Tina The Storyteller

I'm thankful for you today! Thanks for taking this journey with me!! I'm thankful for my amazing husband! He is a constant in my life that I know I can count on. He is there to help when I can't help myself and to encourage when all I want to do is give up. Love you, SweetPea!! I'm thankful for prayer and for listening and obeying! We've been struggling with math this year in homeschooling. Not her understanding, but me teaching it. I know that she's the right age to pick it all up in a hurry. I was struggling with being consistent. God laid it on my heart to do something about that. He opened a door for me and I walked through and it's exactly what we all needed. I can't wait to see the difference in a few months. I'm thankful for rain,, though I would much prefer snow. Rain is good for future days, where snow is beautiful for today and good for future days, just sayin'. I'm thankful that my dad is able to stay with us a few days...

I don't really know what I was expecting with Still Waiting . Most of you know that I've been waiting for stuff for a long time . Seems I have a problem with being okay waiting. So I think I thought, maybe this chick can give me some insight. I got it and I'll be honest I had a chip on my shoulder, I mean I've been waiting for over 20 years for something that more than likely isn't going to be a part of my story after all. I may have had an old lady moment where I thought about how I have t-shirts older than her (I don't, but I did think it). Fortunately, I didn't let that chip stop me because she's got some stuff I needed to hear! Ann Swindell shares about her journey with trichotillomania, which is the uncontrollable pulling of hair. She particularly pulls her eyelashes and eyebrow hairs and has done so since she was 11. She weaves her story with a fictionalized account of the Bleeding Woman from scripture. The fictionalized story is very ...

First off, let me just say that thinking back on it, I actually did not make this EXACT recipe. It's low fat! I'm a high-fat low-carb kind of gal. Low fat makes me cringe. So though I didn't make this exact chicken rollatini I can talk to you about what I did make and what I would do differently next time. Without further delay... Chicken Rollatini with Spinach Alla Parmigiana ! I don't have any prep pictures because I hate raw chicken. Actually, I hate raw chicken so much that I almost hate cooked chicken. I try to avoid its grossness. Lucky for you there are prep pictures in the recipe post  if you're into that whole raw chicken thing that is. I found this recipe several years ago and it's sat languishing in my Pinterest feed ever since. The other day as I was looking through my Recipes to Try board I saw it and thought why not? I bought all the stuff, put the chicken in the freezer to make it later in the week only to not take it out in time and have...

You know what they don't tell you about those beautiful white porcelain farmhouse sinks that they're always installing on home improvement shows? The glaze goes away after awhile and white turns into whatever color you had for dinner last night. And generally settles into a yuck brownish yellow with grey marks throughout. Like this... So I'm always on the look out for the best and easiest way to clean the sink. And I think I've found it. Enter Bar Keeper's Friend and the trusty sponge and rubber gloves . Have you ever used this stuff before? It's amazing. You just make the surface damp, sprinkle some on, apply the tiniest amount of elbow grease and rinse off. It's amazing! Check out my before and after shots. I love this stuff! I use it on my porcelain dishes to get rid of those grey marks as well as on my Formica countertops to remove set in stains. Food coloring from ice pops have no chance against this stuff.   I...

I cannot tell you how much I have missed Thankful Thursdays! Today, I'm thankful for thermometers. I don't even want to know how much money I COULD have saved myself in pregnancy tests if I had just been charting my bbt. I'm thankful for my amazing husband! He's been working hard lately, but it's also opened up a few doors for us to work together on a thing or two, which has been a great blessing. I'm thankful for my daughter. She's already surpassed me in height and beauty, pretty soon, she's going to be out of my league. I've still got the brains on her for a few months. I'm thankful for the weather maybe starting to turn just a little. I'm thankful for return policies! I'm super thankful for in home shopping with LuLaRoe. Best shopping experience ever! But really how can you go wrong with pretty dresses that are super comfy and cats to entertain you while you wait for the undecided shopper? Let me know if you need anoth...

We have an annual chili cook-off at our church every year. We almost never win, because we like our chili spicy. And even though we throttle it back for the competition, it's still too much for most of the folks that are there. One that we have managed to make and it's been a huge success comes from The Ultimate Chili Book . The Ultimate Chili Book is one that Joel and I picked up years ago, long before we went on the cookbook hiatus. It's a great little book. Tons of information about spices, beans and different types of recipes. We always go back to the same one, "Commander" Tim's Submarine Chili, it's got us a prize or two and been licked clean when served outside the chili cook-off. I think part of the reason we like Tim's recipe it is because it's pretty simple, tasty, and has a good bang for your chili buck. And the spice can be modified without changing the overall flavor. Now if you're not into meat or beans, there are also pl...

When I was a little girl, I LOVED pizza! I still do actually. But being mostly low-carb, I've not found that I like many of the low carb options and even worse, the normal high carb options no longer taste good! There should be a law against such things!! Anyway, as a little girl we would either go to Pizza Hut and get a deep dish pizza or on a rare occasion, we would make a deep dish at home using a Bisquick dough (Bisquick was always in our home). So, enter the Sicilian Pizza with Pepperoni and Spicy Tomato Sauce and I am in heaven! No, it's not low carb, yes it is delicious! Worth every single bite. Okay, but in true HoHa disclaimer* fashion, the day we made it most recently almost became the day of three dinners. Joel started making the dough. Seriously, it's just five ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, olive oil, and water. NOTHING to be afraid of. In the mixing bowl everything went. They get mixed up until it pulls away from the sides but sticks to the bottom. ...

I got myself in a pickle. I talked about it briefly in my Saturday Rant. Today, I’m sharing a little more in depth about my DS mess. I found something that I love and yet at the same time, I couldn’t stand it. I knew what had to be done and I kept trying to make myself the person that would do it. Notice that I didn’t say could do it. Of course, I could do it, I’m a grown woman, I can do what I want. But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to leave my family on Saturday and Thursday evenings to go out and sell jewelry. I love them! I love spending time with them. No amount of goodwill towards others or cash was going to make up for that lost time. And then I thought that the internet would be my answer! Yes! The internet!! I love the internet, it’s been my friend for over thirty years. Dial-up is one of those sounds that makes my heart squee. I love those notification dings and message requests! My friends live on the internet with me, no matter how far they are I can reach ...

Y'all know how much I love to get real on a Saturday. So here it goes... This was unexpected for me, but I wanted to share. Recently, I signed up for an Ideal Client Course with Desiree Rose . I was so excited about creating my ideal client for my Trades of Hope business. I knew exactly how much money I'd have to net to get a return on the course and was confident that finding her would help me do that. I went through all of the exercises, watched the videos live and then on replay and made my ideal ToH client. There she was in all her glory. Then, it hit me. I don't really love her and I'm not too interested in selling to her. She has her network and is content. The only way to sell Trades of Hope as a profitable business would be to answer a different pain point and I'm definitely not up for selling to someone whose pain point is "Are my accessories going to go with my outfit?" Don't get me wrong, there are lots of great salespeople out there ...

Today, I'm thankful for new beginnings! I have been thinking all year that I need to dust off this blog and get my writing juices flowing again. Thankful Thursday seems like an ideal day to do just that. I am thankful for new friends and old friendships renewed. The internet is an amazing place! I'm thankful for my family as small as we are, we are mighty when we need to be. I'm thankful for a dog that is ready to walk with me whenever I want, regardless of the weather. In fact, she prefers that we walk every day. I'm thankful for rhythms that lead to comfort and peace. What are you thankful for today?