Sequins and Granola

One thing I love is cooking. My husband and I both are blessed with fantastic cooks in our family. However, I haven't always been the best cook! When we first starting dating he says I fed him burned gravy (I don't remember it being THAT terrible) but he says it was horrid! Over our 12+ years together I've gotten a lot better. I've watched my mom and mother in law cook, I've asked tons of questions, I've read lots of recipes, and of course watched lots of shows on the food network! ;) I'm a big fan of healthy, semi clean eating. I'm a vegetarian myself but add in some meats most nights for my family of 4. Tonight's meal choice was potato soup. Mostly because sweet potatoes were on sale a week ago for .56 cents a piece & I stocked up, but also because I'm a huge fan of potato soup. I scoured a few recipes in books of mine and online and none of them sounded too fetching so I decided to make up a recipe of my own. What I came up with is super d

"Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him." 1 Samuel 16:23    I love music. It is powerful, soothing, & haunting- for me there is always an emotion attached to music. Whether it invokes joy or excitement, sorrow or pain- there is always a feeling attached to it. An old song can bring memories flooding back to me. I can travel back in time, to an exact location, remember a smell, exactly the way a person looked, how I felt- it's amazing to me the feelings that can flood back with music.     I grew up around music, great musicians who were mostly self taught. As a child almost everyone that was a large influence in my life sang or played an instrument. My dad led worship at church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, & Wednesday. Even though my mom didn't play any instruments or sing she played music in the house a lot- which I loved.

5 years & 3 months ago we moved into our beautiful new home. I loved it! I picked out every last piece- from the wood slatted doors to the floor trim to the beveled edges on the walls...it was our new home. A place we had dreamt about building for years. From humble beginnings as newlyweds in a 900 sq ft home to this new gorgeous custom built home. It was fabulous. We were so proud. Right at 2,000 sq ft, beautiful molding around the windows & doors, custom cabinets, fireplace & mantel to my exact specifications, a playroom for two growing boys (then 1 & almost 4). Perfection.  Fast forward a year and a half & I was suffocating in this once oasis. My 2 year old turned into a raging terrible two's with the blink of an eye. That sweet precious 5 year old missed the kindergarten cut off but lord knows I would've sent him if they would've let me. I was unraveling. And why? Well....all us moms have been there before, am I right?! All I knew is I had to get out