Wisdom on Wednesday

There is something extra special about being with your family on holidays, especially if you haven't been there for three years. This year I was BLESSED to go Home to Idaho and celebrate Easter with my family. What I found to be most comforting was that even though time was going swiftly by and I wasn't apart of the day to day activities, life for my family was still going on. Easter still meant....

  Easter dresses for church,


a Sunday ham, or in this case (seeing how no one took a picture of the Sunday ham) a delicious dessert,

an Easter egg hunt,

and family getting together:

laughing,

loving,

living life.

Although these traditions make Easter, Easter, there is one tradition that if not done Easter would not be the same nor feel complete. That is the tradition that was started many years ago when I was a child... the tradition of "No Greater Love", an Easter drama production put on by First Church of the Nazarene. While watching "No Greater Love" you not only get told the Easter story, but you experience it as if you were there. This is probably my favorite tradition that we do as the Crane Family and I was truly BLESSED to get to experience it this year with all my family by my side! I hope you all had a blessed Easter and celebrated Our Risen King! Happy Easter, everyone!!

Tasty Tuesday

   Every month I host a game night at my house where a group of ladies come together to play a game, to laugh, to hopefully win a prize and to eat! This past month, I decided that for our snack we would have different types of veggies and also crackers and cheese. Now, anybody that knows me knows that I ADORE just plain saltine crackers and cheddar cheese slices for a snack; however, for this evening I felt that I needed to try spicing up the typical crackers and cheese. For the next twenty minutes, I got busy preparing our evening snack. When finished I went upstairs to shower and get ready for the evening.
  While the crackers were drying out on my counter, I came down the stairs to find my husband in the kitchen energetically munching on them. He could hardly keep them on the plate. So if his taste buds are any indication as to the taste of these delicious delicates, then by all means, prepare to indulge yourself in a delightful snack! Be sure and let me know what you think!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 box Saltine Crackers
• 1 package dry ranch dressing mix
• 1 & 1/3 teaspoon crushed red pepper (use your own judgment- hot)
• 1 & 1/3 cups Olive Oil

Directions:
 
   Mix ranch dressing, pepper, and oil together in a large mixing bowl. Pour two packages of crackers in a gallon zip-lock baggie and add in 1/2 of mixture into baggie. GENTLY tumble crackers and mixture together. When done tumbling, lay crackers out on a cookie sheet to dry. Do the same thing to the other two packages of crackers and the rest of the mixture (better if eaten the next day.) Enjoy!

Modern Monday

To all "Secret Keepers and Gossips"! I know it has been a very long time since my last post and most of you probably thought I gave up on "Chering Secrets" with you all. I will not begin writing down for you a list of what I have been up to; but rather, let me just say if any one of you would have been living in my shoes for the past month you would see that there was just NO TIME to get everything done that needed to get done! Hopefully, April will be kinder and I will be able to get back in the saddle and continue on providing you with some enjoyable reading material every now and then.
For the next couple of weeks, we will be looking at colors that are popular for Spring 2012. I will be posting outfits that I will be wearing during this spring season. Enjoy everyone!

Color #1: Margarita Green

Happy Spring!

Thrifty Thursday

   Fellow "secret keepers and gossips" today I am being REALLY thrifty! Last week I posted about some REALLY cool vinyl letters and today I am going to show you how you can RE-USE those SAME letters but in a different way! Yes, that is right. Two different "eye-catchers."

What you will need:
           1. 
                  Remember: Local Walmart; $3

           2.

                   4 square glass cube vases: You can get these at Michael's for 40% off and pay a grand total of $6 per square vase when you use your coupon. If you want you can purchase them online also.

           3. Fake Snow

                            

Again, Walmart for $2 or wait for their after Christmas sale and get it 50% off!! And finally....

                                              

            4. *Seasonal Fillers*

So let's get started!! Start by putting on your letters on your square cubes and position the letters how you want them. Then, fill each glass cube with fake snow. Place inside glass vase a seasonal filler that you chose to "show-case." Check out mine:

My "S" has a mitten in it. Fitting for winter, don't you think?

Here is my  "N". It has a snowflake inside

 For the "O", I placed a teal Christmas ball turned upside down. 

And for the "W", I placed another snowflake inside. 

Here is the FINAL product... I am pleased!!

Here is another option. This is how I chose to display them during Christmas...

*Noel* 

The "N" has a snowflake

The "O" has a red kissing ball

The "E" has a red cardinal enclosed in a glass teardrop ornament

and the "L" has a pinecone ball inside of it.

Alright, "secret keepers and gossips", it's time to let me know what you think!! If you still want some of these great ideas that I've got, you're going to have to respond!!! :) Enjoy!

Wisdom on Wednesday

   Hello to all my "secret keepers and gossips"! I apologize for not posting a Tasty recipe for you last night; however, nothing sounded too Tasty to me :( Yes, you guessed it; I caught the flu bug! Instead of cooking up something spectacular, I cooked up a fever, a headache, and a tummy ache. Not too fun! I feel much better today after a good night's rest (which hasn't happened in a while) but my Husband has insisted that I rest all of today to. So, again, no cooking; rather, we warmed up left-overs. So check back next Tuesday and I promise not to disappoint you all!!
   Being sick has given me much time to read. So as I laid in bed today, I came across this AMAZING prayer and thought I would share it with you all this evening. Last week, I spoke of how I am yearning to become filled with a desire to long after God. This prayer truly says everything that I am feeling inside. It reads:

"Oh Go, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both 

satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my

need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. 

Oh God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; 

I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. 

Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. 

Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. 

Say to my soul, 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.' 

Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus' name. Amen." ~ A.W. Tozer

I hope this prayer is the way you feel every day that you live!
Blessings~ Chera

Modern Monday

   Good evening all "secret keepers and gossips"! I trust that you all had a simply MARVELOUS weekend and that you are feeling refreshed and ready start a new week. I had a wonderful weekend enjoying the simple things of everyday life with my husband. Our weekend was busy, so there wasn't much time for rest or relaxation but as far as feeling prepped and geared up to start my week... I am ready!
   So let's talk fashion :) A huge trend last year and one that I still see worn this year are the maxi skirts. I ADORE maxi skirts! Reason being ... you don't have to iron them :) They are a GREAT travel skirt because they don't wrinkle! Just wad them up, stuff them in your suitcase, pull them out and they are ready to wear... you might get a few wrinkles here and there, but honestly no one notices because it looks like the skirt was made that way... How cool!!
   I am nuts about the color grey!! Grey can be classy and elegant; it can be casual and relaxed; it can be dressy; sleek; or just plain comfy. I tend to find myself using grey as a accent color a lot!  It can be worn as a "side-kick" color or it can stand on its own. For today, I paired it up with purple. I LOVE this combo; for those of you that attended our wedding, you know this already :) So let's take a look!
 

White 3/4 button-up Shirt: Banana Republic Outlet

Purple Lace Tank: Maurices

Belt: Thrifted 

Necklace: Kohls

Grey Skirt: TJ Max

Purple Shoes: TJ Max

Let me know what you "secret keepers and gossips" think!!

FAB Friday

  Dear "Secret Keepers and Gossips" every Friday is going to be a fun way to sign off to a great weekend.  I am going to give you a post regarding how Aaron and I will be spending our weekend.
  Friday is my favorite day of the week! I simply LOVE the weekend... it's FABulous!! There are many highlights that make the weekend fun: sleeping in; Saturday morning breakfast; cleaning the house (yes, I enjoy cleaning our home... I love how a house sparkles after it's clean); day dates or date nights with the husband; hanging out with friends; Sunday worship services and my list goes on. Out of this short list that I have compiled for you so far, I would say my top favorite would be dates with my husband.
  Dates for the Duvall's vary anywhere from playing croquet in the park to going skiing down a mountain or going to watch a movie. Whatever the date may be we ALWAYS have fun, just the TWO OF US together! Well, today's date looked a little different. Today, there was a third member that joined us on our date today... my Father-in-law, Joe.
   About a month ago, my phone started giving me trouble. I was receiving texts 4 days afterwards and getting delayed phone calls. My phone would decide to turn off when it wanted to and not hold a charge. Needless to say, it was on it's last leg. I knew I was due for an upgrade in March, so I told Aaron (for those of you that didn't know this already that is my husband's name) that I didn't want to spend any money on buying a cheap phone and would like to wait until March for my upgrade. He agreed.... sort of. Little did I know that Aaron told his father about my plight and they both agreed that I needed a NEW PHONE.
  Little did I know that these boys had been planning this "Lunch Date" that we had today for a while... "Lunch Date" consisted of lunch at my favorite fast food restaurant, Arby's :) From there we went for a little drive that ended up taking us to the Verizon store where they preceded to get rid of my old phone and bought me the new iPhone 4s... the phone I have wanted ever since it came out! There were giggles of excitement as the manager handed over to me my new gift.

YAY!!

I got the white one :)

  I got this AWESOME case called the Otterbox. It is water-resistant, the screen is protected with a laser-cut shield and if dropped, it won't break open! Completely safe for people like me :)

Having fun with my new toy!

Super excited!!

  I am in LOVE with it!!!!! Thank you, boys, for a Spectacular afternoon date and an even more AMAZING surprise. You both made today's date a memorable one! Love you both!!  *Heads up*... I won't be posting Saturday or Sunday I'll be using this time to relax, rest, and rejuvenate.  I'm looking forward to discussing fashion with you all next Monday.