Packing?

We are moving! Somewhere... :) My husband is looking for a job (he's a preacher), right now we are looking at a place in Louisiana and in Georgia. I'm working on packing up our house!! Woo hoo. any tips?? You'd think I'd have it down to a science as we have moved 3 times already....plus I was a PK and moved a lot from that!

no new posts??

I'm slacking on blogging!! I'm still here, still homemaking. Still baking, cooking, creating, crafting, cleaning and sewing! However, we've started a new adventure!! We are adopting a baby!!! I've started a new blog (my third!!!) and it's all about our adoption process.

There will probably be more posts once we are into the loooong wait but for new the posts will be few and far between!!

Thanks for understanding!!

www.growinginourheartscan.blogspot.com

I'm Ba-ack!

Yes, I realize it's been a while :) OH well!

I just realized that I get to plan !3! parties this year!! I LOVE to plan parties! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

First is our 2 annual ;) ice cream party. Last years was a hit! (pics to come). Everyone brings homemade ice cream and desserts.

Second is the church's Christmas party. They throw it every year....but no one decorates :( Come on people!!! How NOT fun is it to have in the same building with the same decorations that you have fellowship meals in? (strawberries, BTW are the decoration!!). So I told them last year that I would decorate and everyone LOVED it! And I loved the attention :) :) :) (I forgot to take pics though!)

And thirdly my husband is turning the BIG 3-0!!! In January....he-he-he and I will still be a young 23 :) Sorry, drives my husband crazy :) Anyways I'm throwing a chocolate party for him...it will be fabulous!!

So, these are what I get to dream about and plan. I would be a party planner....but well, I don't drink and will not plan parties that involve alcohol.....so that leaves me with kids parties.....and I don't like most kids :)

The invitations from last years party:
The centerpieces I made:


*Warning* don't serve lemonade at an ice cream party.BLAH...but it's cute,yes?

The ice cream toppings


This years will be bigger and better :)

As Easy As Pie!!

Well, I forgot to post my handtowel from yesterday! Oops!! So you get 2 today!! Cleaning and Shopping. The Friday one's great because I always try to get the house all put together before the weekend so that I can be lazy and do what I want. I LOVE Saturday's because I love shopping! LOL!! Shopping is always fun!!

Our fellowship meal is this coming Sunday and I wanted to make a pie. I'm not very good at pies.... give me a 5 page recipe to make a gourmet dessert and I can do it. But pies?? Nope !! So I want to practice at them!! And I made a BEAUTIFUL and tasty apple pie. I made it in my cute retro pie plate (yes, I know it says strawberry pie... oh well!!) and now it's sitting on my table looking all yummy!!

This 'n' That

I've order this book from amazon "Sew What! Skirts and I'm so excited for it to get here!! I want to sew a skirt!! It can be so hard to find one that fits perfectly! all the reviews I've read for it are great!
www.amazon.com
(click above to go to the book)

I've started using natural cleaners....because chemical ones give me a headache, I worry about always scrubbing my hands to get off residues and they cost so much! I've been using vinegar and water in a spray bottle to clean bathrooms and the kitchen and windows and it works great! I read in someone's blog the other day (sorry, I don't remember who!!) that they added lemon juice to their mixture so I added some. It works even better and masks the vinegar smell some (yes, I know you can add essential oils...but I can't find any/afford any!). I think that it helps cut through grease even more. And like the blogger said, I like the feeling that I can clean my counters and then set food on them without worrying about picking up chemicals from my cleaner!!

Tired Feet :)

Today's dishtowel is Thursday and Baking... I think this just might be my favorite one. I love baking!! Check out my other blog for proof!!


I've wanted to start bringing meals to people and I had decided earlier this week to bring some shepherd's pie when I made it for us (I menu plan the whole week). Well, yesterday I had just about talked myself out of it! I am very good at talking myself out of stuff that I need to do. I don't know why I just am! A bad habit I need to break.... well, like I said I had talked myself out of it and last night a wednesday night bible study we were discussing matthew 25: 34-46:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Everyone was discussing these verses and suddenly I realized this was talking to me!!!! By me feeding people who need it I am feeding Christ and fulfilling my Christian duty :) So, I made some shepherd's pie, corn muffins and peanut butter cookies! YUM! And now I'm tired of being in the kitchen :)

The other problem with this is that I have nibbled so much whilst cooking that I will NOT be hungry come dinner time!! But I'm sure I will end up eating anyways :) LOL!!

Here it is all packaged and ready to go. It's for a single person so it's easier to send a portion rather than a whole dish as they will not eat it.

Cards and Tuesday

Not much to say today... I'm kinda dragging :( So I'm going to leave you with some pictures of some cards I made and sent today. And of course a picture of the towel!!!

China Patterns

I have a few pieces of china that was handed down my from grandmother to my Mom to me.... there was more...but it the box got dropped off of the uhaul the first time we moved and Ilost several pieces and chipped even more :(

I want everyone's opionion on whether I can mix and match these pieces: what do you think?

These are the pieces I have:

Upclose of the pattern:

My other china: These aren't quite the same white.....but the camera doesn't pick it up :(

More pics: how it would look together:

I think they go together. However, what would you think if you came to dinner and saw them mixed and matched??

My dishcloth for today: Tuesday and Ironing Did I iron today? NO! I hate ironing worse than ANYTHING. And except for pants that need creases I do not see a difference between a dress shirt that is tossed in the dryer to get wrinkles out and that is ironing ;) Shame on me, I know!!


By the way, the pattern is called 'silver mist' by taylor smith taylor. I have looked and looked for a date for these. I can't find anything. If anyone happens to know let me know!! :)

I've changed my name!

You may of noticed that I have changed my blog name. I feel like this name suits my blog better. It is more of what my blog is about. My days as a homemaker....my cooking, cleaning, crafting, daily life as a stay at home wife. There are very few stay at home wives anymore....and many people think 'wow that would be boring' or 'what do you do all day'. Well, this gives people insight into my life and that it is NOT boring (well, maybe occasionally!) and I have plenty to do (I just have to make sure I get up off my butt!!)

Things that make me happy....

Things that made me happy today....


Yellow irises (I think) from my backyard



Pink roses from my side yard




Homemade bread




Hot homemade bread with strawberry jam (finally!!)





Todays dishtowel is Monday and Laundry day!! I still hadn't caught up from being sick and had several loads to do. I try to dry them outside except for towels, underwear and washclothes. Today was sunny enough to dry two almost 3 loads. I got it all folded, put away and hung up!! Go me!!! I also got my bible study done today, the book of Mark.

ARRRRGH!!

I'm so annoyed!! WHY are my two pictures in the last post HUGE?? I've changed their size on photobucket.....even reposted it....... oh well..... just ignore the huge pics!! :) click on them and you can see the whole thing!

Sunday

In order to post a blog a day I will be focusing on..... dishtowels :) Yes, dishtowels!! When we got married the oldest lady at church made us embroidered dishtowels... featuring a day a week. They are sooo cute and so retro!! And Ryan and I both love Mrs. Clara!! (the lady who made us the towels).



Today's towel is Sunday. A woman resting. Not that I'm saying today is a 'day of rest' as used in the old testament (which would of been sabbath a Saturday, not a Sunday!!!) However, today is when most people take a break from work to worship God....and take a nice looooong nap in the afternoon!! I pretend the lady on the towel is reading her bible :) So today I'm going to worship God, take a nap, and read my bible. Hope everyone has a GREAT Sunday!!


Another picture: table set for a couple we had over Sunday for lunch.


Friday morning I made something I had never made before, strawberry jam!! Strawberries are really cheap here, like 1.78 a pound. I think it's because they are Louisiana strawberries.... I don't know. Well, I had bought a bunch of them planning on cutting them up mixing with sugar and freezing them. But, then I remembered that my Mom used to make strawberry freezer jam and it didn't require any fancy (expensive!)tools so I called her and asked how to make it (it's on the box of pectin!!) It made about 4 quarts. I made some to give away and some to stick in the freezer. It tastes FABULOUS!!! Especially on 'best bread in the world' which I will be making tomorrow.....mmmmm hot fresh homemade bread with cool fresh strawberry jam!!

All Things Spring!!!

I'm finally feeling better....and it's the start to a new week!! Today is BEAUTIFUL weather and of course my hubby's day off so he is outside mowing the lawn. I caught up on all the housework (somewhat!!) and was going to go out front and clean out some flower beds/landscaping but was to tired after washing dishes (remember I was sick for a week!!). So, I decided to do some lazy gardening.

What is lazy gardening you ask?? It's what I do every year. Hubby plants a real garden and I buy 2 big planters and lazily plant what I want to plant!! :) No tilling,weeding, walking too far to water... all I do is dump 2 big bags of dirt and then plant my plants and wa la!! All I do to water them is fill my watering pot and water them when I take the dogs out back to go potty! This year I planted, yellow bell peppers, red bell peppers, jalapeño peppers and hot banana peppers!! I love peppers but they cost SOOO much at the grocery store!!

This week I am not giving myself a schedule... I'm just going to get as much done as I feel like I can do. Still having problems breathing and have to stop and blow my nose every two steps!! LOL!!! I will give you a hint as to what's coming next week on our new schedule..... "No TV Thursdays!!" ooooohhhh, intriguing!!

Roxie outside playing (she's hard to get a good picture off!!)


Samantha outside playing!


Some of my plants:


more of my plants:


My hot hubby mowing the lawn, (shhh, no he doesn't know this in in here!!)


Enjoy the pictures, I have to run to the grocery store and get a few things for dinner tonight; pumpkin muffins and tuscan style scrambled eggs!!

Cloth Napkins!!

I've finished my first one....one down 7 more to go! :)

Here's it is unfolded:

Here it is folded and compared to a paper napkin:

I didn't intend on them being the same size! They just ended up that way!! LOL!!

Pictures!!!

Finally I have some pictures!! I'm feeling a tad better this evening and hoping that I feel well enough tomorrow to get some (basic) housework done.

anyways, here's my apron. Yes, that is jellyfish fabric :) I LOVE jellyfish, they fascinate me, at one point in my life I was going to be a marine biologist. This was a practice apron, I needed cheap fabric because I didn't want to ruin expensive fabric :) I'm not to thrilled with how the apron looks on me. I've ordered two patterns from the internet and am making another and hopefully aprons for all my family for Christmas (I have 5 females in my family!!)


Here are the apron patterns I ordered, aren't they adorable?!

Sick, sick, sick, sick!!

My goals for this week are NOT happening!! I am SICK!! Like sore throat, sniffling, coughing, chills yuckyness!! And now I seem to have started sneezing! :(

Update from my previous post. I'm doing better... I had had 2 hours of sleep and I am VERY emotional when I am exhausted. I really, really want to go to the funeral. But, I'm not sure that I can. I'm afraid I will have a breakdown. All I will see is my sisters funeral. Everyone at church is upset over this. She will be dearly missed.

I've finished my apron!! I actually finished it on Monday... it only took me one day!! (all day!!) I will post pics of it later. I'm now making cloth napkins so that we can use them instead of paper napkins to hopefully save some money. Haven't mentioned this to Ryan yet....hmmmmm :)

I'm Not Sure I Can Handle This...

A wonderful sweet lady from church passed away last night. Very unexpectantly, she was in the hospital for pneumonia and was expected to come home in a couple of days. She was just a marvelous person.

This is the first person to have died that I have really known and cared about since my sister died 3 years ago. These feelings coming up are ones I have pushed very hard to get to hide and I don't want them coming back. I got a call in the middle of the night from my dad when my sister passed away. This wasn't quite a 'middle of the night call' but a 6:30am when I have only been in bed since 5:00am call. Feels the same.

Just total unbelief. I'm really scared I'm not going to be able to handle this... and Ryan is not home today and will be at the prison all day today. I need someone.

Monday

Well, it's Monday....and I have a headache. For whatever reason I seem to always be getting headaches on Mondays.... I'm not sure why, but it's annoying because this is my husbands day off!! I've started drinking a cup of caffeinated tea to see if it helps keep it away. We'll see!!!



So, how did I do on my goals last week?? Not very well, I'm sad to say :(

1. I only managed to exercise once!! However, I am trying to organize and plan our days better (more about this in another post!!) and hopefully that will be getting some exercise in!!

2. I studied my bible 4 times this week, not bad!! Just one day away from my goal!!

3. I decided to hold off on working on the public prayer, I am starting to study prayer this week.

4. The only thing I did on my apron was cut it out!! LOL!! I'm not sure how to do darts!! I haven't sewed since I was like 13.... so almost 10 years ago!!! (no, mine will not be nearly this cute!!)

This week will be a little bit different because we are going to a gospel meeting monday and tuesday night and Ryan will be at the prison all day tuesday to teach. But, this gives me time to start planning next week and the things I want to change.

Happy Monday everyone!!!!!