Book Review: Blueberry Cupcake Mystery - Naomi Miller

I had the opportunity recently to read and review: Blueberry Cupcake Mystery - Naomi Miller. This is the first installment  in the Amish Sweet Shop Mystery series.

I was gifted a Kindle copy of this book by the author - my opinions are my own.

Description: 

In the small town of Abbott Creek, mystery is as much a part of daily life as The Sweet Shop's Sugar Cookies. Katie Chupp spends her days at The Sweet Shop, taking care of customers and baking delicious treats . . . not exactly a profession where one expects to be thrown into the midst of mysteries and mayhem. But when the bakery is broken into, someone has to find the thief . . . besides finding another place to do the baking and get the orders to the customers. Is this a random theft, or is the thief trying to ruin the town's Independence Day celebration?

My Thoughts and Review

This was the first book that I have read by this author. I was very pleased with it. I love books that have great descriptions that make me feel like I am standing there watching the story unfold. The description of the bakery and all the baked goods made me want a whole box of sweets. I love how the characters are - and that the faith is intertwined with them. The way that the owner of the Bakery and Katie handle the break in and theft is a great reminder of God's love and unfailing Grace. I look forward to reading more from Naomi Miller and she continues on with the next installment: Christmas Cookie Mystery. 

About the Author

(Courtesy of Author's page on Amazon) 

Naomi Miller mixes up a batch of intrigue, sprinkled with Amish, Mennonite, & English characters, adding a pinch of mystery - and a dash of romance!

Naomi’s day is spent focusing on her writing, editing, and blogging about her experiences with writing. When she's not working diligently to finish the next book in her Sweet Shop Mystery series. Naomi tries to make time for attending workshops and writers conferences. Naomi is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) organization. 

Naomi also enjoys traveling with her family, singing inspirational/gospel music, taking a daily walk, and witnessing to others of the amazing grace of Jesus Christ.

You can connect with the author on FB here: https://www.facebook.com/NaomiMillerAuthor/?fref=ts

Purchase the Book from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Blueberry-Cupcake-Mystery-Amish-Sweet/dp/0692701370/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483024160&sr=8-1&keywords=blueberry+cupcake+mystery

Quick and Easy Dinner

Wow.
It has been a long time since I have written anything for this blog. That was not my intention. I finished grad school, moved out of state and have now had time for the dust to settle and get back to my passion. Writing.

Life with kids always seems to be non-stop. I work full time and our kids are involved in many different activities. We moved out of state to get a fresh start. I hate cold and snow. I have always wanted to live in the South. I felt drawn to this area. It has been in 90 degrees for the last 2 months. Yesterday, it has finally hit 80's. The lack of humidity has been a nice break.

Anyways. So, life with 3 kids under the age of 18 is hectic. My 15 year old has a bible study she goes to on Mondays, Youth Group on Wednesdays, my husband bowls on Tuesday evenings, and we (hubby and I) go to a bible study Sunday evenings.

I love convenient. With the fresh start we also want to get out of debt. Convenient to us in the past has been run and grab fast food. Fast food is not good for your body, nor is it good for your wallet.


I love pinterest. (You can follow me here: https://www.pinterest.com/ctillman729/)

Lot's of quick and easy dinner ideas.

This dish is one that we adapted for our family. (I have some picky eaters)

Spaghetti Bake! (my 5 year old's favorite dish)

You can make this a lot of different ways.

Ingredients:

(I cook for 5 hungry eaters)

2 lbs ground beef (I have also used ground turkey)
1 box of noodles (this time I used Rotini)
2 jars of spaghetti Sauce
Shredded Mozzarella cheese.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Brown the ground beef - drain and set aside

Boil the noodles - drain.

mix the meat and the noodles together - add spaghetti sauce (I like lots of sauce) mix together in the pan.

Spray a Pyrex baking dish and add the mixture and make sure that all the noodles are covered with sauce

Next is the best part. CHEESE!!!! We love cheese - sprinkle cheese on top of the dish.

 Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes (giving all the flavor time to mix together) Take out - let cool for a few minutes. And you have dinner.

This is a yummy meal that my family eats up!!!

Guest Post!

Last April, my husband, my 14 year old and I traveled to the great State of Texas to attend the Duck Commander 500. We are a huge NASCAR household.... My hubby is a huge JR fan, I Like Denny and Kyle, and Stephanie likes Denny. It was a nice getaway for the three of us.

Fast-forward to this year. Stephanie for her English Class had to write a narrative. The narrative had to be about a personal experience..... so she chose the first night in Texas....

We flew out of Cleveland and into DFW arriving around 10:30.

I'll let Stephanie's story take it over from there.

BTW -- Stephanie is not only my daughter, she is a new blogger at: http://onlydeadfishgowiththeflowramblings.blogspot.com/

Our plane had finally landed just as “Panic! at the Disco’s”new song came on in my headphones. I slightly hummed along as we gathered our things from above us. I remember being so happy because you can only hear the woman in front of you yell at her kids for so long before you start yelling at her to leave them alone. Getting off the plane was easy but navigating the airport was hard. Little did I know that it was going to be one of the worst nights of my life.

My Mom, Stepdad, and I finally found our way to the baggage claim to retrieve our bags. We waited and waited because one of the belts were broken, so it took forever to get our bags. After about an hour of waiting we got our last bag and made our way to the bus that was going to take us to the car rental place. We waited around with some people and made small talk about how excited we were to be here. Then the bus arrived, and it turned into a mad crowd of people trying to push and shove onto the bus. I nearly got trampled alive and left behind, but I squeezed on at the last minute.

We arrived at the car rental, and it wasn’t as crazy to get off the bus because we just let everybody go first. After stepping off the bus, my handle broke off my suitcase; so I had to carry it as it banged into the back of my feet. We made our way to the front desk and explained to the guy that we would like to rent a car. Well it was almost 11 P.M., and the guy hardly spoke English.

He kept trying to make us pay more than we already had. That took us another forty  minutes just to tell the guy that we got it set up online, and we were here to pay, get the car, and go. After getting into the car and leaving, it was so dark; and we were the only ones really on the road. We had on the navigation system, and we drove twenty  minutes to get to our hotel.

We dragged all of our bags into the hotel and  went up to the front counter to show the guy working there about the deal online that my mom found. He was very confused because we were not set up in the system.”I am so sorry”,the man said, “But I cannot find you in here. Can I see the address?”Another ten  minutes went by before we realized that we had drove to the right hotel name but the wrong hotel. Back  into the car we went, and we decided to stop at a gas station for drinks. We were all beyond tired and a little aggravated that it took this long and that so many things went wrong. We got our drinks and a snack and got back into the car to go to the right hotel. In texas U-turns are legal, so when we ended up getting lost, we had to make so many U-turns.

After going into the right hotel and dragging our things in, we made our way up the counter again. It was almost two  in the morning, and we just wanted a nice room. After showing the code to the lady, she looked us up and did all the paperwork; and we were so glad something finally went right. “Excuse me we are all out of non smoking rooms,”the lady at the front desk said.

“Are you kidding me!” My mom was so upset because she is really bothered by the smell of smoke. After thirty  more minutes of cleaning and my mom having a mental breakdown, we got into our room. The people had offered to clean it out a little bit, so it did not smell so bad. They said they could move us into a non smoking room tomorrow, so we only had to stay there for the night, but all our clothes smelled like smoke after that. We all showered and were asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

That was one of the worst days of being in Texas for a week, but everything went smoothly after that. We got some nice breakfast the next morning and were moved into a non smoking room, so it did not smell anymore. All I could think during that was “Welcome to Texas!” which was always followed by a eyeroll.

Pecked

Some days - like the last few weeks have been crazy stressful and downright ugly.

Can anyone vouch for that?

I work full time, I am finishing up my Master's in History (Military History), I have 4 kids, sell on eBay for extra money (we are currently following Dave Ramsey to get out of debt -- it has been life changing), and have several other things on my plate. My days are usually filled with starting off like Mary Poppins -- and by the end I feel like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Sigh.

This morning, the boys were up at 6:38 am. This was the first Saturday that we were able to sleep in, and they were both up before 7. It is almost 9 am -and they are laying in their beds ( I am hoping they take a nap)

The above picture reflects parenting accurately.

BUT - while I end up looking like Monday just hit me in the face with Barb wire - there are such positive moments.

Yesterday, the boys learned to play slapjack, Go Fish, and Old Maid. Stephanie and I played Speed for about an hour (I won all games -- btw) We have not laughed that hard in a long time. NO electronics, distractions, just good old family fun.

This blog was created for laughter, humor, and outlet to my crazy life - as it gets going, please be patient. You may find guest posts written by my children, reviews, give a ways, Pinterest fails, and other entertainment.

ENJOY!

Introduction

Hello! My name is Connie - I am a married mother of 4 beautiful children. I also have 1 grandchild. For the last several years, one of my favorite sayings has been "I need a reality show". The shenanigans that go on in my home on a daily basis is enough to write any comedian sketch. While my personal Facebook friends see my humor, life happenings, and other parenting related items on a daily basis - why not blog about it.

This blog will be a mix of my life in parenting, faith, recipes, and other fun filled adventures.

Let me introduce my brood.

My husband and I have been married for almost 6 years. We met online. He is my rock. Yes, he drives me crazy (and I am sure that I drive him more crazy), but our life works.

Raquel -- age 17 - my first blessing. She loves: Beatles Music, taking walks with her daughter, reading and has a great artistic ability. (She won't admit to that)  She is also  a phenomenal baker. She works hard to overcome obstacles and has a great sense of humor.

Stephanie - age 14 - my youngest daughter. She loves: Supernatural, Twenty-one pilots, laughing outloud, reading, writing, snap-chat, and dogs.

Colton - age 4 - my oldest son. He loves: Dino-trux, WWE Wresting (his favorite wrestler is currently Kane), operating the amazon fire stick, and bossing his siblings around. (Not sure where he gets that from)

Wyatt - 1 week shy of age 3 - my baby. He knows it too. He loves: Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, Spider-man, Cudding with mommy, and wrestling. He gives the best little hugs.

I also have an amazing grand-daughter Harper (almost 10 months)
I wish someone would have told me how different being a grand mother is from being a mother.
Harper loves: puffs, playing with her uncle's action figures, running people over in her walker, and beating up her uncles.

Here are a few accurate snapshots into my life:

And because Stephanie has been reading over my shoulder -- and she absolutely hates this picture (but it is one of my favorites...)

(I will tell the story behind this at another time)