Pinterest. Pinterest. Pinterest. Hello, my name is Jennifer and I am addicted to Pinterest. Anyone else? Show of hands. I would go right now to look on my Pinterest page to be able to tell you how many Pins I have, but it would be like "squirrel!" and before you know it I would be pinning things about shoeing a giraffe. Just because. I get on there to look for a recipe or a quilt pattern with the best of intentions and two hours later, we're all still hungry and the only thing keeping my warm is the heat from the laptop on my legs. I even have the Pinterest app on my phone, so any time a person repins one of my pins, I get a notification, and don't you know it, I will click on the notification just to see which pin the unknown person liked! How sad is that? But, there is an upside to Pinterest. My kids' Christmas gifts were definitely supplemented with projects that I saw on Pinterest. 

Christmas morning 2015, 4 kids in the house

Please ignore the 'Totally Gross' game in the middle of the picture. this was a donated gift for our foster son. The doll bunk beds we made after hours of looking at tutorials online. The mattresses and quilts I just banged out in a couple afternoons. The 1960's wooden doll high chair was a major score at Goodwill. I replaced the cushions and ruffles, wiped it down and called it good. The barn shaped shelf was made for my daughter's Bryer Stablemate horses. The coffee table was just that-a coffee table from Goodwill, that I turned into a lego building table for my son, and the Ford truck grill on top of it, will hang on his bedroom wall for matchbox cars. So, Pinterest isn't all bad. we downsized our Christmas in a huge way this year, but the kids didn't notice, or didn;t complain if they did. 

    This week we are having some financial struggles since even after cutting down on Christmas, the weeks following are tight. So, I got out a pack of ground venison and hit the Pinterest boards. I found a fabulous recipe for venison burgers. I'm not normally a fan of venison burger. Venison? Yes. Burger? not so much. However, this was my son's first buck and he was really insisting we have burgers. Since he was bringing home food to feed the family at age 9, the least I could do was indulge his supper request. The recipe I used was titled "The Best Venison Burger Around" and included seasonings and bacon. Bacon rocks, so I might as well give it a go. One problem...no hamburger buns. No bread, wither. I had tortillas, but I was fairly certain the hubster would not approve. So, back to the boards. I stayed somewhat focused this time, covering my eyes when visions of quilted pillows and cross stitched ornaments showed up, and went in search for a hamburger bun. I was trying to block out the last time I tried to make them and finally realized it was no use. If the burgers failed it couldn't be because of the buns. Then, I had a light bulb moment. Pretzel Buns! A few minutes of research later landed me to a pretty straightforward recipe and I started mixing ingredients. The result? Oh.my.cheeseburger. I see these in my future a lot! And, they were essentially free. Of course, my husband will argue that getting venison for our family is a lot of work, we process it ourselves and he enjoys hunting with our son and friends, so the price is minimal. And I had all the other ingredients on hand. So, supper that night looked like this.

  Now, please forgive the fact that the top of my bun looks like a crown. Instead of slicing it with a knife, I cut it with kitchen shears. Won't be making that mistake again. We added bacon and Amish butter cheese to finish off the burger. A little yellow mustard and that first bite was beyond explanation. And now, it is time to figure out what to fix for supper tonight. Or breakfast. Or camping ideas. Or hair braids. Or closet organization...

If you're at all interested in my crazy ping pong squirrel chasing thoughts while I am on Pinterest. Follow me here.

 ~and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you~

1 Thessalonians 4:11