2 parents, 5 kids, 365 days

Well Look At You!

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

Seriously, you will have so many people saying this to you if you follow LJ's tips for a beautiful holiday face. Break out your eyeshadow and lip gloss and have at it!

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HOLIDAY LOOK: steps, colors, products and some alternatives
FACE:
MAC Oil Control Moisturizer
Clinique Pore Perfecting Pore Minimizer
MAC Studio Fix Fluid (NC 15) applied with ELF Pro Powder Brush (best ever, I swear by it)
Maybelline FITME Powder (110) applied with a different ELF Pro Powder Brush
EYES: (in order)
Urban Decay Potion Primer (Original)Eye colors- Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette (in my opinion, the brushes in this set are USELESS)
Verve- inner lid (fluffy brush)
Chopper- middle lid, extending to brow bone
YDK- outer lid, extending to brow bone, faded up (fluffy brush)
Blackout- outer crease (smudge brush)
Verve- inner lid to rehighlight (fluffy brush)Eyelining-
MAC FluidLine (blacktrack) Eyeliner (applied with angled brush) on top lid, bottom outer lash line
Blackout eye shadow lined on top of liner on eye lid to set (keeps it from smudging and also smooths imperfections)
Verve used on inner-bottom lash line
Blackout used to line 1/3 bottom lash line
YDK used to line 1/3 (middle) bottom lash line
Chopper used to line 1/3 bottom lash lineMascara-
Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash, 2 coats inner and outer lashes on topUrban Decay Supercurl Mascara, 2 coats inner and outer on top after other has dried, 2 coats on bottom

Eye shadow Alternatives: NYX Natural or Smokey Look Kit (not exact but close)
Eyeliner Alternatives: Loreal Hip Truth Cream Eyeliner (the brush is pretty awesome actually)
Mascara Alternatives: Loreal Double Extend gives a comparable result as the MUFE Smoky Lash (though the application is extremely different)

CHEEKS/CONTOURING/HIGHLIGHTING:
(this is actually my fave part!!!)
Let me preface this by saying that I come from a German heritage, I love my Daddy... and our crooked snout. I actually look like I broke it. I am going to say I did... playing football. Anyways, I don't want a nose job or anything, but I do like to contour my facial features. Accent my cheek bones, slim that nose bone, etc. This is where I get to do it!
So....Contouring-
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Powder (Comfort) With a fluffy brush (same size as the one for your eyes) lightly dust 1 line (barely visible) just below your cheekbone. For round or fuller shaped faces, you may also shade (lightly) your temples and the underlining of your jaw. To give the appearance of a thinner nose, lightly line the side of your nose and under the tip. With your powder brush, lightly sweep (not blend) the contoured areas (not on cheeks). This will blend without adding or removing color. Only sweep 1-2x.Blush-
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Powder (Comfort) With a slightly stiff fluffy brush (totally makes sense, right?!) you will, LIGHTLY 1-2 times, tap the brush into your palette and then tap on the sides to tap the excess off. Sweep the brush upwards on your cheekbones. This will lightly blend the lines.
Bronzer Alternative: NYC Color Wheel (bronze glow)Highlighting-
Nars Orgasm- I get so embarrassed every time I recommend that to someone. Gah, don't they know that they have created a really awkward blush name? Yes, they do. Take that same brush and with 1 sweep, brush the tops of your cheek bones.
Bootycall (Urban Decay Naked 2)- There we go with the names again!!! With your index finger, sweep 1 slight little swipe of color on the top of each cheek bone, then down the center of your nose. Leave it alone. You don't look like frosty the snowman. Stop it. You’ve just created a little glint of a pretty dew color that will only catch in the light. You don’t look silly, promise! You can only see it because you are looking directly at it and you’re under the harsh lights of your bathroom. Now leave it alone and come back in 20. If it's still bothering you, then blend it with your powder brush.
Lips:
NYX Lip liner Pencil (810 Natural)
NYX Lip Stick (595 Strawberry Milk)
Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lip Gloss (Midnight Cowboy)
MAC Alternative: Lip Liner (Spice) Lip Stick (Lady Gaga Viva Glam- Limited Edition or the new Miss Piggy)
Hint: If you have thin lips and would like to appear to have fuller lips, when you apply your foundation, apply the foundation over your lips. Lightly brush the powder over your lips as well to set the foundation. Line the outside line of your lips with the liner, then the natural line. Apply the lipstick and lip gloss. Lip plumpers really do work… most of them. Lip Junkie is an awesome one! It isn’t tacky or gritty and it also tastes and smells delish!

I hope this has helped to solve some of your dilemmas! I know that I used to think that moisturizers were useless for oily/combo skin and that primers really weren’t needed. I proved myself wrong.
I also found out that the setting sprays really do work and which ones do what they say!
With so many brands and products claiming to do this or that and so many celebs endorsing everything and all of the magazines just showing airbrushed models, it’s really hard to find non-biased reviews from people who use the products every day! I am a hard core MAC and Urban Decay girl. There’s no doubt about it, but I know that they are not always the right option for me and I know that even Maybelline has a good thing going with their new FITME line and their powder is pretty great (and only $5!).
I hope, truly, that this has helped you. I enjoyed getting to share my loves with you. In fact, I stayed up until 3 am with all of the products in my lap going over each thing about them because I didn’t want to steer you wrong in any way.
Have a Very Merry (and pretty) Christmas!
-LJ

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Thank you so much LJ for taking the time out of your busy days to make some recommendations for last minute gifts and some tips and tricks to help us put our best face forward at this year's holiday parties and get-togethers!

Holiday Face Time

2011-12-20T09:55:00.000-05:00

Long time, no post. Sorry about that! It has been a busy Christmas season around here, and I have gotten swept up in MOPS stuff, school parties and gift making. Today I have a sweet friend here with some product suggestions for "Santa" to leave in your stocking this year! She is owner of Chicken Scratch Studio. She is also a fantastic artist who runs Sugar Coated--a little fine art shop-- with her sister. LJ has a passion for makeup and always looks fantastic, so I asked her to come and give us some tips and some recommendations.* Tomorrow, there will be a sah-weet post about how to apply these products for a fabulous holiday look!

Welcome, Laura Jane!

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Ok, so if you are friends with Meri on Facebook, many of you have seen me around.
If not, let me introduce myself. My name is Laura Jane, or Laura, or LJ. Actually, I am 29 years old and I don't know what my name is.
Anyways (and I realize that isn’t a real word), I have many passions in life, but very few are as strong as my love for makeup. Nothing gets my blood pumping like a shiny gloss or glittery shadow. Don’t judge me.

Think of it as a hobby if it helps. (but it’s really a passion.)
Now I have tried a lot of products and brands, and by a lot, I mean almost everything. I just want (like you) products that will actually do what they say they will! Between the gabillion brands and products and hypes and…. oh, it’s just exhausting! I have done a lot of the legwork and tried and tested them. Let’s go from confused to confident!

I will list my faves and also give drug store alternatives. Also, know that these products were never ever purchased in just 1 day. I am not a thousandaire. These products have been added to my collection over many years. Some were even given to me as samples and now are a part of my every day routine. Please do not go out and spend hundreds of dollars in one day. Slowly build your collection and also, go to the stores and ask for samples. That way you can see how your skin will respond to the new product over a week or so.
So let's get down to the GOODS, shall we?

TOP 5 RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. A good moisturizer and primer- I know these are 2 products. See what I did there? I cheated right off the start. I'm going to keep it honest.
I use MAC's Oil Control Moisturizer (LOVE) and Clinique's Pore Perfecting Pore Minimizer.
Moisturizer Alternatives: Aveeno's Daily Moisturizer (It’s actually almost the same price as MAC. MAC isn’t as expensive as you may think!)

2. Foundation- Foundation is a very personal thing, but it is also key to a flawless makeup face. For example, I have a complicated mess of a face. I mean, I do. A good foundation will hide anything, THANKFULLY, so hopefully you don't see what my husband sees every night and what my children see every morning when I wake then up (I look like a monster probably) and I have to admit that my son's teacher also didn't recognize me from school drop off one morning and school pick up the same afternoon. UMMM... that's some good makeup and a sad complexion. BUT, it's also the crazy life of being a mom with hormones out of whack from years of breastfeeding, medical junk and stress. Oh the life. What were we talking about? oh yeah.... foundation. So this is personal. I can only tell you what works for me and my skin type. I'm sorry. Hopefully it will help you.
(My skin type in the winter is dry with a tendency to become oily towards the ends of the day. During the summer, it stays oily 25 hours a day. I also have extremely UNsmooth skin. Make sense? Let's not obsess about the unpleasantries of my skin, shall we?)
Ok, let's dive into the milky goodness.
a. MAC Studio Fix Fluid (I wear NC 15) and this is also my Winter ONLY foundation. In the summer it just becomes sludge on my skin. (I live in the south)
b. Napolean Perdis Foundation Stick (Look 1) This stuff is AWESOME. This is totally buildable, but less is more. The more you use, the more you see. Application is KEY with this so use wisely. (Recommended for those who don’t like a heavy or “made up” looking face)
c. Makeup Forever HD Foundation (I wear 117) Now this is tricky. Yes, the reviews are STELLAR. Yes, the women at Sephora will make you think this is gold... I used to, but really, it isn't for everyday wear. Not for ME, anyways, not for my face. It was okay for summer, better than MAC in the summer, but still not perfect.
Alternatives: Revlon Colorstay is very very comparable to MAC Studio Fix. (It is thicker though)

3. Urban Decay Potion Primer- BEST STUFF EVAH!!!! So seriously, this may potentially be the absolute best makeup product ever. I didn't list it as #1 because really, you can't have a dramatic eye without the rest of the face. I mean, can you imagine walking around with a smokey eye or a vibrant peacock blue eyelid without the rest of your face done?! ah hahahahahahaha! ok, anyways! So yeah, well, you couldn't properly have a peacock eye without this potion primer either! Now I linked you to the sale item because it's in the vintage bottle with the wand. That's my fave. Urban Decay got this brilliant idea to change the bottle to a squeeze tube. Bad idea, Urban Decay, baaaad. The new tubes are still just peachy, just not AS peachy since you have to use your finger or a brush (I use my finger).
This primer is like... amazeballs. It makes me so happy. “Sin” is my fave because it is this beautiful rose gold color that is shimmery and beautiful and can brighten any color. “Original” is simply a sheer primer. It will not crease your eye shadows, it will make the colors pop, help with the fallout and make them stick. Oh how I love thee. Best product ever invented. EVER!
Alternatives: NONE.

4. Chap stick- Baby, it's cold outside and no one wants to see those crusty lips. Get you some lip chap; keep those puckers soft. I mean, if you want a hardcore recommendation, my personal fave that I keep in my purse at all times is my Blistex Five Star Protection. $2 and I ain't got no crusty crust lips.... usually.

And drink water. Coffee has water.

5. Urban Decay All Nighter Spray- Oh man, this rates second with the Potion Primer... probably, no it does. It says it will last 16 hours, and it does. It also says to only spray 1-2 times... I would like to know how to do that exactly. I spray about 4 times. It's like automatic. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I have a big head and it takes 4 sprays to cover my big mug or something? Maybe I prefer the extra squirts instead of having to spray and chase the mist? Whatever. I don't know, I don't care. I love it, it sets my makeup, it lasts, I love it. Actually, in the pics in this posts... I put my makeup on at 10am and took the pics shortly after. It is now 9:51pm and my makeup looks just as fresh. I have been at the football fields for 3 hours in the bitter cold and wind, then ran errands, then went to church for 3 hours where I chased 2 year olds in the nursery, then came home to clean, cook supper, do the dishes, sweep and mop ANNNNNND my makeup STILL looks just as fresh as it did this morning! Oh yeah baby! (except my lipstick is missing, and not coming back on until Monday) Oh, I also must mention that I linked you to the travel size. I actually purchased the travel size about 2 months ago. I have about 1/4 of a bottle left and I use mine every time I wear make up (3-4x a week) and apparently, I use double the sprays recommended! haha
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So there you have it! Lots of good recs there for a flawless face. Stay tuned tomorrow for her steps to a fabulous, simple holiday look for those last few Christmas parties and New Year's Eve!

*Neither LJ or I have any affiliation with the brands that she recommends. She just loves them and uses them and hopes that you love them too!

Season of Contentment {Or, Be Happy With What You Have}

2011-12-07T07:12:00.001-05:00

I used to suffer from idea envy.

It was a pretty advanced condition, I was thisclose to needing group therapy {or a valium}.

You see, the internet is a (mostly) beautiful, wide world of ideas. It never ends. When you think you have found the apex of Christmas mantel decor or the tastiest, most decadent dessert you have ever tasted, up pops another one.

It never ends, and sometimes it can make you feel like no matter what you do, your home or desserts will never live up to what the internet says you could be doing. That a few candles and some fake pine garland is no longer good enough as mantel decor. That you need more and better and something different every year in order to impress.

And it isn't just the internet or blogs, it is magazines, the DIY channel, HGTV, TV ads, print ads, Martha Stewart...heck even the nightly news has started showing incredible light displays and tempting food.

Of course, Pinterest hasn't really helped--if anything it has made it a lot worse. It is so easy to look over the ideas I have collected and get depressed that I can't do 98% of it.

There is so much "gotta do it, gotta try it, gotta have it new and different" out there, it makes me wonder if anyone keeps traditions anymore. As boring as my mom's decor was when I was growing up, I was always delighted when the same old nativity scene was placed under the tree. I was glad to see her Santa collection go up around the house--seeing the same old Santas every year made me happy, it told me it was Christmas time. Watching her set up her little light-up Christmas village was fun, I liked seeing the town come alive under her hands.

But this year, I wondered if my kids ever feel that sense of home as they watch me decide what "theme" I want each year. I wondered if they even cared what new and inventive mantel I carefully constructed. I wondered if they would even notice that everything was different and new and shiny.

I was also wondering if I was up to the crushing weight of having to find the "perfect" decor for us this year. And how I was going to afford it. There is only so much you can spray paint from Goodwill or the Dollar Tree before your home looks like a Christmas dumping ground rather than a home filled with tasteful touches that celebrate the season.

How many conical Christmas trees does one need, anyways?

So, this year, I used only what I had (and a only fraction of it at that) and reproduced the mantel that I did last year. I put up my white tree and didn't buy one new ornament for it.

I used the same stockings I bought last year.

I didn't cover every free surface with hurricanes filled with plastic Christmas ornaments that were, if I am truthful, pretty ugly--plastic dollar store replicas aren't nearly as beautiful as the real, glass thing. I made the same old Christmas cookies that my mom made. {I am even thinking of taking on the task of making Kieflies this year *gulp!*}

I told myself that no matter what I pinned, I didn't *need* a Christmas decor makeover every year--that what I have is fine and quite pretty all on its own. What we have, what my kids know is what makes my home beautiful, not what some random blog tells me will make my home better.

That doesn't mean I am never going to add or subtract anything ever again. It just means that I am going to be more judicious when it comes to what I put in my home. It means that I am going to be more content with what I have. It means that (hopefully) my kids will look forward to seeing the signs of the season appear in our home.

It means that even if I have to make Tiny Toffee Bars a hundred times between now and the 25th, I will and be happy that my family loves them.

Because that is what this season should bring: happiness, a sense of home and tradition, and contentment; not anxiety, stress and the sense that your home is "never good enough".

I challenge you to try it--put out all the same stuff you did last year in the same places. Don't buy or make anything new. See if your family even notices (mine didn't)-- be happy with what you have and don't

worry about what you could do. Savor the flavor of treats that you have come to love. Create traditions.

I hope you have a restful, contented Christmas season.

It's Been A While

2011-12-05T14:44:00.001-05:00

I am pretty much the worst blogger out there. Well, maybe not the worst, but definitely one of the most inconsistent. I haven't been doing too terribly much lately, just getting ready for Christmas and doing the day to day routine. Which is why I am glad that I do this mostly for personal reasons, and not to try to make money.

I would be a money making blog fail.

Since we haven't been doing anything spectacular, I thought I would share a couple pictures of some random stuff that I have either done or bought recently. Because I know you are dying to know.

First, allow me to introduce you to these shoes. They are arguably the ugliest shoes I have every owned. However, they are probably some of the most comfy shoes. Like, ever.
Seriously.
They come in a bunch of crazy patterns and colors--this was one of the tamest pairs the shoe store here offered. They did have a pair of paisley slip ons that caught my eye, but what I really wanted were the sparkly black and green pair. Alas, they didn't have my size, so I settled for these.
Very Euro-chic (at least that is what I tell myself) and so far, I love, love, love how they make my feet feel.

I made Rainbow Nerds Cupcakes for Truett's turn as "Star of the Week" at preschool. I like to get the preschool crowd sufficiently sugared up before pick up time.
Mine aren't nearly as purdy as Kristan's, but I was feeling really lazy and didn't want to bag three different icings. So I swirled them instead.

Does anyone else out there SMASH? I have been totally sucked in by my new SMASH Book from K&Company
It is a Pinterest/Scrapbook hybrid--something to smash all my inspirations from print sources, plus memorabilia, ideas, journaling, ideas, etc. I love Pinterest, don't get me wrong, but many times I will see something in a magazine that I wish I could pin, but can't (because I don't have a craft room or office) so this works really well for me. It can be as scrappy or non scrappy as you want it, and I plan on smashing mine full of good stuff!
I got the red one, but there are several colors, all with different themes.

They have this cute little video to show you what you can use it for:

Here is the beginning of my first pages--I have a lot more to add, I can't wait until it gets so full I can barely close it:

A sappy quote, Truett's turkey handprint, Wyatt's last lock of baby hair, some sparkly letters, pictures of Wrenn and something silly Truett said last week. I am going through the big boys' stuff so I can get them in on these pages too.

Usually we get a live tree--we do the whole hunt it down and chop it down routine. This is my "pink" tree, an obviously fake tree that is all girly and sparkly. This tree was purchased for me because I was the only girl surrounded by all those boys, and I had pined (no pun intended) for a white tree so I could girl it up, but of course the testosterone in the house voted that notion down.

But, my husband, being the wonderful man that he is, surprised me with this a few years ago, and it normally goes down in the family room. This year we decided to make it the upstairs tree, and we are going to put the family tree down in the family room--mostly because we aren't ready to get the tree yet, but I wanted a tree up.

What can I say, I was feeling festive. So here it is, in the living room. I still haven't found quite the right star for the top. Also, I don't have a tree skirt for it. I usually just wrap tulle around the bottom, but now since it is in the living room, I think it might need something better.

So that is some of what I have been up to lately. Hope your Christmas planning has been going well!

PS: None of the companies I mentioned above knows who I am. I am not being paid to rate, review or endorse any products. I just bought them and love them.

Thanksgiving Recap

2011-11-26T09:24:00.001-05:00

It was a busy week.

And I do mean busy.

I was so glad that I got a lot of stuff done before Thanksgiving so that I could spend most of the day doing what I wanted to do, which was read a book.

So while the kids played outside (because Thanksgiving here is almost always 60 degrees outside) and husband played with them and watched football, I read and read and read.

And then I started a new book.

It was a good day.

Anyways, let me hit you with some post-holiday thankfulness:

*For turkey. I don't make turkey at any other time during the year, so I love Thanksgiving simply for the turkey, if nothing else.

*Speaking of turkey, can I just get a "holla!" for all the other Thanksgiving food: mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, corn, jello pretzel salad and pumpkin pie. Definitely pumpkin pie

*Ok, now that the food has been covered, I am ever thankful for my husband. For so many reasons, but mostly for his infinite patience with my never ending "I need you to do this..." list. He tolerates my outside activities and when I say I need a night "off" I get no resistance. He is a fabulous mate, and I am so so so glad that God gave him to me.

*For my kids. They ~~occasionally~~ ~~sometimes~~ quite often aggravate me and do things that drive me crazy, but I cannot imagine life without any one of them. Even the surprise one at the end. They are strong, creative, loving, smart, funny, silly, bright, imaginative (some of them *wink*), cute, handsome and beautiful kids. I can't thank the Lord enough for them all.

*For the roof over my head. No we don't really fit--it is crowded and old and needs lots of work, but it is what we have and the roof doesn't leak, and that right there is something.

*For the federal government. There is a lot to not like about it, but it provides a good job for my husband, so I can't complain too terribly much about it.

*For my own health. I battle the occasional cold, but it has been a long time since I have been truly ill, and thank goodness for that!

*For the gift of grace and mercy from God. I deserve so much less, and yet on a daily basis I get to wake up and do life again, secure in the knowledge that His indescribable gift walks with me every day. There aren't enough "thank yous" for that. Ever.

Sunday Skip

2011-11-20T08:34:00.001-05:00

Truett, my little smiley guy. He pretty much looks like this still, except bigger.

Have a great Sunday!

Easiest Dinner Ever

2011-11-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe not ever, I mean, it isn't as easy as calling for a pizza.

But for a quick, weeknight family meal, this is super yum.

I would like to think that I invented this all by myself, but I am not that creative when it comes to cooking, so I am sure that someone else out there has blogged about it somewhere. If they have, let me know, I would love to give them props. If not, well, hey, lucky me!

The secret to my success lies in these two products:

Jiffy corn muffin mix, I realize, according to my friend Laura Jane, is an abomination to use if you are a Southerner.

Luckily, I am a southerner with a little "s" and am excused from eternal damnation for using it.

and also Chili-O. Around here it is a rarity. There is only one chain of supermarkets that carry it and usually their stock is wiped out this time of year at every store. My friend Kelley (who moved away-boo!) introduced me to Chili-O.

Put away the McCormick.
Trust me.
This stuff is worth the hunt.
There is also Chili-O with onion. They are interchangeable.

If you use these two things and a few other ingredients, you will have a quick tasty dinner that your family will love.

If they love chili.
And cornbread.
Also cheese. Lots of cheese.

(sorry that this is the best shot I could get of it. I actually made this meal this week for another family, so I couldn't tear into it and show you the layers. You will have to trust me that it is all there and also that it is quite tasty. Unless you make it, of course-then you'll know.)

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix

2 eggs

2/3 c milk

1 lb lean ground beef

15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 packet Chili-O

1 1/2 c sharp shredded cheddar cheese

sour cream or plain Greek yogurt

water, as needed

toppings you like: more cheese, tomatoes, green onions, etc.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix contents of Jiffy boxes with eggs and milk, pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish.

Bake for 15 minutes.

While that is baking, cook ground beef on the stove top until no longer pink, drain and return to pan. Add beans and chili to meat mixture (add water if it seems dry. I usually add about half a cup or so to make it saucy). Cook for a few more minutes and remove from heat.

Once cornbread is out of the oven, top it with the meat and bean mixture and spread shredded cheddar evenly over the top.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes to finish cooking the cornbread and to warm the meat.

After it is done cooking, top it with sour cream (I actually use plain 0% Greek yogurt because it tastes the same and it is better for you) and whatever other chili toppings you like.

We serve this with a southwest salad kit, but you could do your own salad kit or just eat it on its own.

Enjoy!!

Sausage Apple Cheddar Quiche{ish}

2011-11-16T17:29:00.001-05:00

Fall is passing by too quickly for my taste. I love this time of year when everything gets (presumably--although here, it stays too warm too long) cooler, yet not so cold that you can't just go out in a sweater or a long sleeve t-shirt and a scarf.

Even though I have a deep affinity for bright colors, I enjoy the range of autumnal color that God paints the world with during the fall time. Even the side of the road radiates color, which makes the drive down the highway a lot happier for me.

Of course, with all this beauty, there comes the obligatory fall edibles: pumpkin bread, muffins, pies and tarts, cinnamon anything, creamy anything, spicy hot chocolates and lattes pop up in coffee shops and of course, everything apple: apple crisps, pies, tarts and cakes.

I also like the savory, and even though breakfasty things aren't exclusive to fall, the cooler weather makes me want to make warm things for my kiddos for breakfast: bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, biscuits and gravy and breakfast burritos.
(I don't--I need far too much sleep to get up early enough to do that.)

We also like the breakfast for dinner thing, which brings me to this recipe: Sausage Apple Cheddar Quiche. See?

All the fall things in one dish.

Now, allow me to say, this is the result of me trying a couple of different quiches that I liked but didn't fall in love with, and the way I make it probably qualifies it more for a "casserole" but I like the way quiche sounds.

It is very metropolitan--like I am consuming it with a white wine spritzer and my besties at Sunday brunch in the City. It helps me feel better as I watch a chunk of egg and sausage fly past my head while my kids argue about which is grosser: a bug that squirts when you smash it or the meal I made last night.

Sigh.

Anyways, I have sort of condensed all my favorite parts of those other quiches into this yummo recipe, I hope that you enjoy it as much as we do--even my extremely picky 3 year old loves it!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 box of rolled refrigerated pie dough (you will use both crusts)

10 eggs

2 1/2 c. milk

1 lb pork sausage, drained, cooked and crumbled

2 c. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 med onion, chopped

3 large or 5 small apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1 tsp. seasoned salt (or to taste)

1 tsp. dry mustard to taste (or to taste)

Instructions:

preheat oven to 400 degrees.

unroll and place crusts into an 9x13 baking dish. They will overlap in the middle.

bake the crust for about 10 minutes without any ingredients in it

combine eggs and milk in a large bowl, and whisk until combined, add dry mustard and seasoned salt, whisk again

add apples and onions to egg mixture

after crust is done with it's prebaking, spread the sausage over the bottom of the crust, then top the sausage with the shredded cheddar

pour egg/apple mixture over the top
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 35 minutes, or until set.
Remove from oven and allow to cool a few minutes, then enjoy!

(this can be halved if you don't have an army to feed)

Monday List

2011-11-16T11:08:00.001-05:00

1. As I type, I am cleaning my glass cooktop. If it ever strikes you as a good idea to replace your electric stove with a flat glass cooktop unit because it will be "so easy to clean" trust me when I say it isn't.

2. Last night I had hot chocolate with marshmallow vodka in it. Why has no one before told me that this existed? My life is now complete. Amen.

3. I had an amazing sandwich for lunch. Simple yet satisfying. Probably not front page news, but definitely a high point in my day.

4. My two kids who are in school got high marks. Daddy decided that he would reward their hard work. This morning, my 6 year old (before even saying good morning or "hi" even) walked up to me with his hand out and said "Daddy says you owe me $6.". Ummmm, ok.

5. I got a stylus for my iPad today. I now finally enjoy taking notes on it. Writing with your finger sucks.

6. Tonight, we are having apple sausage cheddar quiche. Honestly, it is one of the best things I have ever eaten. I might post the recipe tomorrow if I can remember to take pictures.

7. Due to a Spotlights Photography fundraiser, I am not entirely sure Monday and Tuesday actually existed this week. My eyes are weary from looking at so many pictures, and honestly, it is really taxing to be super sweet for almost 48 hours straight. My cheeks hurt.

8. I found out that Speculoos is the same thing as Biscoff spread. If you don't know what either of these things are, trust me, you need to head to your supermarket and check out the peanut butter aisle. Go ahead. I'll wait here...

9. I have a terrible headache and I am sure that coffee and knitting will cure it.

10. Speaking of knitting, I finally finished something--it was a quick knit--I saw this pattern on the cover of KnitSimple magazine and wanted to make it. I didn't have any of the proper weight yarn to make it (well not enough of it) so I decided to try out the yarn they suggested. I am a yarn snob, so I was a tad apprehensive about buying yarn from Joann's, but this stuff isn't 100% terrible. It is on the soft side and the colors are lovely. But as I was knitting, I could tell that it isn't going to wear well, there will probably be a lot of pilling and such that I won't like at all. But, for cheap yarn, it is ok to work with. I might even buy it again. (they don't offer a variegated dye lot, this is two different balls, stranded together because they didn't have two of that aqua color. So it is aqua and lime green. Very funky.)

Sorry about the bad lighting, it is a cell phone pic at night. Also, ignore all the lovely bits of whatever on my carpet.

Hair {not the musical}

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Probably the single most exciting thing about have a daughter after so many sons is being able to do her hair.

When I was pregnant with her I had sugar plum visions dancing in my head about how cute she was going to look with her long flowing pony tail and her cute little pointy toddler pigtails.

It was going to be so much fun!

But when she started really growing hair in, I realized very quickly that I was probably going to never see long flowing ponytail coming from the back of her head.

And those pointy pigtails?

Yeah, those are never gonna happen.

Because my girl has hair like this:

Her hair is actually quite long, but you wouldn't ever know that because of all that curl.

Ponytails spring back up to her crown like little fiddle heads.

Pigtails actually look like, well, pig's tails.

Taming that mass of curly goodness is quite a job, and after 4 sons, I sort of suck at it. I use copious amounts of Suave "Morning Hair Tamer" and teeny rubber bands to keep it all under control.

But quite often, her bangs escape their hairband prisons and I was at a loss as to how to get them to stay.

I have tried the little spring barrettes, but they aren't cute and honestly, I have a hard time not making her cute. {it's a sickness, really} Plus, they don't hold enough hair in them.

So when I found these at Target the other day, I snatched them right up. First, I couldn't believe that they still made these! I used to wear these all the time when I was a little girl. I have fond memories of these shapes and had totally forgotten about them until I saw them again.

I remember my mom pressing these suckers into my head to get them to snap, and being distracted so that she just pushed harder when they didn't snap, and didn't pay attention to the fact that the hole wasn't lined up with the clasp and therefore was never going to snap shut no matter how hard she pushed.

I might still have marks up there from that.

But aside from the brief pain memory...

The little flowers and dragonflies were my favorites as a kid. But I am loving the little rabbits and poodles for Wrenn.

I was so happy to be able to bring a little piece of my childhood home to share with my girl.

What are some of your favorite things from childhood?

Husband Appreciation

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

It's The Daddy's 40th birthday soon.

I plan on talking all about his birthday on the actual day, but for now, I just want to say how much I love him and how much I appreciate him.

I don't think he gets to hear it enough. We are always on the go, and I am not the most forgiving wifey when it comes to activities and such. I get frustrated that we aren't spending much time together, either as a husband and wife or as a family because of kids' activities or his volunteerism.

And then my frustration comes out as anger and {maybe} some little fits on my part.

I am not proud of it, but it is what it is.

I {usually} apologize for being a buttface and we move on. Sometimes I don't, and then I feel bad for making him feel bad about being a good dad, or a good person in general with his willingness to help when other people can't {or won't} step up to help.

And really, this face? This person who lets me take pictures of him while he is being so incredibly goofy, knowing full well the suckers are going on the internet--he is pretty amazing.

I am so proud of him and his accomplishments and his hard work and his dedication to what is true and right and good.

And I love that he loves his family so much.

And I am especially glad he loves {tolerates} me so much.

Even when he is trying the "Blue Steel"
{and failing miserably}

Have you appreciated your husband today?

Wordless (Almost) Wednesday

2011-11-09T07:14:00.000-05:00

Last night I made *this* for dinner.

It was superb.

I mean, super duper yummy and it definitely could have been made without meat and still have been yummy.

{since I am a Carnivore to the core, this is important for me to note, because to me, almost everything is better with meat}

Next time I think I will add zucchini (I only used the butternut squash) and leave out the red pepper, but even if I didn't, it was still amazing.

Problem is, I found this recipe on "Eating Well"'s website. Sorry, "Eating Well", but anything with a cup and a half of milk, half a brick of cream cheese and two cups of cheese isn't exactly health food. But, since I freaking hate vegetables (I mean hate. I have to literally choke them down as if there is a gun to my head if I serve them to my kids for dinner so I can be a good example), covering them with cheese and rice was a good way to get them into my body.

The sausage didn't hurt either.

Like I said--delish! Make it tonight, I promise you won't be sorry!

So, I'm Behind...What's New?

2011-11-08T11:07:00.002-05:00

Yep. I am hopelessly behind. I haven't blogged in forever it seems and everyone has moved on to Thanksgiving and I am just now posting our pumpkin picking/Halloween pictures.

I won't bore you with the intricate details. The fact is, we went to a pumpkin patch, picked pumpkins and on Halloween, my husband turned them into works of art-straight from the kiddos' imaginations.

Except for the snotty nosed one. That little gem came from my husband's strange sense of humor.

Enjoy!

The hayride out to the fields (it was extremely sunny, sorry for the squinting):

Out picking the perfect pumpkin. Wrenn was a little confused as to why we weren't just taking the rotten ones...

Group shot, which is very blurry and the Girl is moving too much for a good picture. Sigh.

And also, somehow I didn't notice that behind the pretty fountain, there was a bank of port a potties. Clearly, I am not a photographer.

Here are the selections, all carved up:

(I think hubby had the Fourth of July mixed up with Halloween. Not sure why.)

(yes, I am quite aware that the marker is still on a few of these jack-o-lanterns. It drives me nuts to no end that The Daddy leaves them like this. He claims it makes the features stand out more and therefore. I know that he is just too lazy to carve it the right way though. *wink*)

And, of course, the costumes. You will notice that Wyatt is conspicuously absent. That is because he lost his Trick or Treat privileges. Parenting means having to make the tough decisions sometimes, and that sucks, but don't worry. He lived. And his brothers were nice enough to share with him.

Harry Potter (in case the scar didn't give it away):

Captain Rex (who I guess is some Star Wars character that is in those first three movies that people insist on calling "Star Wars" movies, when clearly, they aren't. No Mark Hamill, no Carrie Fisher, no Harrison Ford = no Star Wars. Sorry George Lucas.)

Harold from Harold and the Purple Crayon, which is one of Truett's favorite books. We realized last year that he looked an awful lot like Harold. During this year though, he lost some of his chubby baby cheeks that made them look alike. Boo hoo for kids growing older.

And the Peacock, which was inspired by a costume floating around on Pinterest:

The tail turned out pretty awesome, if I do say so myself:

I hope your Halloween was fun (or your harvest festival or whatever, if anything, you have chosen to "replace" Halloween with), we certainly enjoyed ours!

The Candy Bank Redux

2011-11-01T07:18:00.000-04:00

**This is a repost of our solution to the "candy problem" in our house. Don't get me wrong, we love candy, but with 5 kids, we get so much we can't possibly eat it. I thought since it is the day after Halloween and probably most people are trying to figure out what to do with all that crazy candy, this would be a good time to repost the Candy Bank.

Also, Happy All Saints Day! Even though I am a Protestant, and don't put too terribly much stock in Catholic rituals, I think this is a beautiful way to celebrate the believers who have gone before us. There are a good many things that we don't celebrate as Protestants that we probably should.

Anyhoo--enjoy the Candy Bank, and let me know if you decide to make one for your family!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So, I have this problem.

Actually the problem is two-fold:

First, I have one (maybe two, time shall tell) child who is extremely sensitive to dyes in food. As in, he has a Starlight mint and it sends him to an emotionally bonkers state for a 48 hour period, and there is no bringing him back until the .00369 ounces of red dye from that mint is out of his system. Second, I have lots of kids who attend a fair number of parties, either at school, on the weekends or for special events, like end of sports seasons.

As you can imagine, that means that we end up with more than a little candy in our house. And I don't mean chocolate (which is good, and we love that stuff!), I mean that sweet, sour, sugary, rots your teeth but it is yummy and quite often dyed into fantastic colors candy.

Smarties, sour belts, Razzles, Runts, Nerds, pretty much anything made by Wonka, Pixy Stix, and gummi worms, among others, make their way into our house and we never quite knew what to do with it. I felt terrible about just throwing it out, that seemed like a waste. We usually just dole out a little at a time to the kids who don't have as much of a problem with the dyes as Boy #3 does, but that doesn't seem fair, and it creates a lot of fights when I don't have chocolate to substitute for him.

And all this is aside from the obvious "no kid needs to eat all that junk".

I needed a solution to getting rid of it without making my kids feel like they were throwing away all their "hard earned" Trick or Treat goodies, or that they had to turn down every goodie bag ever offered at a party, or that they didn't feel like they didn't deserve a treat sometimes.

Because they do. They are great kids.

I also didn't want them to feel weird over being "those kids" who weren't allowed to have this kind of candy, I wanted them to be able to exchange it for something better. But I also didn't want to have a bunch of junk toys sitting around either, bought as a peace offering so they wouldn't whine about having to toss out their candy.

Enter Susanne and her brilliant idea: The Candy Bank.

Actually, I am not sure what Susanne calls it in her house, I just needed a clever name for it, and that is what I came up with. She probably has some other clever name for hers.

Susanne is a smart mom, and I wish I had known about this when my oldest children were littles so I don't have to train them to use the candy bank, but so far they seem open to it.

So what is The Candy Bank?

It is an upcycled plastic pretzel container that the kids now put their sugary candy into, and once they save up enough, they get to "spend" it on something great: a new family game, a new Wii game, or something equally fabulous.

I started with one of these pretzel containers. My friend Kristin had an empty one that I could have (believe it or not, we don't belong to Costco and it would take us a million years to eat our way through that many pretzels, we just don't like pretzels that much. Probably because they aren't deep fried.)

I didn't even remove the label. I just taped a pretty piece of scrapbook paper right over it and ~~embellished~~ wrote the words on top:

(I should have taken a pic of the label before I put it on. taking a picture of a cylinder is not easy)

Then I marked a couple of goals on there. I didn't want them to think that their dedication to saving all this candy and not eating it was going to waste away, waiting for the candy to reach the top of this enormous container. So the bottom goal is an ice cream cone from McD's and the middle one is a family game night. When they reach the top, we will give them two choices (probably a Wii game or with summer coming, an activity of some sort) and they will all have to agree on what they want the reward to be. (which should be an interesting study in family dynamics, by the way, to see if they can all agree)

Then I put in their first few pieces to start them off. As you can see, we have already, in the last couple of months, collected enough candy for the ice cream and we are a couple more events away from a game night.

(we should probably budget for a new Wii game soon, eh?)

This was super easy to do. It took about 2 minutes to cut the paper and adhere it to the jar. Another 10 seconds to drop in the candy. The hardest part was finding an empty container, but even that was just a Facebook post. Of course, you can always embellish it more, pull out the Cricut or Silhouette and cut your letters, add ribbon or cover the lid. Since this is for sons (until TOG gets bigger at least) they prefer function over form, so I am going to leave it the way it is for now.

Although, I did see some cute ribbon in the 1 Spot at Target the other day. Hmmmm...

Anyways, there you have it, a place to put all that extra junk that you might not want your kiddos to have, and a way that makes them think they aren't giving up every treat they ever get.

Thanks Susanne, for the great idea!

(she doesn't have a blog or I would link you to her, sorry!)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T10:15:00.000-04:00

I hope you all have a fun, slightly spooky, costumed, candy-filled day!

Tomorrow, I will post lots of costume pictures of my kids.

Bet you are thrilled!

*wink*

Less Wordy, Socky Wednesday

2011-10-26T07:10:00.000-04:00

I finished the first sock for my friend Kelly (supa skinny, turned new fitness buff Kelly).

Hopefully I don't get SSS (second sock syndrome) and not get them done until spring, when wool socks are just really of no use around here.

It's A New Day

2011-10-25T07:17:00.002-04:00

Sorry for my complaining yesterday.

Not my best day.

And it probably won't be my worst.

I am working on a fun (Pinterest inspired, naturally!) project for my girl's Halloween costume.

Hopefully I will find what I need today and post some pictures for y'all tomorrow!

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

It's Monday

2011-10-24T09:14:00.002-04:00

It's Monday and I have already lost my temper with my kids.

I hate it when I have a fantastic Sunday and a horrible Monday.

It makes the Monday even worse.

I think I need to admit defeat. Home schooling has kicked my butt.

I hate it and it hates me.

I won't ever be one of those "oh look how exciting and cool, they are learning and so am I!" home schooling moms.

Ever.

Never ever.

Because my kid hates it too. He actually hates all school, so I don't take it personally.

But spending 8+ hours a day chained to my couch or chair isn't doing it for me.

I can't spend the day ignoring my preschooler and toddler because my seven year old refuses to work even just a little independently.

I don't want TV raising them.

I can't live like this. I am not an anxious person, and home schooling is making me into someone I just don't want to be, as either a person or a mom.

I feel like I am turning into a basket case.

I think it might be time to throw in the towel.

Sigh.

God bless those of you who do more than one kid for more than a few weeks. I wish I had a kid who cared more. Who didn't act like a complete crazy person when all I ask him to do is spell a word correctly.

I wish I had a kid who could draw a single, solitary line without taking 10 minutes to do it. And not from perfectionism, from procrastination.

Trust me, he couldn't care less if things were perfect.

He doesn't even care much if things reach "mediocre".

I have exhausted all ways of "inspiring" him, whether positive or negative. I am worn out, angry and irritated.

I want to just send him to school tomorrow. Problem is, I know I can't. Our local public school is not great and until next year, we can't afford to send another kiddo to the private school.

So as I sit and stare at the calendar for the rest of the school year, I sob, feeling this heavy weight around my neck, strangling me.

Dear Lord, I pray for you to come alongside me and school this child for the rest of the year. Give me the strength to do it, because I cannot do it alone. Grant me patience that I do not have and grace that I find hard to give. Please help to open the eyes of the child, so that he can see that we are trying our best with what we have. That he will see that if he just complies quickly, we can be done in a few short hours and he can have the rest of the day for himself or for fun activities. Forgive me for my own bad attitude of "why me?" and help me to try to look forward to teaching my child. In Jesus' Name-Amen.

Mother's Tea

2011-10-18T16:45:00.001-04:00

Truett is blessed to have an awesome preschool teacher who isn't afraid to let the kids get down and dirty, painting and playing and all the fun stuff that preschool teachers do to make learning awesome for our kiddos.

This is our first year attending this particular preschool. All of our previous kids have gone to a different preschool, which was equally amazing, but a bit more spendy. Plus, Truett's BFF goes to this school, so we decided to send him there and we haven't regretted that decision one bit.

True and his BFF, D, singing and doing their hand motions to the songs:

Like I said, his teacher is awesome, and the school plans a "Mother's Tea" every year--and today was it. Truett's class planned 6 songs to sing for us and then we got to go decorate cookies together and have a little tea party. It was a lot of fun, and Truett was very excited to have me come and spend some time with him at school.

Yummo cookies, decorated by Truett:

Honestly, she must have the patience of a Saint, spending so much time with a gaggle of 3 year olds. I know I couldn't do it (there are some days that I wish the one I have right now went to preschool every.single.day.)

I appreciate her dedication though, so that I could have a fun day with my kiddo!

Random Monday

2011-10-17T11:40:00.000-04:00

It was a long weekend.

And I mean, let's face it, every weekend is a long weekend after you become a parent.

Weekends that were once used for sleeping in and recharging are now packed with early mornings and activities that stretch from dawn until dusk.

So much for recharging.

Sometimes it would be easier to be a mobile phone: just plug me in when I need more juice!

So welcome to my random Monday. A list of stuff that happened this weekend in no particular order:

1. The weekend started with cute, frilly bloomers for the girl arriving in the mailbox. This may or may not have actually happened on Wednesday. They are just too cute to not share. I got them from Rae Gun on Etsy. Very cute and well priced too.

2. I went on the most fun outing on Friday night with some of my fellow MOPS moms! Our outside events coordinators reserved a spot for us on a local Ghost Tour of our town. We live in "the most historic city" of our state (it's our claim to fame, actually) and therefore, probably the most haunted. I am not a huge believer in ghosts walking around, but it was a fun thing to do, and nice little history lesson as well. Our interpreter was fabulous and it was such a lovely night to be out on the town, walking around.

3. This would be a very grainy picture of one of the haunted windows. Apparently sometimes a face appears in the glass in pictures.

4. We got an oil change on Friday. It is the first one I have actually sat and waited for since 2005. Bringing your children to the auto shop has some advantages. Like all the other older, solo people give the mechanics that look that says "if it means she has to cut in line in front of every single one of us waiting for our cars, get her done so these kids will leave!"

We were done in less that 45 minutes.

5. Friday during the day was pretty fun too--I have an iPad that wouldn't update at home and had to drive an hour south of me to get them to do the update for me. I however, had forgotten that just because the update for people who own the stuff already had been available for a couple of days already, that the iPhone 4S (which really, people, just an iPhone 4 with a new camera.) was actually released on that day. Big mistake, because they didn't really want to help me because they were so busy with the people who were standing in line to buy a phone they technically could have purchased anytime {or you know, called Verizon and had it sent to them}, but I was sort of mean and insisted, because I live so far away. Luckily, this is an outdoor mall, so the kids could run around and play a bit while the Apple nerds did what they needed to do.

6. After everything was updated, I got to take Elias, Truett & Wrenn to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. Their food is way better at the restaurant than the frozen crap they sell at the supermarket. Wrenn especially enjoyed the bottomless cup of milk.

7. Saturday, I was almost late to my son's Little League game and since I had the equipment in the car I was driving, I don't think that hubby was very happy with me. Oops.

8. Sunday morning was fabulous. We had to miss church the last couple of weeks because we had visitors and then we were recovering from the busy week with our visitors. We were glad to be back to normal and in church, soaking up the worship and message.

9. Sunday afternoon, we ditched all of our responsibilities (laundry, dished, cleaning house) and had a fun afternoon at the pumpkin patch. I am not disclosing how many of these warm, homemade doughnuts I ate, but I needed to replenish my strength after traipsing around the pumpkin fields and rounding up wild suburban children who act like they have never seen a pumpkin patch before.

10.

Wordy Wednesday

2011-10-12T07:53:00.003-04:00

Remember how we went on that field trip to Ferry Farm, George Washington's boyhood home? Well, Elias finished his biography of GW, so last week as part of my mom and cousin's trip out here, we visited the home he lived in as an adult: Mt. Vernon.

GW was an amazing guy, and he built his estate into a fabulous plantation. I have been there several times, and it really is one of my most favorite places on Earth. Even with a million people milling around, his lawn is incredibly peaceful, and it is no wonder why he loved it there.

And I think that he would have appreciated all the visitors, as in one year during his life there, he and Martha entertained over 600 visitors in one year.

He was probably an imposing guy too, as he was well over six feet tall, which was a rarity in those days. Martha was a dinky little gal, standing only 4' 11". These statues in the museum are accurate representations of how they looked:

GW never had any children (those that are pictured here are his step grandchildren).

I didn't take many other pictures, bcs I have so many others, but if you ever get a chance to come to DC, definitely make the trip to Mt. Vernon--you won't be sorry!

And, you might come away looking like a remnant of the Revolutionary War...

What I've Been Doing With My "Free" Time

2011-10-11T07:00:00.000-04:00

Admittedly, I don't have a whole lot of free time these days.

Having five kids alone puts a damper on "me" time. Add in normal family activities and other commitments, and yeesh, I am surprised I even get to go to the bathroom by myself these days.

{Oh who am I kidding, I almost never get to go to the bathroom without someone trailing behind me.}

I was pinning things the other day and saw this journal page:

Source: be-the-change.tumblr.com via Meri on Pinterest

I just fell in love with it. I love the writing and the illustration, the simplicity of the black and white ink...all of it. After a few hundred clicks, I found this person's actual journal on Flickr and allow me to say, she is wonderfully talented. I have long been a fan of pen and ink and considered it my "specialty" in college. Plus, I am a visual learner, so it totally appeals to me to journal in this way.

I have been trucking away in my spiritual journal from Gadanke, and knew this would be a perfect place to experiment with this style of journaling.

I did use the above picture as a loose template of my first attempt. I am a LOT rusty from my college art student days (not much time for practicing technique when you are surrounded by little people), so no making fun. And definitely don't compare me to the above image! Ha!

(the little pink spot is from watercolor on the other side of that page)

Then I experimented with some watercolor crayons on a different page. I have never ever been much of a painter (it was my worst subject, paint hates me), so this is super simple color at its best:

Then I played with different "fonts"

I thought that the phrase on the right was pretty:

This one is another homage to a different page in Liyin the Designer-in-Pajamas's journal. Once again, mine is no where near her expertise, but it was such a striking page in her journal that I wanted a version for myself.

I have been adding a couple pages a day, and have been having so much fun testing new techniques or honing old ones. Love that the Gadanke journals are pocket size, so I can carry it anywhere without being cumbersome and getting some good thoughts and prayers and verses down where they are easily read.

It is amazing what Pinterest can inspire!

Linking to Ma Nouvelle Mode's Liked It, Pinned It, Did It Party!

&
Super Sweet Thursday at Fabulously Flawed

The Big Bowling Party

2011-10-10T15:11:00.000-04:00

Sorry I have been absent so long. My mom and cousin visited from out of town last week and sightseeing isn't conducive to blogging. We got to experience a lot last week and it was fun seeing it all again through the eyes of a first time visitor.

The Saturday before they arrived, Wyatt had his big bowling party. We were a little scared that he wouldn't be able to attend his own party due to some (a lot of) behavior issues at school, but he had a stellar couple of days in a row and he earned it back.

He had a ton of fun, and was so glad that his friends could be there to bowl and eat pizza and cake.

Extreme concentration on the part of the bowlers:

Lots of prayerful expectation as the bowling balls made their way down the lanes:

And then, pizza and cake. This amazing cake is from Fat Girl Cakes

Cinnamon roll cake with cream cheese icing. Yum. Drool. Yum.

He was so proud to be "king" for the day, thank you thank you to all who came out and helped us celebrate our wild and crazy guy!

Pinspiration

2011-09-28T16:06:00.002-04:00

Pinspiration

(not to be confused with perspiration, which of course, I, being a girl *don't* do)

This is a new word that will probably make it into the dictionary next year. You know, like all those other techy-type words like blog and email have be added in the past.

I imagine a couple other related words will be added as well: Pinterest, Pinteresting, etc.

Because I am pretty sure that Pinterest is about the most addicting thing I have ever tried right after the all-consuming Facebook.

I have so many potential dinners, craft projects, art projects, knitting patterns, yarn purchases, DIY projects, outfits to buy, diamonds to save up for pinned that I overwhelm myself a little bit.

But every once in a while, I get a few spare minutes to do one or two projects that I have pinned. Today was one of those days-woot!

So I decided to do these two (with my own twist, of course):

Source: twogirlsbeingcrafty.blogspot.com via Meri on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Meri on Pinterest

The first one is a pretty basic thing. Draw some tree-like lines, add dots. I added paper dots instead of painted ones. And mine is on a lot smaller canvas. It turned out ok, but I am going to take my Distress Ink and darken the corners a bit so it looks less new.

And then I did the button tree. The original is nicely coordinated with matchy buttons and a pretty cut out font for the initial.

I don't own matchy buttons (and I am too cheap to buy them) and I had another plan for the buttons anyways.

You see, my mom is a seamstress. A pretty talented one too, if I do say so myself. When I was a little girl, I would sit playing with all of her buttons while she whipped up fun clothes for me and my Barbies to wear. I have really lovely memories of playing with those buttons and feeling all important as I stacked them or strung them or sorted them.

When I moved out on my own, my mom gave me a portion of her button collection. I am *not* a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination, so I wasn't sure why she did this (I think she still holds out hope for me) but I was glad to have a little bit of a tactile happy memory for myself.

When I saw that button tree canvas, I knew what I was going to use.

Mom's buttons.

(it was a bright day and the black paint pen was still a tad wet and shiny from where I touched it up, so it looks patchy in this picture, but the dry finished product doesn't look like this at all)

She gave me some pretty neat old buttons:

And I really like that some of them are broken or imperfect-a perfect life lesson that you don't have to be perfect in order to be used.

I am really happy with how they turned out, especially the button tree. I might do another one for my daughter's room (and try not to be too cheap to buy coordinating buttons).
I did save some of my mom's buttons so that Wrenn could play with them like I used to.

But instead of sewing, I will be knitting in her memories.

Linking to Ma Nouvelle Mode's Liked It, Pinned It, Did It party!

Happy Birthday!

2011-09-26T10:59:00.000-04:00

Someone in our house turns six years old today!

Apparently a lot of kids in his class have their birthdays this month, because at least once a week since the beginning of school, he has come home to tell me that he got a doughnut at school for someone's birthday.

Are doughnuts the new cupcake?

If so, I don't want to know.

Not that I am not a doughnut fan, because I am.

But they don't scream "Birthday!" to me.

They scream "time for Sunday School at a Baptist church!" to me.

So, I decided to make cupcakes for his school birthday treat.

I wanted to make these Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes last year for Teacher Appreciation Day, but that didn't happen.

I knew they would be perfect for a birthday celebration though!

I couldn't find the cute little sundae cups, and it was too late for me to order the set from Amazon, so I just cut off the tops of paper party cups from the Dollar Store.

My little spoons were a generous donation from Cold Stone Creamery.

I had to ask a very weird series of questions to get them, I felt so bad for the girl who answered my phone call.

Me: "yeah, hi, I was wondering if you serve samples to people if they want to taste before they buy?"

her (cheerfully): "yes, we do!"

me: "and how do you give people those samples? On a spoon?"

her (a little less cheerful): "Um, yes, a spoon."

{I think that she thought I was going to ask her if I could climb behind the counter to lick the ice cream straight out of the pan.}

me: "On one of those little wooden ice cream social spoons or plastic spoons?"

her (skeptical at this point): "Plastic spoons..."

me: "little plastic spoons?"

her (a little exasperated by now): "yeeessss..."

me: "great! Can I buy 24 of them?"

her: "you want to buy our...spoons?"

me: "yes. if that is possible."

her: "um, I have to call my boss and ask. Can I call you back?"

me (unsure of whether she really would call back): "of course. I promise this isn't a trick. I really do want to buy your spoons."

her: "uh, ok, ma'am."

a couple of minutes later she called back (yay!)

her: "my boss said that you can just have 24 spoons"

I highly suspect they said that just to get rid of the crazy lady on the phone. She looked a tad surprised when I actually showed up for them later that day.

Anyways, here they are--aren't they cute?!

Hap-hap-happy birthday to my Wyatt!

Skinny Punkin' Spice Muffins

2011-09-22T17:12:00.000-04:00

I spend an embarrassing amount of time on Pinterest (like a lot of other people, I suspect).

The other day I was happily repinning all sorts of crafty, recipe, dinner, home decor and outfit ideas and came across this pin:

Source: sweet-verbena.blogspot.com

And while I love me some buttery yellow cake, it didn't scream "add pumpkin to me!"

You know what did?

This:

(erm, excuse that schmear of pumpkin on the can. I decided to blog about this after I made them. I had to reclaim the can from the garbage to take the picture. Oops.)

Seriously that is all you do.¹

Dump a can of pumpkin puree into a spice cake mix and stir.

I chose to make them into muffins (and probably they could be classified as cupcakes if you added frosting).
Bake for approximately 20 minutes and you get this spicy, warm, comforting little piece of heaven:

Usually when I substitute ingredients for the oil or butter, things turn out tasty, but a little, well, dense. But these, oh my word, these are not dense at all. The pumpkin helps retain the fluffy/cakey quality I so desire in a muffin (or cupcake).²

The best part is these puppies are only 91 calories each (add frosting at your own risk. But a simple glaze wouldn't add many).
I mean really?
Eat two.

Linking up with Ma Nouvelle Mode's Liked It, Pinned It, Did It party!

1. For real, my dog could do it for me if she had opposable thumbs. And if she could reach the KitchenAid.
2. Muffcup? Cuppin? If people start using "cuppin" in blogland, should I ask for royalties?

A Little Food For Thought {& I'm A Guest Poster @ Serenity Now!}

2011-09-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday, I spilled my guts about my insecurities with my weight and how I am trying to lose it for good.

Today, I am here to remind you that food isn't the enemy.

There isn't "bad" food and "good" food.

Food is food, and the first hurdle that we need to get over is that food makes us fat.

Food doesn't make us fat.

Eating too much food makes us fat.

There is nothing wrong with treating yourself to a little slice of yum every now and then.

For me, it's cupcakes.

Seriously.
Yum.
Quite often I think I would be so much happier having a couple of cuppies for dinner instead of, you know, real dinner food.
Sometimes I do just that.
Shhhhh...don't tell my kids.

Which brings me to my guest post at Serenity Now for her "Family Friendly Food" week!

Please go, read, comment--she has a great blog and it would make me feel all loved if you do.*wink*

What I Lost & What I Gained

2011-09-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

If you notice, I almost never post pictures of myself. Besides being decidedly the most UN-photogenic person that I know--I am deeply embarrassed of how big I am.

I am not so embarrassed with the people who know me now, in real life, because they have never known me as anything other than huge. But people that I grew up with or who knew me when I was younger and thinner are a different story. I don't want anyone to know how much I have let myself go.

And really, it is because I let myself go. I don't have any good excuse other than "I like food, and I like it a lot" to blame for my (very round) shape.

I also don't like to move much. My hobbies are all sedentary: reading, knitting, watching TV-yeah they don't take a whole lot out of you.

In the last ten years I have steadily gained weight, from a combination of laziness, gluttony and pregnancy. I had "eaten for two" every couple of years for the better part of 10 years. I have lost some weight and then gained it back plus some over that ten years. I haven't lost more than 25 pounds at any given time though. And I have only done that twice.

In April of this year, I was approaching the weight I was during my last pregnancy (and I had had her over a year before that). I was huge and uncomfortable and starting to get embarrassed that I was growing out of all my biggest clothes. Twice, I ripped sweaters just trying to get them on my shoulders. My joints ached every morning--I could barely move my hands in the morning and I had to limp to the bathroom when I got up for the day. I couldn't see my feet and I couldn't shop anywhere other than Lane Bryant. I had to start buying wide width shoes, because regular shoes were cutting off my circulation. Let me tell you, the cute shoes don't come in wide width. I felt like a blob, shapeless, formless, but with lots of mass.
People might have wondered how I possibly got so big, because in front of people, I tried to eat very little. I felt like every bite I put into my mouth was scrutinized by others.
("Do you really need that whole brownie, Fatty McFatterson?" they would say to me in my mind.
And really how prideful is that? Thinking that anyone cared what was happening to me?)

Which, is probably just fat person paranoia, but years of watching heavy folks cry on the Oprah show about the abuse the suffered from others because they were fat sort of makes you that way. Most days, I wanted to just stay at home in my pajamas, hiding indoors with my kids. The times I did venture out, I went out with people that I felt "safe" with-but always with a wary, sarcastic shield around me. I felt (and still feel, quite often) out of place with people.
I am almost always the biggest thing in the room.

{My favorite quote from a movie is "You mustn't mess me about. I know I may look like a rhinoceros, but I've got quite a thin skin really." Benny Hogan says that to Chris O'Donnell's character in "Circle of Friends" and I find that I want to wear it on a t-shirt.}

I cried into a pint of Ben and Jerry's at least 3 times a week.

And then sent my husband on a late night Taco Bell run.

The thing about my husband is that he is a good, kind man. I am pretty sure he doesn't care what size I am, and if he does, he keeps it to himself. He loves me and wants to make me happy. And if a late night run to Taco Bell is gonna make me happy, then he obliges me.

Problem is, he was nicing (I think I just made up a new word there) me into obesity. I asked, he answered and that is the way that we worked for years. For the record, my husband, while probably a tad out of shape, isn't nearly as overweight as I am. So he wasn't feeding me to make himself feel better or anything. Like I said, he is just a sweet guy.

So anyways, back to April.
In late April/early May, there was a scrapbooking event that I attended for our MOPS group. There were just a few of us there and we got to talking about weight, and the changes that we all *knew* that we needed to make and we committed to try to track our eating habits and meet once a week for accountability, commiseration, support, ideas and a weigh in. Sort of like Weight Watchers, only without the weird meeting times and we could bring our kids.

Our friend Nicole told us about a web site that her sister was using to track calories, and so in May, for the very first time, I logged into My Fitness Pal and started to input my intake for the day. It was time consuming and honestly, after two days, I felt like throwing in the towel. Who wants to think about every bite they put into their mouth? I was supposed to be French, I think. Those chicks never think about all the butter and cream they eat, and they are skinny.

But I kept going instead and was pleased that in the first week, I dropped several pounds. Week two, even more. I had a little progress and then went on vacation. But because I was determined to stay on track, I actually did pretty well while we were in Texas. Every week, I was doing pretty ok. I have been losing steadily about a pound or two a week since we first started. Which is great. I have had a couple of gaining weeks too, but that is to be expected.

Since we have started, I have lost 54 pounds. I still have a ways to go, but I think that so far, I am doing pretty good. Still don't want to go posting pictures of myself, but maybe some day.

The thing is, everyone keeps asking me what my secret is.

Let me assure you there is no secret.

As much as I would love to see the immediate results of gastric bypass surgery or a miracle drug or diet, the fact is the only way I am going to be able to keep the pounds off is if I learn to eat responsibly and move more.

Seriously, that is my secret. I eat less, I move more (not much more, granted, but more than before)

But, I guess you could say that I do have a little secret in addition to the above:
Leave guilt behind.

You see, when I lost weight before, I would feel terrible and stop if I cheated even once. If I ate a cheeseburger, it was like a floodgate opened and it gave me permission to eat as much as I wanted to. And trust me, I wanted to. Then it didn't end, and the pounds piled back on. The thing is, food is not inherently "good" or "bad", it just is.

Krispy Kremes aren't bad. They aren't health food, but they aren't bad in and of themselves. Same with ice cream, pancakes or butter.
Those things aren't bad. What makes them bad is that sometimes, I choose not to control myself around them. I had to decide that I would no longer let the food dictate how much I ate of it. I can't let it control me, I have to learn to control it. To eat just one, or stop when I am full, or to consider what I am eating, rather than just consider how it will taste and how much of it I can stuff down my gullet.
I can't say that I am addicted to healthy food now, because I'm not.
I can't say that I don't sometimes eat buttery pancakes or enjoy ice cream once in a while, because sometimes I do.
I have a love affair with froyo right now (thank you Erin *wink*). I don't eat all low fat or fat free. I will replace things in recipes with low fat or fat free if I feel like the taste won't suffer, but for the most part, I cook real food. I do a better job of balancing what is good for me with what tastes good to me.
And it is working.
I still have a long way to go, but I eyed a 50 pound bag of rice at the supermarket the other day and realized that I used to carry one of those around on my body, everywhere I went.
I tried to pick it up in my arms, just to feel it.
Let's just say, I might want to get some arm work into my exercise routine.
It was heavy!

But what I have gained in comparison with what I have lost is immeasurable:
By week two of not drinking pop anymore, I could move my hands freely upon waking in the morning.
My knees no longer feel like they could give out at any moment.
I don't have to shop only at Lane Bryant anymore, and, depending on where I shop, I don't even have to get the "W" cut anymore.
I don't have to search out wide shoes anymore.
I can wear a belt.
I can wear a watch (this is perhaps my personal crowning achievement)
I can run for more than a minute at a time.
I have the desire to play outside with my kids.
I wore a tank style shirt the other day *in public*
(with no sweater to cover my arms, which, probably scared some of the kids at the children's school, but it still felt good-ha!)
I feel like getting dressed in decent clothes every day and I don't purposely seek out my pants with stretchy waist bands.
I simply care about myself more.

In the end, I realize that I am never going to be my cute, 16 year old self again. (and man, I wish I had realized how good I had it back then!) I just want to be a normal, healthy weight and feel good about myself.

And I am getting there, slowly.

Sunday Skip

2011-09-18T10:06:00.003-04:00

Elias, berry picking a few years ago. He was very determined.

When It's Not Always Glitter and Rainbow Unicorns

2011-09-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

This might be a semi depressing post. I don't know how it will be taken. I might be excommunicated from the home school community. It might be taken as bitterness or anger.

But really, it's not, I promise.

I am just a fan of being honest and straightforward and laying down how I feel about stuff. It doesn't mean that I expect that people all feel like this, quite opposite, actually: I feel like I am probably in the minority.

And that is ok. Most days, I am an island anyways.

What am I going on about?
When homeschooling isn't great. When it isn't this fabulous cuddly, heart to heart learning session where the kid learns and the parent learns and then you laugh about something trivial in your storybook and pick up your camera to take artsy shots of their feet while they are building a 4 story birdhouse and then you have a warm chocolate chip cookie together and everything is just oh so peachy.

When everything isn't a beautiful picture in learning. When it doesn't come out like poetry and you are actually sweating from the frustration of trying to finish one 10 minute lesson in less than two hours. When the last thing you want to do is grab the camera and take a series of pictures of your kid coloring or doing pencil work because you have just spent 45 minutes trying to get said kid to even pick up a pencil, let alone actually do an assignment with it.

It is about the picture that a lot of homeschoolers put out about home learning: that it is this wonderful, heartwarming experience that is only rewarding and never exhausting; that it is this thing that you can hand to your child and say "do this" and they automatically become a learning machine in which everything in the world is fascinating; that if you are doing it "right" it is always a positive experience.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it sometimes isn't that way. It probably is for some families.

But so far, not for us.

It seems to me that no one mentions the being chained to your seat for an entire school day because your child refuses to work independently, even for short periods of time.

No one mentions the whining or the bellyaching (the child's) or the crying and aggravation (the mom's) when you have to have them do something that they don't enjoy. (and don't suggest unschooling. While in theory, it seems great-- having kids who know how to build bikes but don't know how to do basic math because they weren't interested in it isn't my thing--sometimes kids {and adults!} have to do stuff they don't feel like doing, that's part of life)

No one talks about the fact that very little gets done around the house because you have a child that spreads a couple of hours of lessons into a full conventional school day. No one tells you that it can be extremely lonely, especially if you aren't in a position to join a co-op or other kind of home school group. People who send their kids to school don't want to hang out with you if you have school age kids at home, and I don't blame them.

No one tells you that quite likely, if you have younger kids, they are probably going to spend a lot of time in front of the TV. Unless you live on acres of land and/or Dad works from home. Or you have that strange breed of toddler/preschooler that isn't loud and demanding. I have heard those exist.

No, home school people are too busy telling you how many times people are going to call you or your kids weird (so far, hasn't happened, but granted I have only home schooled for a year and a few weeks total, so...)

or how often people are going to call you crazy (I mean, really, to an extent, we are, but it is the good crazy and I think that people for the most part know that)

or how people are going to go out of their way to tell you how unsocialized your kids will be (thus far, I have only heard this statement from inside the home school community itself. It seems to me that home schoolers are more afraid of this themselves than other people are. And honestly, when I hear that people ask this of other home schoolers, I get the feeling that the home school community WAY overreacts. I think that a sweet, graceful response to an honest question would go a long way. You really aren't proving your point on socialization if all you can be is snarky and rude to people, ya know?)¹

Anyways, all of this is not to say we haven't had beautiful days. It isn't always a fierce fight to the finish. Some days, it all clicks and comes together. Some days, just a bit of it clicks. And that is ok. But it would have been nice to know that it wasn't going to just be a-ok. That I wouldn't be able to merrily do housework or craft while school was happening because I would be focused on school time all.day.long.²

Because I think more often than not this is how it is. But no one wants to say it. No one wants to admit that it might not be smooth sailing. Because that might mean that you made the wrong choice when you chose to home school. I mean, it does right? If it doesn't come together like poetry, you must be doing it wrong, and therefore you must be failing, right?

Nope. It just means that you are learning lessons too. They are just different than reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic.

You are learning patience and scheduling, individual style, and timing. You are learning the rhythm of your children: how they learn, how they think, how they do.
So while I might not be learning much about whatever he is learning in math, language arts or science, I am learning lessons of my own.
And I like that.

1. Are people sometimes jerks about things that they perceive as different? Of course! I know that. But I think that a little less sensitivity on our part could go a long way. Besides, if you aren't worried about it, why let the question bother you?
2. Which in the end might make a great case for a house cleaner once a week, just sayin'

Wordless Wednesday {almost}

2011-09-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Truett's first day of preschool. He was so excited to go. Well, he was excited to carry a backpack and lunchbox that wasn't holding a diaper and wipes and 5 Matchbox cars.

He had a great day, although his teacher said he had a hard time getting his hands down and dirty with the finger paints (probably because that is something he doesn't get to do at home, and if he tries to paint with his food, he gets a mommy look) but she did successfully get him to paint his hand and make one hand print, so I call that a step in the right direction.

He is at that age where "smile" means "make a goofy face"

Here is his "poor little schoolboy" pose. Makes you wanna squeeze him and offer him more porridge, right?

With his teacher, putting his stuff in his cubby for the first time. His little friend, D is there with him.

They both wanted their moms to buzz off I think. We were too busy taking pictures to listen to them.

It was pretty funny. I made sure to say "bye" to him before I left and he waved me off and turned his attention to his teacher without a second thought.

We are obviously not sentimental in our family.

I only have one kiddo left to have a "first first day of school" with.

That makes me a little sad.

I guess maybe I am a bit more sentimental than I thought.

Another First Day

2011-09-13T07:42:00.002-04:00

Today, my baby boy has his first day of preschool. A day that his dad and I thought might never come. He was a bit of a procrastinator when it came to the potty training.

But the day has arrived and he will be going off soon to enjoy a few hours with his new teacher and classmates. Best of all, he gets to be in a class with his Favorite Friend, D. They were born within a couple of months of each other and have been around each other ever since- whether in the church nursery, Moppets or just hanging out together while their mommies or daddies got together.

Being together twice a week for 3 hours really appealed to Truett, which is probably why he decided to potty train so quickly.

So, off we go this morning, True in his trusty tiger backpack and a little snack in his new lunch box, and me wondering what it will be like when I only have one baby at home (not counting my big homeschooled kiddo, of course! He would be really upset if I called him my baby. Ha!)

We made this little goody for his teacher (she deserves as many gifts as we can give her, trust me), inspired by this cute teacher gift from Two Shades of Pink. The original comes with a coaster made from coordinating pencils, I however, was unable to find pencils that matched any of the three sets I made, so mine is a lot simpler. I found the cups at TJ Maxx and Marshall's, stuffed them with amazing smelling (is that even proper English? No? Well, it smelled amazing, so, there.) tea and then just printed the tags--which were color coordinated for each cup--and tied the ribbon on.
Simple and cute!

Ten Years Later

2011-09-11T07:00:00.000-04:00

This day 10 years ago changed America.

We live in fear.

We try not to.

We try to live like everything was the way it was on 9-10-01.

But we cannot.

We cannot allow ourselves to think "earthquake" before "attack" when such things happen.

We still have color coded alerts.

We live on the edge of our seats, like nervous cats.

Where I was that day matters not.

What matters is that I remember how I felt that day.

The sadness, the shock, the fear.

I cannot afford to forget it.

Because so many unsuspecting, brave and honorable people lost their lives to such a senseless act.

They deserve our remembrance.

Not the remembrance of where we were that day.

But the remembrance of where they were that day.

9-11-01

Always Remember.

Never Forget.

Saturday Evening Post

2011-09-10T15:25:00.001-04:00

Or early afternoon, whichever.
We finally have had two clear days! Hopefully some of this extra water clears up soon. The neighbor's "swimming hole" is full to the top, so we can only hope the evaporation part of the water cycle happens super fast around here.

I have been working hard picking up clutter and switching summer shells, river rocks and bright whites out for fall pumpkins, gourds and golds of early autumn.

I love fall!

This year, I needed a new wreath and I saw this one

Source: myblessedlife.net via Meri on Pinterest

and decided that I would make my own version.

I do love that blue, but my door is still the ugly green it was when we moved in, so I couldn't do even most of the wreath that color, otherwise it would have blended right in. I opted for the gold all the way around, and used little bits of the blue. I didn't wrap it nicely and neatly either, I am more of a texture girl, I like that it looks all wacky and home-done.
Also, my "welcome" isn't a pretty as this one. But, I haven't decided if I like that part anyways, so it might come off soon.

So, really I didn't make her wreath at all it seems. Hers is way prettier, that is for sure! Ha! But that is what is great about the internet, you can find inspiration and make it your own. Hers is fantastic, and mine is, well, mine is mine...

I was pressed for time today, so I might add a couple more flowers in the blue color over the next week or so. This was the first time I tried to do the twisted/wrapped flowers and they turned out really cute.

Otherwise, I love it and it makes my house look that much more ready for cooler weather, hot drinks, soups and football!

Happy weekend, y'all!

Today

2011-09-08T10:12:00.002-04:00

Today is a busy day

We have a lot to do

In the September rain.

Not to be confused with "November Rain"

Which is another thing entirely.

I will bet now

You are singing it in your head.

Then I was going to come home and bake cupcakes

for a guest post

on another blog

But I don't think that is going to happen.

I am putting it off to try to get naturally lit pictures

But it has been raining since Monday

{I think-the days are running together now

They all look the same}

So I am going to see what happens tomorrow

And bake them then

So instead today

I will craft.

I am not sure why this is coming together like a poem

But I like it

It makes me feel like a writer

Of important things.

Wordless Wednesday {almost wordless}

2011-09-07T16:45:00.000-04:00

My girl, with her little friend, R, checking out the rain together this morning. They were born about 3 weeks apart, so it is always fun to get them together, since they are exactly the same age and stage.

Ferry Farm Field Trip

2011-09-06T07:50:00.001-04:00

The single greatest thing about living where we live is the immense amount of free (or at least very cheap) history that we are surrounded by.

For me, that is the one redeeming quality about being stuck here.

Forever.

And ever.

When Elias started school this year, he was given the choice of several historical characters' biographies to read. He chose George Washington.

Which is great, because if George Washington slept in it, on it, next to it, or within 5 miles of it, it is a preserved historical monument.

At the very least, there will be a plaque with Washington's noble profile in bas relief.

Or a weird sculpture of him carved with a chainsaw out of a log.

People are GW crazy around here.

So, the second he came across the words "Ferry Farm" in the biography, I knew where we were headed, since Ferry Farm is just across town from us.

If you have never studied GW or aren't familiar with Ferry Farm, it is the boyhood home of George Washington. He and his family moved there when he was young, and he spent most of his youth there.

Sadly, the Washington's "home house" is no longer standing and since GW sold the property after his father died, it has changed hands many times, finally being purchased by a historical preservation society.

Here is a picture of the land. That little house was not part of the GW-era structures, although it is still a pretty old building, as it was built in 1867. But it was a little fun to look out over this land and try to imagine the Washington family running their plantation.

They periodically host archaeologists to come and dig around to see if they can find buildings that were once on the property or other artifacts. In 2008, they found the foundation of the big house where the Washington family lived. It was a pretty big deal around here.

They have since filled it back in (which baffled me) but you can see Elias standing in the middle of where the house stood. They built those four stone corners to represent the home's footprint.

In the end, there wasn't much to see, but it encouraged Elias to use his imagination in order to envision life without all the modern conveniences. It was an especially muggy day, so he decided that it was much nicer to live in the 21st century with air conditioning.

At the end of the tour, we stopped back in the main building and Elias got to make a tricorn hat.

Very cute and fun project for the kiddos who visit:

He decided to wear it like a Gentleman (corner forward--soldiers wore it flat in front so their guns wouldn't hit the corner when they had the gun barrel resting on their shoulder)--and he wore it for the rest of the day.

I am so glad that we were able to visit Ferry Farm and show Elias that history isn't always just a bunch of dates and boring facts. These were real people and GW was once just a kid like he is.

I can't wait until we get to Mount Vernon!

Sunday Skip

2011-09-04T12:33:00.003-04:00

Truett, when he was about Wrenn's age, in a cute outfit that my friend Heather made for him.

What's funny is that he looks almost exactly the same, only, you know, bigger.

And ornerier.

Friday List

2011-09-02T01:00:00.000-04:00

1. First week of school is a few hours away from being done. The two at school had a great week, settling into their new routine. The one at home, well, let's just say, he was expecting lazy days of lounging on the couch watching "Spiderman" eating snacks all day and what he got was books, writing assignments and math problems.

He isn't as excited as the other two.

2. I have made dinner at home every night this week. No pizza, no burgers, no Subway. That is a pretty big deal for me.

3. My baby girl has grown into the last outfit she was given during her baby shower. It is a 2T, which means that sooner rather than later, she will no longer be a baby. And then it is preschool and Kindergarten and then high school and then she will want to get married. I think I would really like to put her in a box and keep her small, thankyouverymuch.

4. I am doing something that I have to have done by Sunday and it isn't looking good. I should probably stop getting distr...ooooooh look! Something shiny...

5. I won something! I entered a giveaway from Spud and Chloe on their Ravelry board and I was the lucky winner chosen. I was afraid that maybe I had missed out on my prize. Since I hasn't expected to win (there were a TON of entries), I had sort of forgotten that I had entered, so I hadn't checked in at Ravelry for a while. But they were exceedingly kind, and I did indeed win! I got to choose 3 colors of Fine and I got a pattern for cute mittens/gloves and they sent a cute little heart shaped measuring tape.

6. I ran this week. On purpose. Twice. And I am doing it again this afternoon.With no promise of a decadent dessert at the end of the running. Now, granted, I am not running for miles and miles. As a matter of fact, I am actually only running for about 8 minutes each time. But considering I am not being chased by an escaped convict with a sharp knife, that is a pretty big deal for me.

And I am still waiting for that "high".

7. I want some Dunkin' Donuts K-Cups. Except you can only buy them from Dunkin' Donuts and they cost a dollar each, which about twice the price of a normal K-Cup. Shame on you Dunkin' Donuts.

8. I bought a horizontal striped shirt. I am sure I broke some fashion rule.

But I really like it.

So there.

9. I have found that by pinning tons of dessert and cupcake ideas on Pinterest, I am less interested in making them. I mean, they still look tasty, and on special occasions I might make a few, but for the most part, I realized that there simply isn't time to make it all and therefore, don't really want to make any.

Except these, these, and these.

And maybe these.

Definitely this.

10. I am hoping that these fall-ish temperatures continue, because I really want to pull out all my orange, brown and yellow stuff and paint my house "autumn". All the trees are still green though, so I am having a hard time doing that and feeling fall-y. I need distinct seasons!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Where We Play A Game With Mommy

2011-09-01T07:00:00.006-04:00

Very rarely do I have time to sit down with one kid to play a game. If I am being completely honest, I try hard to avoid playing with the kids at all. I am sure that this makes me sound like just about the worst mom on the planet, but the way I see it, I gave birth to 4 playmates for each of my kids.

If they want to play, I usually point to one of their siblings and off they go.

Mama has ~~Facebooking~~ chores to do.

But today, Elias got done with school at a reasonable time, and we had some time to kill until my run/play date (I cannot believe I am running on purpose. That is a whole 'nother blog post though.), so we grabbed Truett's favorite game (I Spy Quest, which is a memory game) and went to town.

He set up the board for us (as you can see, he is a very serious gamer):

Intense game strategy going on in that mind...

Wait, what's in these holes?

But I want to play BOTH turns.

From here, it turned into a game piece grab fest, rules abandoned and explanations of turn taking fell on deaf ears.

He argued that it was easier to see the matches without those silly blue plastic things covering the pictures.

Touche.

(please ignore those embarrassingly unorganized shelves back there. And my husband's huge tub of Benefiber.)

Then there was the constant "put the piece back and you can pick up another one to see if it matches on your next turn." "no, you can't pick up pieces until you find the match." "Ok, now put the piece back. No. Not on that one. That one already has a match." "yes, you can keep my pieces too." "no, you can't cover mine back up" "no it is my turn THEN your turn" "I am going to stop playing if you don't want to take turns" "no, really I am going to stop playing"

And finally, browbeaten, Mommy gives up and I win!

And that, folks, is why I try very hard to avoid playing games with my children.

The End.

Wordless Wednesday (well, almost wordless)

2011-08-31T09:14:00.000-04:00

Pants that don't fit because they are too big?

Awesome!

P.E. Is A Walk In The Park

2011-08-30T11:18:00.000-04:00

One of the nice things about homeschooling is that you can plan to play before school time to get some of the silly willy wiggles out of your kiddo before you try to sit them down for learning time.

Yesterday went ok, but I could tell that Elias needed some outdoors time before we tried to do anything today. So, off we went to meet friends at the park!

They had a lot of fun just running around and being kiddos. It had the added benefit of running Truett down so he would stay out of our hair a little bit longer during lesson time.

I know, it looks like she was dressed for fall. She is already a tiny fashion dictator. Once she had the sweater on, she didn't want it off, it made no difference that it was starting to warm up enough to have a sun dress on.

The First Day of School

2011-08-29T08:54:00.000-04:00

Today was the first day of school for 3 of my kiddos. Two are going to a local private school this year, and one is going to be home schooled. Everyone is excited.

And so was I, because

A.) it's the first day of school! I am down two kids-that sort of feels like vacation

B.) the two that are going to an actual school both love school, so they feel like they are on vacation too.

C.) I am excited about the home school curriculum we are doing.

D.) They all took very good first day pictures.

That last one is very important. They have all gone through this phase where all they want to do during picture taking is make silly or maniacal faces.

I have scads of pictures of them (portraits even, sigh.) looking like they just escaped from the local child mental ward.
I was impressed with their restraint this year.

Mason has been asking to go to this school since he left its preschool five years ago. He really loves it there.

Elias, Mr. Casual. He isn't a fan of school as an institution. Which is why we are home schooling him this year. He will probably grow up to be a professional surfer or something.

And Wyatt, he is so dang proud that he gets to stay all day long and eat lunch at school everyday, he wanted to make sure that his lunchbox was featured in his picture.

(Sorry if the pics are blurry, my beloved Nikon wasn't working when I got her out of her bag this morning. I don't know what's up with that, but I am trying not to panic. I might have to take her to the camera hospital. But I hope not.)

Hope everyone out there has (or had) a great first day of school this year, whether you are a private school, public school or home school mom!

Winners!!

2011-08-29T08:42:00.000-04:00

Since I am not a Very Fancy Blog, the winners of the flower pins were chosen in an extremely scientific way.

1. I wrote all of the names down on paper.

2. A very cute boy child closed his eyes and picked two pieces of paper from a bowl.

The winners are:

and

Congrats to April and Michelle! Thanks everyone for entering.
Enjoy!

Sunday Skip

2011-08-28T08:47:00.000-04:00

We survived! A week with both an Earthquake and a hurricane made for pretty eventful news around here. Blessedly, everything turned out fine for us, with no loss of electricity (not even a flicker--thank you Dominion Power!). We didn't even lose the signal from the satellite, so we were able to ride out the storm in relative peace, watching a movie (thank you DirecTV!)

Lots to praise God for today. And lots to pray to Him for: comfort to the families who lost loved ones, for extensive property damage along the coast and for Irene to calm down a bit as she approaches the New England states.

@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@_@

The retro picture today isn't too terribly old, but I thought it was funny. Wyatt regularly sleeps with "cow eyes" and we were glad to finally catch him at it without waking him up:

@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@

And as a reminder, today is the last day to enter the giveaway! The drawing for the winners will be held tomorrow, so if you want to enter, make sure you do.

And remember, you have to be a follower of the blog in order to win. Thanks!

It Could Be Worse

2011-08-27T07:59:00.000-04:00

Everyone in these parts seems to be panicking about the natural disasters that seem to befalling our region lately. (and I use the word "disaster" very lightly. Maybe "phenomena" would be better)

Have some unexpected, scary and potentially damaging things happened on the East Coast lately? Yes.

Are things as bad as they can get? Not by a long shot.

It seems that when this area gets hit upside its proverbial head by nature, it jumps to high alert, code red, DEFCON 1! "It is snowing here people, we don't know what to do!" "Oh my word, an earthquake, danger! Danger!" or "There's a hurricane coming, buy all the bread, milk and microwave popcorn you can!"

The thing is, while sometimes it is serious, it is rarely 100% dangerous here. People over react all the time and put everyone around them in hysterics. The news media seems to be the absolute *worst* offenders when it comes to this. It gets a little ridiculous after a while. I almost think it is a dangerous thing to live in a time where news can be reported instantaneously.

Here is the deal, people:

When you want to cancel school for a potential 1" snowfall, remember that the northern-most parts of our nation deal with WAY more snow and ice by early November than our area will see in a 5 year time period. Perhaps take some lessons from them.

(and please don't give me the "this area just doesn't know how to deal with snow" party line. We get at least an inch a year. By now, we should be used to it.)

When you want to freak out and get angry over a mild earthquake and its resulting aftershocks, remember Japan. We don't know devastation at.all. Yes, some bricks fell, yes some chimneys separated from their buildings, and yes, there might be a hairline crack in your foundation. No lives were lost and injuries were minor. It is all repairable.

When you want to worry and fret over the Category 2 hurricane that seems to visit once every 5 years that might cause you to lose power for a week, remember that many folks from New Orleans STILL don't have homes to light candles in.

Does nature stink sometimes? Yes.

Should we prepare ourselves as much as possible? Yes.

Should we worry ourselves to death with CNN and The Weather Channel on all day long? Probably not.

Should we complain about it in every way possible until it passes and we find that it isn't as bad as we thought? Definitely not.

I think that the WWII era Brits had the right idea:

source

Keep calm, breathe. It will all be okay in the end.

Promise.

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Don't forget my giveaway! It ends on Monday, and since there is a low entry number, there is still a good chance to win!

C'mon, you know you want one! *wink*

There's A Hurricane A-Comin'! (& a giveaway reminder)

2011-08-26T09:03:00.000-04:00

Hurricanes that start with "I" seem to hate this region. Several years ago, it was Isabel and now Irene is getting ready to make her debut along the shores of the Mid-Atlantic states sometime over the next couple of days.

I am not very worried, and while I know that there were plenty of folks around here who went several days without power after Isabel swept through, I found my first experience with a hurricane not much worse than an extended, really bad storm. Our power was only out for a couple of days and we didn't have any major damage. I know that others during that time weren't so fortunate.

And I also realized that as "bad" as that storm seemed, people in other areas affected more often by hurricanes have it much, much worse than we ever will. So, your power's off for 5 days? Pretend you are a pioneer. It is ok if you haven't taken a shower in a week, no one will be able to smell you over their own post storm stink.

Anyhoo, I don't have much of importance to say today, other than, if you live in the Mid-Atlantic region, stay safe, and enjoy this little clip from one of my favorite shows:

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Also! Don't forget about my giveaway! Be sure to become a follower and/or share the giveaway post on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and then let me know in the comments *to that post* that you did and you will have a chance or two to win one of those pretty flower pins!

5 Random Things and a Giveaway!

2011-08-25T07:00:00.008-04:00

1. I am still in my PJs. I am writing this at 10:45 a.m. on a Monday. I really should be a grown up and get dressed. It seems over rated, since I have no where to go today. But probably having to leave the house shouldn't be the only prerequisite to getting dressed, should it?

2. I can't wait for my kids to go back to school. I hate that this area (meaning all of the Mid Atlantic region, apparently) doesn't go back until almost the beginning of September. Also, I am homeschooling Elias, and we won't start until they start, so it makes me feel even more behind.

3. I sort of can't wait to put all this summery stuff away and get my fall stuff out. But I can't bear to dress the house in autumnal colors when we are still having 90 degree days.

4. I have never had to deal with knots in my kids' hair before now--when the boys hair got too long, I just shaved their heads. I am a little intimidated by the one lurking in Wrenn's curly mop right now. And it looks like a pretty nasty one, made from sunscreen, sand, salty beach air and sleep tossing and turning.

(no, I haven't not combed her hair since Sunday. See #1)

5. I hate it when people keep ringing my doorbell and knocking on my door when I don't answer it. I don't have a garage, so people can clearly see if I am home or not, but sometimes I just don't want to answer the door. Like today, I am in my pajamas at 11:01 a.m., I don't really feel like opening the door to chat over the bus stop schedule. That probably makes me a bad neighbor.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

And now, drumroll, please! My first twofive365 giveaway!

Alrighty, so I have two of these pretty Flower Pins to give away.

They aren't the picture of perfection, but once pinned to a cloth headband or on a purse, they just look simply pretty.

(if you are looking for perfect flower pins, I highly suggest shopping at the pleated poppy.* She makes perfectly gorgeous things from flower pins to iPad cases.)

All you need to do is make sure that you are a follower (or "join this website" as Blogger now calls it) of my blog and comment on this post.

For an extra entry, if you share this post in some other way (Twitter--mention me @twofive365 in your post--, Facebook or your own blog) and share the link in a separate comment, you will get another entry!

Good luck! Winners will be announced on Monday August 29, 2011.

The fine print:

*giveaway is for one (1) fabric flower per winner. Total winners will be two (2).

*giveaway is open to anyone, worldwide.

*this is probably not a great item for small children.

*I am not a professional fabric flower maker. If you don't like it once you receive it, don't feel like you have to tell me. I don't mind living in ignorant bliss. ;)

*Lindsey from the pleated poppy has no Earthly idea who I am. She is a wonderful blogger/shop owner and I simply like her stuff. There is no special discount from me for ordering from her and she had nothing to do with the flower pins being given away today.

Wordless Wednesday (well, almost wordless)

2011-08-24T07:00:00.001-04:00

My girl last year at the beach:

My girl this year at the beach:

Sigh.

Time flies.

**Look for my first giveaway in tomorrow's post!!**

Beach Bums

2011-08-23T07:00:00.007-04:00

On Sunday, we took the kiddos to Assateague Island for our yearly day at the beach.

We meet up with my brother about halfway and then continue on in a little caravan until we get there, spend most of the day playing in the sand and surf, leave in the early afternoon and get an early dinner and then head home.

It is one of our favorite days of the year.

The day started at about 4:30 am, getting the van packed up and heading to get Krispy Kreme for breakfast. (I was good and resisted temptation!) Then off we headed to meet up with my brother outside of Annapolis.

Once we got there, I got my healthy breakfast--a veggie omelet with a side of fresh fruit. It was actually very good, and much more filling with less calories than two donuts.

(don't worry, I haven't become calorie obsessed, I just tend to notice what I am putting into my body more than I used to. I do still love me some donuts every once in a while.)

And then we were off! (with a second potty break. My word, we watered more roadsides on this trip than we did all the way to Texas.) Next goal was getting over the Bay Bridge. I was driving, so I didn't get to enjoy the trip over as much as I usually do, but normally I enjoy going over the bay and looking out when I am a passenger.

(this picture really doesn't show the immensity of this bridge. It is long and tall and from what I understand, they have a few cases a year of people sort of freaking out as they drive over it. I try not to think about that.)

Here is a picture from another website:

(huge, right?)

We made it to the island around 10:15-ish. Normally the trip is only about 3 1/2 hours, but with our stop in Annapolis and then subsequent potty stops, it ended up taking about 4.

We saw lots of ponies on our way in, which made my car very, very loud. The kids greeted every pony along the roadside with squeals and shrieks.

If they get out into the roadway, there are these amazing volunteers who try to herd them off the road so they don't get hurt. They chase them (gently) with little golf carts until they get to a break in the fence and then they steer them to the roadside.

(when I retire, I am totally doing this.)

There was plenty of sand play. The two smallest of our group weren't fond of the water at first, so they preferred to stay up near our canopies, playing in the sand.

Elias preferred digging in the waterline though:

Truett was his regular, smiley self:

And to prove that, sometimes, my girl does smile:

(these pictures are not going to be great. With all my planning and packing, I forgot to pack the good camera. sigh.)

The older boys preferred the water. I hardly saw them for most of the day. They had so much fun jumping over waves and trying not to swallow the sea.

Eventually, the smaller two learned to like (or at least tolerate) the ocean. I can't really blame them for being nervous, it was a windy day and some of the waves were pretty big.

There were tiny cat naps for some people (no adults, sadly)

(she also got sunscreen in her eyes near the end of the day, poor baby! I felt like the worst mom in the world.)

Then it was the massive clean up. We showered everyone off in the fah.reezing. cold beach showers (thank you so much to the super kind lady who let me use some of her shampoo!) and this year we tried the baby powder to get the sand off trick. It did work pretty well, however, it took so much powder to get all the sand off of all of us that by the time I was done, I felt like I needed to take a couple of buckets of water and wash the baby powder paste off the floor of the changing room. On the plus side, it smelled much better in there than it did before.

We decided on Applebee's for dinner. Since we were eating so early, there was no wait and everything was quite delicious--not my normal experience there. (sorry if you love Applebee's, I just haven't always had the best experiences there)

I don't know if it was the ocean air or what, but once again, the bathroom ruled the evening. I have never seen my kids have to pee so much in their lives. It was a little crazy. And my poor brother (who is single and childless) looked like he was about to lose it a little bit. There are a lot of us, and sadly that means that pretty much where ever we go, we are the loudest group around. Especially after a long, tiring day. Yes, we are that family. Sorry. We try not to be, but sometimes, well, it happens.

Then we treated everyone to ice cream (and I finally got some pictures of my big boys, to prove that they were there!)

(wee sunburn on his face. He looks like a strange superhero)

Did you ever go into Baskin Robbins and wonder who on Earth ever orders rainbow sherbet at the ice cream shop?

Now you know. Meet Elias.

Probably the last thing this child needed was ice cream. He was so punchy tired by this time, he was barely (read:not at all) containable.

So we skedaddled and said our goodbyes to my brother (who appeared to merrily skip across the parking lot to his car. And I swear I heard the doors lock before he started it. Wonder what that was about?) and were on our way home.

My big little brother--got coffee. That's how you can tell we are related. Coffee at night? Yes please.

Aside from the multiple potty breaks and crazy behavior at the end of everything, it was a fab day. We had so much fun. The weather was perfect--sunny and about 85 degrees the whole day--the water was a little chilly, but perfect once you got in. We had a good breeze all day and it stayed that way the whole day. During dinner, it started to get overcast and it rained on the way home. Which was great, because it lulled everyone to sleep.

It was the perfect ending to an already perfect day.

Sometimes Dinner Is Froyo And That's Okay

2011-08-22T08:59:00.001-04:00

I am glad the new froyo craze is alive and well. I had my doubts when my friend Erin started posting about her froyo cravings on Facebook.

I am part of the T.C.B.Y. generation.

The country's best?

Ha!

I think not.

But now that we have manufacturers that make machines that make amazing frozen yogurt, I am really glad that there are all sorts of little mom and pop stores and local franchises showing up.

On our way to Nashville a few weeks ago, we stopped at Mae Pearl's and it was really, really good. Very much like a couple of our local joints.

We have some favorites here, one is a locally owned place that is an offshoot of a local restaurant-- Sammy T's Frozen Yogurt (ignore that second review, Crave is nasty. I mean, watery, grainy and completely nasty. As soon as it hits the container, it starts to melt. Gross. And while Sammy T's doesn't have as many machines, I will take quality over quantity any day. Some people are just picky, I suppose.)

And our mostest favorite is Sweet Frog (and yeesh, that chick on the home page is eating one big tub of yogurt. Maybe that is the secret of staying skinny. Eat more froyo.)

They have lots of choices, it is sweet, creamy, tasty, and at any given location ( I have been to three) they have the best staff. My kids love it there, and the overall experience every.single.time. is a good one.

The other night, I had a little date with my baby boy and we decided to have a froyo dinner. Pretty sure that I have not heard the words "sweet" and "frog" so many times in a 20 minute period.

He definitely enjoyed it, and it was probably the cheapest date I've ever had.

He asked for "Chocwat Sweefwog wif weese peese, gwummi beaws, sour tings, and chocwat spwinkwles" so, that is what he got.
And it was the best.dinner.ever.

*These places have no idea who I am. I am just a girl who loves frozen yogurt and I had a fun date with my kid. I promise I am not being compensated in any way for my opinion.

This Weekend

2011-08-20T15:14:00.000-04:00

Sorry folks (the 5 of you who regularly read this blog at least--I love you all very much, by the way!) but no fancy crafts or story telling today.

I have a long list of stuff to do today:

Wash/dry all of the weeks laundry.

Fold it.

Have the kids put theirs away.

Have hubby put ours away.

Tidy up the living room, kitchen & dining room.

Vacuum carpets.

Sweep the hard floors.

Mops the hard floors.

Mow.

Have hubby edge the yard.

Pack up a household of 7 for the beach tomorrow.

Cook dinner.

Do all of this with husband gone for long stretches of the day.

It really is too bad I won't get much rest at the beach tomorrow.

But we are going to my favorite beach in the whole entire world (ok, so I have been to very few beaches, but I would probably still say that this is my favorite no matter what) Assateague/Chincoteage Island.

If you were ever a nine year old girl, you know where I am talking about. Yes, it is a real place and it is in my backyard. I love it there. The beach is so clean, family oriented (read: no touristy nonsense), it is usually not terribly crowded and of course, the pretty wild ponies live there.

So, tomorrow, I am off to enjoy sand and sun (even though I pretty much loathe sand) and ponies and I will be back on Monday with a recap of the day.

Have a fab weekend!

Friday Feet

2011-08-19T07:00:00.004-04:00

No, this isn't a weekly feature, I promise. Feet actually ick me out a ~~bit~~ lot.

My oldest and youngest were sitting on the couch, one reading, the other listening. It seems like yesterday that his feet were as small as hers.

"How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion,
'Your God reigns!'"

Isaiah 52:7

Flower Power

2011-08-18T14:10:00.003-04:00

Before the MOPS Convention I was tasked to come up with an item that would identify the Field Leaders from our area. After going back and forth about what 11 grown women would be able to agree on wearing, I decided to try my hand at making some cute flower pins, using this tutorial.

Since I had several to make, I decided to use the cheap rayon fabric that is meant for lining coats and wool skirts. It responds to the melting very well, and comes in all kinds of colors.

I also decided to put them all on burlap foundations, as I was sure that most of us would be wearing them on our name badge lanyards, which would mean that they would probably take a lot of abuse. Anchoring them to a sturdy fabric was a good idea.

(this was photographed before the glue dried--the glue is barely noticeable in the final product--see below)

They turned out well, and if I had more time, I would probably sew them together rather than glue, just so I wouldn't get that "glue soaked through" ring I got on that final layer--the glue dried clear, so you can barely see it, but I know it's there and it bothers me. I covered this up with the glue for the beads, but as you can see, I wasn't terribly careful with that glue either, so I would also choose to sew the beads on next time too.

They weren't being scrutinized though, so I wasn't too concerned about extra glue at the time. But if I were going to wear it as an accessory or make one to put in my daughter's hair, I would be a wee more careful with constructing it.

They were easy peasy to make, making the dozen that I did took just an evening. And my kids were fascinated by Mommy burning things on purpose.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Cheap Ingredients:

1. fabric that isn't 100% cotton or wool

2. circle templates of several different sizes (I used more than shown in the original tutorial)

3. scissors

4.lighter

5. fabric glue (I used Liquid Stitch, and you only need this if you don't want to sew)

6. E6000 adhesive for the hair clip/pin back (and the beads, if you don't want to sew)

7. Hair clip/alligator clip/pin back

8. Burlap, cut in a circle slightly larger than the bottom layer (optional)

9. buttons, beads, rhinestones etc.

Easy Steps:

1. Trace and cut out circles

2. hold edges of fabric circles to the edge of the lighter flame. You don't want to catch the fabric on fire, you want to melt it so it curls

3. Stick the layers together from largest to smallest with the fabric glue (or sew layers together), and attach them all to the burlap, if you decided to use it.

4. after the flower itself is completely dry, attach the buttons, beads or whatever you chose to be your middle with E6000 adhesive (or sew them on) Let that dry completely.

5. Use E6000 adhesive to attach the pin back or clip to the back of the burlap.

6. Done!

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Such a cute little accessory for your tote bag, purse, hair, you can even use it as a pop of color in a neutral outfit.

Or as flair in a game of a type of human seek and find.

Whichever.

(totally dry)

Sock It To Me

2011-08-17T07:00:00.000-04:00

I like to knit.

A lot.

I like yarn {good yarn}.

A lot.

I like to knit socks.

A little bit.

{ok, a lot}

I hate to wear socks {especially hand knitted ones}.

A lot.

Ironic, huh?

But the beauty of socks is that they are small and a relatively quick knit. And knitting them is relatively cheap, because most of the time you only need one ball of sock yarn, maybe two depending on yardage.

So I knit socks and then find them loving homes.

Most of the time.

Sometimes I just knit one sock and let it sit in a bag for one reason or another.

Boredom, running out of yarn, the feeling that I learned a certain pattern, technique or stitch...

whatever.

These socks were probably going to be no exception--I love the yarn in the skein, but knitted up--it isn't my favorite. It isn't ugly: no, no. The colors all go together just perfectly, I just am not thrilled about how they are going together.

(cuff and heel flap-the cuff seems short, but I had her try them on and they hit her right where she preferred)

But happily, I have found someone who does really like them, and so they will go to live with her in approximately 3 years, by which time I will have gotten the second sock done and she has had sufficient time to forget that she told me she liked them, so when I give them to her, it will seem like a total surprise.

Kidding!

{I will try to get them done by the end of 2012.}

I won't wax on about why people knit socks with yarn that costs--well, it costs more than the package of socks from Target--the Yarn Harlot has already covered that in a much wittier fashion than I ever could. But I will say, there is a certain homey feeling to creating socks. Knowing that, while I am not fond of foot coverings of any kind, people will use what I created to keep their tootsies warm makes me smile a little bit.

(the heel, turned, and my scraggly hands--sorry 'bout that)

I feel all Laura Ingalls Wilder-ish.

And very practical.

5 Random Things

2011-08-16T15:55:00.000-04:00

1. I made an eclair cake for the first time today. I can't believe it has taken me this long to try it, because it was hands down the easiest thing I have ever made for dessert and it looks really tasty.

2. I realized the other day that I love Burt's Bees Miracle Salve. For everything. Well, almost everything. I don't fry eggs in it.

3. I have a MOPS steering meeting tonight. I like going to them because I love cultivating a close relationship with other MOPS leaders. Also, we always serve dessert.

4. Parenting wears me out more than Jillian Michaels ever could.

5. My neighbors let their newspapers pile up and rot in their driveway, and it takes every fiber of my being not to go over in the cover of darkness, dressed in my Newspaper Ninja outfit {I mean, if I had such a thing} and clean them up.

You Know I Bought Something...

2011-08-13T07:00:00.012-04:00

Yes, I bought stuff. Because I like to spend money and because they had so many cute things available at the MOPS Convention resource fair and because I like to have a little memory of any place I travel to (and pictures don't count).

And also, I just like *things*.

I did restrain myself, there were several things that I did not buy that I really really wanted. But I settled on these two items for me.

(I did get other things for my kiddos, like a copy of a Hermie book from Max Lucado. When Truett saw it, he said, "Uh oh, someone writed on my book. They in trouble!" All those goodies though have been taken to the nether parts of bedrooms and I probably won't see them again. There seems to be some black hole in our house that sucks things in and will probably spit them all back out the day the last child leave for college)

First I got this necklace from By Grace Designs They have all sorts of cute stuff, and they had one of the bags I wanted too. I really love the "Dwell" Necklace too.

I actually started with just this charm:

I was just going to leave it with just that charm, but then Jen told me that they had little initial charms too, so I got these to go with that larger one:

I usually put things like this in the order of their birth, but I wasn't concentrating when I added them, so they are all out of whack. I have a little bit of OCD about it (or maybe it is really the only way I can remember all their names--if I say them in their birth order) so I might just rearrange them so they are in the right order.

And it probably is no surprise I also got a bag while I was there. Apparently it means nothing that I just sold off a ton of bags that I don't use, I have a severe addiction to totes and purses of any kind. At the resource fair alone, there were THREE that I really wanted, and had I been on no budget whatsoever, I would have brought all of them home with me.

But this little (actually huge) cutie is what came home with me, from the Dayspring booth:

I feel like this bag was made just for me. Mostly because I feel like I have to actually say something like that to people all the time: "I am not my own idea. I wouldn't be like this if I could magically make myself into someone else." It's a nice reminder that God made me this way, and while that isn't an excuse for everything, it means that He has a reason for my personality and will use it to work for Him.

I am still contemplating ordering one of the other two that didn't come home with me. It is adorable and the colors are perfect for me--it is this one from Dayspring. I definitely have enough W.I.P. to warrant another bag...

MOPS Convention 2011

2011-08-12T07:00:00.009-04:00

So very much happened over those four days, that I scarcely know where to begin and where to end. Since it was my very first convention ever both as a Field Leader and as a MOPS mom, it was a lot of stuff to take in.

Let me say, when MOPS International wants to throw a party, they throw a par.ty. From the location, to the music, to the speakers to the breakout sessions, to the giveaways to the resource fair, it was an amazing amalgam of beauty, energy, worship, fun and learning.

Let's start with the location. This year, the convention was held at The Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee. It is huge, it is beautiful and it is huge.

And it is my kind of outdoors, because it is all indoors, under a pretty glass dome, a perfect 74 degrees all the time. I am convinced that Heaven will look and feel a lot like the Gaylord Opryland, only, you know, with gold pavement rather than pebbled concrete.

Here is the view from our room:

Here are two of my roomies, standing in front of an indoor waterfall:

If I ever win a large sum of money, I am building a house under a dome and that is all I have to say about that.

(and it will have at least one waterfall)

Convention started for Field Leaders a little bit early. We were treated to several speakers and some worship time that helped fill our cups so we could in turn fill others. It was awesome seeing so many women ready and willing to serve other women!

I am not big on music, I couldn't tell you what artist or group sings what song on the radio, but I am always glad to experience beautiful things, and one of the things they surprised us with was a impromptu two-song concert from Plumb.

Then we were off for the rest of the weekend to listen, learn, help and worship some more. Just a few of the highlights were Max Lucado, Lauren Dungy, Kathi Lipp, Mandisa,Steven Curtis & Mary Beth Chapman, and so many other breakouts and positional networking sessions that I don't have room to list. I think it is safe to say that everyone left with a sense of renewal and purpose for the upcoming MOPS year.

(pardon some of these pictures, taking them with a smartphone camera while moving wasn't easy)

Max Lucado (I know, I know, you can't see his face, you will have to just trust me)

Mandisa (who looks fab after her 110 lb weight loss! And also, I want that shirt and belt.)

Steven Curtis Chapman treated us to a few songs

Sara Groves was kind enough to stay and chat and sign CDs and take pictures with the MOPS ladies.

(and see what I did there, I used her right name! Because even though I don't listen to much music, especially country music, I apparently get her confused with Sara Evans, who is a country singer. Oops. I am sure that Sara Evans is quite fantastic, she just wasn't at the MOPS Convention)

It was really a fantastic week, and I am really happy that I was able to find the time and money to go. And I am thankful that I had an agreeable husband who saw how important it was for me to do this and took time off work so he could stay home with the kiddos (and somehow found time to clean the house to spotlessness! He rocks.)

Thank you MOPS for treating us to a wonderful week!

I Used To Be, And Now I Am

2011-08-11T11:05:00.002-04:00

I have this terrible habit of looking backwards and wishing things about myself were the "way they were".

Which isn't so bad when I am wishing for more energy or time (they weren't lying when they said that as you get older, time passes faster), but a lot of the time, I am wishing for things that aren't likely to change, like less wrinkles or cuter feet.

But there are some things that I am really glad have changed--for the better.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I used to be young, and now I am older, slower to act, quicker to think (well, most of the time).

I used to be skinny, and now I am, erm, not so skinny--which isn't the end of the world like I thought it would be when I was 16.

I used to be a shoe-aholic, and now I am able to live with only 30 pairs (ok, maybe that doesn't sound like a huge change, but I promise, it is)

I used to be alone, and now I am connected to more people around the world than I ever thought possible.

I used be sad about my broken home, and now I am creating my own home (slowly and on a budget, of course).

I used to be suspicious of everyone's motives, and now I am just cautious, but I don't expect every person on this planet to hurt me.

I used to think that I had it all figured out, and now I am certain that I don't.

I used to be the person who loved God, but resented the things that He allowed to happen in my life, and now I am able to love Him with the knowledge that had He not allowed those things to happen, some truly great things in my life would not have come to pass.

I used to be unable to move on, and now I am able to forgive and allow healing (it still takes time though).

I used to be that girl who had all the answers for parents (before I had kids), and now I am certain that I was an idiot about that.

I used to believe that being hurt was an okay reason to lash out, and now I know that it isn't (although that doesn't mean I never get hurt or that I don't lash out. I just actually feel bad about it now and apologize.)

I used to think that God was good, and now I know that He is.

I used to be angry, and now I am less angry (some things take more time than others).

I used to be broken, and now I am still broken in a lot of ways, but not without Hope.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Change is good. It grows us, exposes our weaknesses and makes us stronger. It allows us to try new things, and to not be fearful. Change is always present, flowing around us, and if not happening at the moment, hovering around, biding its time until it is ready to move in our lives.

Before you think that I adapt to change flawlessly--that I am just some happy go lucky girl without a care in the world-- and have no idea how hard it is to actually change and deal with change, let me just tell you that I am actually really, really bad at it.

I have ADD (and probably have had it my whole life, but back when I was a kid, there was no such thing, we ADD kids were just “a handful”) so when I get a routine down or I get comfortable with a group of people or my immediate surroundings, the last thing I want to do is change. I don’t want to have to interview for a new job, change the route I take to the supermarket or make new friends.

It is hard for me to meet new people, I get all flustered and embarrassed by myself and then something that I think is really funny spills out of my mouth and I get a couple of mercy laughs, but the looks on everyone’s faces say “I can’t believe she just said that.”

But as I have grown older, I have learned that if I don’t change and adapt, then I will just end up being a hermity old crazy cat lady, and I don’t want that either. Praying for help with adapting better and learning to see the better aspects of change has helped. Believing that God means it when He says that He has it all under control has helped too.

Change on my own would be simply unbearable. Blessedly, I have a God who bears most of the load, if I just ask.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

What were you and now what are you?

The Ring

2011-08-10T16:14:00.000-04:00

This is a story about an engagement ring and a wedding band-not a scary movie. If you were hoping for horror though, keep reading...

One day, a loooooooong time ago (and when I say a long time ago, I mean approximately 12 years ago) a man took a woman (a very sprightly, young woman, I might add) to a jewelry store and she showed him what ring she would like to wear on her left ring finger to show that she was betrothed to him.

Of course, he couldn't afford that ring, so she chose another, slightly (about $9,000) cheaper version. They didn't have the means to buy any ring that day, but he promised that when the day came that he could, he would bring her the ring she had picked out.
(platinum with yellow gold accents, round cut center solitaire flanked by baguettes and four tiny round diamonds...with matching platinum/yellow gold wedding band with baguettes, natch.)

Fast forward about 6 months, and the day came. Her beloved came home and unceremoniously handed her a small, velvet box. Then he left the room. He was very romantic, can't you tell?

The woman opened the box, excited that the day had come! Her ring! Her ring! She could hardly wait to see it up close and personal.

Imagine her surprise when she didn't recognize the ring in the box. It was a really, really close cousin of the one she had her heart set on, but it wasn't exactly the same (platinum-check, gold accents-check, baguettes-check, tiny round accent diamonds-check, round cut diamond? um, no check. It was a very geometric looking square solitaire)
She wasn't quite sure how to break the news to her (very proud) fiance.

So she didn't say anything until the 3rd time she accidentally cut his face in three days on the sharp corner of the princess-cut diamond.

"That wouldn't have happened if you had picked out the right ring." came spilling out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

That was the beginning of a really long debate (about 11 or so years long) about whether the woman had actually shown the man the right ring in the first place.

(she did)

There was nothing she could do about it, it was hers, for better or for worse, and it grew on her. After a while, she loved that ring and it became a part of her daily uniform.

But alas, the woman grew older, she had babies, and the ring had to be resized.

Twice.

After the second time, the shank of the ring cracked. So she took it to a fancy jeweler, and they fixed it, but told her that she had to be very, very careful, because if that happened again, it would be extremely hard to fix, and maybe irreparable.

So she tried to take extra special care of the ring, but once again, life got in the way: she would forget to take it off to do the dishes or mow the lawn. She would do daily chores in it, mash up meatloaf with it on and exercise with sweat drowning the poor little ring until one day she looked down and noticed a peculiar sight:

So the woman got serious about taking better care of the ring and her poor contact dermatitis-ridden finger.

She took off the ring so she could take it for a really good cleaning and noticed it. She was horrified. Sad. She even cried a little bit.

Do you see it? Maybe this is a better angle:

The poor ring was done for. It made the woman very sad, because even though this wasn't the ring she wanted, it was the one she had, and over the course of 11 1/2 or so years, the ring became a part of her.

She will take the ring to a jeweler and pray that they can do something, anything for it.

But that will have to wait for a while, because other more important things are on the list to be repaired, paid for or replaced.

So if you see a woman with five children tooling around town, don't assume she isn't married.

Just look for the rash on her left ring finger.

So, Here's The Deal

2011-08-09T11:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, so, in case you didn't know, if you switch to Verizon's version of Vonage, you will get your DSL account canceled, but no one will tell you that it has been canceled and you will keep paying the bill and they will keep taking your money and you will get spotty service.

Then you will just think that the spotty service has to do with the fact that they are doing major road construction less than a mile from your neighborhood and that crew has cut your phone lines so many times that they have actually been told to stop their work until they can learn where the phone lines really are. Or you chalk it up to the fact that you have really, um, interesting neighbors who started digging a huge hole for a huge pool that is probably a tad too ostentatious for your very modest neighborhood and then suddenly stopped, leaving a huge dirt hole filled with water seepage and old rain that is quickly becoming a mosquito breeding factory. And that maybe while they were digging, they disturbed something important.

Or you just think that maybe your (brand new) computer is really just a $700 piece of garbage that couldn't detect a internet signal if its life depended on it. And you start to make a really strong case in your mind for a MacBook Pro even though you actually don't have a position on either Team PC or Team Apple, all you really want to do is just Facebook without rebooting your dang laptop 6,835 times (because apparently you just keep doing that thinking that "the next time" you restart the machine, it will be able to find the signal).

So then you start calling your husband at work (up to and exceeding 10 times a day some days...), telling him that if you can't get on the computer soon, you will have to actually start interacting with your kids instead of just blogging about it, and that would really put a cramp in your sitting-on-the-couch-and-eating- Chocolate Covered Potato Chips- while-trying-to-come-up-with-a-craft-that-no-one-has-ever-done-before-involving-burlap, grosgrain ribbon and PVC pipe-style*.

And being the good husband that he is, he calls Verizon customer service approximately 264 times and gets approximately 263 suggestions of how to fix your connection problems. He will bend himself into a pretzel trying to connect all those little color coded wires that snake in and out of all those little boxes with the blinking lights on your desk, until of course, he gets to that last chick, the one who actually listens to her training and she says "oh! I see you switched to Home Phone Connect. When you do that, it automatically cancels your DSL account. You need to have it hooked up again."

I mean, seriously?

Then it will be a huge comedy of errors with Verizon: every other day they will tell you that they are coming out to get you back online and everyday that they don't, you call them and they tell you that they had your phone number wrong. (and that will just be the most ridiculous thing that you have ever heard, considering that your phone number hasn't changed in 5 years and that they use it as your account number and somehow they have never had an issue with canceling the bills that they send to you every month.**)

So after about 3 weeks of this, by which time they have of course, been clued into the fact that you were getting even just a little bit of internet access here and there they shut you off completely.

Add into this issue that you have recently taken a volunteer position with an an internationally known group that supports moms, and that position is that of a Networker, which basically means connecting everyone in a particular area via the internet and email.
And that group in a few short weeks is hosting an event attended by thousands of women, hundreds of which you are supposed to be, you know, networking with. Only you can't because the most you can do is answer texts and short emails on your iPad and Droid. Which of course, probably makes the poor souls who "hired" you shudder to themselves and say "what were we thinking?!" when you have to tell them that, yet again, you don't have internet access.

Finally, your husband gets so fed up with the fact that Verizon can't seem to get it together that he calls your satellite provider and asks about satellite internet. And they tell him they can get someone there by Friday. So you rejoice and tell everyone that by Friday, you will have internet access.

But then, the satellite guy forgets you have an appointment that day and promises that you will be first on his list tomorrow and then when tomorrow arrives, he calls and tells you that he will come and install satellite internet for you, but if he does, it will take 3 days for you to download a single On Demand movie, so your husband thanks him for his honesty (and you are glad for that too, although a little part of you wishes that he would have kept his trap shut because you have about a thousand emails to send and you don't care about On Demand movies right now) decides that satellite internet is not for you and immediately calls the cable company that he swore he would never call because he is so devoted to the satellite provider you use.

They promise they can come and install cable internet by Tuesday, but Tuesday is the day you are leaving for the convention that the previously mentioned mom group is hosting 11 hours away from where you live and you are supposed to be emailing things to people by then, and while for the past 3 weeks hanging out at Caribou Coffee for hours on end like a college student or "writer" has been fun, you really would like to be able to reach over during an episode of "Burn Notice" and hit send rather than ~~glare at~~ watch the hipster sitting in your assigned-comfy leather in a corner-seat piddle away on his MacBook Air (probably starting his very own ten dollar a bar chocolate company***) while you have to sit in a hard chair at a table.

But finally, the day comes and you see the cable internet guy pulled up in front of your house as you and 3 friends are leaving on a road trip to Nashville and a few hours later you get a text from your husband telling you that you now have constant, steady internet access that is fast as lightning and that fact makes you want to burst.

Or maybe you just want to burst because you are on a road trip and you need a rest stop desperately because you have had 5 babies in 9 years.
But that is another story entirely.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On the plus side to all of this, your kids are better dressed, they have clean faces and you can visit the park with them more often. Your table is cleared and wiped off after every meal, and you can actually organize areas of your house for more than 3 minutes at a time because you don't have a desperate need to Facebook the fact that your linen closet is now color coded.

Also, you have folded the laundry in less than 3 hours because you don't have to stop every 5 pairs of underwear to check to see what your friends are all doing while they are having fabulous vacations at the beach instead of doing the laundry. And knowing what it is like to wash sand out of all your clothes after you get back from a beach vacation keeps you from being really jealous about their beach vacation.

You have actually cooked dinner, on time and it wasn't a casserole or in a crock pot, from scratch quite a few times in a row. You can't say every night, because, well, there was 3G access from the iPad, after all.

You can also say that you completed at least 5 one-thousand page plus books and most of a 340 stitch cast on knitting project. You started a pair of socks that while you love the yarn, you aren't keen on how it is knitting up, but found a friend who does love it and now your socks have found a good home (when you get them done in 3 years).

You have been actually, purposefully engaging in real life without having the internet to shield you from the real world. From seeing those little faces having fun running wild at the park and from seeing the other mommies there (clearly without the same level of internet addiction that you seem to have) and connecting with them.

You will realize that it isn't too late. That you haven't turned into this girl yet:

(I have zero affiliation with Toyota, by the way. I just love this commercial. And I want a Venza.)

And you will also realize that Verizon owes you over $100 and your phone calls to customer service are about to start all over again.
Sigh.

*I never actually came up with anything, but I am open to suggestions.
**Yes, we received a bill every month and paid it faithfully for an account that technically didn't exist.
***I mean, really? I love me some good chocolate, but there is no chocolate on Earth that is so good that two ounces of it should cost almost $10)

I'm Baaaaaaack

2011-08-08T08:37:00.000-04:00

Long story short: I have been without internet access for a few weeks. But now it's fixed and hopefully I will get *something* put up here today!

Gratitude

2011-07-18T09:38:00.000-04:00

It was a hectic weekend! Everyone had a great time, either hanging out with friends at birthday parties or playing catch with The Daddy out on the lawn.

Lots to be thankful for this week:

For long days so we can fit lots of fun in.

For a girly toddler who likes to play with dollies as much as she likes to play with trucks.

For cold drinks on hot days.

For relaxing afternoons with friends, just chatting.

For big plans for a trip for mama without kiddos.

For a husband willing to budget time and money so I can go.

For berry smoothies.

For firefly-catching nights with The Daddy.

Be intentionally thankful today for at least one thing.

I promise it will put a smile on your face.

Sunday Skip

2011-07-17T16:20:00.000-04:00

M, being silly last winter in the Macy's winter hat section.

I consider every silly picture like this future embarrassing wedding photo montage material.

Hope you had a great weekend!

5 Random Things

2011-07-15T09:43:00.001-04:00

1. Today, I am making zucchini bread. I love zucchini bread, it is my favorite quick bread. I may or may not eat the whole loaf all by myself because that's how I roll and because it is a skinny version, so eating the whole loaf is okay, right?

2. Also, in food related news, I am making tomato sandwiches for dinner tonight with heirloom tomatoes. No, I didn't grow them. I am not above buying them from the supermarket.

3. I have a clean (ish) kitchen, bathroom and dining room because I made my two older sons clean them while I checked e-mails and Facebooked this morning. Mom of the year right here. (in all fairness, it is they who pee all over the toilet, so their penance for that is cleaning it up--the kitchen and dining room were just a bonus)

4. While doing day 14 of Jillian Michaels' "Daily Shred" video, I thought to myself, "yeesh, what person tortures themselves like this. This is insanity." and then I thought "Oh, yeah. ME!" But, a girl's gotta make sacrifices if she wants to eat a ~~loaf~~ a couple of slices of zucchini bread, right?

5. Last night, I watched, from beginning to end, "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves" on BBCA. Kevin Costner's hair was a wonder to behold. Alan Rickman and Morgan Freeman were their usual impeccable selves, and Christian Slater was young and still easy on the eyes. What is most sad about this is that I could have just gone up to bed and turned something else on or shut off the TV and read a book, but instead I went up to bed and forced myself to stay awake for the "Everything I Do" sequence at the end.

Apparently, that is also how I roll.

Have a fab weekend!

Lovely Summer Day

2011-07-14T12:26:00.000-04:00

I don't get to say that I had a lovely, peaceful day very often.

Especially with all of the kids home at the same time.

But today is a beautiful exception. The majority of this week has been oppressively hot and humid. Walking outside is like walking into a wall of solid dampness.

But last night, we had a storm roll in, and it dropped the temperature to a lovely mid seventies this morning.

So we decided to go to the park and enjoy the mild weather.

The kids were so happy to get out of the house, that they were sweet and agreeable the entire morning. Such a departure from the bickering I have had to endure the last few days...

Sorry about the Goldfish cracker mouth.

A new Retro Camera camera! A Japanese model:

Ahhhh, brotherly love:

It was just a really great, relaxing morning and I am glad that we ventured out today!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-13T08:49:00.000-04:00

What I Got To Do {Alone} This Weekend

2011-07-12T09:07:00.000-04:00

It's always like a mini vacation when I get to do something all by myself.

Grocery shopping alone is like a day in Jamaica.

Getting to go to Target alone is like a day at the beach.

So getting to not only *shop* alone, but sit in an actual restaurant that doesn't serve French fries, alone, reading a book and eating my food slow enough that I could taste it instead of scarfing it down so I don't accidentally spit bits of food out of my mouth when telling my kids to "sit down!!" for the millionth time, is like a seven day cruise.

I had to go shopping for sneakers. I hate shopping for sneakers, I have oddly shaped feet and I have never found any that have fit me quite right. Either they are wide enough for the front of my feet, but slip terribly in the back giving me blisters (New Balance) - or - they fit nicely on my heels, but are too narrow for my entire foot, so they slowly suffocate in the shoe (Nike).

I went to a couple different sporting goods stores, and wasn't thrilled with my options there. Went to Kohl's and bought a pair that I promptly returned after one workout (on carpet, there was no wear, promise!) because they strangled my feet.

I decided to take everyone's advice and go to a local place called Virginia Runner. They help you find exactly the right kind of shoes for your feet. I initially didn't want to bother them about shoes, mostly because I view that kind of store for serious runners/walkers who are all far better athletes than I will ever be.

But, they were super nice, and I got a fantastic pair of shoes. They are a cute color (they look a bit like I am wearing Easter eggs on my feet) and fit perfectly. Even better, I got to shop for them sans kids, so I could take my time trying (a lot of) different brands and types of sneakers to find the right fit. Oddly enough, the pair that ended up fitting perfectly was a pair of Nikes. I usually avoid them, you know, for their foot strangling properties, but these are great, I love them!

Cute, right?!

I also got to eat lunch alone that day. It was pretty amazing, and when I had to sit and think about where I would like to go, it was hard to decide--so many options outside of Chick Fil A and McDonalds when you don't have kiddos with you.

I decided to go somewhere that I rarely get to go (bcs it would be spendy to feed all of us there, plus, no one who goes there wants my rowdy crowd eating lunch right next to them), so I settled on Panera.

It tasted so much better being eaten one bite at a time and paired with a book to read. In blissful peace. Alone.

Yum and yay.

I love my kiddos, but I also really enjoy time alone. I was glad to have gotten some this past weekend. Hope yours was relaxing too!

Gratitude

2011-07-11T08:32:00.000-04:00

Thankfulness can be hard. It is easy to be thankful for the good things. And it seems to be counter intuitive to be thankful for the hard things.

Why be thankful for things that make life difficult? For things that make me unhappy? For things that downright suck?

Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Because God has promised that if you know Him, that all of these things will work together for the best possible outcome, even though it doesn't seem that way at the time.

God wants us to persevere. He wants us to be thankful. To seek Him in the good AND the bad.

Usually, when I am making my "bad" thankfulness list, I get done and take a peek, and you know what? My bad just ain't that bad.

Princess problems, as my friend Michelle would say. Easily solved with an attitude or outlook adjustment.

I have had my fair share of princess problems this week. I have had to adjust my attitude several times. It is very easy to always see the glass as half empty instead of half full.

But today, I am just glad there is something in the glass at all.

This week, the list is quite simple...

*For this house that is too small, too expensive and not worth what we paid for it
(because we have a safe, snug roof over our heads at all)

*For trips to the ER
(because we have amazing insurance to cover such luxuries)

*For my husband's crack of dawn departures to work
(because he has a job that feeds and clothes us)

*For the worrisome rise in the price of groceries
(because we have full bellies in spite of it)

*For not being able to afford every fancy piece of home decor that my heart desires
(because it causes me to be creative)

*For post workout pains
(because I have a whole body that works in spite of my efforts to stop that by eating badly and becoming lazy)

*For surprising and sad court decisions
(Because it forces me to trust that I serve a God who knows infinitely more than I do)

Amen.

One Day Shorter

2011-07-07T16:19:00.000-04:00

There is this old Country Time Lemonade TV ad that used to play every summer when I was younger. It started with the line "The rumor has been confirmed, summer is one day shorter this year." It took me a long time to figure out what that meant.

At the time, I thought it meant that someone out there was cheating me out of a day of summer vacation.

But really, what they meant was that time is passing, and quickly.

Soon, we won't be collecting these at the beach...

And that there will be wearing less of these...

I will have to send the boys out for more of this for the fireplace...

and start delving into this for hats and mittens and sweaters...

Which is fine with me, because I adore fall and winter, but I know that there is value in these lazy, unscheduled

unschooled

play

days.

And I appreciate them.