It's Just Too Easy- Decoupaged scrap paper ornament & the Barefoot Contessa's New York egg cream

Ever had one of those days where there's ninety-trillion things that you need to be doing, therefore you end up doing anything but? That's been my life lately.. not good. I knew it couldn't be Biblical to chronically procrastinate, so the other morning I woke up at the crack of dawn and searched the Bible cover to cover groggily headed to Google and typed, "What does the Bible say about procrastination?" It took me here, BackToTheBible.org, which had some great and
convicting points-

• We are to be imitators of Christ, who didn't delay in doing anything His Father set before Him. He knew how valuable every second of every day was, and He never failed to take advantage of the time He'd been given.

• God created us with potential that can only be fully found when we're serving Him with everything we've got. It's hard for me to see how getting my laundry done or responding to the emails that have been piling up in my inbox qualifies as stepping into my God-given potential, but it makes sense when I remember what Jesus says in Matthew 25:21 and Luke 16:10 about those who can be trusted with very little being able to be trusted with very much. If I can't discipline myself to load the dishwasher and study for tomorrow's exam, how can I expect to be able to handle the things that eternally matter in the way God created me to handle them?

• And lastly, time is limited. Ain't that the truth? There have been too many reminders of that lately. When my days and deeds are read before the throne, I would really rather hear less of how I updated my Facebook page for the 569873th time and more of how I listened to the Lord and acted accordingly

Again, conviction. And I wish I could say that I changed my tune immediately.. my car's half-unpacked trunk and the mound of unfinished Christmas presents staring me in the face right now would rat me out if I tried.

Dang you, sinful nature.

But I'm trying. And actually, today I was pretty successful. So when mid-afternoon rolled around and I needed a break, I decided do a few quick-and-easy DIYs that are perfect for all the cash-and-time strapped of us out there.


Since I'm kind of a hoarder when it comes to saving cute tissue paper (as in, I have drawers full of it that I can't make myself get rid of), and since I'm still in love with this guy-




 I decided to make use of both. Add a little Elmer's Glue Stick and Modge Podge in on the action and viola- 15-minute Christmas tree ornament that costs next to nothin'.


Decoupaged scrap paper ornament
Supplies:
-Clear glass ornament
-Colored tissue paper
-Glue Stick
-Modge Podge
-Brush

Cut one sheet of tissue paper up into small square pieces.

Take the topper off of your ornament, then use your glue stick to spread a line of glue around the ball. Be generous, because you want your tissue to stick well.

 

Start sticking tissue paper squared on the line. Don't be afraid to overlap, and don't worry about getting them even. It works better if they're layered.

Continue this process until you've covered the ornament, then fill in any blanks in the same manner.

 Modge Podge the whole thing. Try to brush it on in the same direction the tissue paper is going so there aren't any big bumps. Smooth out any excess.

Let it dry thouroughly. I found that a bendy straw stuck in a cup (especially if that cup has some beautiful burnt orange horns on the front) make a great drying apperatus. Hey, I'm nothing if not resourceful ;)

After it's dry, pop the topper back in, stick a big ole' bow on it, and hang it on the nearest tree! I added some sparkly puff paint to up the pizzazz factor. Lovin' it!

And while we're going with the the quick-easy-cheap theme, I'd like to introduce you to my new favorite way to satisfy a sweet-tooth craving... the New York Egg Cream.

I found the recipe in Ina Garten's (aka the Barefoot Contessa. Check her out here) cookbook, How Easy is That?, which is filled with easy-to-make recipes that seem fancy enough to have taken hours (savory coeur a la creme or spaghetti aglio e olio, anyone?).

I'll take two.

New York Egg Cream
from The Barefoot Contessa's How Easy is That?




Fox's U-bet chocolate flavored syrup (this po' girl's hershey's worked just fine)
Cold whole milk or half-and-half (I used 2%)
Ice-cold club soda or seltzer water




Pour 3 tablespoons (or just go ahead and squirt as much as your little heart desires, because we all know you can never have too much chocolate syrup in anything) chocolate syrup and 1/4 cup milk of half-and-half into a 16oz. glass. While beating vigorously with a fork, slowly add club soda until the glass is almost full. add a straw and serve very cold.


No pictures for this one, y'all.. it was gone faster than you could say, pour me seven more. I wasn't quite satisfied with the sweetness level so I added a few packets of Splenda to the mix. It tastes a lot like a "poor man's milkshake" (Anyone else ever had one of those? My dad makes them all the time- cold milk, a spoonful of sugar, and a generous amount of chocolate syrup- stir until frothy and sip through a straw), and since club soda is cheaper than milk it would be less expensive too. Perfect





As I think about the battle it's been to kick this procrastination habit, a song by Chris August comes to mind. The title, Battle, is pretty self explanitory, but it's the last line of the chorus that says it all-

"Life's a fight of wrong and right that tearing me apart,

but it's what the cross has done;

The world will try to battle for my heart,

but the war is already won."

Yes and amen





And just because it cracks me up every time, this is a video from one of the freshman orientation sessions we had when I was in school warning us about the evils of procrastination. It's terrible quality, but listen closely.. it'll be worth it. Couldn't have said it better myself :)








 
 
Until next time,
 

Keepsake ornaments & Down South Barbecue in the Crock Pot

First real attempt at this crafty-cooky-bloggy thing. Here goes nothing.

Christmas confession: I'm kind of obsessed with these things-

It's probably because they're so much like me- classy, yet versatile (again, jokes.. more like transparent, easily broken, and uncooperative). But whatever the reason, as I was working on a Christmas present involving one of these suckers the creative juices started flowing, and this little memory-and-space-saver was born.

LOVE IT!

The 3.5 followers of my other blog might recall that I was buh-lessed with the opportunity to be a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's wedding in October in my soon-to-be home state of Georgia (you can read about it here). The whole thing was so full of thought and details that made every aspect of it special and personal, right down to each individual bouquet carried by the bridesmaids. The bride-to-be took the time to choose a special little charm-thing (not sure what to call it.. anyone?) that represented her relationship with each girl and presented it to us the night before the wedding. We tied it to our bouquets so that there would be no confusion as to whose was whose in the craziness of the wedding day. What a good idea! They definitely did their jobs well, because when the room we were getting ready in ended up looking like the aftermath of a hurricane, things got a little hard to sort out.

The bouquet was made out of silk flowers (another great idea to any brides-to-be out there), which means each of us took ours home to remember that awesome weekend.. but instead mine has been getting squashed and misshapen in an over-stuffed packing box ever since. I've wanted to display it somehow because it holds so many great memories.. but what? It doesn't it fit with any of my room's decor, and even if it did, it's not a tiny thing and my room is anything but spacious. How could I make this glorious thing fit in my land-locked locale?

The answer? It was a no-brainer.

I know there are about fifty-eleven tutorials for crafts like these floating around in cyberspace written by much more well-versed instructors, so mine's going to be short and sweet.

Keepsake Ornament

Line the bottom of the ornament with a leaf from the bouquet, using a stretched-out paper clip or something similar to get it into the desired position. I was using my pinkie at first, but the ornament's opening has some stinkin' SHARP edges, resulting in a nasty cut. I think there might even be some blood in the ornament, but I don't recommend getting that personal with yours. Just sayin.

Then fill it with a variety of whatever else was included in the bouquet.

I replaced the ornament topper and tied the actual tulle that was wrapped around the bouquet's stems to it, finishing it off with the special little charm-thingy hot glued to the center. BOOM. Roasted.

How easy was that? Is your mind not running rampant with what else you could stuff into one of these? I wonder if actual rose petals could be dried right there inside the ornament. Valentine's Day/Anniversary keepsake, anyone? Hmm....

Oh the possibilities!

Now on to some good old-fashioned crock pottery. A few nights ago I was perusing my mom's kitchen looking for things to steal borrow for my new apartment when I came accross this oldie-but-goodie:

And opened it right up to this:

I'm a sucker for anything a) circa 1960s and b) southern, so this little guy instantly stole my heart (sorry SBoM.. you may have some competition ;)), and since I just so happened to have bought a pork roast that was on sale at Walton's Market (Wal-Mart.. you've gotta classy-ify that place somehow) the other day I thought'd I'd give it a shot.

Down South Barbecue

The instructions and pictures below show how I did it. The recipe at the bottom is what came out of the booklet

It was as easy as...

1. Gathering the ingredients:

Ingredients for cooking the meat-
Roast
Water
Onion
Onion powder
Cloves



Ingredients for the sauce-
Minced onions
Bottle of BBQ sauce


2: Setting up the crock pot:

- I sliced up 1 onion and placed it in the bottom of the Crock Pot,

- Poured 2 cups of water over the onions,

- Took the mesh wrap off of the roast (what is that for anyway?), added the 3.5lb. roast to the pot, poked 6 cloves into the top of the meat, and shook on a generous amount of onion powder*

- Cooked it for 6 hours,

- Removed the meat from the pot, cut off the visible fat, shredded the meat, and returned it to the pot,

-Poured the 16oz. bottle of BBQ sauce in the pot and topped it with a tablespoon of minced onion,

-Cooked for another hour and a half, stirring every 30 minutes,

3. Dinner is served!

Easy, healthy, and delish.. my kind of meal :)

Recipe for Down South Barbecue from the 1967 Good Housekeeping's Rival Crock-Pot Cookbook:


2 Onions (I used 1 onion and about 1 T. onion powder), sliced
4-5 lb. pork roast, or fresh picnic ham (I used a 3.5lb. shoulder roast)
5-6 cloves
2 cups water


Put half the onions in the bottom of the CROCK-POT, then add meat and other ingredients with remaining onion on top. Cover and cook overnight or 8-12 hours on low (I cooked mine for 6 on medium)


16oz. bottle of barbecue sauce
1 lg. onion (I used the equivalent amount of minced onion)


Remove bone and fat from meat. Put meat back in CROCK-POT. Add chopped onion and barbecue sauce. Cover and cook an additional 1-3 hours on high or 4-8 hours on low (I cooked mine for 1.5 hours on high), stirring 2-3 times. Serve from CROCK-POT or on large buns.




It was really  great paired with Paula Deen's apple baked bean casserole: 

Ingredients












The finished product. So good!





And these onion roasted red potatoes:



Ingredients







The finished product. I can't ever seem to get my potatoes to
roast evenly. Some were completely burnt and some were
still raw. So frustrating! Any suggestions?



Crock Pot, you never let me down. You're a keeper for sure.

Speaking of not being let down, here's the song has been singing to my heart for the last few days- Down by Mat Kearney. The chorus gives me chills. I ask it a lot..  

"Can you hear when we call, be there where we fall, standing our backs against the wall? Top of our lungs, 'hallelujah!', where pain and love bleed into one. Baby when all you see is darkness, we all need forgiveness"

But man... I am so grateful that His answer's always the same

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified.. for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Praise Him.

 



His handiwork

Oh man, y'all.. I've got some news. Are you sitting down? Because for insurance purposes, I highly recommend it.

I've started another blog.

Yes you heard correctly, & don't bother thanking me for making all of your Christmas wishes come true. I figured that the one thing this world needed most was more uuber-frequent blog entries written by this infinitely wise, mind-blowingly successful, and ultra experienced chick. Did I mention that I'm dabbling in the high-fashion modeling industry and performing my first brain surgery tomorrow, too?

Jokes. You can stop laughing and pick yourself up off the floor now.

But for real.. before you click on the little red "x" in the top right-hand corner of this page, humor me and read on for a little while.

I started this little dandy a few months ago when I wanted to make the announcement that I was moving to the wonderfully southern state of Georgia early next year. My intentions were to give little updates every now and then to let my faithful few know what God was up to in this crazy life of mine. So far, the entry count is 3 in the same number of months. Go me!

But since then, I've done a little blog hopping, spent a few (wasted an ungodly number of) hours on the best website ever invented (Pinterest. duh), and had a number of heart-to-hearts with the Lord, all of which have led me here.

All of you fellow Pinterest enthusiasts know how terribly/wonderfully addicting it can be to peruse the boards of friends and strangers, eagerly re-pinning their great ideas, delicious recipes, and cute crafts, thinking to yourself, "One of these days I'll log on to Pinterest and cook every last recipe, make every single craft, and simplify my life with all these great ideas."

But life keeps coming, you continue to spend more time pinning than actually doing anything productive, and the glue gun, crock pot, and pile of yardsale junk you bought last weekend to "upcycle" stay in their cluttered cabinets.

If only there was a central location to find a bunch of good organizational ideas to take care of my cabinet problems..

I digress

Or if you're even more like me, you can't even imagine ever being creative enough to attempt any of these glorious ideas. You've been told (by other people, yourself, the devil, etc.) that you'll never be able to cook a decent meal or complete a successful DIY project. You're a failure at most of the things you undertake anyway, so even though your heart longs to try the ideas you've dutifully been pinning for months, there really is no point in wasting your time. Keep dreaming.

But with Christmas swiftly approaching as well as my first opportunity to live on my own (hence having to cook for myself and decorate all by my lonesome), I decided to branch out juuuuusst a little and start attempting to build the skills I believed were absent in me so long. Every endeavor was prefaced with much self-deprication, begun with absolutely no self-confidence, and completed with varying degrees of success. Most of the time my fears were confirmed- I failed. Big surprise.

Enter the aforementioned heart-to-hearts with my precious, patient, ever-loving Lord and Savior.

What I couldn't figure out is why, despite my pathetic track record, I still had a longing in my heart to do all of these things. I even kept amassing junk and art supplies, all the while thinking, you fool.. you're never going to use any of this. Once a failure, always a failure. But one night as I was looking through my craft box, mentally picturing what could possibly become of these odds and ends and immediately shooting down every attempt at creativity, I realized something very basic, yet at that moment meant a change of pace for me. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do," while Genesis 1:27 says, "So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." If I'm handiwork made in the image of the Creator and Master craftsman of this world and everything in it. that means that my very nature is to be creative. And if I'm created in the image of His perfect and good Son Jesus, then I've been enabled to make stuff that is good.. even GREAT! Furthermore, by insulting my ability to create anything of value I'm really insulting the Holy Spirit inside me that lives in me.

Whoa.. mind = blown

So I began creating with that mindset. And dang, did things change. Not everything, not all at once, but change was a'comin. And since it wasn't from me, I want to share it with you. Because nothing of mine is worth blogging about, for "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature" (Romans 7:18), but when He's in the drivers seat, it might be worth a second glance.

Insert blog #2. Since I started "She Can Laugh at the Days to Come" to be more of a way to update the fam and special friends on what Jesus is up to in my life lately, I decided to make a separate place to try my hand at tutorials, recipes, crafts, and the like. I'll explain how I came up with the name (if you even care) later, because quite frankly, 3am is wayyyy past my bedtime. Most of what's on here won't be original and I will definitely be linking honor to where it's due for sure, and every now and then there may be a Kelly n' Jesus original thrown in there. A girl can dream, right? :)

So there you have it. I promise most of the entries on here are meant to be short, easy-to-read, and to the point. And I'm 100% honest when I say that suggestions, comments, and even criticism are not just welcomed- They're encouraged. I definitely don't have all the answers and for sure don't always know the most effective way to do things, so enlighten me, would ya? I'd appreciate it!

And true to form, I've got to leave y'all with what's singing to my heart tonight, "Lift Me Up" by The Afters. Listen close to the lyrics.. I promise you'll hear Jesus speaking to you, too. Enjoy :)






Until next time,