Some Good...Some Not so Good!

I am keeping up with the positive so that is coming first...

The Good Things Happening:

• I only have 16 days left until the end of the school year.
• We are leaving Saturday to visit family and witness the wedding of my cousin's beautiful baby girl.
• I had some minor out-patient surgery and it went well...just waiting on some results...but doc said all looked good.
• I was able to reconnect with a friend I have not been able to see in quite some time.
• My organization skills are picking up...but I am thinking they are going to have to take a back seat until school is out.
• And life is good!!!

Some Not so Good things...

• I had a not so great evaluation at school...this has been a rough year and I have done my best to do what I can do in a new grade level. Hopefully I can turn that evaluation around when I have a redo in a couple of weeks.

So all is going well for the most part in my life....Very busy with grandchildren playing ball so I will leave this post with the cute little guys I spend most of my spare time with. 

 

My New Design!

I am soooooo very excited to unveil my new blog design! The amazingly, talented Sheila over at Blog Designs by Sheila created and designed this template for me. She was fabulous and wonderful to work with and her communication was quick, great, and very precise. She really was looking out for what I wanted and I am so extremely pleased with all of the hard work she did to get this completed.

To celebrate my new design I am having a wonderful,  little surprise going on. The next 11 people to comment and follow my blog will receive a little surprise from me. Make sure in your comment to leave me a way to get hold of you.

I have several things to catch up on now that the blog design is installed and will be doing that over the course of the next few days. So keep checking back to see what is new at "Fresh and Renewed"

What's in Your Basket?

Well, I was really busy, busy this Easter weekend. I wanted so bad to make a card and even had one flowing around in my head, but, I had better things to keep me occupied. First on Friday my next to youngest grandson called bright and early and said in the sweetest voice..."Grandma, can I come over?" We were already planning to go pick him up cause he had been asking for quite some time could he come over by his self (without brother or sister). So we go to pick him up...sister was very mad about that. Then later in the day two other grandsons came over for a bit.

Saturday was the annual taking my granddaughter Easter dress shopping. We normally do it much sooner but due to T-ball games and practices, and dance thrown in there had not been able to find the time to go. So, bright and early Saturday morning off we went. Now we live in an area where the shopping leaves a bit to be desired so we traveled a little over an hour to go shopping for her dress. She likes the thrill of the hunt as much as deciding on which dress so we always go try on way more than she ever would consider. After visiting 2 stores, trying on in the first store we settled on one of the three dresses we tried on in the third store...hair accessories...and sandals to complete the ensemble and we were all set. A quick ride on the little choo-choo train and then we were headed for a nice lunch, then home to her house.


Then it was off to shop for the things I needed for Easter dinner and finally home to prepare for Easter Sunday. We were having a big family gathering and meal at my daughter's house and she had asked me to try and find time to make a banner. Well, I finally found the time to sit down and make it last night. So that is what was in my basket this morning. This lovely banner to hang in her doorway to greet all who entered on this blessed Easter Sunday. Hope you enjoy it!

Close up of the end...the front banner panel has the same bunny only in reverse  colors.

I am entering this banner in the CAS-ual Friday's challenge. This is my first time linking up to this challenge. I am excited to have just found this blog and look forward to many Fridays to come where I can be inspired to create.

I Don't Pin these Recipes for Nothing!

Well, we had another winner recipe for dinner thanks to my Pinterest Obsession. I have spent lots of time on Pinterest pinning recipes and categorizing them for various boards. I like to be able to find EXACTLY what I am looking for so my boards on Pinterest are very specific...Entrees, Side Dishes, Desserts, Cupcakes (they get their own board), breakfast, I even have a soup board. I even like to make notes as to when I plan to use the recipe in the comment section when I pin it. If you would like to check out my Pinterest boards just click on the P on the flag banner over on the left side.  Anyway I digress...sorry.

Tonight we had two of the recipes I had pinned recently. I had planned to have these for Sunday dinner a couple weeks ago but for some reason or another we never had it so tonight was the night for it. I was off work today and had the energy to cook up some yummy food for us tonight.

I cooked Shrimp and Grits and this great little salad (Tomato/Cucumber Salad) I thought would be a good choice for a side. Well unless you have a super picky hubby it would be fabulous. His comment was...."I would rather have just plain cucumbers sliced in vinegar and sliced tomatoes....without all that onion." Sometimes I just wish I could make whatever I want without having to think about will he like it. But really I would not have it any other way. I love pleasing my husband with food and 99% of the time do think about him and what he would like or not like.

I browse lots of different sites looking for recipes and am usually not original myself at creating recipes. So, I always want to give credit where I get them from. The Shrimp and Grits came from here. And the tomato/cucumber salad from this site. Have fun browsing and I hope I have inspired you to cook up something yummy for your hubby.

All was really delicious!

Getting So Very Excited....

I have so many things to look forward to...I am so very excited about many things. God is so good and I get to be the beneficiary of His goodness. So the things I am looking forward to you may ask?

1. There are only 34 days of school left but...I really only have 29 cause I get to go see this beautiful young lady get married...

Christa (my cousin's beautiful baby) and her honey

  2. I get to go to Cocoa Beach the week after school is out and spend 5 whole days at this lovely hotel with
      my good friends Daphne and Heidi scrapping and lounging by the pool and beach.

The pool....cannot wait!!