Logos Bible Giveaway

Logos is my favorite Bible study software, and the books available on it are second to none. They are promoting a Bible giveaway, so I'm blogging about it as a way to enter. Check it out, and if you're in the market for some awesome software, I highly recommend Logos.

Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study.

Gradual Decor

We didn't have the finances to put up curtains in our house when we first moved in, so we've been doing them gradually. I finally decided that it was time for the living room. I invited my mom to come for a couple of days to help, and boy that turned out to be a great decision! It would have taken me forever to do it by myself. As it was, we worked in tandem to get these done and barely had time to spare.

Here's mom doing some work.



We did make some time to make some yummo kabobs Monday night! Here's Stephen the grill master!



Delicious!!



Living Room Before



Living Room After

Walk on the Wild Side

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I Got Crafty

Sorry for all the posts in one day. I have to do them when I have time, which is not too often.

My friend Jill saw wreaths like this one on a storefront in Homewood. After finding out that they would cost her $150 to buy, she decided to make them herself. I have wanted something for our door for the summer for a while. After seeing Jill's, I decided that I would attempt to make my own. After a quick trip to Hobby Lobby, I came home with some supplies and no more "how-to" than when I went. But here's the finished product. I'm pretty pleased with it. Now I just wonder how long it will last.

Kai's Birthday

Happy Birthday to our friend, Kai! And congrats on the loss of 60 pounds!

Here are some pics from the birthday gathering:

Some of the ladies who attended.


Here's what the guys were doing. Can you guess what it is?


That's right! Playing video games.



And Donna with new and precious baby Marah. I put this one up b/c I'm sure she doesn't get ones of her too much on her own blog.

6th Anniversary

We celebrated our 6th anniversary on the 7th! We went to eat at The Melting Pot. It is a wonderful place, but we can only go there rarely because of 1) the calories and 2) the cost. It was a lovely date, though!

Here is my wonderful husband who has put up with all of me for 6 whole years. That's quite a task. He is the most patient man I know.


Stephen arranged for the restaurant to have flowers for me on our table. Isn't he sweet!


And then, a surprise to us both, the staff had a "congratulations on your anniversary" card waiting for us at our table as well. The service was absolutely wonderful, and we loved the slow pace of the meals and the quaint, romantic atmosphere!

What I did on my day off

A friend of mine from work told me after I made her baby shower cake (April 2008) that she wanted me to do her little boy's 1st birthday cake. Well, the time came and she gave me the opportunity for this honor. I was super excited to be able to do this. I knew it would be a great undertaking when she asked me if I could do a frog. We looked through some ideas online, and I came up with this. (BTW--I also made some brownie cupcakes with chocolate frogs on the top, but I forgot to take a picture.) Anyway, I decided to take Friday off from work so that I could have it ready for the party on Saturday. Below is the end result. The frog is another Rice Krispy treat sculpture. The white frosting is buttercream. The accents are marshmallow fondant, with a few gumpaste items.

And props to Stephen's dad and wife who graciously gave me a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas. It has been a quite a blessing for projects like these!

In my humble opinion . . .

When I worked at a LifeWay store, I was able to see a more recent translation of the Biblical texts come onto the shelves--the ESV (English Standard Version). After doing some research on it and looking at the endorsements of some people whom I really respect, I began to like it. And then I bought one to have in my home and be able to look at more in-depth. I still really liked it. Up until this point, pretty much the only translation I used, particularly for study, was the NASB. After taking Hebrew and Greek class and seeing how literal the NASB is to these manuscripts, it was my favorite. However, I have given way to also now using the ESV as well. It is quite literal but reads much more smoothly than the NASB. And now they have developed an incredible study Bible. I have yet to read a review that was negative toward it. All very complementary!

I have been wanting this new ESV study Bible for a while (it is fairly new). I received one as a gift the other day at work. I mean, what a great tool to use when writing and studying for Bible study! I couldn't close my mouth I was so excited. Anyway, after only using it for a week, I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a great study Bible (and you also get access to the study features online). You can find more specific details here. So, there's my two cents.

What Happened to April?

OK, so we got called out to make an update by our lovely friends. Because we love them so much, here goes. There's not much going on in the Riddle household. We will get a new dishwasher tomorrow to replace the crummy one that is on its last leg. Ella has reverted so some kind of demonic puppy stage, and she's lucky to still be alive, much less our beloved dog. We are very much looking forward to her turning 2 years old, as we are assured we will see a marked difference in her behavior. My dog has confirmed the suspicion that I actually am missing some kind of nurturing/woman gene. This dog has given me a more accurate view of myself than even a mirror. She has a way of bringing out the worst in me even more than socialist liberals do. I am so glad that Ella is not able to communicate with others, else they see how truly evil I am deep inside.

We have been really busy with jobs, church, and trying to be healthy. We have been back into a regular routine of running and exercise. Running makes me a nicer person. It also helps to get rid of the four cake decorating classes that I took last year compiled with the day I turned 30. I'm not exactly sure what happened between 29 and 30, but one day my body stopped working properly. Hence the running. We hope to run an extensive race next spring. Maybe a few shorter ones in between now and then.

In weather news, Alabama has had some tremendous rain and storms lately. In fact, if I cannot find sunshine soon, I may sink into depression. One day, tornadoes were in Chelsea, and we were ordered to get into our safe place. I mean, funnels were spotted. So, off I go into our hall closet. And . . . because most serious injuries occur on the head, I word my bicycle helmet. Why do I have a bicycle helmet you ask? I mean, I don't have a bicycle. Well, I used to have a bicycle before Katrina rusted it out. In fact, I had trained with this very helmet to do a sprint triathlon--scheduled the Sunday before Katrina hit on Monday. Obviously, it was cancelled. I didn't even get my tshirt. Sad. Anyway, facebook got a laugh out of this pic, so I thought I would share it.



I helped a friend from our small group make a Minnie Mouse birthday cake for her daughter's 2nd birthday. We had some challenges, but plan C ended up working pretty well, I think.



Then, one of my co-workers had been trying to talk me into making a cake. We talked about a Cinco de Mayo cake. Then I discovered that my boss' birthday was May 4th. If you don't know, I make a cake for my close team of co-workers on their birthdays. So, I made a Cinco de Mayo birthday cake for my boss. His name is Andy in English (just in case you couldn't translate the Spanish).

Here's a few pics from the month of March for the couple of readers I have out there:

I went to a Sips n' Strokes class/thing with a couple of friends. Here you can see why I write and not paint. All in all it was a great time, and I thoroughly loved painting. Other than the duck I remember painting with my watercolors when I was about 5, this is my first time really painting. Perhaps with time, the results will be better.


My other preferred method of art: edible decorating. Here are some cupcakes that I made for a baby shower for a friend at work.



With the warm weather, I've had spring fever and a great desire to head outside! We went hiking at Oak Mtn. and had a fun time. We got a late start and didn't get to spend as much time as we wanted, but here's a few snapshots of our time.