truth, Fridays off from teaching so I can pretend I am going to clean house and catch up.