Joy to the World, the Lord has Come...

This song, is pure joy... It really moves me.  If you feel like having your heart moved too, check it out.

Merry Christmas

 from my family, to yours.

God bless,

Tricia

featuring David Osmond. 

A little peek...

Can you even believe we are just a couple of weeks

away from Christmas???

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year...

I thought it would be fun to share a bit of my decorated home, 

so I chose my favorite room....

The Dining Room.

The black and white canvas is a picture we found of my husband

and his parents on their sleigh when he was just a little boy...

I think he is about 1 or 2 here.

He still has that cute baby face...

love him.

I used Easy Canvas Prints.

It was so simple and affordable.

The stockings over the little coffee bar are probably my

most favorite thing ever...

I found them here

We don't have an eat in kitchen... so this is where

we eat all of our meals.

The chairs are from Pier1

and have had everything spilled on them.

Each time it easily comes out with a little spray and wash.

I want it to look pretty but be functional too.

Especially with boys.
Turquoise buffet found here.

Oh, how I love quirky... and these mugs fit the bill perfectly!

You can find them here

 There is no Christmas song that speaks to my heart more 

than this one... 

It's ALL about Jesus.

I found this amazing piece here.

They do beautiful work.

A few things I brought home when I had my store..

Fresh greenery, vintage ornaments and the Holiday Sparkle candle

poured for me by my dear friend Holly.

Vintage putz houses and bottle brush trees nestled in 

with some of my favorite dishes...

I hope you enjoyed this little peek of our home....

Have a blessed day!

Spiced Pumpkin Donuts...

Oh man, do I have a treat for you...

These "semi homemade" 

spiced pumpkin donuts are 

A-MAZING!!!

Did I mention super easy???

                                                                                                            



                                                                                                                                                                                     2 cups vegetable oil for frying
4 cups powdered sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 tablespoon canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

3 to 4 tablespoons half-and-half

1 can Pillsbury™ Grands!™ Flaky Layers refrigerated biscuits (8 biscuits)

In 2-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium heat to 350°F to 375°F.

In large bowl, beat powdered sugar, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin and just enough half-and-half with whisk until smooth and thick glaze forms. Set aside.

Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Using small round lid or cookie cutter, cut hole in center of each biscuit.

Gently place 2 or 3 biscuits in hot oil. (Biscuit holes can also be fried!) Fry on one side until golden brown. With tongs, gently turn each biscuit over; fry until other side is golden brown. Remove doughnuts from oil; immediately dip into pumpkin glaze. Place doughnuts on cooling rack; cool 3 to 5 minutes or until glaze is set before serving.

That's it.  Easy Peasy.

And I'm here to tell you,

Your family will LOVE you for making these!

Enjoy the donuts and all the love!

A simple, little "yes"...

So, last night I hosted a fundraiser at my home

for The Mercy House in Kenya.

After reading the book,

 Rhinestone Jesus by Kristen Welch (founder of Mercy House)

over the summer, I KNEW I had to do something.

My heart and mind were opened to a world I knew nothing about.

But,

if I were to be totally honest, and I want to be totally honest here,

 I knew.

We all know.

Its just, 

do we CHOOSE to see? Or do we choose to look away?

I chose to look away for most of my life.

But I'm here to tell ya,

This book rocked me to my core.

  When my eyes were opened (thank God they were opened)

 and I chose to see,

I could no longer "do nothing."

If your anything like me, the problems of the world can seem way to big and overwhelming.

I ask myself, 

"What can someone like me, in small town Iowa, 

living on a farm do to help these girls?"

It seems like I must do something GRAND to make a difference.

 That is a lie.  

Just a bold face lie that keeps me from doing what God has placed on my heart.

But you know what God showed me through the book,

 Rhinestone Jesus?

My "Yes" matters.

Even if my "yes" is as simple as hosting a fundraiser for pregnant teenage girls living a world away.

It's what I can do NOW, right where I am.

I don't have to board a plane and go.

I can "go" right here at This'll Do.

Your "yes" won't look like mine.

I believe that

God puts a specific call on each persons heart.

The important thing is,

 when you feel the call,

will you say "YES?"

because your yes matters in someone else life.

No matter how big or small it may be.

Thank you to all of my awesome friends who made it to the 

party!  

It means so much to me that you helped support these girls through my simple, little

 "yes."

If you want more information on

The Mercy House, just click the link.

God bless...

Tricia

A little of our story...

Last night, Tork and I went to see the film,

 Farmland.

I'm not gonna lie... I wasn't really looking forward to it.

I knew Tork wanted to see it, so I figured I would just take one for the team.

Turns out,

I. Loved. It.

Tork was born and raised on a farm.  He loves the farm life and I don't think he will ever leave.

I wasn't raised on the farm.  I was what you would call a city girl, I guess.  (Even tho my "city" was a small town, pop. 250.)

I wasn't the outdoor type. 

I hated bugs.

Never had mice in our house growing up.

Corn fields scared the living daylights out of me,

thanks to Children of the Corn.

I wasn't an animal lover.

See, I told you, I'm a city slicker.

When I was young and dreamed of my future husband,

I literally said, 

"I will never, ever, marry someone shorter than me, a blonde, or

a farmer."

Well, I do believe God had other plans for me, 

because I got all Three of those things in Tork!

Anyway, the film last night really got me thinking...

We have been married for 20 years.

The first 10 years were REALLY, REALLY not good.

Don't get me wrong, we had good moments, 

but  we had some colossally bad moments too.

I believe that is because we were married so young. 

I was 20 and he was 22.

We were babies and had to grow up together.

I was sort of thrown into this farm life that

I didn't really like or understand.

We bought a farm right before we were married

and Tork had such big dreams for it.

Things went south very quickly for us financially and

by the time I was 24, 

we were bankrupt.

Not only financially, but spiritually too.

When you fall on hard times, and you have very little 

faith in the One who can hold it all together, things can 

seem hopeless.

It's taken me ALL of these years to be able to say the word 

"bankrupt" and not feel an enormous amount of shame and guilt.

Living in a small town, everyone knew 

of our troubles.  

I would feel so judged and humiliated to go out in public.

I probably was imagining it, but when I went to the grocery store,

it felt like people were looking in my shopping cart to see how much I was buying.

Those years are some of the darkest days of my life to date.

I resented my husband, the farm life, and everything it represented.

We had many years of ugliness after that.

Those years are a story for another day.

But the reason I share all of this, 

is because God has turned our mess into something wonderful.

I have learned to LOVE the farm life and all it represents.  I worked through my resentment, fear of bugs and mice (lol), and was set free from my guilt and shame.

Without all of that yuck... we would never be where we are today...

happily married, in love and perfectly content in our simple life. 

Is our marriage and life perfect??

Heck no.

We still have lots of stuff we deal with, just like you.

But because I have faith and know that God is in control

of All of it... I have HOPE on the darkest days.

I wouldn't trade my life on the farm now for anything.

Thanks for letting me share...

Tricia

p.s.  They are showing Farmland again on Saturday at 2pm

at State Theater  in Washington.  Even if you don't farm or care about farming... 

It's worth seeing.  It might just change how you look at farming too!

Fresh-ish Salsa

Just in case you and yours like salsa as much as I do...

2 cans stewed tomatoes 

1 spoonful jalapeno from a jar

(more or less depending on how hot you like it)

1/4 of a large onion

1 tablespoon garlic from a jar

a handful of fresh cilantro

dash of salt

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend to your liking. 

I like ours a little bit chunkier so I usually use the chop button on my blender.

This salsa is AMAZING and tastes so fresh!

Enjoy!

Mud Room

This has seriously been the longest, darkest, yuckiest, winter that I can remember.

I CAN. NOT. WAIT.  for warmer, sunnier, brighter days to come!

Although it's been very dreary, wet and cool spring so far...

I have hope, because....

                                                     “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”

                                                                                         Hal Borland

Until then...

I am so thankful we have this mudroom/entryway/drop zone for all the 

muddy, wet shoes and boots.   I haven't yet put away the winter 

coats because sadly, I think we might still need them.

When we remodeled, this was the one space I wanted/needed more than

any other.  Just to have a place to collect all the mud and muck that comes through

the door.  It's not a big area, and sometimes you may trip on all the shoes, and bags that

get thrown on the floor...

but it works.

The weather is looking good for Saturday, and we will be in the garden...

(it's our first garden ever so we are like kids in a candy store)

pics coming soon!