Flip Flops & Pearls: May 2011

Monday

A time of silence

{SEMI} WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WILL RESUME NEXT WEEK

Hey Y'all....
I hope you all have a blessed & safe holiday week!

I am going "silent" on the social media world on behalf of the recent devastation brought on by the tornados. I will see you all back next week.

If you would like to take a little time to be silent w/me, please do so~
I know we all have things we blog abt on certain days & it may be hard to to skip a day, I understand, believe me I DO! I will miss reading and seeing what's going on but this is some thing I feel I must do.

Every time you want to:
tweet,
facebook,
read blogs,
etc.,
say a prayer instead.

Let's lift our brothers & sisters around the world up.
Let's blanket their aching hearts with His love.

If you want to participate for:
1 hour
1 day
1 week
whatever,
just grab a badge & link your blog below.

I will leave you with an absolute beautiful song by Laura Story.
Very powerful words.

**I had to come bk b/c it seems BLOGGER IS UP TO IT'S OLD TRICKS AGAIN :(
Comments not posting ...... pls email if your having issues. I'd love to know what error message your getting, tks! (and NO THANKS TO YOU BLOGGER! boo-hiss!)

Saturday

{social media silence, please join me}

As I was driving home the other morning very quickly after receiving a "severe thunderstorm warning" text from the local news center, I felt that I just needed to do something. I have sat the past few days in complete tears watching the news & programs about all that is going on in Joplin, Missouri. Which is proceeded by the same feelings just a few weeks ago with the tornados in the south.

I am sitting here with chills as I type this. I am in disbelief. I have never seen such devastation nor read about it in my life. My husband is a catastrophic insurance adjuster and he told me in 16 yrs of this work, the tornados that flew through the South was the worst catastrophe that he has ever worked. Now it has moved on to Missouri.

I am going to take a break starting on Monday for an entire week from this blog. Every time I walk towards it {to read blogs} I will instead pray. Everytime I decide to touch the Twitter button on my phone, I will pray. I feel that this is the best thing we can do for all these people suffering. I count it a privelage to pray for the hurting people. For all the people who have lost children, mothers, fathers friends, sisters, brothers, animals, belongings and so on and so forth. Let's just blanket all of the hurting with our thoughts & prayers.

If you would like to join me, my post on Monday will have a linky. Feel free to add your blog & if you join me, here is a little badge to add to your post. You can choose 1 day or the week, more or less. I have chosen the entire week. {semi} wordless wednesday will resume the the following week. Whatever day you choose, still link up as when I return, I'd love to see how many people participated.

Some people blog certain things on certain days {HELLO, have ya ever met me? ha} So if you choose to only participate for a short time, I'd still love to hear. (still link & share your times/thoughts)

Rather it be gaminig, blogging, facebooking or tweeting, any moment we can stop & pray on behalf of these hurting would be a blessing.

** I know how many times I get on social media networks in a 24 hr period so even a day is a LOT of prayers ☺

You can also grab a badge for your blog, maybe others will have a chance to see it before Monday incase they'd like to participate.

Just for a day or 2:

~May 30th - June 6th~

I will be silent.

Will you join me at least 1 day?
Here are a few images that really just make my heart skip a beat...{via google}

Psalm 9:9The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble

Friday

Let's Eat Y'all!

TGIF!!! Even better than it's Friday, it's the last day of school AND my Mr is coming home for the weekend!! YAHOO, Praise the Lord! I'll try to get by to see everyone but if I don't, you'' know why. Link up early so I can see ya☺

Who wants some fried chicken?? ~~if you don't like friend chicken, check your pulse!~~ As I was looking through my pictures last night, I had TweetDeck pulled up. Ofcourse, when it makes it bird-like sound, I look at the top right of the screen to see if it is something I MUST look/click. Well, when I saw Fried Chicken, I had to check it out! So, this isn't something that I have made but rather something that I will be making this weekend:)

Picnic Oven Fried-Chicken
via Eating Well Magazine
(click to print)

{via}

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon hot sauce, such as

2 1/2-3 pounds chicken legs, skin removed, trimmed and cut into thighs and drumsticks

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Freshly ground pepper to taste

olive oil cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

Whisk buttermilk, mustard, garlic and hot sauce in a shallow glass dish until well blended. Add chicken and turn to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour or for up to 8 hours.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Set a wire rack on the baking sheet and coat it with cooking spray.

Whisk flour, sesame seeds, paprika, thyme, baking powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Place the flour mixture in a paper bag or large sealable plastic bag. Shaking off excess marinade, place one or two pieces of chicken at a time in the bag and shake to coat. Shake off excess flour and place chicken on the prepared rack. (Discard any leftover flour mixture and marinade). Spray chicken pieces with cooking spray.

Bake the chicken until golden brown and no longer pink in the center, 40 to 50 minutes.

** I blogged later in the afternoon yesterday (out of my OCD norm, I know)PLEASE scroll to yesterdays post after you link/comment, as it's VERY important, tks!

Wednesday

{semi} wordless wednesday

hey y'all!i hope you all had a great weekend.we sure did. we hit the birmingham zoo.it was super hot but a super fun family day!{yes, my kids are 17 & 14 and still love the zoo☺we all do!}
** don't forget-this friday is recipe swap!cook, snap & link it up mah friends!

*** if you link up, please link back with my badge, tks!***[that way others will know where to link up]

Monday

miscellany monday

{1 | thanks to the men in blue}

last night we arrived home from out of town. as soon as we walked in i went

straight to the laundry room to start clothes. i heard something above me (upstairs) lil mr came in and totally hear it. ran and loaded the AK! mini-me hears it and freaks/tears up. i try to compose myself (mr is out of town & we left our guard w/him this weekend BIG MISTAKE) i call the cops cause well, i have no idea what else to do. ~~thankfully there wasn't a murderer in here cause i may have been dead by time they got here~~ they get here, look through everything.. thank GOD they find nothing. think it's cause we had been gone and then turned air on (which we didn't but i am making myself believe we did) which in turn makes the wood beams in the attic expand. ummm. ok. whatever you have to say to make me sleep, mr.

~~if you don't hear from me after this post, you'll know it wasn't the wood expanding!!!~~

{2 | stylin' with the monkeys}

i love these sandals {tory burch-thora} but friends, don't attempt to wear them

to the zoo- unless it for like 20 min. i wore these yesterday for almost 3 hrs and

while they are definitely cuter than your everyday rubber flip flop,

they are like walking on concrete with a rubber band between your toes.

~~yes, i went for looks over comfort...i admit it. guilty as charged. it was worth it too.~~

{3 | momma juice boxes}

FYI, incase you didn't know.

they make them!
~~i need to market one with a straw & that tastes better~~

wine. in a little box with pop top.

we were sitting STILL (maybe went 5-6 miles)

in abt 1 hr 45 min traffic on hwy.

when we finally got out of that mess, we stopped at gas station, i let lil mr drive (he's NOT lil, he is 17) and i took the passenger seat.

this plus this, wild & cray cray dog...

and 3 ppl abt to wet their pants

in stand still traffic (over turned tanker truck leaking gas)

equals =

between a GPS, radar detector & 3 phones all plugged in, i am surprised we didn't cause an explosion ourselves!

{4 | pain free running}

i will be doing a more in depth post on these shoes but til then, i encourage you to check out "newtons". since i have changed, i have had NO injuries. no shin splint. no calf injuries/pain.

{like someone jabbing me w/an ice pic}

{more info HERE}

i ran in mine once, then immediately bought a second pair.

Run barefoot to discover your optimal running form. You'll discover immediately that when you run barefoot, you're not landing on your heels. Instead you are landing on your midfoot/forefoot.

Landing on your midfoot/forefoot is the most natural way to run. It is also the fastest and most efficient way to run. Newton Running shoes are the only shoes that were developed specifically for Natural Running.

{5 | fav new iphone app}

CardStar

CardStar® eliminates wallet overload by consolidating your membership and rewards cards on your smartphone — letting you access scannable cards, deals and retailer information within a single app.

{6 | winner winner chicken dinner}

and the winner is.....

CONGRATS GIRLIE!

you are the winner of The Collector by julie elliot!

shoot me an email & let me know what email you would like it sent to!

{via}

make it a great one everyone!

Friday

-Summer Reading Giveaway-

Hello Friends....
I am not sure when you consider "summer" to start but I say it's the day the kids get out of school, so for us it's like a week away!! YIPPE! Praise God! Hallelujah!

I was thinking since we should all be sitting on the beach or by the pool soaking up the sun, now is a good time for a great read, right?? right!!

Some of you may know Julie from Little Pink Rain Boots......BUT did you know she has her 1st novel being released this coming week? Her novel will be for sale on May 24th but guess who has a copy? Yours Truly! You can win it before you can buy it!! It will be for sale on Tuesday for via LuLu for all your eReader devices.

CONGRATULATIONS Sweetie!!

Synopsis:

Detective Cassidy Michaels is lead investigator on a case to catch a killer sure to join the ranks of America's most prolific serial killers, his alias, The Mad Hatter.

The Hatter is leaving behind bread crumbs, bread crumbs in the form of scriptures from Alice in wonderland.

With the macabre case along with her new partner, Cassidy's plate is full enough without her house going bump in the night. As she delves deeper into the case and it's suspects, the killer begins striking closer and closer as her house begins to come alive.

To enter:
1. leave me a comment telling me the last book you read/are reading
2. follow Julies blog
3. tweet giveaway (leave twitter name)
[separate comments for each please]

Winner will be announced Monday-
**Recipe Swap will be next Friday [y'all voted for every other friday through summer]
Happy Weekend!