Memories & More

Layouts

2012-01-29T23:16:00.000-05:00

My favorite backyard activity!

I have been trying to get 2011's scrapbook pages done. I do one every few days so I can stay caught up.

We were able to see a bunch of Florida lights last year!

The most fun and frightening thing i've done!

Sometimes I miss the old house.

Hymn Challenge #2

2012-01-27T11:27:00.002-05:00

Turn Your Eye Upon Jesus was written by Helen Lemmel. You can read Patter's devotional at Triple the Scraps, HERE

Helen wrote over 500 hymns. This LINK is the history of this wonderful hymn.

Fix your eyes upon JESUS! Have great weekend everyone.

Visitors

2012-01-25T10:50:00.001-05:00

I received a call yesterday from my good friend Jule. They were driving back from Florida and wanted to meet up for dinner. But I thought why not just spend the night at the best B&B in town (aka our house)! So they spent the night and we had time to catch up before they headed home today. We met back in 2001 when we were stationed up in NY and we have kept in touch for, WOW, almost 10 years now! How time just flys by. She has been a great friend and christian mentor to me over the years. They show us so much love and hospitality when ever we come to visit. I am glad we were able to reciprocate. MISS you JULE!

I usually do my art journal on Wednesdays so I had to leave you with this today!

Have a blessed day !

Hymn & Scripture Challenge

2012-01-24T14:55:00.002-05:00

I began a new study this week. Over at TRIPLE THE SCRAPS they are starting a Hymn & Scripture challenge for 2012. Click the link to go look at the challenge. We will be studying the history behind hymns and the people who wrote them.

This weeks hymn is Amazing Grace written by John Newton.

You can read more about Mr. Newton

HERE

Also, there is a movie called Amazing Grace that was released back in 2007 that speaks to the history of the slave trade and the people who fought to abolish it.

For my HSCRC12 page, I went to a used book store and bought an old hymnal. I am using the pages as my background. I will be posting my pages in a tab at the top of my blog, so you can reference them anytime throughout the year.

Scrapbook Life Journal 2012

2012-01-23T14:58:00.000-05:00

This year I am creating journal along side 250 of my internet friends, hahahaha. I am taking an online class with Stephanie. Check it out HERE

It is a year long art journal with prompts, doodles, and Bible verses. Here is my January pages. The theme verse is Matthew 5:5

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment

you find yourselves proud owners of

everything that can't be bought."

Taken from the Message Bible

Take time to be honest with yourself and pray about how you want to be a better YOU this year. For me it is accepting myself as I am and drawing closer to God through his word.

I am making a tab at the top of my blog for the rest of my entries throughout the year.

The Venue

2012-01-21T15:53:00.000-05:00

Today we took Sarah to see the place for the ceremony and reception. It is barn on property near our home. We think it is perfect for the carnival themed wedding!

Imagine the inside decorated with twinkle lights and carnival banners strung throughout the room.

It has a nice bar area for our buffet.

A cozy firplace (gas) to sit around.

It has an upstairs area we are not sure what to do with yet??? Any ideas?

If it is nice that day, we will have the ceremony outside and dinner too! The sun sets right over those hills. It is hard to imagine with all the bare trees and snow, Brrrrrrrrrrr.

Word Filled Wednesday

2012-01-18T13:55:00.003-05:00

Engagement Photos

2012-01-12T13:53:00.001-05:00

For those of you that don't follow my photography blog, here is the link to my son's engagement pictures.

Engagement PHOTOS

Word Filled Wednesday

2012-01-11T17:00:00.001-05:00

Birthday Boy Goes Home

2012-01-09T19:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Matthew's 24th birthday!

We spent the day playing games, going out to Red Robin and eating cupcakes. But today he left... insert sad mommy face. He went back to Colorado. Back to his internship with Cadence International. Back to Bible college studies..... But I can't wait for him to come BACK in May for his wedding.

Notice I made cupcakes for his birthday. My cake making days are over.

Joy Dare 2012

2012-01-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

I am taking the the JOY Dare. Recording 1000 gifts from God.

Keeping a list of His LOVE!
Just three gifts a day.
The whole earth is full of His glory.

Along with reading One Thousand Gifts by, Ann Voskamp, I am starting a tab ABOVE to record my 1000 gifts. Please join me in a journal, blog, post-its (thought that would would look really cool covering a wall space) or pictures...... If you are going to join me in this journey drop me a comment to let me know!

A Holy Experience is the site with more information. There is also an APP for all you Apple junkies out there. It is called 1000 Gifts and its FREE.

Word Filled Wednesday

2012-01-04T17:07:00.003-05:00

I made this journal cover while I was taking an online class at Homegrown Hospitality Stephanie is a wonderful Christian woman who teaches us less artistic people to doodle and create art. I took a composition book and decoupaged, painted, and stamped on the front.

Now I am using it as a inspirational art journal.

I don't know if you have heard of Pinterest but it is quite addicting. I have found lots of get quotes and Bible verses on that site. So I am going to

make a page in this book each week.

Mostly I copy what the other artist did and then tweak it how I like it. Maybe I will begin to create on my own as the year progresses. So every Wednesday I will be sharing a page out of my journal with you.

A Look Back at 2011

2012-01-03T15:05:00.000-05:00

Here is a quick look back 2011.

Built a snowman with my MAN!

Took a break from the cold in the Florida Keys

We're on the move AGAIN.

Easter service at the Lincoln Memorial

Brookside Gardens on Mother's Day

Father's Day

Looking for shells on Sanabel Island, Florida

Day trip to Lurrary Caverns, VA

Kayaking on the Chicago River

Sitting on the top of the Shenandoah Mountains

We get some real nice sunsets in our backyard!

Christmas Dinner, we are BLESSED!

This year flew by and we were blessed to be able to travel and spend some great quality time with our family.

Each day is a gift.
There is much to be thankful for every day of the year.

Look around.

2012 looks to be even more exciting. Thanks for stopping by and following us in our journey through LIFE!

Finishing up NYC

2011-12-29T12:07:00.001-05:00

On our last day in the big city we walked down 5th Ave. We stopped by St. Patricks Cathedral. It is a beautiful church. It reminded me of the churches in Germany.

They had a huge nativity.

"After the angel announced Jesus’ birth to some wide-eyed shepherds, a chorus of angels began “praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest!’” (Luke 2:13-14). The shepherds responded by running to Bethlehem where they found the newborn King lying in a barnyard bassinet.

They returned to their fields “glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen” (v.20).

Coming face to face with the Son inspired the shepherds to worship the Father."

The alter was adorned with wreaths and the stain glass glowed as the light shined through them.

But what we thought was so impressive was the organ. It had such detail and so many pipes! You can barely see the organist playing.

Next we stopped at St. Thomas Cathedral.

Their alter was all hand carved!

Love the details!

Then we walked farther down the street to check out all the commercialism of Christmas. The stores were wrapped in lights and the windows filled with sparklely things.

We are in the Apple store elevator.

I had to check out FAO Schwartz!

Well that pretty much wraps up our little trip to the big city. Thanks for following along.

The Annanie Christmas

2011-12-27T12:21:00.000-05:00

We hope you had a wonderful Christ filled Christmas. Here at the Annanie house we were busy doing our favorite things, eating Chirstmas cookies and playing games. After Christmas Eve church services we gathered in front of the Christmas tree for our yearly photo. I got a new camera this year so I took a bit longer to get a good shot. I work better with things that don't move, hahaha. But I must say Michael and I have some good looking kiddos!

Trying to get Blue in a picture is hard. Matthew and Sarah got him to sit still for this quick picture.

Every year I try to get picture of just the kids.

I have given up on the serious picture and enjoy their creativity to make it fun.

Christopher is into weight lifting right now and wanted to see if he could lift his brother and sister. He last about one second, long enough to get this picture.

Here are the stockings I made this year. I bought the stocking for 2.00 at Walmart. Then I doodled everyones name onto some canvas and hot glued them on. Do you notice anything different about this picture????? There is one more stocking this year! That is because .......

Matthew asked this beautiful young lady to marry him a few days ago. Let me introduce the future Mrs Sarah Annanie. She is a wonderful girl and we welcome her into the family!

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-19T13:49:00.001-05:00

This past weekend Michael and I worked

together to make Christmas cookies.

Since our nest is empty,

we made our favorite holiday treats.

We make a great team.

Below are the links for the for all the recipes.

All of these cookies will be served at our family "Cookie Day". Each year we get together to play games and enjoy appetizers and cookies.

NYC Day 2

2011-12-17T20:58:00.000-05:00

Today we spent the day hiking around Central Park.

This was a great respite from the business of the city.

We took some time to skate at Wollmen Rink. I was a bit wobbley, but Michael pulled me around the ice!

It was beautiful day on the ice!

At dusk we went down to Rockefeller Center

to take pictures of the lights.

These giant ornaments were really cool!

I loved how they sparkled.

Isn't this a cool shot. Michael saw it,

and I grabbed the shot.

Boy, is this a big tree. This area was sooooo crowded!

Not too many people are ice skating.

It costs big $$$ to skate down there.

Thanks for stopping by...............
Tomorrow I will post the rest of my NYC pictures.

NYC Day 1

2011-12-16T15:07:00.000-05:00

It has been about 6 years since we have been to New York City. So we thought we would go during the holidays to check out all the lights and activities of the season. Our hotel was near Times Square. It has changed a bit since we had been here before.

They have added tables and chairs to the area. The roads are blocked off so it is more of a open walkway.

Of course it is still the brightest and visually stimulating place in town!

There is a new store just for M& M's, really??

Just another gimick to get us to spend our $$!

They did have a pretty Christmas tree!

The screens looked so clear.

We went to go see the Broadway play Wicked.

It was really good. Tomorrow I will share all the Christamas lights and our day in Central Park.

Thanks for stopping by................

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T22:20:00.000-05:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

We were blessed to be invited to a friends house today. Thanksgiving is changing as the kids are living farther away from home. So we combined our families and had a great time hanging out.

We worked on and finished a pretty lighthouse puzzle.

Then we taught them Settlers.

Luke, Bob, Kristen

Notice how nice they are posing. Then there is the Annanie klan. If only I could get a picture with Christopher's eyes open. O'well. I am just happy he is IN the picture.

My favorite part of the meal was this delicious ham!

Honey Baked, YUMMY!

Psalm 100:4

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

Garlic Beef Enchiladas

2011-11-19T19:06:00.000-05:00

Tonight I tried a new recipe. I took it from one of my Taste Of Home cookbooks. I did cut the spices in half because I wasn't sure how spicey it would have been. It was just right for us. This one made the cut for the menu board! Click on the link below to see the recipe.

Garlic Beef Enchiladas

Wall Art

2011-11-17T21:19:00.000-05:00

I have been busy this week making these canvas. I saw the idea on a craft website. You can watch a video and read her direction on the site. Here is how I made mine,

I used two 11x14 canvases

I bought an old book from a used book store. I found an old text book on the study of birds. You could use an old dictionary (sorry I gave mine a way) or encyclopedia pages. Tear out interesting pages and Mod Poge them onto the canvases.

You can't see, but i drew my branches on the canvases with a pencil.

I googled bird silhouette's and printed them onto card stock. Cut them out so you can use them for patterns.

Next I took a Sharpie and traced my branches and birds onto the canvases.

Then all you have to do is color in the branches, add leaves, and enjoy. I would recommend using a new black sharpie. Let the first coat dry and go over it again. I colored mine three times to get it to look really black.

Chicken Tator Bake

2011-11-10T21:25:00.000-05:00

Tonight we had leftovers. Tomorrow I will be taking my favorite Veteran out for his free meal at Applebee's. So Saturday I will be making this casserole. It is a new one for us, so I will let you know how of we like it.

It is from my favorite magazine Taste of Home and you can find the recipe HERE I think it will be similar to the chicken pot pie, only with a tator tot crust/topping.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

2011-11-09T15:19:00.003-05:00

Todays recipe is Sweet and Sour Meatballs. I got this recipe from a military wife in El Paso, Texas. I have picked up a lot of recipes from women from all over the world. Don't forget to check out the rest of my recipes on the RECIPE LINK tab.

Meatball Ingredients:

1lb Hamburger meat
1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Milk
2 Tbs Onion
Dash of salt
1 Egg
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Make into 1 - 1.5 inch balls. Place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Flipping after 15 minutes.
You can double this recipe and make some meatballs to freeze for later.

Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbs Cornstarch
1 13oz Pineapple chunks
1/3 Vinegar
1 Tbs Soy sauce
Chopped green pepper (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a large sauce pan and heat to a boil. Add meatballs and simmer while you cook rice.

Chicken Pot Pie

2011-11-08T15:03:00.000-05:00

Todays recipe is Chicken Pot Pie. I have never made one these, EVER. I don't know why, it was sooooo yummy! You could make your own crust, (I have never done that either.) but I used the premade crust. I plan to make it again with our left over Thanksgiving turkey.

INGREDIENTS

Crust: 1box refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

Filling:
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken or turkey
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1 1/2 cup cooked diced potato

Thanks for stopping by..............

New Recipe Week

2011-11-07T09:59:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been trying new recipes. I have a large collection of recipes that I have never tried. Now that the nest is empty it is time try some of them out, RIGHT?

So this week I will share a new recipe each day.

Today it is quick snack called Cinnamon Crisps.

Ingredients:

6 Flour tortillas, 1 TBS Water, 1 tsp Vanilla, Cooking spray, Sugar and Cinnamon

Spray both sides of the tortillas with cooking spray and cut them in 8 pieces each. Mix the water and vanilla. Brush each piece with water mixture.
Sprinkle both sides with sugar mixture.

Put them on a cooling rack and then put that on top of a cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 9 minutes.

Keep an eye on them, they crisp up quickly.

I was able to fit three cut tortillas on the sheet.

Take them off the grate and let them cool.

Enjoy them as is or add them

to a bowl of ice cream and fresh fruit! So Yummy.

Works of HEart

2011-11-05T19:09:00.000-05:00

I signed up for another class over at Homegrown Hospitality called Works of HEart.

If you are into the mixed media scene, you love this class. You get really messy, while creating some cool projects.

Here is a small canvas I got in the mail and I create a neat little picture for my craft room.

Next I took an old composition book and create a journal.

I think I am going to write down quotes, sayings, Bible verses.... inside of it. Maybe someday my

children will find it and read it.

Memo Board Tutorial

2011-11-03T20:43:00.000-05:00

I made a memo board for my craft room.

It cost me about $5.00 to make.

Supplies:

20x30 foam core board, batting, 2/3 yard fabric,

2 spools of ribbon, duct tape, glue gum, buttons and thread

First cover your board with the batting.

Attach it with duct tape.

Make sure you iron the fabric!

Do the same with the fabric.

Next lay out the ribbon and cut it a couple

inches longer than the board.

I used the glue gun to glue the ribbons to the

back of the board.

I used 6 black buttons and 6 white buttons. I attached the black onto the board with thread through the

back of the board. Then I hot glued the

white buttons on top or the ribbon.

Here it is hung up on my wall. I am going to tuck pictures, postcards, ideas... on my board.

I think this

would make a great Christmas

gift or a nice way to help

organize things in an office.

Thanks for stopping by..........................

Weekend Crop

2011-11-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

Spent the weekend in Ocean City, MD with these crazy scrapbookers. Since moving to VA I only get to see them a few times a year. We had great fun scrapping, chatting, and eating for two days.

This year Michael and I spent a lot of time in Florida. We were able to visit nine lighthouses. In order to get my lighthouse pages done quickly I used all the same stamps, paint, and die cuts on each page. I had these done in a couple of hours. I like quick and easy!Next I worked on our Disney albumn. We were there for five days.

Again I used both tradional pages and the We R Memory page protectors. Doing it this way I was able to use most all of my pictures.

In the spring time Epcot has a flower show. They create topiaries of all the Disney characters. Then they plant millions of flowers around the park. Since I LOVE taking pictures of flowers this had to be my favorite park.

Epcot was very informative and fun at the same time. We learned about different cultures. I could have spent a few days at this park.

We didn't spend a lot of time at Disney's Studios. If we ever go again I would like to check this place out!

Monday, Monday......

2011-10-31T13:54:00.000-05:00

Today I went looking for bargains. We have a huge Salvation Army Store nearby so I wanted to checkout the kitchenware section for entertaining goodies and to see if I could fine something to use as night stands in our guest room.

I didn’t find and furniture, but I found these:

We don’t have room for end/coffee tables so I thought these trays would work good to put food and drinks on. See how great it is working for my afternoon snack and read! I like the idea of up/recycling these items.

Next I went to a place called Mc Kay’s Used Books. My son has been telling me about this place for months. I thought it was a little used book store, with a bunch of old outdated books. I was SO WRONG! This place is HUGE. The cookbook aisle caught my eye and I spent a half hour looking at books. I grabbed these books for between 3-7 dollars. Two of them are brand new. I am in trouble. I will be going back to that place again for sure!

I love a good bargain!

Have a blessed day.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2011-10-30T13:19:00.000-05:00

I made us some yummy Oatmeal Raisin cookies last night. The recipe is inside the Quaker Oats containers. Since it is just the two of us, I froze half of them. That way we can enjoy them again in few weeks.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked

1 cup raisins

Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time Time: 08 - 10 min

Variations

Bar Cookies: Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered. 24 BARS. VARIATIONS: Stir in 1 cup chopped nuts. Substitute 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or candy-coated chocolate pieces for raisins; omit cinnamon. Substitute 1 cup diced dried mixed fruit. HIGH ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Increase flour to 1-3/4 cups and bake as directed.

Autumn Glory

2011-10-28T16:48:00.000-05:00

I think fall is my new favorite season. We don’t get enough snow here in Virginia to really enjoy winter. At our new house we are surrounded by trees. They have turned bright yellows, reds and oranges. So pretty!

Since we live only an hour from the Shenandoah Mountains, we took a day trip to drive Skyline Drive.

Of course we had to take the top down and enjoy the crisp fall weather! The roads curved from one side of the mountain to the other.

Along the road there are pull off places to take in the views.

We hike the Stoney Man trail. The trail was kind of boring. Until you get to the end and see THIS:

We climbed out to the edge of the rocks and took in the view. You could see for a few miles in each direction. The colors looked fabulous from up here.

Another trail we took was Dark Hollow Falls trail. This is a pretty strenuous trail (for me). It took you along a small creek all the way to the bottom of the falls. You get down there and then realize you have to climb ALL the way back up. UGH! I exercise at least four times a week and this trail kicked my behind.

Thank goodness I have an understanding hubby who lets me stop and rest. Thanks BABE!

We drove 50 miles of the 109 miles in the park. Maybe next year we can cover the next 50??? On the way out of the park we saw this black bear. It was far away, but I got a pretty good shot with my zoom!

Thanks for stopping by………………………..

In Our Neighborhood

2011-10-26T18:40:00.000-05:00

Stonewall Jackson received his nickname at this battle.

Right down the road from our house is the Mannasas Battlefields. Michael and I bought a yearly pass so we can hike all the different trails.

Henry House

The Stone Bridge trail is my favorite so far. We took Blue with us on this one. It climbs a small hill

and then travels along the river.

A friend we saw along the trail.

Thanks for stopping by.........................

Colorado: Warning Tons of beautiful pictures!

2011-10-24T17:38:00.003-05:00

While in Colorado we went to

Rocky Mountain National Park.

We were going to drive the

Trail Ridge Road, but it was closed because of snow.

So we stayed on the west side of the park.

We hiked to Adams falls. It was really pretty. We continued on the trail to the meadows. There we saw fabulous views of the mountains.

Then we hit Coyote Valley trail. We hiked along the Colorado River. While hiking we had the river to our right and the big meadows to our left.

We saw all kinds of wild life.

While walking back to the car a MOOSE walked right across the road! Michael and I have traveled all over Maine, New Hampshere, Vermont….. hoping to see a moose. Matthew was with us and he said he was praying right before we saw the moose, asking God to show us a moose not because we want to see one, but to show us His glory. Then BAM a moose walked right across the road. He said he had shivers. Pretty neat!

Next we stopped to look at a cabin.

We think this is a Osprey

Then our last trail was Lulu City. We only hiked to the river and back. We saw stream trout and birds in this area.

Elk from very far away.

This was a very beautiful place and we will be coming back to explore the rest of the park.

Colorado

2011-10-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

Matthew and I picked up Michael from the airport. We saw this sunset on our way home.

On our first morning in Colorado, we woke up to snow in the foothills. Michael and I headed out in a light rain to check out Red Rocks in Morrison, Colorado.

We decided to walk a 1.6 mile trail around these fascinating rock formations.

During the hike it began to snow. I pulled out my little point and shoot to grab a few shots. We were a little wet after the hike, but it was well worth it.

On our drive out we saw these little bluebirds sitting on top of some type of desert grasses.

Mountain Bluebird?? That's my guess.

Then we drove up to Evergreen, CO. We stopped to look at this waterfall. This town is a bit higher up into the mountains so the snow was really falling now!

Next, Rocky Mountain National Park

Thanks for stopping by………………….

On the Road to Colorado: Day Four

2011-10-19T14:16:00.000-05:00

Kansas is a long state with nothing but amber fields of grain! So we decided to see if there were any roadside attractions to visit along the way. This is what we found:

Mushroom Rock State Park

It is the smallest state park in Kansas. It is in the middle of farmland (of course). They are made from Dakota Sandstone.

Matthew had to get to the top of at least

one of these puppies!

The Next stop is Prairie Dog Town. This stop reminded me of the possum stop in the Goofy Movie.

This place is basically a man’s backyard (farm). He rescues animals and keeps them in very clean pens. O’ he has an 8000lb. Prairie dog you can take a picture with. He has trained prairie dog to hang out in the yard buy leaving corn around the holes.

We saw an albino peacock, Russian pigs, goats, donkeys, cows, buffalo, geese……

Yes we paid to go look at his animals. He is just trying to make a living and keep his animals fed and clean.

Our last stop was the Giant Easel in Goodland, KS. Here we found a 24’ x 36’ (FEET) Van Gough painting on a 85’ tall easel. Pretty impressive!

We drove a few more hours and finally saw……………

The rock mountains.

Next time...... Colorado!

Thanks for stopping by..................

On the Road to Colorado: Day Three

2011-10-17T18:13:00.004-05:00

Today we made our way across Missouri to Kansas City.

We spent a few hours at the Kansas City Zoo.

They had a 50% discount for military. Way to go KC! So we were able to take the trams, Africa sky safari, train, and ride the carrousel.

You could walk right up to these kangaroos!

You are never to old to ride the carrousel.

We were able to feed the Lorikeets. They gave us little cups to put in our hands and they filled it with nectar. The birds landed on our arms and drank the nectar. This was a real fun thing to do. You had a real close up look at the birds.

The Sky Safari was a ski lift that took you over the Africa area. We saw all sorts of animals below.

Then we headed out for dinner at Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ. It was rated the #1 BBQ place in KC. It was the best BBQ pork and brisket I have ever eaten. It melted in your mouth. YUMMY.

We gave it two thumbs up.

Next, roadside attactions on I70.

Thanks for stopping by...............

On the Road to Colorado: Day Two

2011-10-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

Today we drove through Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and finally landed in St. Louis, Missouri.

We made our way downtown. The St. Louis Cardinals were playing, so it was a sea of red. The fountain was even dyed red for the occasion.

We arrived at the Gateway Arch. Matthew walked around taking pictures from all different angles. Then we went down under the arch to the Museum of Westward Expansion. We learn how the early settlers came across America and basically took over the Native Americans land. Sorry about that. They had interesting displays to look at and read.

Next we got our tickets to ride the tram up to the top of the arch. I was bit nervous about this part of the trip. They stuff you in a tiny five seat capsule for a four minute

ride to the top.

When you get to the top you can see all of downtown St. Louis and the Mississippi River. We learned the arch is 630 ft. high and is 630 ft wide at the base. They built in triangular pieces from each side. If they were off by even 1/64 of millimeter the top wouldn’t have matched up. It was quite a feat to build this arch.

After eating dinner we headed to Crown Candy Kitchen. It was feature on Food Network so I thought it would be a fun spot to go for dessert. I had a yummy hot fudge Sunday and Matthew had a chocolate shake. It was a cute place.

Next stop Kansas City for some BBQ.

Thanks for stopping by..............

On the Road to Colorado: Day One

2011-10-14T09:36:00.000-05:00

Matthew packed up his Prius and we hit the road.

The first state line we hit was West Virginia.

We spent many hours driving over the

hilly roads of West Virginia.

Then we came to Kentucky. We had to stop at the rest area to grab a state sign picture.

We planned a little adventure for each of our days on the road. Today we went spelunking in Kentucky.

Better know as caving.

This is the highest concentration of caves in eastern Kentucky. They were massive and fun to explore!

Water was running along side of me. Can you see it?

Don't forget to look up, WOW!

Matthew enjoyed climbing all over the rocks.

This is a tiny cave in the natural bridge area.

Can you see the liitle cave I was in? This place was soooooo cool.

I took so many more pictures, but I won't bore you with the slide show. Maybe I will put them up over on my Photography site someday. Stay tuned for our next adventure tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by................

So PROUD

2011-10-13T18:55:00.000-05:00

I am so proud of our son Matthew. He is taking a leap of faith and going to become a missionary! Not any missionary but a Cadence International Missionary Click on link to watch a video about Cadence.

He has moved out to Colorado to shadow the director of Children's Ministries. He will complete a year of Bible college and intern at local churches children's programs. He will travel to see first hand how Cadence ministers to military children.

Matthew grew up as a military child. Moving every few years, watching his father leave for long periods of time and having to make new friends all the time. This is a rough life for little kids. He was fortunate to be ministered to by Military Children's Milinistries. (CEF at the time) They ran VBS's, Bible studies, retreats, mission trips, holiday parties..... for families and children.

Cadence missionaries work with the post Chaplins to help meet the spiritual needs of the military families.

Matthew feels drawn to this ministry because of his personal experience with military minitries.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. Matthew 19:14-15

Be in prayer as he begins his studies and training. He will also have to raise his own support before he can go out into the field. If you would be interested in recieving updates let me know.

Thanks for stopping by...........

Chicago

2011-09-27T14:08:00.000-05:00

We took a quick trip to Chicago.

I spent a couple days with my childhood friend Kel.

We visited Starved Rock State Park

We hiked into canyon and climbed many, many stairs to beautiful vistas.

We ate at Giordano's! Yummy thick, sweet, cheesy PIZZA.

We took the train to Andersonville. It's history is Swedish. In my youth my family would go here to eat authentic Swedish meals and bring home tons of baked goods from the Swedish Bakery .

So I had to get a variety of childhood favorites. YUMMY!

We spent Sunday afternoon at the Cubs game! As you can tell from our picture it was a bit wet. They played through the 8th inning and unfortunately they didn't win:(

We spent part of a the day at the Science Museum

On the way back to the hotel

we stopped at The Cloud sculpture.

Walked past the famous Buckingham Fountain

We took an architecture in kayaks! The river was a lot cleaner than in my youth, but it was still stinky and I felt sticky when the water touched my skin.

We got a great perspective of all the citys buildings. I have mixed feeling about this tour.

It is a great idea and really fun, but the

river is still too yucky to kayak in.

Love this city!

Thanks for stopping by...............

Doodles and Painting

2011-09-09T12:59:00.000-05:00

I have been staring at these gesso covered canvases for about a week now. Stephanie from Homegrown Hospitality has fantastic doodle classes online. You can also get a lot of inspiration just from reading her blog. Anyway, I decided to create my little doodle cards onto the big 16x20 canvases.

So I went to AC Moore and tried to match the colors I used on the card with paints. I painted my background and because I am not a patient person I used my heat gun to dry them.

Next I drew lightly, with a pencil, my flowers all around the brown area. Next came the filling in of the areas. It took a long time to paint, dry, repaint, layer, dry....... each canvas. Then I took a sharpie and puff paints and added the little outlines and details.

Note: Don't buy the REAL cheap acrylic paint! They don't cover really well and you will have to repaint the areas over and over!

Here are the finished pieces!

Thanks for stopping by.................

All Sports Weekend

2011-09-07T12:46:00.001-05:00

We have season tickets to the Redskins so we took in a game. The seats are way up in the "attic"but it was nice to spend time with friends and watch the game.

Lost Bears fans at a Redskins game.

Then we went to the Nationals Baseball game with some friends. Yes that is a Cardninal fan next to a Cub fan. It isn't his fault he grew up in Iowa and lost his way to the dark side of baseball. We still like him.

Plus we were going to go see the Dodgers play the Nats?????

The best part of the game was watching these guys race. The giant headed presidents race from the outfield, down the first base line. It is so funny to see these guys run. Makes me smile every time!

Hi George!

Cardmaking

2011-08-31T09:55:00.000-05:00

Big Ideas & Doodles

2011-08-23T15:29:00.000-05:00

I have been busy over at the Big Idea Festival at Big Picture Class I have completed four more 4x6 cards with the word prompts they give each day. I have enjoyed digging into God's word to find the perfect verse for my cards/word.

I have also been working with Stephanie over at Homegrown Hospitality in her new doodle class. I love creating cards and canvases and then filling them with color! So relaxing.

Thanks for stopping by...........

Williamsburg Layouts

2011-08-22T20:38:00.001-05:00

I tried a new way to scrapbook this week. I used divided page protectors . They are similar to photo albums, but you can custimize the slots with papers, stickers, titles......

I found this way of scrapping easy if you have a bunch of pictures from a big trip. You can get them down and in a book pretty quickly.

It helps to focus on the photos and not worry about all the foo foo stuff.

I love linar things so this fit me well.

I like traveling to historcal places. I didn't really pay attention in history

class, so I find this stuff really interesting.

It was also Christmas time and the historical area was decoarted with these beautiful wreaths.

All of the people in historical clothing played like they were back in the 1700's.

It was very imformative.

You can click on the pictures to see a close up of the pages.

Thanks for stopping by....................

Big Idea Festival

2011-08-17T13:50:00.000-05:00

I joined BIG IDEA FESTIVAL over at Big Picture Site.

It is a free class that gives you one word a day to meditate on and create a layout. I decided to create 4x6 cards

with the focus on using Bible verses

and quotes from my devotions.

Day 1 SHARE

Day 2 WONDER

Day 3 LESS

Go visit the site to be inspired by all the great layouts! Thanks for stopping by............

Christmas Cookies in August

2011-08-16T13:57:00.001-05:00

When I asked my son what treat he would like me to bake him he responded, "Those powdery balls we have at Christmas." I usually don't make Christmas cookies during the year. That way they seem more special when I bake them in December. But I decided to grant the wish of my son.
So here is the recipe for
Butter Pecan Sandies:
1 Cup Butter softened
1 Tbs. Water
5 Tbs. Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Chopped Pecans
Powdered Sugar

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in water and vanilla. SLOWLY beat in flour and salt. Add chopped pecans and chill for one hour. Shape into balls or cresent shapes. Bake for 12-15 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cool on wire rack and cover in powdered sugar.

Finishing Up

2011-08-14T11:45:00.001-05:00

I have been working on this doodle for the past few months. I finally finished it up this week.

This is my last layout from our trip to Chicago last year.

These pictures are from the gardens in front of the

Lincoln Park Zoo. If you are ever in Chicago

make sure to stop by the FREE zoo and gardens.

It's a nice respite from the bustling city.

You can take closer look by clicking on the pictures.

Thanks for stopping by...........

Big Hole in the Ground

2011-08-13T18:23:00.001-05:00

Today we went to visit a local Virginia attraction, Luray Caverns At first I thought it might be just a tourist trap. It was truly an amazing site to see.

It was dicovered back in 1878, by farmers. They found a hole in the ground and found the caverns below.

This is a lake only 20 inches deep. You are looking at a reflection of the ceiling. Pretty cool, right?

They illuminated the pathway with candles.

I found this sign funny:)

This pond of water is called the Wishing Well. People throw in coins and make a wish. Then once a year the area is drained and the money collected. It is given to local charities.

Named Fried Eggs

Well it turned out to be a HUGE hole in the ground. I highly recommend checking this place out if you are in the area. Thanks for stopping by.

Sea Shell Wreath

2011-08-09T10:10:00.001-05:00

Over the DECADES we have collected shells from all over the world. We have walked the beaches in Spain, Hawaii, Holland, Caribbean, and Up and Down the East and West Coast, and Gulf of Mexico...... thanks to the US ARMY and to a husband who endulges me in my LOVE to travel! I have filled jars and bowls with the shells. But when ever we moved they would go back in the box.

Supplies: Foam wreath, 1.5 inch ribbon, 22g wire, glue gun and SHELLS!

I saw an idea in Womans Day for a wreath. I am creating a beach/lighthouse theme in our guest bedroom, so I thought this would be a great addition and I would use up some of those shells I have been hoarding.

This was super easy to create! Here is how to make it:

Wrap the ribbon around the wreath gluing it down every four rounds.

Yes that it crayon ribbon. I ran out of the ribbon I bought and was to lazy and cheap to go buy more.

Wrap your wire around the wreath and twist to secure and make a loop to hang.

Hot glue your shells to the wreath.

Add a ribbon and large shell to the back for the pretend hanger.

Thanks for stopping by........

Rag Quilt

2011-08-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

For the past few years I have been collecting old jeans in hopes of making a rag quilt. This is how I made it.

Cut jean material in 7 in squares.

I had enough to make 150 squares.

I only use 70 to make this quilt.

I made it

7 squares x 10 squares.

Cut flannel material in 7 inch squares.

Next I ironed the jean and flannel and put

them wrong sides together.

Lay out your rows so it is pleasing to the eye.

Sew corner to corner on each square.

Sew your squares into rows, flannel sides together.

I ironed the seems down to make it easier

to sew the rowes together.

Sew your rows together, mathcing seams.

After it is sewed them together I sewed a 1/2 inche stitch around the endge of the quilt.

With sharp scissors cut slits into ALL seams.

Make sure not to cut into the stitching.

Cut around the edge of the quilt.

The edge will look like this.

Now take your quilt to a laudrymat and wash and dry it. You could do this at home if you watch the washer and grab all the strings that WILL come out/off in the wash. Then when it is in the dryer check your lint trap every five minutes or so and clear it out. Then it will be FINISHED!

It is super cozy!

Close-up of the edges after you dry it!

I enough material left over to make one more. Maybe a Christmas present???.........

Thanks for stopping by.

Organizing Friday

2011-07-29T18:04:00.000-05:00

Not sure why this won't rotate?

Over at ORG Junkie Laura wrote about organizing your children's school papers and memorabilia. I had a tub with each of the kids names on it. I put all there school pics, writings, certificates and art project in it as they were made. Then I took the things that would fit in an 8x10 binder and made a chronological book. I gave each of my three kids a binder at the High School graduation.

I left all the rest of the "big" stuff in their baby box for them to have after I am no longer around.

Congrats Brenda for winning the Clutter Rehab book. I put in the mail today. This is her organizing tip she shared.

"I have designated give away bags. Bag for my daughters outgrown clothes, bag that goes to my sister, my Mom etc. When the bag gets full it goes to them, and I get rid of clutter, and continue on my organization mission."

Bedford Springs

2011-07-25T18:55:00.000-05:00

We made our annual treck to Beford PA. Michael's company has an offsite with a combination of meetings and FUN!

Around the campfire in 90 degree weather??? Crazy

Learning to make crabcakes!

Enjoying the Chef's dinner

Ahhhhhhh, the spa!

Quick Trip to Florida

2011-07-20T15:52:00.000-05:00

I was able to tag along on a recent business trip to Tampa.

Of course we had to mark off a couple more lighthouses and an item from my Travel Book

Sanibel Island Lighthouse

This beach is has the best shelling in the Western Hemisphere. The shells are ate least 6 inches deep. The best shells are found at low tide along the shore. When you bring up your hands they are full of shells.

Sanibel Stoop

Finally saw a CROC!

Boca Grande

Boca Grande Rear

See his beady eyes?

Clearwater Sunset

Organizing Friday Finale (For Me)

2011-07-15T07:55:00.001-05:00

I was an active with 52 Weeks of Organizing in the beginning of this year. But then we put our house up for sale and moved. So I had to make our house “sellable” and then move all our stuff to the new house.

In this process we were able to get rid of the things we don’t use anymore J As we unpacked all the boxes we again put everything in its “home” and got rid things that didn’t fit into our new space.

During the moving process I picked up Laura’s book. I am finished reading and implementing the 101 fabulous tips so I want to pass the book onto someone else.

But first I want to tell you my top 10 tips from the book.

1. Less is More. My husband and I have realized “stuff” had taken over our lives. We want to live simply and not be defined by all of our things.

2. Give everything a designated place. Since we just moved it was easy to start fresh and give all our things a “home”

3. Never leave a room empty handed. I have made this a habit and find my house less cluttered.

4. Set up a beverage station. My husband is the coffee drinker and he has his coffee pot below a cabinet with all the necessities above. Great idea!

5. Start every week with a menu plan. I have a menu board for the month and my family picks out what they want to eat each week. See LINK Scroll down to the end of the post.

6. Toss your junk mail right away. We go through our mail right away and recycle all our junk mail and file the rest. No more piles to go through!

7. Streamline kitchen utensils. How many of those tools do you really use? Take them all out and put them in a box. Return them to your drawer as you use them. After a month get rid of what you don’t use. Yes, can keep the special occasion ones.

8. Organize while watching TV. While I don’t organize so much anymore I use the commercial time to clean. I can load a dishwasher, start laundry, fold laundry, dust, clean a toilet…. And still watch my show. I don’t feel like such a couch potato.

9. Have a house keeping mission statement. You will have to get the book to read Laura’s. I totally agree with what she says.

10. Invite company over for motivation. Nothing like a deadline.

Don’t you want to know the other 91 tips???? If you would like a chance at receiving my gently used Clutter Rehab book, you have to tell me an organizing tip you use in your house and give me your email. I will then put you all in a hat and pick the winner. Deadline: July 20th.

Of course I will continue to read Laura's Fridays post and read all the great tips!

Thanks for stopping by.

Little Visitors!

2011-07-12T18:57:00.000-05:00

If you have seen pictures of our house you would know our main floor is basically walls of windows. So what happens when three little ones come to visit?

They loved smooshing their little faces against the glass to see all the birds, squirells, fountain, and Freaky outside. It is like the nature channel outside. They loved it.

Blue took them around the yard.

Blue like all the petting, rubbing and

playing with the kids.

Max and Danny played with Matthew’ Legos.

Happenings......LONG!

2011-07-08T20:55:00.000-05:00

We had 3 dead trees cut down around

our house. We needed to protect our home from them smooshing us. The guys

climbed them and they were up to 150 feet high!

I read a lot of craft blogs. I got this idea of for a table cloth. I used it at our 4^th of July BBQ.

Then Sarah came to visit and she brought her beads. We worked on making some jewelry. I made this necklace and bracelet. She was a the first person to share my craft room with me.

Sarah wanted to learn how to crochet. She picked it up real fast. She made her kitty a little bed to curl up in. She picked out a little backpack that was a bit hard for a beginner so I made it for her. I have never made anything but blankets and a few hats. So this was a new thing for me. But it turned out ok. I may even make myself one some day.

We had all the kids over one night and had a fire to make one of my favorite treats SMORES! It was nice spending time with all the kids.

It has been a good couple of weeks!

Scrapbook Day!

2011-06-27T15:45:00.001-05:00

I spent Saturday with my scrapping

friends in Maryland.

Here are the layouts I got done.

I am almost done with 2010!

If you want to see the layouts closer

just click on them.

Have a blessed day.

Critters

2011-06-24T10:53:00.000-05:00

The last few day we have had a few visitors.

The deer was chowing down in our front yard.

At least our bushes and trees will stay trimmed.

Meet our landscaper.....

We are trying to figure out what the

birds around here enjoy eating.

It seems they all like sunflower seeds.

This chickadee takes a seed and then

flys to the bush to crack it open.

Chickadee

But then there is the squirrel.

We saw him climb the pole a few times

unable to get to the seed.

He has since figured it out.

Time to move the pole or just give in and

let him enjoy the feast. What would you do?

Lunch time!

It is DONE!

2011-06-22T19:08:00.000-05:00

Well a few years ago I went to Landcaster, PA. My friend Jule helped

me pick out a wall quilt to make. You can read about my progress HERE and HERE. In the beginning I was really excited and had it pieced together in a few weeks. Then the hand quilting began and I got a bit bored with it and put it aside. I would work on it on and off for the next two years.

This week I finally finished it. It is not perfect like I would have liked it to be, but it is finished. It 6 inches smaller than it was suppose to be. How did that happen???? My stitches are uneven and I had left it alone for so long I used two different thread colors to quilt it, dumb…. I don’t think it is suppose to have all those bubbles. Maybe I will try to iron it.

I love the colors. They are bright and remind me of all the autumn colors. Maybe I will make a winter one next.

I met a lady from a local quilters guild at Border’s the other day. They meet once a month just down the road from my house. So I may go check it out next month. I will keep you posted.

2011-06-19T21:22:00.000-05:00

Happy F.A.T.H.E.R.S. Day!

"F" aithful.
"A" lways there.
"T" rustworthy.
"H" onoring.
"E" ver-loving.
"R" ighteous.

"S" upportive.

Did you know???

2011-06-15T16:44:00.000-05:00

I have some really talented men living with me. The boys got up early (7am) Saturday and built shelving along the back of the garage. It turned out great!

Matthew wanted me to take this picture of the level. He was so proud of his workmanship. Now we have lots of space for holiday decorations and other stuff I can’t part with right now.

The office area is pretty much done for now. I went through Michael’s Army boxes and pulled out some awards and farewell memorabilia to decorate the room with. I was going to clear off the desk for the picture but I didn’t want to unorganized Michael’s system. I organized the books by theme and put travel goodies on the shelves.

My craft room is done for now. I painted the room a light teal. It gives the room an airy feeling. I took things from all over the house to fill up my room. Michael made me the two facing tables, the lamps were from Matthew, the dresser, shelves and glass desk are left from Sarah’s room. And the shelving is from somebody’s bedroom back in the day. In the closet I have tons of room too store paper and other craft supplies. I never had all my things in one place before. So it is not so matchy matchy but I love the layout. Now I just need some crafty friends to come over and craft with me.

Sloppy Joes

2011-06-13T19:46:00.000-05:00

This is a recipe from my childhood. I got this recipe from my mom early in our marriage. It is one of my favorite meals. I make a scratch sauce to mix in with the meat. It is best served with French fries or tator tots.

Sauce:
Melt 2 TBS of margarine in a small pot
Add onion powder (I never measured, I think 2 tsp.)
Add ½ cup water
1/3 cup vinegar
1 cup ketchup
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs brown sugar

Brown 1 lb. ground beef; drain and return to pan
Pour sauce over meat until saturated. (You will have leftover sauce)
Cover pan and simmer for 45mins – 1 hour. Check and stir every 15 minutes.

All Decked Out!

2011-06-09T13:16:00.000-05:00

This week I worked on the deck area.

It took me about four hours to scrub all

the pollen off the chairs, table and umbrella.

Then I went to Lowes and bought flowers

for all the pots I have collected.

Then Michael found a spot for our birdfeeders.

It is hard in this yard because there are a bunch

of spots that squirrels could leap to the feeders.

BEFORE

Scrub, scrub, scrub.......

AFTER

The ground is very hard right now so I think

I am going to wait till next year to put

in the perennials into the beds along the side of the yard.

Also we need to figure out how to take care of the pond.

Right now we have successfully grown algae

and made a home for a couple frogs.

Thanks for stopping by.

The next room I will be finishing up is my craft room.

Moved to Virginia

2011-06-08T17:49:00.001-05:00

Well we have finally landed in Virginia. We packed ourselves up and had movers move ALL our stuff down here.

I have unpacked all of our boxes.

We are working on finding a place for everything.

Here are a few pictures of the house.

As I finish setting up rooms I will share them with you.

Front of our new house.

Kitchen / Dining room

We have a kitchen / dining combo area.

Our big table fits great in front of the 7 foot windows.

It is like watching the nature channel as we dine,

play games and hang out.

My favorite part of the kitchen is the

crushed ice maker in the door of the refrigerator.

Kitchen

TV Room

We made the front room into a TV room.

It is painted a dark red and the wood blinds

make it great to watch movies/TV in.

Matthew lives in the basement. He decorated the area.

The lovely wall hanging behind the TV is

something Michael and I bought back in 1984

on the side of the road in Germany.

It has hung in most of our homes we have lived in over the years.

We have passed it on to him for his décor.

Mattew's Pad AKA Man Cave

This week I am working on our deck area and my craft room.

I will share those photos soon.

SOLD

2011-04-29T14:14:00.000-05:00

Well, our house sold. That wasn’t so bad, but now the fun starts. We need to find another house, tons of inspections, fixing things, appointments, packing, … Man I’m tired already. So I won’t be blogging as much, but I will keep in touch.

Cinnamon Rolls

2011-04-23T16:03:00.000-05:00

Chris came home to visit this weekend. He wanted to make cinnamon rolls from scratch. So he went to a recipe site called "Goons With Spoons". I think only a guy would think this would be a good recipe site. It is a bunch of nerds from the internet. But he made the most delicious cinnamon rolls. The best part he said was it had step by step pictures. You can get the recipe HERE!

Scrappy Time

2011-04-21T15:52:00.000-05:00

I spent a few hours yesterday finishing these layouts from our trip to the Windy City. Doing them made me miss my peeps back in the hood;)

I think we need to take another trip to Chi-town soon. I am going through cardamom toast withdrawal.

Snickerdoodles

2011-04-20T19:14:00.000-05:00

I have been on cookie spree lately. This week I made Snickerdoodles.

YUMMY!

You can find the recipe HERE

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a blessed day.

Getting MESSY!

2011-04-19T18:48:00.001-05:00

This week I had a chance to get my hands messy and create some fun little pieces of mix media art.

I gathered all my supplies.

We covered the kitchen table and got busy!

I took these supplies and convinced my son’s girlfriend to join me in creating THESE little beauties. I am still trying to let go and get messy. Art isn’t perfect, right?

I knew those store cards would come in handy someday.

I treasured spending time with my son's girlfriend today.

A reminder that kindness can be just a simple gesture.

Sarah enjoyed painting more than the paper piecing. She did a great job, don't ya think?

If you head over to Stephanie's Blogyou can learn about all the great doodling and art she creates. This blog is where I have gotten my inspiration for all my doodles and artwork.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-04-14T18:48:00.000-05:00

Peanut Butter Cookies

I wrote down this recipe as a young bride living in army housing back in 1986. My neighbor Rhonda Hite was a mother of two young children. I thought she knew it all. I had just given birth to my first child and had no clue what I was doing. She seemed to have all the answers. I thank God for all the army wives I have met over the years. We are a unique breed of strong, independent, welcoming, and accepting women. If you ever meet a military spouse, make sure you thank them for THEIR sacrifice to holding down the homefront while their spouses are fighting for your freedom.

I didn’t plan to jump on that soapbox, sorry.
There isn’t anything special about this recipe except they are YUMMY. Enjoy.

1 C Butter

1 C White Sugar

1 C Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 C Peanut Butter

2 tsp. Vanilla

2 ½ C Flour

½ tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

Cream the butter and sugars. Beat in eggs, peanut butter and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda and baking powder. Flatten dough with fork if desired. Bake @ 375 for 8 - 10 minutes.

Together

2011-04-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

Together

It's better than alone.

Together

More than one, more than two, more than a few...

People get where they are going.

Together

Friends rub off on each other.

Friends pull each other up.

Friends help each other out.

Our best days are spent TOGETHER.

To know love, open your heart to Jesus. To show love, open your heart to others.

For Sale

2011-04-12T17:33:00.000-05:00

We have begun the journey of moving AGAIN! We want to move closer to hubby’s job down in Virginia. Selling a house is the worst part of moving. I have a few comments to make to all the realtors and buyers looking at our home.

1. People live in this house. So don’t expect it to look like a model home.

2. Our tastes in color and style may differ. You CAN change these things.

3. Don’t let your children run around and mess up our house. I can tell when you do! Next time you should put ALL our movies back the way they were before your kid took them ALL off the shelves. REALLY????

4. Realtors, when you write your comments please be professional. Could you use a thesaurus to think of another word for CRAP?

That is all for today.
If you want to see our home go HERE

Tupper WAR!

2011-04-01T10:59:00.000-05:00

It is week #13 over at ORG JUNKIE

I took on a small but agonizing project this week, the dreaded plastic container cabinet. As you know I am a confessed stuffoholic. This area is no different. I just toss and stuff these little plastic container and lids in the cabinet. When it is time to put the leftovers in one of them I am digging and wasting precious time looking for matching pieces.

I use to keep every butter, cool whip, and meat….. container, because “that would make great storage for…..” I know other persons (to remain nameless) did/do this too. I have broken that habit for the most part.

So I took ALL the containers, lids, bowls, bottles, ice trays, cookie cutters (really?) out of the cabinet. I matched all the containers with lids. I put the unmatched items and ones that I haven’t used in over a year into the recycle bin. The cookie cutters back into its home. I sorted and stacked the bowls and containers. Then I grabbed an unused basket for all the lids.

So there you have it. It took about 20 minutes to complete this project. I feel much lighter and I can find things much more easily. Have a great weekend!