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Happy Friday, friends! I'm tickled pink to share my future blogging plans with you today, and excited to recap this scrumptious week now! Let's dig in! ...
1. First off, I'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you who took the time to complete my 2nd Blogiversary Feedback Survey!
I was truly touched by the responses I received! Your feedback was such an encouragement, and made me miss blogging and the interaction I so enjoy with you, my dear readers and cherished friends! With that said, I've made the decision to continue to share here at Chatting Over Chocolate! I'm feeling freshly inspired, once again at ease, and delighted with the decision to fill this nook of the bloggy world with more family fun, and of course plenty of pixie dusted Disney goodness!! It turns out that what the majority of you enjoy most here just happens to be exactly what I enjoy sharing the most! Fancy that! ;)
2. My New Convection Oven!!!
I couldn't be more excited about this!! We've lived in our home for 15 years now, and I've been using the (used) oven that came with our house ever since. Jason has made many repairs on it over the years. He's so awesome about doing work himself to save us money, also allowing us to avoid replacing things before it's really necessary. Recently, it become necessary. Our ancient oven decided it had a burning desire to cook. all. day. long! It began turning on by itself. Yes, you read that right. We'd hear it beep, beep, beep that it had preheated itself continually! I began unplugging it any time it wasn't in use out of safety concerns. Wednesday night while our girls were in classes at church, my sweet hubby took me shopping and we purchased our first new convection oven! The sweetest part of the night had to be when we were making the final decision on which one to purchase and I asked, "What do you think, Jason?" In his typical sweet style, he replied, "Whatever you want." A sales manager nearby heard and shouted, "Oh no! You never say that! We'll be heading over there!" as he motioned to a designer kitchen display. Yet, Jason meant it ...also knowing his frugal wife would want the best oven that was within our means. ;) Being that it was January 14th it sort of felt like Valentine's Day came a month early!
3. The Culinary Tale of Two Cuties:
Princess prepared her first dinner for the family this week! She made balsamic roast beef in the crockpot all by herself. It was delicious! What a beautiful thing it is to see her so eager to learn new skills that will benefit herself and others in the years to come!
Pony Cafe / Snacks Prepared with a Joyful Heart! Little One opened the "Pony Cafe" in our home this week, complete with a hand drawn menu of snacks, meals, and desserts that she will make and joyfully deliver to her mom, dad, and sister any time day or night! This has been such fun! She has a great time creating unique and adorable food presentations, and who wouldn't love free room service, in any room, anytime, served with a smile?
4. Kitchen Goodies!
As if the new oven wasn't enough to get excited over, we replaced a bunch of our kitchen cookware and gadgets too! I've held onto stuff for a while now that is in pretty bad shape. Jason really wanted me to have some nice new things to enjoy using when cooking and baking with my new oven. He's sweeter than the chocolate chip cookies I can hardly wait to bake later today! ;) Also on the weekend menu, his favorite, Cheesy Eggilicious BACON-Y GOODNESS (super simple & mighty delicious quiche)!
5. We filled our car up from empty for just $16.50!
We are still in shock that gas prices are below $2 a gallon in our area! Our grocery store also offers some fuel saver deals which we take advantage of whenever possible. In the past few weeks we've accumulated a 72 cent per gallon discount from our grocer's fuel saver program, pairing that with the already crazy low gas price, we were able to fill up for a total we hadn't seen since Jason and I were newlyweds! I still can't believe it! It's the little things ...especially when they save you big money! *happy sigh* I hope the prices are dropping at pumps near you all, too!
Have a lovely weekend, everyone! I'm so excited to be back blogging once again and look forward to sharing with you again soon! Thanks for taking time out of your day to pay me a visit! I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below!
2. My New Convection Oven!!!
I couldn't be more excited about this!! We've lived in our home for 15 years now, and I've been using the (used) oven that came with our house ever since. Jason has made many repairs on it over the years. He's so awesome about doing work himself to save us money, also allowing us to avoid replacing things before it's really necessary. Recently, it become necessary. Our ancient oven decided it had a burning desire to cook. all. day. long! It began turning on by itself. Yes, you read that right. We'd hear it beep, beep, beep that it had preheated itself continually! I began unplugging it any time it wasn't in use out of safety concerns. Wednesday night while our girls were in classes at church, my sweet hubby took me shopping and we purchased our first new convection oven! The sweetest part of the night had to be when we were making the final decision on which one to purchase and I asked, "What do you think, Jason?" In his typical sweet style, he replied, "Whatever you want." A sales manager nearby heard and shouted, "Oh no! You never say that! We'll be heading over there!" as he motioned to a designer kitchen display. Yet, Jason meant it ...also knowing his frugal wife would want the best oven that was within our means. ;) Being that it was January 14th it sort of felt like Valentine's Day came a month early!
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Pony Cafe / Snacks Prepared with a Joyful Heart! Little One opened the "Pony Cafe" in our home this week, complete with a hand drawn menu of snacks, meals, and desserts that she will make and joyfully deliver to her mom, dad, and sister any time day or night! This has been such fun! She has a great time creating unique and adorable food presentations, and who wouldn't love free room service, in any room, anytime, served with a smile?
4. Kitchen Goodies!
My kitchen goodies haul included a purple frying pan fit for Rapunzel, 2 qt & 3 qt saucepans, 4 cup measuring cup, measuring spoons (I'm missing a few sizes - does that happen to anyone else?), some fun vibrant colored whisks, cookie scoop, pancake flipper spatula, 3 new cookie sheets & pizza pan (not pictured because I couldn't fit anything else in the shot - ha!)
As if the new oven wasn't enough to get excited over, we replaced a bunch of our kitchen cookware and gadgets too! I've held onto stuff for a while now that is in pretty bad shape. Jason really wanted me to have some nice new things to enjoy using when cooking and baking with my new oven. He's sweeter than the chocolate chip cookies I can hardly wait to bake later today! ;) Also on the weekend menu, his favorite, Cheesy Eggilicious BACON-Y GOODNESS (super simple & mighty delicious quiche)!
I had to show you the receipt, because I thought you may not believe it if you didn't see it with your own eyes!
Join me in the adventures to come!
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SO many fabulous things here! Love the new oven- so exciting! Now I'll be looking forward to seeing some recipes! ;) ;) Your girls are the cutest and get me so excited for the future! Cheers to lower gas and cheers to the weekend! Hope its fabulous for ya'll! xoxo
ReplyDeleteOh my gracious...hellOOOO amazing gas deal! WAHOO!!!! Bless your sweet girls and their servant hearts. And V-Day came early...I love that!!!! How special! xx
ReplyDeleteYOU PAID $1.07 A GALLON?!?! Woooowww that's awesome!! Good deals there! We are down to $1.77 and I am LOVING it!! I love that your girls are cooking, too. That balsamic roast looks fantastic!! Welcome back, Brenda :)
ReplyDeleteYAY! You're back! Woo hoo! lol
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, love that new convection oven - it's so purty. :)
And gas a that price?!?! WOW! We're still at about $2.40 out here in So. California and thought that was good! lol
I think I need a Pony Cafe here! :)
It is great to see you back doing your blogs again. The new oven looks awesome!!!! The meal Princess made looks wonderful. I like crock pot meals too. Wow, I have not seen gas at $1.07 in a very long time. My last fill up gas here was $1.98 Lower gas prices are great all around whereever you are. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely giving thanks for these lower gas prices and fuel perk reward programs! Fingers crossed that these prices will continue through summer. Yay for the new oven!! I love cooking and would love nothing more than a super awesome state of the art stove/oven.
ReplyDeleteAren't the gas prices insane? Loving it. Makes driving three hours round trip to Disney a bit easier on the pocket, esp when everything at Disney is not so easy on the pocket.
ReplyDeleteLove that she cooked and wanted to and it was awesome!! Again, not something I did as a kid. I really didn't much care for the kitchen until I got married. I hope Aria enjoys it younger than I did though, I love getting in the kitchen with her now.
Hooray for a new oven, esp one that doesn't turn itself on. And new kitchen tools to use with it, that is a nice month early V-day surprise!
Aww your girls are just so sweet! I love that Little made her own menu :) That's adorable! I love your oven! Doesn't it make it exciting to cook??? Gas sure is low! It's crazy!! Glad you're back, Brenda!!
ReplyDelete