The Dunning Duo

Hair today....

2011-06-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

....Gone tomorrow!

I haven't cut my hair since I got sick in August. {As in not even a trim!} It was getting really and I was dying to have it cut. Especially since the temps have been near 100 lately. I was hoping to be able to donate it again like I did 2 years ago, but with a wedding at the end of the month I decided I didn't want to risk it. Ended up cutting off about 8 inches. I think its going to take a little while to get used to short hair again, but we both love it!

P.S. I am NOT loving the affect Prednisone is having on my cheeks and weight....yeah gotta work on that!

Botanical Gardens Date

2011-06-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

Roderick and I love to take a walk through our local botanical gardens. {So much so that we decided to splurge on a year long pass!} Thankfully there is lots of trees for shade on a hot day. There's nothing quite like taking a slow stroll through a gorgeous garden with your Honey. Life has been too busy and this was just the "date" we needed!
Here's a few pics of our most recent trip:

{Loving all the different varieties of hydrangeas - my favorite flower and the Columbine's that remind us of "home" -Colorado's state flower}.

Beach Project #3 - {Tee shirt update}

2011-06-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

I'm just getting to posting one of my final projects at the beach in March. My niece needed a shirt for their family pictures on the beach and we couldn't find anything to match. The only thing close was a plain adult women's shirt in XS. It fit okay, but it was plain and way too long. I figured if Make it Love it can update shirts I could at least try it as well. A little lose stitch to make a ruffle and rosette and this is the result. (I found instructions for creating a ruffle on Make it Love it, but I can't find it now. She just did an website update so I'm hoping it will show up on her sewing tips page soon so I can post the link here.)

{Before} {After}
Even though the stitching is far from perfect there is something so satisfying about creating something yourself! Hope this inspires you as well. I'm a very novice sewer so if I can do it anyone can!!

Isn't my niece beautiful! And her photographer Aunt (my sister) did a great job capturing the pictures for me too!

{The headband was another beach project that was again inspired by Make it and Love it. So easy and fun!}

Strawberries + Nutella = Delicious!

2011-05-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

There's not much better than freshly picked strawberries straight from the field....but add in a little nuttela and wowsers. The flavor is amazing!

One of my friends put this as link on facebook on Monday and I decided I had to make them. I went out today and picked a bucket full of fresh strawberries. Wowsers these are good! and I was not disappointed. Head over to Two Peas and their Pod for the delcious recipe. You'll be glad you did!

P.S. It's amazing how the Lord already had me plan to make these treats today. Today my husband came home from class and informed me he'd like to bring in breakfast for class tomorrow. Yep, I already had it covered!

Its Strawberry Season!

2011-05-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

There's not much better than freshly picked strawberries that you collected yourself. I love living in an area that they are so plentiful. This year we tried our hand at some freezer jam. The recipe we used was on the box of pectin and was SO easy!

This is actually the second time I've made this pie in the last month. I love how easy and simple it is. Plus its not over the top sweet. Just right for my taste buds!

Here's the recipe: (Taken from a Farm Fresh advertisement book which I picked up for the coupons. Double bonus since this recipe is SO good!)

Strawberry and Cream Pie

1 deep dish pie crust

1/2 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
16 oz fresh strawberries, cut in half

Prepare pie crust according to empty baked crust package directions; cool. In medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla; mix with electric mixer until well combined and smooth.

Add in whipped topping and continue mixing until well combined and fluffy. Spread into cooled pie crust.

Top with Strawberries cut side down. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

*Note: I've always doubled the recipe. Most of the ingredients are cut in half so its "easier" that way. Haven't tried it yet because I'm lazy, but I think that it would be even more delicious with a homemade crust. But then again I think almost everything's better homemade!

Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy picking some fresh strawberries if they are ripe in your area!

P.S. If you were interested in the chalkboard labels I posted about in my last post (which was almost a month ago!! Opps.), they are today's GroupDealz again! $4 for 4! Looks like you still have a couple of days to jump on the deal if you are interested. We love ours!!

*Pictures courtesy of GroupDealz

House Party, Spring Decor, and a Giveaway

2011-04-29T23:24:00.001-07:00

The weekend before Easter we were able to host a Johnsonville House Party. Ever heard of House Party? It's a new concept that gives companies advertisement in a new and very FUN way. If you are chosen you get a box full of goodies to serve at the party, plus lots of coupons. I've signed up for several, but this is only the second one I've been chosen to host. (The other was a Betty Crocker Christmas cookie party over a year ago.)

Since it was right before Easter I went with an Easter theme. We ate my own creation Italian Sausage Penne' and Kristen's Penne' Rustica. Both were delicious! We eat quite a bit of Italian Sausage around here so this party was right up my alley. They even sent some Summer sausage and sausage bites to try out. We used them as an easy appetizer.

They also sent a nice big oven mitt, apron and spaghetti scoop that became our door prize. Everyone left with a couple of coupons, one of them for a FREE product. Which brings me to the giveaway. Not everyone I invited was able to attend so I still have a few coupons for the a FREE package of Johnsonville Chicken Sausage left. I will send them out or give them to the first 7 people that comment. Please leave your e-mail address so I can find out where to send them! I have yet to see them in my stores, but the coupon doesn't expire until September. I'm told they are at Walmart, but I NEVER go there. (Have I mentioned my disdain for that store on the blog before??? If not then I was say that coupons have allowed me to avoid the store almost completely for a year. Loving it!!!)

Thanks Johnsonville for allowing us to host such a fun get together!

GroupDealz

2011-04-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a plethora of new daily deals sites lately. I've joined several Groupon, Livingsocial, DealPulp, and Eversave to name a few. Although I have bought a few things from these sites, my favorite deals site is one I found in the past couple of months through Make it and Love it. It's called GroupDealz and mainly features homemade things...things you would often find on etsy, but at discounted prices. I've only bought one item, but believe me there have been several that have been tempting!

Here's what I purchased several weeks ago:

Chalkboard vinyl labels

I've been wanting labels for my canisters for awhile. Even tried hand painting something on there, but didn't like how it turned out. (Plus it scraped off with the gentlest bump!) I love that I can change up the wording or colors and even take the vinyl off all together when I feel the urge. They came in the mail days after ordering and I didn't have to pay shipping! (Some of the deals you pay shipping, others are free, but they are all detailed with exactly how much you'll end up paying.)

Here's a couple of resent deals that I LOVED:

Linen Ruffle Necklaces from Pretty Things By Meg - $12 regular $20

(Yesterday's deal, but I believe its still available.)

3 pairs of Rosette earrings (your choice of color) from Oh So Sweet Petite - $10 regular $20

(Today's deal. I would totally be going for these if my ears were still pierced!)

I'm all for supporting small businesses and I love handcrafted items. Many of the items I've seen would be great gifts for Christmas or birthday's. If 3 people purchase from my link I will get $5 off a deal, but that wasn't my main motivation. (Most of the referral programs are actually a lot better than this!) I really like supporting small businesses and I've really liked some of the items I'm seeing. Hope you enjoy looking at the deals, maybe getting inspiration for a creation of your own or finding the "perfect" gift for someone on your list.

P.S. Most of the sites I mentioned do give you $5 to $10 to spend on your first deal when you sign up! Plus I do get a little myself when you purchase your first deal if you go through my link.(Shameless plug!) The extra $'s off have made for some pretty sweet deals! I was even able to purchase one deal for free after the $'s off! It's like using coupons on-line. Here's the links again: groupon, livingsocial, eversave, dealpulp and GroupDealz. I know there are lots of these site out there and the number seems to grow every day. If you have one you really like I'd love to hear about it!

Crochet Hat

2011-04-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

She finished it and I LOVE it! Thanks Kristen for making it for me. I definitely think you need to open an Etsy shop!!

Beach Project(s) #2

2011-04-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

These have been on my list for awhile. They were so easy to make and so much fun too. I tried a couple of different rose styles. There is still one more style that I planned on doing, but I decided I already had made enough for the time being.

These were inspired by this post from Make It and Love It. There are still several other projects of hers I'd like to try, but I was happy to at least get one project knocked off the list.

I made a couple headbands for my nieces, but don't have pictures of them. I'll have to check with the resident photographer during their visit, my sister, Tiffany. (Who by the way has recently started a blog called Ti-ti's Times.)

I also made two fabric pins. One went on the money pouch and the other has already been worn with several outfits. I love what a little color can do to an otherwise plain outfit!

As you can see I now have a lot of things made with that fabric. Guess I need more fabric...

Sunshine and Answered Prayer

2011-04-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

Today was yard sale day. It was a little earlier than we usually do it, because life is too crazy in April. We've been watching the weather and praying since we scheduled it a month ago. This time of year the weather fluctuates 20 to 30 degrees from one day to the next. There's also quite a bit more chance of rain. Weather.com reported different weather every day this week, but always a 30% chance of rain. Yesterday it predicted 40% chance of rain for the first two hours of the sale. Well.... they were wrong!! We did get some quick sprinkles around 7, but that's it. It was pretty chilly though for most of the sale, but we did get lots of sunshine! I actually only took off my coat to take this picture. It did get pretty warm while we loading up though. If it wasn't for the wind we probably would have stayed out there longer.

The Lord also answered our prayers about a large semi that kept parking and blocking the street view. It's been there off and on for months now (More on than off though), but we asked the Lord to have him not park there today. Guess what, we got there this morning no semi! It's the Lord good to answer even our smallest requests.

Overall we had a great turnout. Much better than I would have expected, especially since it was so cold. I only came home with one small bin of stuff. I also made more than my highest goal! Yeah for more money to put in the New York fund. I'd still love to one day sell it all...but I'm perfectly content with what I did sell.

Oh, and my money pouch worked wonderfully. I'm not sure how I ever had a sale without it! The hat my friend Kristen crocheted worked wonderfully as well. She's not quite finished with it as she's still going to add a flower, but I'm SO glad I had it today. I would have been pretty miserable without it!

Beach Project #1

2011-03-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

Remember this?

Did you guess that it was money pouch? Probably not. My Dad's response when I showed it to him was to laugh. He thought I'd made a mini-skirt. Guess he doesn't know me very well. I've never worn a mini-skirt. Plus if it was a mini-skirt would be pretty airy!

This is the project I had in mind when I first bought the fabric. The laundry room re-do was only an afterthought. Thankfully there was still plenty left.

I'm always wanting a way to carry money with me when I do a craft show or garage sale. This is my solution. I'd say it looks much better than the ones you find at Home Depot! It will get its first use this weekend at the garage sale. Hopefully it meets my expectations!

What I've been up to lately....

2011-03-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the view and sounds of the ocean....

Watching the sunrise after falling a sleep to the sound of waves crashing onto the beach...

Crafting up a storm and getting lots of projects knocked off my to-do list!! (Any guesses on what this is? My Dad's guess was VERY wrong!)....

Enjoying rest and relaxation....

Doing a little sightseeing (We walked through an old church graveyard and I was amazed to see this tree growing around this headstone).....

*Cooking with my niece ....

Doing some more sewing....

*Watching the waves roll in for hours and hours....

And enjoying more sunrises over the water...

*Enjoying time with family...

*Finding seashells...

*Enjoying the light reflecting on the water from fullest moon in 18 years...

Not wanting to ever get back to reality!

My parents were in town for the past couple of weeks and decided to get a beach house. My brother and his family and my youngest sister were also able to join us for 5 days. It was wonderful to have family around. They live in Colorado so we don't get to seem them very often. This was my brother and his family's first visit to see us. My parents left yesterday so now its back to reality {and a MUCH smaller kitchen!}

*Pictures taken by my talented sister Tiffany. I'm sure you could tell as her pictures are much more artistic than mine!

February Goals Update

2011-03-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well, we are a couple of weeks into March and I decided it was high time I gave an update on my goals for the new year. I've been sticking to most of them, but there are definitely a couple that need improvement.

Cooking:
*Menu Plan- I have had a menu plan every week, but this one. Don't want to fall off the bandwagon, so I need to persevere. It truly does make cooking so much easier. Been doing quite a few new meals, but also find myself getting in a rut again. How does this happen so quickly? The next couple of weeks my mom is in town so I'll have help in the kitchen!

* I did my first attempt at freezer cooking and it was quite nice. Didn't go much because we don't have much space, but it was so nice to through a burrito in the husband when I was told for the umpteenth time "I'm hungry, anything to eat?" Made these two recipes brown bag burritos and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. {I didn't use the glaze on the muffins and they were still plenty sweet and absolutely delicious!} Both of these were definite winners around here and will be made again soon! They all all gone now! I also made up a batch of m & m cookies form them into balls and froze them on cookie sheets for a couple hours before throwing them in freezer bags. SO nice to have a few cookie balls to through in the oven when I bring needed a dessert somewhere or just wanted a snack.
*Couponing- Last month was probably one of my best as far as couponing. According to my nifty spreadsheet I saved $431 with coupons - not sales, just coupons!! Saving percentage was at 77%! Totally makes it worth all the time and effort when I see how much more food we can bring in the house.

House:
* Every room has now been gone through! Feels so nice to be organized again. Most of the items are already priced and ready to be sold on April 2nd. (If you are in the area let me know if you want to join in. We usually have 10 - 12 families and its a great day of selling "junk"!) I did pretty well until I hit the closet...must have overdone it as I've been having a recurrence of symptoms. =( So this week I've been laying low, BUT I've been laying low in a clean house!

Before After
Will be even better when all the garage sale stuff is out of there! Amazing how a little organizing causes everything to fit SO much better!

I heart organization! (And having fully stocked gift closet. So nice to "shop" the supply I've gotten through out the year when a friend gets married or has a baby!) The next post will probably be on one of the organizational projects I did for the hobby room.

Hobbies:
*Didn't really get to any of my "crafts" this month. Hope to do a bunch of that while my parents are visiting for the next couple of weeks!

Finances:
*We are now at 38% of our goal for New York! Ahead of schedule so far, but my bigger money making things have already been done so it will be probably slower in the next couple of months. Would still LOVE suggestions for what to do in New York. Got some great ones with my last request. I'm particularly interested in restaurant suggestions. I keep seeing deals pop up, but I have no idea if its a good restaurant. We like pretty much anything.

Reading:
*Again not too great. I'm about half-way through two books. One of them I started the first two chapters last year and the other I'm doing for a bible study. VERY pathetic!

We've been doing a lot of these lately....

2011-02-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

Roderick had his wisdom teeth out yesterday, so we've been doing a whole lot of milkshakes. He seems to be doing well, despite the fact that they removed all four wisdom teeth and a couple were a little "hard to get." He was completely aware...no "happy gas" or relaxing pills for him. Not sure I'd be able to do that as I don't even like to get a cavity filled. (Thankfully that has only happened 3 times in my life!) The pain meds seem to be working well. He's a little swollen today, especially on that "troublesome" left side. In the meantime we are both enjoying lots of milkshakes! ( The temptation is too high, I can't make one and not enjoy a little myself!)

P.S. You know you've been looking at too many food blogs when you find yourself taking pictures of the ingredients for making milkshakes....AND you really know you've been looking at too many of them when you proceed to take "pouring pictures." Although I think I could use some food photography lessons!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just love Valentine's Day...not because of the roses and chocolates and other commercialized aspects, but because it's a special day to express love to my loved ones. My parents always made a big deal of the holiday growing up and over the years its become my favorite holiday.

This year I decided to make some nifty little suckers I found in the back of the Family Fun magazine. As soon as I saw it I knew I need to make them for our 5 year old Sunday school class. Only problem is they need mini candy canes and I saw it several weeks after Christmas. BUT I found some for .37 on clearance! Perfect for frugal natured me!! I just love how they turned out.

I will say that the recipe said to form the candy canes into hearts and put in 235 degree oven on parchment for 10 minutes. Well, this is what happened when I did that.

Not exactly what I was looking for. Very, Very thin and brittle. I found that putting them in a 225 degree oven for 3-5 minutes gave me the results I was looking for. I also used dark chocolate candy melts instead of oil and chocolate chips, simply because I didn't have chocolate chips and I was in a store where I could get the candy melts with a coupon really inexpensively!

This year as we were discussing what to do on Valentine's Day Roderick said he wanted to have a slumber party under the stars. So that's just what we did. I'm sure you are thinking HUH?? It's February, wasn't that a little cold?? Well no because we put a few glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, blew up our queen size mattress and watched movies together in our living room. Oh, and ate popcorn made on the stove with a whirley-pop. (My Valentine's day gift to my love. He had popcorn made with one at a friends house and couldn't get over how great the popcorn was.) Now we are spending some time at the library with my husband studying and me on the computer. Hey, at least we are together!

I also had to share these adorable slippers my friend gave me for Valentine's Day! They are beyond soft and so comfy!

I'm linking up to

Today's color was red!

Laundry Redo {January's Project}

2011-01-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

Our laundry is more of a hallway than a room. I've always covered it with a shower curtain to hide the "mess." Yes it was organized with clear baskets and it even had things hung up on the wall, but it definitely didn't make me happy. Now it makes me very happy and I have yet to close the curtain, because I want to see it!

Here's the only before picture I could find....

blurry and only a partial picture from almost 4 years ago when we first moved in. I guess I was too embarrassed to take the full view picture.

Here it is now!

Most of the fabric was purchased several months ago for another project, but I just had to use it in here. I think there is still enough to complete the project it was meant for as well. We'll see when I actually get around to doing it. I was also able to use several fabrics in my "prize stash" from Jonquils and Ladybugs! Love it when things work out like that!

The Embroidery hoops were definitely inspired by Sara at one of my favorite blogs Sara's Art House.

This hoop was inspired by something I found on etsy, which I can no longer find so it must have sold. Loved and remembered it even though it'd been months and tried to duplicate it! They had sewn on the pennants, but I was too lazy to get out the sewing machine, so I glued them on instead.

The fabric wreath is inspired by Sara's Art House again. Such an inspirational blog!

First painting of the year. Complete with a fabric flower that was inspired by...yep Sara again!

I also created a fabric bunting using fabric, rope and this wonderful "paint on" tacky glue I found. Perfect solution for this project and several others in this room!

One of my final projects was to cover this box with fabric again using that wonderful tacky glue in a jar. I loved the box, but it just didn't go with the colors any more. Add fabric and tada, perfect match to my theme and a great hiding place for the butter knives we use to open the lent trap. {We love the washer and dryer we were given even if they do have dents, are missing knobs and have a broken lent trap. They still do the job well and the price was ideal. FREE! We keep wondering when they will give out, but they worked well for almost 4 years now.}

Only problem is the shower curtain "cover" definitely no longer fits the theme. I've thought of taking it down since I love looking at the new decor, but there might be a time when I still want to use it so its staying for now. At least when it pulled closed it matches the rest of the kitchen.

The whole project cost less than $20! I used coupons on several of the items including the rope, that wonderful tacky glue, the styrofoam for the fabric wreath and the embroidery hoops. Plus a lot of it was stuff we already had. Most of the money was spent on the basket. Could have been cheaper though... right after I purchased the baskets I found this very inspirational blog Make it and Love it with these lovely boxes made out of cardboard.

I totally would have made these had I not already bought the others. I am loving this blog and I have a feeling you will see some of her projects in the coming months. LOVE, LOVE her style... spent a good couple of hours browsing her blog the other day and didn't even hit all the fun projects! Love all the sewing projects. I really need to stop being lazy and get it out!! Better add that to my 2011 goals! Even though I didn't actually do any of her projects, I'd have to say that the Make it and Love it blog was definitely inspirational in this redo!

Now I'm off to take care of my poor husband who has come down with a nasty flu. At least I'll be able to wash away all the germs in my happy "room."

2011 Goals - FINALLY!

2011-01-26T22:20:00.000-08:00

Well, my week long break turned in to a month long break. Not from Internet, but from this blog. I have several blogs in my head, but I decided to start with my 2011 goals. They are nothing special, but I decided to still put them up for the accountability. So here it goes:

Cooking/Meals:
* Menu plan for every week.
* Try out a least one new recipe every week
* Continue to work on coupons and getting the best deals at the lowest prices.
January- I've started the year off well. One of my gifts from my husband was $5 dinners by Erin Chase of $5dollardinners.com. We've already add a few favorites to our list. Menu planning certainly does make cooking easier. I don't know why I stop doing it!

House:
* Go through whole house at least once (preferably twice) and organize and get rid of junk.
*Make every effort to keep house straight. (Pretty generic, but still on the list.)
January - Started out well so far doing one room a week. Christmas didn't come down until the week before last...far later than it has ever happened before! Last week I organized the laundry area. This week I've started on the kitchen. Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow!

Hobbies:
* Try to accomplish at least one craft project a month.

January - The next post will be a display of this months "craft" It has something to do with the picture at the end of this post I posted several months ago. I ended up winning the giveaway associated with Jonquils and ladybug's Technology fast. My prize... a box full of fabric scraps, an awesome pincushion , and a book of inspirational crafts! Didn't get a picture because I was too busy digging into all the goodies. Definitely going to be seeing some of it in my post tomorrow!

Finance:
* Go to New York City for 30th bday! My ultimate goal is to finance this with extras, such as craigslist sales, rebates, etc.We'd love any ideas of things to do or see from those of you that have been there. I am SO excited!!!
January - I signed up for groupon in New York City and living social. Plus I've been able to get a nice start on my savings. We are currently at about 20% but I'm working on it!

Reading:
* Read at least 6 books.
Here's some that are on my list:
* A Life that Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart and Home to Others ~ Karen Ehman
* Don't Waste Your Life ~ John Piper
* Because He Loves Me ~ Elyse M. Fitzpatrick
* Dave Ramsey book
* ??
* ??

January - Not too great, but I have at least started Because He Love Me

So there you go... my goals for 2011. So excited to see what the Lord has in store for this year!

Merry Christmas From Our Family To Yours

2010-12-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hope you have a marvelous time celebrating the birth of our Savior with your family and friend! Merry Christmas!

Rod and Laura

P.S.

I'm taking Jonquils & Ladybugs up on her challenge to fast from technology from December 26th through January 1st. I think I've become a little addicted to facebook, blogs, etc so I'm sure this will be good! I'm actually going to start early, as in tomorrow. I've decided not to post to the blog, not to check facebook, not to check my google reader, and to limit my checking of gmail. We will see how this goes. When I come back I hope to have a list of goals for the coming year. I've done it for the past couple of years, but have never posted them. Therefore, they are rarely accomplished. Hopefully posting them will be the encouragement I need!

Simple and Delicious Christmas Goodie

2010-12-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

My Mom made this recipe up several years ago. Every time I make it I always get requests for the recipes so I decided to share it with you all. It truly is simple and relatively frugal (especially if you use coupons for the peanuts). Makes about 3 dozen clusters or more if you make them smaller.

It requires 5 ingredients - 6 counting a little touch of powdered sugar.

Would make a great gift as well, as it's doesn't spoil quickly and looks pretty!

Peanut Clusters

1 regular bag caramels

1 Tablespoon milk

1 lb jar of salted peanuts (approx. 3 ½ cups)

Approx. ½ -1 lb chocolate coating

White chocolate coating for decorating- optional

Powdered sugar

Lay two pieces of waxed paper on counter. Lightly powder one with powdered sugar. Place unwrapped caramels in microwave safe bowl. Add milk. Microwave on high until melted for 1-2 minutes (checking every 30 seconds). Stir. Add peanuts and stir again.

Drop by spoonfuls onto powdered waxed paper. (Might need another spoon to help push out the caramel/peanut mixture). Let set while you melt chocolate coating.

Melt chocolate coating in microwave for 1-2 minutes checking every 30 seconds. Stir after every 30 second interval as the chocolate may be more melt than it appears.

Remove caramel clusters from waxed paper by sliding a fork under them. Dip in melted chocolate. Lift and let excess chocolate fall back in bowl. Place on un-powdered waxed paper. Let rest until set until solid.

When set, put small amount of white chocolate in zip lock bag. Melt in microwave. (approx. 30 seconds) Make small cut in one of the corners of the bag. Pipe lines of white chocolate on clusters. Let rest again until set. Remove from waxed paper and break off any excess chocolate before placing on serving plate.

Note: Watch microwave processes carefully. Both caramels and chocolate coating can burn if over melted.

2010 Christmas Tour

2010-12-13T22:31:00.000-08:00

I love joining Nester's annual Christmas Tour every year. This year I don't have as much decor done as I usually do. Here's my previous year's post 2008 & 2009 if you want to see decor in every room.

Well, without further ado here's our Christmas decor so far... I may do more, but I may not. Simplicity is nice sometimes!

I love the polka dots, red, and lime. It makes me happy and I often find myself staring at it! I also find I have loads of pictures of it!!

The reason for the season! What a wonderful gift God gave us... His perfect Son who came to pay our great debt and give us Salvation!

The stocking are hung on the bookshelf with care....

Made this wreath with supplies from the dollar store, ribbon that was on my present from my mother-in-law last year and a lovely ornament from my mom! (cost all of $2 to make!) Here's where I got the idea from Nester. Looks much better in person, I promise!

Another wreath from the dollar store. This one cost a little more as it took about 4 bags of peppermints. I loved this one much better...not sure I like the shape or the green showing through, but it will stick around at least for this year.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of our home at Christmas time. If you are not coming from there go check out Nester's links...there's a lot of beautiful homes this year!

A Colonial Christmas

2010-12-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

The church gym was transformed last weekend into a Colonial wonderland. We have some really creative and talented ladies! They even covered the poles in "brick."

26 different ladies decorated tables complete with china and favors. So many different idea. Here are a few of my favorites....although, it was really hard to only pick a few.

My project was getting all these wonderful cookies together with their recipes. Every lady now has a wonderful collection of 20 different Christmas cookie/treat recipes!

So many great giveaways. Lots of great gifts were handed out, but the best was the "giveaway table." Yep...the whole table went to one lucky lady.

The focus was on fostering gospel relationships among our ladies. Each lady was encouraged to invite their friends and family. We had over 50 guests! Our pastor's wife gave a wonderful gospel centered challenge. I know of a couple of ladies that accepted the Lord as their Savior as a result of the event! Certainly made all the work totally worth it!

May your focus be on Christ and the gospel message this season!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

2010-12-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

What a wonderfully full {and tiring} Christmas weekend!

Started the weekend with preparations for our ladies event, "A Colonial Christmas." The Lord gave me strength and I was able to help out and be a part of the event. It was such a neat event, I think it deserves its own post...so I'm sure you'll see more about it tomorrow or sometime later this week. After the event though, my body was totally spent and I slept on the couch for several hours!

After my wonderful nap we went out for one of my favorite Christmas treats...peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks. We used a gift card we earned from searching the Internet with Swagbucks. {If you haven't started using this search engine yet I highly recommend it. In the last year we've earned 10 plus gift cards to Starbucks and Amazon for everyday searches. I love free things!} Snow was even falling very lightly. It's rare for us to see even a single flake so I was thrilled to see it.

Later I looked out the window and was greeted with this....

Now that's a VERY rare treat here in VA! I stood out on the deck basking in the beauty of the falling snow.

This morning a few signs still remained. The kids in our Sunday School class were thrilled {all three of them}. We usually have quite a few more, but life around here pretty much shuts down at the slightest sign of snow so we were not surprised there were so few.

I'm enjoying the little things this Christmas. Our decorations are not as elaborate or as finished as they usually are by now, but I'm thankful to have the energy to put some of them up! Life is beginning to look more normal for us. I'm now on auto-immune drugs...not sure whether they are working completely yet. One things is for sure I don't have any canker sores {I've had them almost constantly for years. Often 10 - 30 at a time!} and that is wonderful Thankful to be getting better, but can't wait until my energy level is completely returned. {Currently I'm fine to a point and then the energy suddenly goes completely away. At which time I have to sit down wherever I am...which has definitely been on the floor a couple of times!} Thankfully if I rest for awhile I get energy back again! So happy to be able to do the little things again!

Thanksgiving weekend in photos

2010-12-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

Our first thanksgiving in our home was a success. My legs gave out right before we ate and I was on the couch the rest of the night, but we still have a great day. The food was wonderful and the fellowship fabulous!

The turkey that was amazingly moist due to a frequent dosing of apple cider on a cheese cloth covering it. It was also the turkey that took 7 hours instead of 4 hours to cook! Let just say we ate the sides first.

Roderick's first time carving the turkey. He did a great job....

....but got a little TOO into it! He kind of scared me.

Table decorations

The whole crew: (Left to Right) Chris and Kristen {our downstairs neighbors and Roderick's carpool buddy}, Us, Becky and Bruce {Roderick's Mom and Step-dad}

The next day we enjoyed a trip to the beach and the Neptune statue. No trip to VA is complete without a trip to a beach. No black Friday shopping for me this year, but that's okay I'm sure I saved money in the long run!

The following day Saturday we went up to the Colonial Williamsburg area. Becky and I didn't make it past the shops, but the boys enjoyed a little tour of the town.

{Loved this wreath outside one of the shops!}

The visit to Colonial Williamsburg was followed by a stop at the Yankee Candle factory. Santa Claus was there and we enjoyed watching the kids reactions to him. Let's just say there were a lot of tears from most of the ones we watched. {Guess the jolly guy is a little frightening.}

{snow falling inside the Christmas shop}

Almost Ready for the Big Meal...

2010-11-24T23:08:00.000-08:00

The guest room is ready....

The tables set....

Some of the goodies are made and the refrigerator is full!

in process...

after cooking....

This year we are having our first Thanksgiving in our home. I've been working slowly on everything...the tables been set for a day or two. So thankful that I have a little energy to do this...taken it slow, but I can do more than I have lately!

Happy Thanksgiving! So much to be thankful for!!

I heart Damask

2010-11-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

I was looking around the house the other day and noticing a lot of a certain pattern. Little bits of it here and there. Guess I may have an infatuation with damask!

In our room:

In the kitchen:

And if that wasn't enough we've added these new additions to our room:

Wreath inspiration from one of my favorite blogs Sara's Art* House. I used what I had and I didn't have quite the colors I wanted, but I still love how it turned out. Yeah for easy craft that I love! I've been wanting some damask picture frames for awhile and I just happened to walk down that isle in Target. Love them and the price too! (Yes I did actually make it out shopping on Saturday...first time in almost 4 months. I'm not "there" yet, but I'm getting there. My new doctor actually has me on treatment too!)

Leaves

2010-11-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

The leaves are really changing around here. These pics are not the greatest, but I did want to share the beauty.

Monday:

Today:

I'm thankful...

2010-11-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

There are so many things I'm thankful for, but several things happened today that make me especially thankful. God is always gracious and good to give me so many special blessings.

Without further ado I'm thankful for...

1) Fall colors that are really starting to peak. It's so wonderful to look out my window and see the beauty of the seasons on God's creation!

2) Delicious meal prepared by a friend.... grilled pork chops, augratin potatoes, veggies, chocolate chip cookies... We were definitely spoiled.

3) Beautiful fall arrangement from the same friend. Flowers just make me happy!

4) Feeling more energetic and "on the mend." I'm able to do lots more and it's looking like I may just be completely 100% before thanksgiving!

5) A clean house!! This is definitely my favorite thing of the day. Last week we decided that we needed to have someone come in to clean the house. Roderick knew that once I was better I'd go crazy and might end up back at the beginning again. I had seen an add in the ValuPack for a place called CustomMaid and the list of things they did was pretty extensive. I called them to find out the price and was definitely surprised at the high price. I told them I'd get back to them. Roderick and I discussed it and decided to check out other places to see if the price was comparable. I then checked my e-mail and the deal for the day on Groupon was for 2 hours from CustomMaid for less than the price of 1 hour! (They had a minimum of 1 1/2 hour policy so it was a huge saving!) I totally see that as a blessing from the Lord! The ladies came today and did a amazing job. They deep cleaned my entire apartment...even the oven! A clean house truly makes life better! (At least it makes my life better.) Now to keep it clean for the next week and a half before my in laws come. I don't think that will be too hard as we like it so much better this way!

Jewelry Holder Redo

2010-11-09T17:58:00.000-08:00

Before:

In all its original glory directly from the thrift store.

After:

This will be used at the show this weekend to display some of Mom's Jewelry. Roderick liked it but said "Does anyone use these any more?" I had to laugh since I know a lot of people that do. Since that comment I've been seeing "Jewelry Holders" everywhere.

My next project is already in the works and I am loving it! Whoever came up with the idea of embroidery hoop wall hangings was a genius. There is a danger of my house being overrun by them!

Where do you think I'm planning on hanging these?

I need help...

2010-11-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am wanting to redo my bathroom. Being cooped up in a house for 3 months I guess does that to you. The bathroom seems the easiest to change {and probably cheapest}. Plus it is one of the few rooms that has been almost untouched since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago.

So here's how it looks now... well almost I have been sick for 3 months {read its not currently picture worthy so the picture is from right after we moved in}

My inspiration for the new room occurred as I was painting a canvas I planned on selling. The plan for the "new" bathroom is black and white {damask and other patterns} with a little aqua and a touch of light purple. (I already have a purple shower curtain hanging over my washer and dryer and I thought I could just switch the two.) I've scoured the Internet for damask towels, rugs, etc. I've found some great options too! Just have to get better to actually go do the shopping. I'm not really liking the idea of paying shipping for items I can go to the store and purchase myself!

Here's some of my idea:

* Each picture has been linked to the appropriate site 1.) My painting inspiration for the room. Smaller canvas is actually a picture frame canvas I painted after the inspiration "hit." 2.)Anna's linens - seems to be good quality by the reviews, but is it the right blue?? Not sure. 3.) Amazon - they are also available in misty blue {and green - I'm thinking my kitchen needs them!}, but I think I like the black the best and I'll "doctor" them up. 4.) Etsy - Funky Chicken - I think I want to change the switch plates no matter what I decide! 5.) Macy's - Firenza pattern, I think. 6 & 7.) Target - not getting great reviews, but the best I've found other than IKEA. IKEA rug can't be ordered online and I don't want to drive there for $4 rug(s)! 8.) Macy's - Blue dot, again not that great of reviews, but I think the color would be perfect.

Now, however, I'm in a quandary. I finished the paintings I had been working on for the bathroom and hung them up so the wall wouldn't be bare as I wait to change the decor. {I'm planning to sell them at the November 12th conference.} I LOVE the idea of redoing the bathroom and really love the new color scheme.... but the new paintings do look great in there and keeping it as it is would be a whole lot cheaper...

I've never been a very decisive person... so I need your help! What do you think, should I bite the bullet and make the change or just leave it be? Decisions, decisions, decisions!

* I find it comical that Sara Mincy's post today has several canvas' with Prov. 3:5-6 on it as well. Love that verse! If I redo the room as planned the "new" canvas will also have that verse.

Enjoying the little things

2010-11-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

This saying has really been on my mind and heart lately. I feel like the Lord has struck me with the thought and desire to enjoy the life he's given me, whatever it may be. When life is all comfortable and speeding by, I often forget to "stop and smell the roses." Since I've been sick that's about all I can do.

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks because I didn't want another "I'm still sick post." However, I decided that it was time to post again whether I'm still sick or not. Today marks 3 months of sickness. I've been told that mono is like really bad morning sickness... I'm hoping like morning sickness it will go away after 3 months. (Tomorrow would be nice.) Too bad the "reward" in the end isn't the same!!!

Here's one the little things that has become a big thing lately:

With me stuck in the house most days, outings have taken on more of a gargantuan occasion status. For the last month or two we've had the tradition of going to 3 Amigo's every Saturday. I truly look forward to it! Roderick drops me off at the curb and I either sit on the bench outside (Centerville) or on the benches inside (Battlefield) until he parks the car. By the time he comes in I've gained a little strength again. We ALWAYS share the same thing. When, I say always, I mean always... At both locations the waiter/waitress has placed our orders for us. We love that it's "healthy" and cheap.

I'm hoping when the Lord chooses to heal me from this mono, that I will continue to thank him and enjoy the "little things".

Are there any little things that you've realized really are big things lately?

Something New...

2010-10-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

I tried something today I've never tried before...making a "print" of one of my paintings. Roderick LOVES it! Me, I'm not so sure....the colors are a bit different from the original. It is really neat to see my painting in print, makes me feel a little more like an actual artist somehow. Plus, I love that you can make the print any size you want! I may try out postcard size next. These will be for sale soon to the public at large.
Did you try anything new this weekend?

Life Happens

2010-10-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

I had lofty goals of posting before the end of the week, but obviously that didn't happen. Life has thrown a couple of curve balls our way. First of all almost immediately after I posted the last post I spilled almost an entire glass of coke on my keyboard. Although I tried everything I could to clean it, the spill resulted in the TAB, the letters QWERTY and shift no longer working. The crazy part is that the spill was mainly on the 10-key section of the keyboard. Nevertheless typing on that computer has been quite difficult. Thankfully we have Roderick's laptop. However, he's been on it a lot this week.

This brings us to our second "curve ball." Last week Roderick began complaining of some pain in his back and thought he'd pulled a muscle. A couple of days later I noticed something strange in that same area, but thought it was just a bump. The following day it was a little larger, but we still decided to watch it. After work on Monday, Roderick mentioned that his back was still painful, but really itchy too. Upon seeing the rash beginning to wrap around his side I said, "I think you have shingles." I think this was of the Lord, as I'm not very medical. A quick search on mayo.com helped to confirm my suspicion. So, he's now on some medication, and has joined me in staying home this week. Thankfully he's getting better.

Thankfully I seem to be improving again as well and have been able to help out around the house a little. I can tell I'm starting to get better by my strong desire to clean and straighten my house. Two months take a tole on a house and it could really use a deep clean. On Wednesday I spent the day sitting in my bathroom and scrubbing everything I could while taking numerous breaks. At least that room feels better now. I can also tell I've been in my house too long by my desire to redecorate. I think my bathroom will be getting a overhaul soon!

Fall finally arrived in our home this week. Melody brought me an adorable pumpkin with a nifty ledge that is "perfect for a ribbon." She left it on our doorstep as she hasn't had chicken pox and she doesn't want them! (I certainly don't blame her!) Today I had Roderick get out the fall decor box and it's starting to feel like fall around here. I love it!

I loved all the comments on the last blog. So many new comments from friends I had no idea were reading the blog..love you NellDell and Aunt Debbie. Melody I know you read my blog, but it meant a ton that you commented! Rachel it was fun visiting your site and thanks for commenting. Sara I always love your comments. So without further ado I'll announce the winner. With Roderick home I decided to have him do the honors. I had to laugh when he pulled out this name...

Sara seems to be the lucky one when it comes to my giveaways! I'm pretty sure she also won my last giveaway as well! Sara, I know I had your address at one point, but I need it again.

Hope you have all had a great week! Next week I hope to do a couple posts throughout the week, but you never know what a week can bring!

:100th post: Jewlery: Giveaway:

2010-10-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is my 100th post! It's hard to believe. Thanks to those of you who are my faithful readers. I love hearing comments from you! I believe my most faithful follower is my mom. I'm not sure if you notice or not, but she comments on almost every single post. (And I happen to know she checks the blog almost every single day too!!)

In honor of her faithfulness, I've chosen to use this post to show off some of my Mom's amazing artistic skills. She has many different talents, painting, decorating, sewing, crafting. In this post, however, I'll focus on her newly acquired skill of jewelery making. She began by creating jewelry for friends and family, but is now attempting to sell a few, rather quite a few. She's calling her little business, Feathered Nest Creations. (No, she does not have an etsy shop or a blog...yet that is. My sisters and I are trying to encourage her to do so.) I'll be attempting to sell some of her creations along with my paintings in November at the ladies conference.

Feathered Nest Creations was started in January when my Dad broke his leg in a freak accident taking down the Christmas lights. It was meant to be a quite small hobby my Mom could do as he recovered. Three surgeries, maybe even four I can't remember, and 10 months later he is still in the recovery stage. He is now cast free and walking on it, but its still a long road to complete healing. Actually, he is currently waiting to hear from the doctor if there is ANOTHER infection. Prayers would be greatly appreciated! His Aunt, my Great-Aunt, and a very dear sweet Christian lady went to be with the Lord yesterday after struggling with a bout of pneumonia. So knowing the results of that test will, I'm sure, greatly affect their travel decisions in the coming days. Okay, I digress....not sure why I mentioned all that, but we would all be very grateful for the prayers!

My sister...a budding photographer and good one at that (not that I'm biased or anything).... took these photos of Mom's work. Here's a few of my personal favorites....

So why do I show you these beautiful photos? Well, in honor of my this landmark post, my Mom has graciously allowed me to giveaway this gorgeous pair of earrings!

So how can you win it? Well, I'm going to make it easy... simply comment on this post telling me your favorite post or topic or something you'd like me to post about in the next 100 posts. Only one entry per person, but I'm fine with multiple comments if you'd like. = )

This giveaway will last one week. Next Friday, October 15th, I will pick the winner the "old-fashioned way," by writing down the names of all the entries and randomly choosing a winner.

Thanks to all of you for being readers! I hope you have a great weekend.

*Disclosure: My mom did offer to give away one of her earrings, but she had no idea I was going to brag on her talents in this way. She is not paying me to do this giveaway and all opinions are mine. = ) I love you, Mom!

Life is "Sweet"

2010-10-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

No, this is not the post in which I tell you I am finally over mono...actually quite the opposite as I fear I've had another resurgence of the symptoms this week. However, it is the post in which I tell you God is good, life is great, and He's given me so many sweet blessings this week I can't help but post them.

Replacement sunshine flowers from a sweet friend

The resurgence of symptoms actually began last Friday after a very fitful night of sleep. So on Saturday I slept until 2! (Yeah, 2 in the afternoon...however, I will say that I did wake up umpteen times, but I was always able to go back to sleep.) Upon waking my husband tells me he thinks we should go out to eat and suggests Olive Garden. (As he knew I had been craving their soup, salad, and bread sticks. Sweet thing #1) I then preceded inform him I will just take a shower and not wash my hair as it's chilly outside, I don't want to add more symptoms by going outside with wet hair and I don't feel like I have the energy to blow dry my hair after the shower and then go out. (Wow that was quite the run-on sentence....) He then tells me to go ahead and wash my hair and he'll blow dry it for me! Which he did very well I might add! Sweet thing #2

When we finally made it to the car I declined my seat, as car rides seem to take a lot out of me these days. My husband opened the back windows and turns up the heat a little, "so you can get fresh air, but not be too cold." Sweet thing #3

After a wonderful, albeit tiring, meal at Olive Garden, we proceeded to CBTS (my husband's school) where I stayed in the warmed car while my husband picked out a book to read for fun. He choose Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. Which brings me to Sweet thing #4, my dear sweet husband read that book to me until his throat became raw. At which time he would take a little break, read silently for a few pages, and then began reading out loud again.

While he read that wonderful book, I worked on this sweet picture I had begun several days before.

I had a wonderfully sweet time searching out a verse to put on the bottom of the cupcake. Try doing a quick search of sweet or taste in the Bible and you will find several verses talking about how sweet the Lord's words are to us, or how sweet they should be. Such a good reminder and Sweet thing #5.

We have continued to read a couple of chapters of Pride and Prejudice every night when Roderick gets home from work. Plus we've been watching the long A& E movie, in sections as they go with the book. Sweet thing #6.

One evening, I believe it was Sunday, I was craving something sweet and my husband found an unopened container of chocolate Haagen-Dazs in the freezer. I know it sounds crazy, but that shared sweet was simply marvelous! Sweet thing #7.

Sweet thing #8 has to be mentioned as well. That sweet thing is the number of you that took the time to comment on my last post. (So many first time comments as well!) Ah, life is sweet and those comments mean the world to me!

I must admit that there are SO many more sweet little things I could post...like a friend stopping by last week to give me a stack of the most delicious ginger cookies I have ever eaten (Fall exuded out of every bite!), or another friend that added a pumpkin cake to the meal she brought to us because she knew I was craving pumpkin.....but I think I'll stop here for now.

As this week has progressed and I have remained feeling pretty blah, my husband has done so many sweet things. Just little things that if it were not for my illness and my specific thought process on taking notice of the sweet things, I may have taken for granted. Although I would never have wished to be sick for this long, I can say it has drawn my heart closer to my husband and has caused our relationship to be sweeter. (Which I wouldn't have thought possible as we already had a sweet relationship.)

The illness has also seemed to draw my heart closer to my Saviour. I still see my need for growth so acutely, but I am thankful for the sweetness of my current relationship with Him. My desire is still that my love for Him grows to be wider and deeper. I am so beyond undeserving of His love it sometimes crushes me. Yet I know that despite that unworthiness, He looks at me and He sees the payment His Son made for me on the cross!

This post is not written to make you think I have a perfect life. That is very far from true! It is written to encourage you, and myself as I read this later, that blessings, little and small, abound and we should strive to take notice of them. Such an effort can cause such great encouragement despite the fact we are at our "lowest" or maybe because we are there. The Lord is good and life is Sweet!

Have you taken the time to reflect on the sweet gifts the Lord has given you this week?

A VERY Random List of Thoughts

2010-09-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

I love random lists about people and I decided to jot down a few random thoughts I've had today....

1. I love Christ, but recently I have been struck by my need to be "in love with" Christ more. Oh, that my relationship with him will grow to become fuller and wider and deeper!

2. I am VERY tired of being stuck in my house! Lord heal me quickly! PLEASE!! But in the mean-time cause me to love you more during this time.

3. I am loving the beginning of the fall weather and the rain we've had the past couple of days. Makes me want to light a fall scented candle, decorate the house, bake something pumpkin.... Too bad that isn't a "wise choice" right now, as my husband gently reminds me!

4. I love it when my husband randomly sings a chorus to I Never Had a Dream Come True....Although, when we listened to the actual song today, I found out his version is MUCH different than the original. I can't help but smile when he tells me he loves me with this song!

5. I love to clean and organize my house. Really I do!! After almost 2 months of being down I'm very ready to be at it again. Thankfully my husband loves a clean, organized house too, so the house isn't too bad despite my illness!

6. I can't explain why I am crying making this list...maybe its the rain!

7. I LOVE to paint. I'm finding inspiration in everything these days...Scripture, Magazines, Online....

8. It's my dream to one day fly first class... I don't know why I just think that would be fun.

9. Speaking of dreams.... I'd also like to go on a cruise someday with my husband. I don't care where....Hopefully I wouldn't get sick!

10. I love reading comments from my readers. After posting I anxiously check my e-mail hoping for a comment.

11. I am so thankful for friends and family that have provided us with a few meals lately. You guys are the best!

12. Speaking of friends, my dear sweet friend Melody has gone above and beyond the call of duty lately. Stopping by to check on me and folding clothes while we talk, emptying the dishwasher without the slightest request from me, shopping for me, requesting meals for us since she knows we could use them, dusting and washing my bathroom mirror.... The list could go on and on....She's the best! So thankful the Lord has given me SO many friends like her here in Virginia.

13. I'm so thankful for the ability to see my little buddy yesterday after such a long time! A rare cuddle while we read a book yesterday, pure smiles and giggles.....there's nothing else quite like it!

14.I love my little garden on my back porch. 14!!! tomatoes growing on my tomato plant!

15. I love that the Lord gave us such a beautiful upstairs apartment with a wonderful view out the living room window!

16. I've felt very compelled lately to be a better hostess. I can't count the number of times I've neglected to offer a guest something to drink...how easy is that?!?! I'm reading a book called " A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others." Felling very convicted and finding I have a lot of work in this area.

17. I'm Very ready to be done with mono...Oh, I guess I already mentioned that!

18. I'm so thankful for my husband and his great sacrifice lately. I'd be in a very sorry state if it wasn't for him!

19. I love reading blogs...especially right now because it feels like I'm socializing with others. Just gotta be careful of the discontentment that can start creeping in from doing so!!

21. I love couponing and saving money. It has truly become my passion and I find such joy in a good buy!

22. My husband and I have talked a lot lately about someday adopting...even if we have a little one(s) of our own. I can't help but get teary eyed when I think of the little ones out there without a loving home! I just wish that option was a little more inexpensive.

23. I'm sitting here looking at my sunshine flowers and wishing they were still sunshiny. Too bad they couldn't have been longer lasting. A least they were beautiful for a week!

24. I LOVE polka dots, flourishes, damask patterns... BUT especially polka dots. I don't think you can have too much of them in your house!

25. I'm starting to run out of random thoughts and am wondering if I should stop now.

26. I love a good yard sale...both selling and buying. I can't wait till the Women of CBTS yard sale on the 16th of October... I'm praying that I'm able to participate.

27. Speaking of yard sales, I don't think there is ever a time that I don't have a box of stuff for a yard sale. If I find something we no longer need or want it automatically goes in my box.

28. I'm always amazed at how much stuff makes it in that box before a yard sale. The Lord has blessed us so abundantly more than we ever deserve!

29. I am amazed if you have stuck through to the end of this randomness! I guess I'll stop here since I'm currently this old. How did that happen???! = )

Cabin {Colorado Adventure Part 1}

2010-09-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

While in Colorado we were able to spend a couple of day relaxing at Roderick's parents cabin. There isn't much that is more relaxing than a cabin in the mountains!

Roderick had fun fishing. He wanted to make it clear that he didn't actually catch the fish....just reeled him in. Bruce had been fishing with power bate while Roderick was fishing with lures. The fish seemed to be liking the power bate, so Roderick decided to switch. When it was almost time to leave and Roderick still hadn't caught anything, Bruce handed him his pole with two power bate hooks on it. No sooner had Bruce cast than he had a bite on Roderick's old pole. SO....he had Roderick reel it in. Roderick said he wasn't concerned, "No fish has the ability to take away my joy!" I'm glad my husband has his priorities straight!

This is what I spent time doing... painting!

Sunshine Flowers, Painting, and Health Update

2010-09-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

Still laying low. Would have thought that after a month and half I would be over the tired achy feeling if I do too much. (Which is still surprisingly little!) Learned on Friday night that the lab results do indeed indicate mono. I am certainly improving and am now able to do a bit more around the house. For some reason leaving the house for long periods seems to be too much still. Almost everywhere you go you have to walk for awhile and I'm still only able to do short stints of that. We solved this problem on Saturday at the grocery store with me sitting in the child double seat cart extension. (It did say it was for one adult or two children...up to 300lbs.) Even if it was a bit unconventional, it worked great! I decided since I was spending so much time cooped up inside I needed to have some sunshine flowers. Loving something new to look at.

With choices of activities limited I've continued to do a lot of painting. Yesterday I painted outside on the porch so I can at least get some fresh air and sunshine. Here's the paintings I've finished over the past couple of week:

Inspiration from House Beautiful

2010-09-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned that I've been painting a lot lately. It seems like inspiration is everywhere I look. While in Colorado I happened upon this wonderful article about a beach house.

Don't you just love that adorable bike from Target...I think I need one! The picket fence, the roses... I'd easily take this cottage any day! But the best part is the inside. When I saw this bedroom I was seriously inspired. It's adorable!! Might even be inspiration for a future son's room or maybe a playroom whenever that happens!

My mother-in-law told me to rip out the pages and take them home. Based on the inspiration I created this...

It was so fun to create. I hope someone else thinks so too! I'm having too much fun creating new things for the show.

Friday Favorite: Frugal Rosette Shirts

2010-09-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

I am in love with the current trend of putting cute rosettes on shirts, sweaters, etc. I love everything except the price tag that is usually attached to these beauties. So I found a solution...remember my idea post with an idea on how to make this cute shirt by Hope Studios?

Well while we were in Colorado my Mom and I had a day together and we tried our hand at creating them! It was definitely an quick, easy, and fun project that even someone who doesn't really know much about sewing {like me!} can perform. The best part about the project is that my mom was able to find cute shirts in several colors on the clearance rack of Target for $4! So I made 3 cute shirts for about $8 a piece! {Sure beats the $50 + price tag I've been seeing!}

Here's how we made them based on these instructions: - Unfortunately I didn't take step-by step pictures, but hopefully you'll still get the idea.

*Buy 2 shirts of the same color or mix and match colors {Look on clearance racks - the second size doesn't matter since you will just be cutting it up}

*Take a piece of scrap paper and cut out templates for your circles. {I folded the piece several times and then traced the bottom of a pop can [or soda can for my east coast friends] to get my large circle. Once you cut out that circle(s) you will have several templates the same size. You will need at least three. I then decreased one of the large circles to be a medium circle and another to be a small circle. These don't have to be exact, but I found it nice to have at least a template for cutting}

*Take the second shirt {cut up shirt} and begin to cut out your circles. {I found it best to cut out squares of the fabric and pin the template on the square before cutting. My fabric was rather stretchy and when I cut directly from the shirt the result looked nothing like a circle! Again the circle doesn't have to be exact to look good on the final product, but you probably want something in a general shape of a circle. = ) }

*After cutting out 7 sets of circles, begin sewing them by hand to first shirt {wearing shirt}. {I found it easiest to create a rosette by bunching it together before beginning the sewing. You'll still need to bunch and try to catch more after that initial stitch, but I found it helped. This was definitely a trial and error for me...i.e. don't look at the undersides of my shirts, but at least the final product looked good!}

*Try different methods with your circle sets - close bunch, single rosettes. My guess is no two will be alike! {With the single rosettes I started with the middle template and just created a smaller template so my rosettes were not quite as big.}

Here's our results:

{All necklace created by Cindy with Feathered Nest Creations [my mom]. We are still working on creating an etsy shop after I attempt to sell some of her beautiful creations at the show in November. I'm having a hard time not keeping them all, but I don't need 60+ necklaces and bracelets! Plus I don't have my ears pierced and can't enjoy all her beautiful earnings that come with the sets}

Such a fun project and I still have lots of leftover shirt in all three colors to make more! Let me know if you decide to try out the project. I'd love to see your pictures!!!

Hurry up and wait

2010-09-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

So some of you may find this boring, but we found it very entertaining.

First off I have to give a little back story.
When we were in Colorado last week we decided since I still wasn't better to go to my old doctor and make sure it was okay for me to go visit Roderick's parents cabin and see if she had any ideas of what was wreaking havoc with my body.

Well here's how the visit went:

1:45 Laura walked slowly into the office
Roderick starts to fill out paper work and check Laura in.

1:47ish Laura walks slowly past Roderick at the front desk still filling out paper work.

1:48 ish Laura gets vitals taken and goes into the room.

1:49 ish Doctor enters the room WHILE nurse is still taking vitals.

1:51 ish Roderick enters room...while doctor is taking very detailed notes on her laptop.

2:20 Walk out of the doctors office with mouths wide open in amazement.

9:00 pm Still can't stop talking about the visit and the ease of getting blood for testing at the lab down the road. {They almost always have trouble getting blood out of me! More often than not its taken out of my hand!}

Why our mouths were wide open.
The following is nothing against our doctor here, its just comical the difference. "Small town"/ "Big town" difference??? Well you'll see what were talking about.

10: 20ish Walk into office for 10:30 appointment. We were asked to be there 15 minutes early, but we decided that wasn't completely necessary. You'll see why...

10:21ish Laura starts brand new book to keep occupied during wait

11:08ish Nurse takes us back to do vitals. No rooms available. Back to the waiting room.

11:15ish Laura continues reading her book

11:51ish Brought back to room and Laura continues reading her book

{Laura takes a picture realising this would make a "great" blog}

12:30ish Doctor walks into room

1:00ish Laura goes to the bathroom. {Gotta make sure this isn't the result of pregnancy.}

1:02ish Laura starts reading book again.

1:10ish Rats...no such luck!! Nurse does an EKG.

1:15ish Laura reads a little more of her book.

1:30ish Doctor returns to remove a suspicious mole from Laura's back. (Ya the appointment was scheduled for this months ago. Way before this "thing" ever started, so we did double duty.)

1:40ish Laura goes down the hall to have chest ex-ray.

1:50ish Laura returns to room and starts reading her book again.

2:00ish Roderick answer phone call for car pool quickly, just in case the doctor returns. Warns he may not be able to make it home in time to car pool today.

2:20ish Roderick leaves room to call work and say he'll be late.

2:25ish Doctor returns and says everything's normal. Send her to a lab to take ~~gallons of blood~~ 5 vials of blood.

2:30ish Leave doctors office very hungry and amazed that Laura is 130 pages into her book!

2:31ish Laura rejoices that Roderick's work allows him to take sick days for family illnesses!

3:00 Eat at Chick -Fil- A

4:00 Return home after successfully giving ~~gallons of blood~~ 5 vials of blood. (And only reading 4 more pages of book.

4:01 Laugh at the difference.Took a nap! {And prayed the Lord will miraculously heal Laura so they can avoid the doctor until her next yearly physical!!}

Friday Favorite - Growth

2010-08-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have really enjoyed watching the plants on my porch grow this year. Here they are freshly planted:

Now a few months later!

It is truly amazing to watch things grow and produce "fruit." Our creator is amazing! To think we could get 5 bell peppers, a tomato and lots of basil from plants (Plus 4 new tomatoes currently growing)! AMAZING!!

Pepper Plant Progression

Tomato Plant Progression

" Tomato twins" - looked like single tomato on the plant, turned out to be two!

Well, at least this is how they looked earlier this week. But I do have an "unfavorite".... pressure washers! Here's the results of these nasty devices:

It's a rather ugly site and it just makes me sick to look at! I have to admit we did know that the pressure washer was coming and my husband did attempt to move things out of the way to avoid the plants getting hurt. They've gotten so big its not like we could move them inside or anything! Here for hoping for a complete recovery!!! I've been babying them and talking to them ever since.

Here's the other growth I've been working on and hope to be working on till the day I die!

Hope you had a great week of growth!

Friday Favorite - hobby

2010-08-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

PAINTING

Painting has definitely become my favorite hobby. It is so relaxing for me. There is also such a satisfaction in knowing its your creation!

Recently I've been working on some projects to sell. Every year, or at least for the past 2 years, Melody and I have tried to sell a few items at a huge ladies conference her Mom's church goes to every year.We had thought about not doing the conference at all this year. However, when we found out it would actually be in our town, we decided we had to find SOMETHING to sell! The first year we sold wreaths and that went okay, but not too great. Last year we tried to sell the wreaths we had left at a drastically reduced rate and we still had a hard time. I was curious to see if I could sell some of my paintings. So I made 5 or 6 small canvas' with Christmas colors and verses on them. To my great surprise they ALL sold! So this year we'll be mainly selling the paintings.

When I look at other painters like Sara from Sara's Art House, I do wonder if I even have a chance! The good news is that if there are any left I know my husband will "buy" them. He wants to keep everything I create. So glad to have a husband that supports and loves my hobby! Anyway here's a few I've finished - we'll see how they sell!

These last two were created in the hotel on our trip to Charlottesville for our anniversary. I'm struggling with what verse or sayings to put on them...Any advice or suggestions?!?!?Any suggests on colors I should do on future paintings?!?!?

*Please excuse the messy work station picture. The first couple of sick days I had enough energy to do a little painting and I was working on this project. It abruptly got stopped as I became sicker, but I'm hoping as I start to get energy again to finish it. It's proving to be one of my favorites!

Botanical Gardens Date

2010-08-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

I think we might get a season pass here next year. We had so much fun walking around, taking photos, and just generally enjoying God's scenery! It was a really hot day, but all the trees really helped it be more comfortable weather. Unfortunately most of the hydrangeas, my personal favorite, were past there season. I want to return when they are in season!

Tomato Basil Grilled Cheese

2010-08-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this, because it was delicious! I got the idea after I read a post by Amanda on KevinandAmanda.com. We changed it a little bit by adding ham and we both thought it was delicous! Have I mentioned that I LOVE having a basil plant growing on our porch and fresh homegrown tomatoes in the refrig! Well, if I haven't before I'm saying it now! The basil plant is starting to really take off. I'm sure its loving the fact that I've been pretty much on bedrest for the last week! I can't wait till I have the energy to start cooking again!

The best part of this sandwich is that I can make it on my George Foreman! Doesn't it look great! I hope to try another favorite "panini".... ham with a thin slice of Granny Smith apple and cheddar cheese. My mouth watering just thinking about it. I already have the apple I just have to get rid of whatever this illness is so I can make it!

Saving Calculator

2010-08-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Even though Saving money and couponing is a huge part of my life right now, I try not to put too much of it on the blog. I don't want to bore ya'll. However, I just had to share this. Last month I found this nifty savings excel spreadsheet on The Coupon Challenge. I say I save a lot by using coupons, but I've often wondered how much it actually saved. This was a very simple way to find out!

Yeah, it's a lot! I love looking at the list and seeing several trips where I saved over 90%!!! I'm planning on continuing this. It will be very interesting to see how I do in say 6 months or over the course of a year.

Here's a link to this VERY easy to use free downloadable spreadsheet. So go get yourself a Sunday newspaper, check out Moneysavingmom.com and start using the spreadsheet yourself. You'll be surprised at what you can do with only a little bit of time and a budget. You might also find yourself addicted to "couponing" like I am!

Oh, and I also had to share my favorite deal of the month. All this for .22 cents!

Yeah, I don't think I'll ever be able to do that again.

Thankful....

2010-08-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

For this wonderful man...

.....who has pretty much waited on me hands and food this past week. He's also washed lots of laundry, done dishes, cooked.... basically everything I normally do. (Yeah, I'm so lucky he just brought me a dish of chocolate pudding too!) No its not because he has nothing to do. Actually its completely the opposite. He has huge projects for seminary due next week and should have been reading all the time with me waiting on him hand and foot. So why has he been doing this?? Well....

The past week I've been struggling with an illness. We really don't know what it is exactly. Last Saturday I went to Patients First with a horrible ear ache that Tylenol nor Advil seemed able to touch. It had been getting progressively worse. Of course it was at its "height", or at least I thought so at the time, on Saturday so I couldn't go to my regular doctor. The doctor there cleaned out the ear and although "it doesn't look too bad" prescribed amoxicilin for an ear infection. After three days of amoxicillin the pain had not only gotten worse, but had migrated to my other ear. AND I had no energy to do anything. I pretty much stayed either on the couch or in my bed the whole day. We decided to go to our regular doctor and see if I needed to be put on something stronger to kill the bacteria.

She told us that the ears looked great, but my glands were extremely swollen. She tested for both strep throat and mono. (Which I thought quite odd as my throat didn't hurt at all.) She prescribed Vicodin! (NEVER been on that before!) And she told me I should be on bed rest until next week! Yeah I really wasn't happy with that... isn't that only something pregnant women do???

Well, both tests have now come back negative. The bed rest part, well... as much as I don't like it, I have no energy to anything other than that. While I lie down I feel like I have energy, but as soon as I get up, even to go the bathroom, I know that I'm sick! I'm just hoping it all goes away just as fast as it started!

So as I sit here laying wondering when I'll be able to help my wonderful husband I'm wondering... Why does it take an illness to make me thankful for health, for the ability to do simple tasks, and for the Lord giving me such a giving husband? Yes, I am truly blessed much more than I'll ever deserve!

Canning Tomatoes [Our First attempt]

2010-08-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

My hat goes off to those that do this without the benefits of A/C. It sure is a hot, messy task. However, there is a great sense of satisfaction when you see a neat row of jars that YOU canned sitting on the counter cooling! We definitely learned a lot of "don'ts" on this first attempt, but I think I'd attempt it again. I admit though in the middle of the process the cans in the store were looking mighty good. (It didn't help that it was 11pm! Ya, that's one of those "don'ts" I mentioned earlier!)

Friday Favorite - Our Favorite Cheap Date

2010-08-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

A walk on the boardwalk with a stop off at Starbucks for hot chocolate or strawberry creme frappuccino using a FREE gift card earned through searches on Swagbucks! Definitely one of our favorite things to do. We rarely touch the sand, but its still a great date, especially during the winter when the beachfront is slower.

These were actually taken August 1st. It was a balmy 80 degrees, which actually felt really cold. When your body is "used" to weather that feels like 110+, 80 degrees sends it into a state of shock. The cold wind didn't help and may just be to blame for the ear ache I still have over a week later. It started raining about halfway back to the car. It was much farther than we remembered!

P.S. This sweater is definitely a favorite as well. I LOVE it! I will probably be over wearing it this Fall. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the birthday money to buy it!

Charlottsville - Monticello

2010-08-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we went on a spontaneous anniversary trip to Charlottesville. (Hard to believe it's been 3 year since we said " I DO." Then again it feels like we've always been married. Still loving the married life!) It wasn't quite as spontaneous as this trip. However, the decision was made at lunch on Sunday and I only have a half hour to pack before we left. (I was thankful he gave me that much time!) He had taken two days off for our anniversary months before, and we really did talk about what we wanted to do. Guess we changed out minds at the last minute. I for one am really glad we did. It was just the relaxing weekend we both needed!

As you can tell Monticello was a lovely, lovely place. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day either. I'd totally recommend going. Amazing what Jefferson the ingenious things he did to make the house more "functional." I'd still consider it a mansion even to this day and it was built in the 1800s! More of that trip in a future post!

Friday Favorites - the blog edition again!

2010-08-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

Found a lot of these yesterday while wasting time... wasn't feeling too hot since I had massive canker sores in my mouth and on my tongue. I should get used to them as I have had them pretty much constantly since I was 16, but sometimes they get the best of me. They think I have a "syndrome" that is causing them. Yuk!

Without further ado here's some great blogs and ideas I want to try or buy:

Hope Studios -

Rosette Shirt

I've been loving this type of shirt for awhile, but I love even more being able to make it myself. So much cheaper than buying one from J.Crew! (Which the frugal in me won't do. HAHA.) Love her detailed instructions, but I still think I'll wait till we go to Colorado so I can have my mom's wisdom when I try it out!

Oh, and check out this gorgeous rosette!

Yes, she made it herself AND she tells you how she did! Love all the ideas she gives. I'm thinking I need to make one for a necklace, shoes, a shirt...love it all! Oh, and did I mention it looks easy to make and its cheap!

You Craft Me Up! - Okay this girls has talent and lots of it. Check out what she did with her KitchenAid mixer!

Before & After

I guess they make a spray paint for appliances. Who knew??? I'm not sure I'm brave enough to actually try it as I LOVE my Kitchen Aid and I'd hate to ruin it. I love how it turned out and it is quite tempting though! I'm wondering if I could try it out on say a toaster... those are easy to replace! Would you try it??

Lula Belle- This site has lots of simple craft ideas. I'm thinking about trying my hand at these...

I know Asher would love them and they'd probably make great gifts!

- She makes the cutest quilts! (Plus she's having a giveaway right now too!) Here's a couple of my favorite items from her Etsy shop. Babysitting Asher twice a week is semi-dangerous. I now have a "excuse" to get some fun baby toys/supplies ! So far I've been good and have kept his toy supply small and mostly from yard sales. Maybe I'll splurge for his one year birthday! If you knew this baby you'd know why we LOVE to spoil him. He's has the best personality. It's amazing how well you get to know a baby when you watch them twice a week for 5 months. (2 months on...) Loving those baby cuddles! Okay I digress here's what I'd get if I had all the money in the world. Actually if that was the case I'd get a couple of quilts too!!

Friday Favorites - the blog edition

2010-07-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

I have so many posts in the works its not funny! The first part of the month I was a bit "under-the-weather" with a summer cold and only did what I had to. Which mainly consisted on taking care of my wonderful husband, entertaining the cutest little 7 month old and preparing for a visit from my sister. Plus this weekend my husband and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary and made the impromptu decision to go to Charlottesville. I've been a little lax on updating the blog, even though I have the pictures and the post "in my head." So expect a post or 2 on these events in the next couple of days. However, instead of an update on our life I just had to post these beauties. For some reason over the past couple of weeks/days I have found some awesome blogs and I wanted to share them with my "2" readers.

* Picky Palate - This blog made me very hungry and inspired me to make some creations!

Who could resist these Salted Carmel Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies or these adorable Bacon and Cheese Egg McMuffin Cups.

Aren't her pictures the best!!

* Kevin and Amanda - Now this is one organized young lady. I love all the ideas on becoming more organized, however I do have to work a little on not being a ting jealous!

Check out her cupboards and the cute little earring frame she made!

*O'Suz news - I actually went looking for this one after going to the shop in Charlottesville. I seriously could have bought the entire store. It was organized so cute by colors and even Roderick found some fun things to look at.

My pictures of the shop this weekend!

I almost bought this for Asher...I loved the simplicity of the colors and pictures!

Not that I need another reusable bag, but this one would fit so nice in my purse! (And comes in the cutest patterns too! I had a really hard time deciding which set/ones to include here.)

Oh, and check out this wrapping paper!

She even had little sliver bird necklaces that she had displayed on this paper, but unfortunately I can't find them on her blog. And believe me I spent way too much time looking at that blog!

And this little outfit. Wish they came in my size I would totally wear them!

Yeah, I could go on and on. Can you believe I actually did not buy a single thing from the shop. It helped that it was the first shop we visited and I didn't know what other goodies I'd find. I ended up not going back, but I kind of wish I did!

SO.... I had a couple other blogs I was going to showcase, but this post is getting a little long. I guess I'll post them next Friday! Hope you enjoyed this little eye candy. I sure did!

4th of July

2010-07-11T13:13:00.001-07:00

There's nothing like a great 4th of July Celebration with friends. We got together with our Sunday School for a great BBQ before the fireworks. Great food, fellowship, and fireworks!Who could ask for a better 4th? Thanks Adam and Kerry for being such great hosts!

Birthday Blessings

2010-07-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

I was thoroughly spoiled by my family and friends this birthday. We started the festivities with a get together with a few of our friends on Sunday night. Wish we had a larger place so we could have had more, as it was we had 13 people in our little apartment. No celebration is complete without a birthday cake. This years was "affectionately" named the Volcano. By the time we sang a almost perfect section of the top layer had completely slid off!

Monday, my birthday, I got to sleep in! Then Roderick and I enjoyed a yummy lunch at Sonoma Wine Bar and Bistro. (We had purchased a $50 gift certificate for $25 through Groupon awhile earlier.) Then we enjoyed watching Toy Story 3 at MacArthur Center. Thankfully Roderick thought to look at the Entertainment book before we walked in and we found a coupon for a free movie on your birthday and a another for $7 ticket. I can't believe I didn't think of looking for a coupon, but I'm really glad Roderick did. That was probably the least expensive visit to a theater we've ever made. (Other than the Cinema Cafe'.)

That evening we got to enjoy the wonderful surprise my husband had gotten me, a Wii! Definitely was not expecting that, but we had a blast already with it. I LOVE it! As I was looking through my other gifts I noticed a couple of themes....lime, polka dots, and kitchen gadgets. It's so funny to me how birthdays seem to have themes!

Friday Favorite

2010-06-11T18:16:00.001-07:00

Roderick and I am in love with this new salad. ( That's saying a lot for my non-veggie loving husband. He'll eat it but usually say "it's not my favorite.") It's a recipe we improvised and tweaked from an Apples of Gold recipe. The first time we made it to take to a friends house a couple of weeks ago. Let's just say the bowl was completely clean when we were done, almost to the point of being licked clean. That time we used a combination of red leaf, butternut, romaine, and spinach straight from a friend's garden that morning. We also used a freshly picked red onion from the garden that was the most potent I've ever cut. AND strawberries we hand picked! Can I say heavenly!!! Well, even without those the salad is WONDERFUL!

Salad:

approx. 1lb of favorite mixture of lettuce

1 pint fresh strawberries sliced

sliced almond or toasted pecan halves

Canned Mandarin oranges

Red onion

Salad Dressing:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup vegetable oil ( I used olive oil -makes me feel healthier)

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

(This makes a LOT of dressing. I'm sure you could cut it down a little or maybe even in half.)

Black & White: Lime Green Polka Dots: Plum:

2010-06-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Transformation complete!

My project is now complete. It was definitely harder than I thought it would be, but I REALLY like how it turned out. Gives the room a whole different feel. (Mostly because it blocks out a lot of the light.)

Since the project is done... here's a look at the whole kitchen.

Before *when we first moved into the apartment*

After

Before

After

Before

After

I still have a few little projects I'd like to do, but I'm sure there will always be something else to do!

Milking the Birthday Blessings

2010-06-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

I have a birthday approaching at the end of the month. I know getting older is a fact of life. (And as some say "better than the alternative" although heaven is better in my oppinion!) However, for some reason this one is making me feel really old. Maybe it's because it will be my last year in the 20's or maybe its the age my mom's been for a long time! (She's turned 29 for as many birthdays as I can remember. = ) ) So instead of feeling old I've decided to milk my birthday for all its worth. AND how else would I milk it, but with birthday Freebies. Boy are there a lot of them!! Here's some of the things I hope to enjoy this month:

* Free Starbucks!

* Free burger from Red Robin

* Free ice cream at Baskin Robins and Cold Stone

* Free Krispy Cream Doughnut

* Plus a whole bunch more!!

If you have a birthday coming up, check out this list over at the Frugal Girls. Seriously there are over 40 different birthday freebies her list!

Speakin' of Birthday's, I wanted to wish my mother-in-law a Happy Birthday today. Too bad we can't be there to celebrate! I wonder if you can still get in on some of these deals since it is during your "birth month."

And we have some veggies...

2010-06-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

Our little container garden has started to produce. The pepper plant looks great. We definitely have one pepper growing and we have 20-30 buds! However, I think we are doomed to only produce one tomato. (Although, we both wonder if that is actually two tomatoes growing together.) There was another bud, but it just appears to be dieing on the vine. Oh, well. We're still having fun tending to it. The basil is looking nice and lush it's just not really growing. Can't wait to start using it in recipes!

Pretty Projects

2010-06-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

I've been busy painting lately. There are all these projects that have been waiting to be done and with the long weekend I decided it was high time I do them. After almost 3 years of marriage my husband has finally started to let me know what he likes and doesn't like as far as decor in our house. (Which I LOVE!) Last fall as I was cooking he informed me he'd like to see less "deep green" (forest green) and more of "this green" (which happened to be lime green.) I loved the idea since I was really loving lime green at the time as well. Add in a few polka dots and I'm in love with the new look! A lime green and plum kitchen with a few grapes and polka dots thrown in. Over the past few months a few of our items have found their way into the garage sale pile and have been replaced with some lovely lime green and polka dots. I love how its turning out. Thanks Rod for the great inspiration!

I wasn't originally planning on painting a new picture for here. However, when I painted this lovely chalk board,which a friend let me have out of her yard sale pile, we both decided the styles just didn't match. (Sorry, Jenni.)Actually my husbands words were, "The chalk board is Sara Mincy style and just doesn't go with the other picture. I like the Sara Mincy style more!" I'm really glad he likes her style because he is seeing more and more of that style popping up around the house.

I'll post the whole kitchen after I finish one more project. That happens to include these beauties I got last weekend for a $1 at a yard sale (for 6 of them actually, one is missing from the picture), some glue, and some fabric I've had around since November. I'm really hoping they turn out like I imagine them and I'm not taking on too big of a project.

Too many projects are calling me name. I'm off to finish a painting for the bathroom now. . . Wish the house would clean itself and the laundry would wash and fold itself so I could have fun with these projects non-stop!!

Growing Growing...

2010-05-17T18:20:00.001-07:00

Planting Day:

1 Week Later:

2 Weeks Later:

And we have a garden...hopefully we have produce too! Hopefully a little more than one lonely extremely delicious tomato we got last year. This year we are hoping to add peppers and basil to the mix. No matter what happens, though, I'm enjoying tending to my little garden and watching it grow!

Sights and Colors of Philadelphia- Part 1 (Warning Picture overload!)

2010-05-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

Roderick's brother had a business trip in Philadelphia the last week of school. We decided we would go up that weekend, since Philly is much closer than Colorado! Roderick studied in the car as I drove some of the way and ended up staying up quite late Friday night to finish his Hebrew Final. (Oh, the joys of school!) We were able to meet up with Jess Trach on Saturday and had a great time touring the beautiful city!

Ever heard of Groupon?

2010-05-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

Groupon features one great deal every week day for approximately 50 cities around the US. (Denver, Charlotte, Portland, Jacksonville, Washington D.C, and New York City to name a few.) Typically the deal is 50% or more off of a restaurant, store, activity, etc. Deals are e-mailed every day and you choose whether or not to participate in that deal. You only get it if enough people choose to join in that day, otherwise your credit card is not charged. Its great if you are going on vacation to an area as well. The groupons are usually good for several months to a year. Lately they have been having great deals in our area. Friday it was a $50 Sonoma gift certificate for $25. (Somona is a REALLY nice Ruth Chris type restaurant in our area.) Today's deal is even better though $30 worth of dry cleaning at Zoots for $9 a 70% discount. You can do the deal up to 5 times. So you could potentially have $150 worth of dry cleaning for $45. Each $30 gift certificate must be used at one time. However, they can be combined, they are good at all Hampton Roads locations, and are good for 1 year.

Now I'm off to comfort a little 4 month old sweety that has the hiccups and is getting tired of them!

Adventure in Washington - Part 3

2010-04-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

Our final destination before we headed home on Saturday was Georgetown. The town was beautiful.... But who can visit Georgetown without also visiting this place. Thanks Sarah for the good word. We probably would have never waited in this line if it hadn't been for your vote of approval!

After seeing the line Roderick wasn't so sure, but we decided to wait it out. He was a little less skeptical when he saw these beauties.

We had a red velvet cupcake (for my husband) and a cookies and cream (for me) boxed up since the store was so full. That gave us an extra speed to our step as we walked the 20 plus minutes back to the metro and rode it all the way back to Alexandria. As soon as we got to the car this occurred!For my husband surprisingly it was love at first bite. He couldn't get enough of it as you can see in the below picture. The skeptic was then planning when we could return for another visit!

Colorful candy shop in Georgetown.

We left DC about 5:30, made a quick stop at IKEA for a little shopping and a shared dinner...made a wrong turn that headed us back towards Washington D.C., took the very next 'exit' which ended up being an HOV lane without any exits for a very LONG time and were back where we took the wrong turn about a half hour later! We made one more wrong turn that ended up being near a Kroger so we did a little coupon shopping for the LaVictoria salsa I wasn't able to get here. We spent $9 on 4 bottles of LaVictoria, 10 cans of diced tomatoes, tuna (to donate! we are not fans!!!) and some apple juice. We didn't arrive home until after midnight Saturday night! Roderick was hungry so he downed a bunch of LaVictoria and we headed to bed....only to be woke up at 4 by a VERY sick husband! Yep the flu....(and no he has not eaten any more of the 4 jars of LaVictoria I purchased!) I came down with it a little later in the day, but I think that I had the start of it Friday and Saturday. My cupcake didn't quite taste as good as I'd expected and I feel queasy any time I see one now. Hopefully that will change soon because I really want to try a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting from Georgetown! We are so thankful we made it home before the throwing up began!! And we got another day added to our little vacation.... a sick day on Monday!

Adventure in Washington - Part 2

2010-04-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

Warning: Huge picture overload. We mainly took lots of pictures and walked and walked...and walked. The pictures are a bit out of order, but I don't want to waste the time trying to reoranize them. We had fun just enjoying each other's company. However, I do wish I wore something a bit heavier. It was a lot colder than I was expecting!

Adventures in Washington- Part 1

2010-04-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Roderick and I took a little weekend trip to Alexandria/Washington D.C. Spring Break was not a break for us as Roderick worked a ton at work and on a certain VERY HUGE Hebrew project. Those of you with husband's in seminary probably know exactly which project I'm talking about. So when it was all finished we decided to take a break. Here is what we enjoyed on Friday evening....

One of my main goals was to look at and take lots of pictures of the beautiful spring blooms and trees. We certainly accomplished that goal and I think I ended up with a few cool pictures. (You'll see a bunch more in the next installment.)

Roderick's only request for the weekend was to watch How to Train a Dragon in Imax 3-D. The theater was just a short walk from our hotel and was probably the largest theater I've EVER seen. Let's just say that this frugal got a HUGE shock when they told us the price.... $35 for the two of us. What?!?!? I could probably buy 2 or 3 DVDs at that price...maybe more. Roderick even asked if there were any student discounts, but unfortunately those only apply on Thursday. We did decide to splurge and we had a blast. Probably not worth the price, but we were not sad we decided to go ahead and watch it anyway.

A huge pizza that was great, but too large. (Maybe even one of the best I've ever had.) We specifically asked our waiter if he thought the 10 inch would be enough for the 2 of us as we didn't want any leftovers. He said that was the personal size so we went with next size up... which was only a couple of inches larger. Now my husband eats a lot....but that pizza was huge. Try as he might he couldn't eat it all and we left with one piece leftover. (AND a very full husband that seriously regretted eating so much.) We looked high and low to find a homeless person to share it with, but we couldn't find one....so we left it on top of trash can. (We saw lots that would have enjoyed it the next day.) Hopefully we learned our lesson on that one. Plus we made some great memories.

The hotel we stayed at. We got a great deal and it was quite nice. However, I have to say its parking garage wass kind of creepy. Roderick was sure he had seen online that the hotel had the option of valet parking or park yourself so we drove into the parking garage ourselves. Let just say that I'm sure Roderick would have been able to easily touch the ceiling if we had got out of the car. (If we had a truck I'm not sure we would have even made it inside without scratching the top.) There were cars parked in various places no space was left untouched...and there was no way to get out once we realised we were in the wrong place. After we got a questioning look from one of the valet drivers and asked about it we did find the end and we were able to turn around. That was another expense we hadn't quite counted on so we just decided to walk everywhere we went and nixed the idea of driving around downtown Alexandria. = ( I guess we'll do that another time.

More of DC later...

Where did the spring go???

2010-04-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

A friend and I went for a walk today in the sunshine. We were only out for 20 minutes. Why so short, you may ask? We were burning up... in April. What happened to Spring weather? When I got home I decided to see what the weather was like. No wonder we wanted to end our walk early... it was 94 degrees and felt like 101!

(I've tried and tried, but for some reason I can't get the actual data from weather.com to actually show up on here, but believe me it truly is that HOT!! So instead I'll put up a picture from our trip to Washington DC a couple of weekend's ago. I'm in the process of that post... hoping it will be up soon!)

Frugal Finds

2010-03-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

CVS

Transaction #1

Total Spent $.50!

Received $8 in ECBs!!

We actually needed none of this, but I made money! Will give away all but Roderick's favorite drink.

Coupons used :

$1 off Colgate

Buy 1 get 1 free on Stayfree

$2 off Stayfree product

$1 off Stayfree product

$4 ECB

Transaction #2

Total Spent $.40

Coupons used: (Used a raincheck for 4.99 a 6 pk from a couple of weeks ago)

Buy 3 get 1 free

$3 off 2 Ensure products (2 coupons)

$4 ECB used

$4 OFF $20 CVS Coupon

* Left with $3.99 ECBs! Target

Total Spent: $1.99

$ Saved with coupons $15.53!!

Obviously most of this was free so I'm not going to detail the deals. If your curious about the deals check out this post.

Farm Fresh

Total spent: $1.67

$ saved with coupons $ 2.29 (54%)

I wasn't planning on going to Farm Fresh this week, as the deals were better at Harris Teeter this week. However, I was at CVS, which is right across the street from Farm Fresh, and I needed to get something for Melody who happened to be at Farm Fresh. I decided to go ahead and purchase a couple of the deals.

Hot Deals -

Red Star $.30 each used a $.35 coupon

Reese's Free used a $.55 coupon

Harris Teeter

Total Spent: $32.25

$ Saved with coupons $30.37

Triple coupons at Harris Teeter this week! Definitely some good deals...unfortunately a lot of the really good deals were gone before I could even get there. Therefore, the bottom line was not quite like I've been able to get in the past. I still used up my 20 coupon limit though!

Hot Deals - There were lots of great deals, but here are a few.

Chicken buy 1 get 2 free - $8.50 for all three packages

Strawberries buy 1 get 2 free - $5 for all three - shared with Melody as we didn't need them all!

Tide - $3.72 used a $.35 coupon

Mission tortillas - $1.50

Flour - $.25 used a $.75 coupon

Joy - $.09 used a $.30 coupon

Sour cream - $.79 used a $.55 coupon

Dole fruit in a jar - $.25 - unsure how much coupon was for

Mahatman rice - $.19 - unsure how much coupon was for

etc.

Freebies -

Country Crock (2)

Saffron Rice

Potatoes

Chocolate milk

Mentos

Beach nut ~ mini-meal

Total for week: $36.81

Total for month:$157.07

Stuffed to the gills...

2010-03-25T21:58:00.000-07:00

My mailbox that is....

This is what I found on Monday and Tuesday this week in my mailbox. I love going to the mailbox now.... freebies, samples, magazines, coupons are SO much better than junk mail!

I find out about the deals and freebies on http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ and www.mrsmoneysaver.com.

I LOVE a good yard sale!

2010-03-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

I went out yard saling for the first time this season. I was surprised by the number of sales there were for so early in the season. I had a short list of things I'd like to find this season and guess what I found almost ALL of them! I love to see what my change can get me! This time I was able to really stretch it and find a whole bunch of steals!

- Bumboo for Asher - the 2 1/2 month old joy I get to watch twice a week - $2!

- Fun rattles again for Asher - 3 for $1

- Laptop case for my husband - $2

- Star Stacker for Asher - $1

- Caterpillar that's about as long as Asher (24 3/4 in!!! His Dad's 6' 9" so we were not surprised to find him in the 97 % for height!) It has a measuring stick on the back of it! = ) - $0.50

- Pampered Chef rolling pin - $0.50

- Basket for Asher's new toys - $0.50

The only thing not on the list was the Rolling pin, but I couldn't pass that one up.

Also on the list was a nice/cheap baby swing. I had a couple of "wants" I wasn't sure I'd be able to find, but I thought I'd at least try.

Want #1 - smaller - travel size

Want #2 - match my current living room theme

Want #3 - must work! (I guess that was a need.)

Didn't find it on my morning run. However, a friend and I were heading home from a baby shower and happened to notice a yard sale along the side of the road that had a swing. Since it was after 3 and late into the day my friend decided to do a U-turn and check it out.

1.) Smaller size with open top - travel size? but it'd work

2.) Burgundy, Green, and yellow plaid - yep matches my living room... and I haven't ever seen one like that!

3.) Tried it out and it worked! May need a new battery though, the slow option was REALLY slow!

Best part is they took $8 for it. Now it needs a little...well okay... a LOT of cleaning, but it's all surface cleaning and shouldn't be that hard to do.

Wow and all on the first day of shopping! I guess I need to add to my list or just quit going all together. Nah....I'll still go it's the only window shopping I feel good doing! Hey I can pay those prices!

For now I'm off to clean some baby toys with a little bleach water. What's the ratio for that anyway? Guess I better google that....or better yet I'll use Swagbucks maybe I'll earn me something!

Spring is here!

2010-03-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

Where we live we rarely see snow. If there's even a dusting the whole town shuts down. This year, however, we got lots of snow. More snow than this area has seen in 20 years, if I remember the weatherman's trivia right. Not near as much as Colorado, my old home, but I must admit I've become a weather wimp since moving here! I'm so glad we have finally gone from this.....

* I can't claim the cute snowmen/woman. These were the "best of show" Roderick and I found as we walked the neighborhood the day after the largest snowstorm of the season. (We saw more than 10!)

To this....

..."Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning..." Daniel 2:20b-21

Happy First day of Spring! I'm so thankful for seasons and for change. It certainly felt like Spring around here with a high in the upper 7o's, cloudless skies, gentle breezes, fragrant flowers in the area, daffodils gracing many yards.... Spring may just be my favorite season!

What does the first day of Spring look like in your part of the country?

Groceries for a steal

2010-03-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

This week I purposely avoided the drugstores. 1.) The deals were not as good as I like and I didn't really need anything. 2) I planned on using a couple of the instant wins I won on Kroger's March Madness instant win game. I was also hoping to get some of my husband's favorite salsa - La Victoria - that I can only find at Kroger. I was able to use my reward's to print out 2 nice $4 off 2 coupons before I left. I was HIGHLY disappointed when they told me at the check-out that starting the previous Sunday (three days before I was shopping!) they no longer take Internet coupons for more than $1 off because they were having too much fraud! (The deals are great without cheating...come on guys don't ruin it for the rest of us. ) I decided to not get the salsa since I couldn't use the coupons, but I'm going to check on that. Any one else heard about this? Okay enough complaining, here's the deals I was able to get...

Kroger: $18.55

Saved $16.88 (48%)

Hot deals: Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast 1.99lb Strawberries 1.88 Hershey Syrup 1.76 -cheapest I've seen around town without coupons Freebies: Kraft cheese - won on the instant win game King size Reese cup - won on the instant win game Star Vinegar - free coupon from company survey

Farm Fresh: $4.21

Saved $6.00 (60%)

Received a $4 Catalina

Freebies - 6 Free boxes of cereal for Grace Supplies!

(Melody and I went before church to make sure we were able to get the deal. We were able to use the Catalina on our transactions later that day.)

Farm Fresh: $13.72

Saved: 21.49 (62%)

Hot deals:

Oreo Cakesters - .19 used $1 off 1 coupon

10 lbs of potatoes - 2.00 used BOGO coupon

Roma Tomatoes - .98 lb

Petite Sirloin - 1.98lb!

Toaster Strudel - .29 (2) - used 2 $1 off 1 coupons (Definitely not on the healthy list, but this is Roderick's favorite quickie breakfast. We splurge on this treat when the deal is this low!)

Red Barron french bread pizza - $2 used $1 off 1 coupon

Eddy's ice cream - 1.99 no coupon needed (Another splurge treat... should last us awhile though since we don't eat much sweets.)

Freebies:

Johnson & Johnson safety swabs (2) - used 2 $1 off 1 coupons

Viva towel - used .85 off 1 coupon (Our favorite brand!)

Harris Teeter: $4.85

Saved $6.15 ( 56%)

Hot Deals:

Large Cantaloupe 1.74

80% lean hamburger 1.47lb Organic Green Onion .50

Sudafed PE on clearance - .04 after $2 off coupon (another great Grace Supplies donation!)

Freebies:

Wishbone dressing (2) - used two .75 off coupons ( I felt like the Lord gave me this one. I recently heard that the Balsamic Vinaigrette is a great marinade. I wanted to try it out, but didn't want to pay the regular price when I know I can get it cheap. This was an unadvertised deal that I happened upon. Hey, little things make me happy!)

So I was able to get all of this.....For $41.83!

Total for month so far $120.26!

So far just a few cents over my $40 week/ $200 goal! Should be able to do that because we are very stocked up, even with the way my husband eats. He's 6' 4" and must have hollow legs. I rarely have leftovers even when I cook for 6- 8 people and there's only 2 of us. He doesn't have an ounce of fat on his body! ( Wish I could say the same about me!)

Why the deals posts?

2010-03-12T20:52:00.001-08:00

A couple of weekends ago we had a Savvy Stewardship conference at our church. I taught a class on on-line resources and had lots of questions on what I'm actually able to get. So I'm going to start posting every week. It will also allow me to have one location where I can find how I'm doing and what I'm saving. Plus I promised the ladies that attended my class I'd do it! (Gotta keep a promise!!)

I still hope to do lots of personal post as well. Even though I'm WAY behind. Sorry Mom!

Super Savings

2010-03-12T20:28:00.000-08:00

Farm Fresh -

Total: $37.51

Savings of $30.17 (46%)

Best Deals:

Dreamfield Pasta - Free

Keebler Dark Chocolate Cookies - Free **

Malt-O-Meal cereal - $0.50 *

*(Not pictured we didn't need cereal but Grace Supplies does. Here's the link if you are going to Farm Fresh later and you need cereal or want to donate it to Grace Supplies.) **(We didn't need this nor the Grasshopper cookies, but they are my weakness. I'll make them last a REALLY long time! For some reason St. Patrick's day just screams Grasshopper cookies to me! I rarely indulge like this and I almost feel guilty. BUT they sure do taste good! Like Thin Mints, but MUCH cheaper!) CVS - Total: $4.47 with $5 in ECBs to spend next time

Total for week:

$41.98

This month so far:

$78.45

(A little behind) Last weeks shopping

2010-03-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

I definitely went to a lot more different stores than normal last week. Roderick and I needed to be out of the house Wed while some work was being done in our house. (The fumes were putting strong to say the least!) So we went to Walgreens for the Red Barron that was on sale and since its right next to Harris Teeter I decided to run in and get a couple of their deals. Then I went to Rite Aid on my own and then my usual Wednesday Farm Fresh run with Melody.

Farm Fresh

Total $20.17

Savings with coupons -43%

Best deals - Activia - Free Danimals - Free Softsoap - Free Glass Plus - Free Eddys - $0.50 (Not picuted - a gal of Milk.)

Rite Aid

$2.19 with SCR of $3.00 to come next month

Walgreens -

$5.81

Harris Teeter

$8.28

I also got 2 24 pks of Deer Park water, but they were still in the car when I took this picture. They were one of the best deals. eVIC price $2.88 and they were BOGO so I got 48 water bottles for $2.88. I send Roderick with water every day. I know not the best for the environment... I'm working on that. = ) I got all of this for less than the Finish's regular price of $10!

Total for week:

$36.45!

(I didn't include CVS this week since it went in to the February budget. Which had a final lower than I've ever gotten!)

My first CVS transactions

2010-03-12T19:26:00.000-08:00

2/28 ~Transaction #1: Softsoap Body wash $4.49 * ECB $4.00 Ensure (4 pks) $4.99 each Powerbar $1.50 * ECB $1.50 Basil & Oregano(BOGO) $0.99 Coke $1.99 CVS Snack bags $2.99 J&J Baby Oil $2.19 25 Digital Pictures $7.25 Coupons: Softsoap -$1 Ensure(2) -$1 Ensure - Buy 3 Get 1 Free Johnson baby product -$1 CVS coupons Free Coke 2L $10 off $20 Free 25 digial pictures Free CVS product up to $3 Total: $10.81 (With CVS $ off coupons like the $10 off $20 it is my understanding that you must have the $20 after coupons. Otherwise I could have had a lower price. However, even with this stipulation I saved $31.25! And I had $5.50 for the next transaction.) Transaction #2 - Directly after the first - she actually ripped off the ECBS for me and used them Speed Stick (2) $2.75 = $5.50 *ECB $3.00 Coke 2L $1.99 Coupons: CVS Coupon - Free 2L of Coke ECB - $3.00 - $1. 50 Total: $0.24 (For some unexplained reason I also got a $2 ECB from CVS so I ended the day with $5 ECBS) *** SO I have a disclaimer. When I went in to the CVS I happened to notice on the top of the trash 2 CVS coupons neatly cut out. One for the Coke 2L, the other another 25 digital prints. I did got back later that week before the coupon expired and printed a few pictures of my sweet 2 month old buddy I get to watch two days a week. I was also able to get one of the "goodie" bags they were giving away. Boy were they full of goodies!

:MeRrY ChRiStMaS:

2009-12-24T17:06:00.000-08:00

MeRrY ChRiStMaS

The tree is trimmed, the stockings hung, presents wrapped, birthday cake made... It's time for the celebration of our Savior's birth. Roderick and I are looking forward to enjoying a Christmas celebration with just the two of us this year. However, the Lord has worked it out for us to go home to Colorado later. We both wish you a very Merry Christmas. May you have a very joyous time celebrating with family and friends.

I'll leave you with our favorite

Christmas carol this season...

When Love Came Down To Earth

Stuart Townsend

When love came down to earth

And made His home with men,

The hopeless found a hope,

The sinner found a friend.

Not to the powerful

But to the poor He came,

And humble, hungry hearts

Were satisfied again.

What joy, what peace has come to us!

What hope, what help, what love!

When every unclean thought,

And every sinful deed

Was scourged upon His back

And hammered through His feet.

The Innocent is cursed,

The guilty are released;

The punishment of God

On God has brought me peace.

Come lay your heavy load

Down at the Master's feet;

Your shame will be removed,

Your joy will be complete.

Come crucify your pride,

And enter as a child;

For those who bow down low

He'll lift up to His side.

Christmas Tour of Homes

2009-12-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

ChRiStmAs ToUr oF hOmEs

Here's a little tour of our home all ready for the holidays. This year in lu of a wordy post, I decided to do picture post and save us both some time! Hope you enjoy!

As I mentioned in my last post I hope that you are finding ways to remember the true meaning of the season. (Well, actually every season!) Jesus Christ - a perfect God in human form- humbled himself and became a slave for us. (Phil. 2) He did not stay a baby. He came for the express reason of dying a horrible death on the cross to save US from our own depravity. However, he is no longer dead, he rose from the grave and is currently at the right hand of God!

I was reminded on Sunday that we can reflect in the wonderful gift of salvation in all the sparkling lights of the season. John 1 tells us that Jesus was the light of men. He came as a light into the world so that everyone who believes in Him would not remain in darkness. (John 12:46)

If you are visiting from the Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes, be sure to leave a comment telling me where you are from. I'd love to see how visitors I have from different states. Plus I've decided since there are SO many different homes to pick from I'll just visit the "homes" of my visitors. =)

These are calling my name....

2009-12-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure why, but these M&M's are calling my name. I've eaten way too many of them. I'm usually not a huge fan of candy. It typically sits around my house for WAY too long uneaten. At one point about 2 weeks ago the container held 2 bags. I'd venture to say it holds about half of that now. I've eaten almost a bag worth! WOW!!

I thought the color of these little wonders would add to my decorations this year and be a nice touch for visitors. The fact that I could get a whole bag for $1 made them seem like the perfect choice for a candy dish. However, I think it's about time that I use them in monster cookies. That way I can give them away rather than eating the entire container myself! I want to try to avoid gaining the 9 lbs. Pastor Dan said the average American gains between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

What is wonderful treat is calling your name?