One Year Later...

Last year as I watched the Superbowl I wrote my first blog post. In recent months I have read more than I have written, but I still enjoy blogging and plan to do more soon. Happy birthday? Anniversary? Make Room For...

Remember Pantry Beautification?

Go Ahead, You Know You Want To

Yes, I did. I cut the sleeves off two ribbed turtlenecks, sewed a straight seam and made gift bags. They were headed to the trash anyway, one had a hole and the other had a stretched out neck.

WFMW Butter Wrappers

This may seem silly, but hey, it works for me. We love butter at our house and use it freely and with a smile. When I open a stick of butter I throw the wrapper in a ziplock bag in the fridge.

Then, when I need to grease a pan I grab one of the wrappers and just go to town.

No, I'm not throwing a gang symbol. Just trying to grease and take a picture at the same time.

Now get on over to Rocks In My Dryer and check out some other ideas.

Do You Like Apples?

I was reading Meredith's blog yesterday and she made this apple cake from Smitten Kitchen sound so good I had to make one today.

Even though I forgot the vanilla and had to use a Bundt pan instead of a tube pan, it still turned out to be delicious. That's my kind of recipe, very forgiving.

It's not a pretty cake, but my goodness is it tasty.

How do you like them apples?

Lost and Found

We rearranged the furniture in our sun room a few weeks ago and look at all the treasures hiding under the couch I thought nothing could get hidden under:

Click the photo if you want all the gory details.

So that's where all the pens, cat toys and Hot Wheels end up.

Stay tuned I should have a post one of these years about our kitchen makeover.

Security

Where is your faith? Is it in a deadbolt? I didn't realize it until this morning as I kissed my husband goodbye and closed the door, but I had faith in a deadbolt. Faith that as I shut the door and turned the lock our family would be safe from harm.

When I turned the lock this morning I realized the window next to it could easily be broken and the lock turned. Then I looked at the other two points of entry in our house and they also have windows near the locks.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:1, 6

So, where is your faith? Is it in a deadbolt? Or the One who made you?

Never Leavin' the House

There is so much fun to be had at our house I don't care if I ever go out again.

I just realized Noah is wearing the same outfit from the previous post...almost 2 months ago.

Sweet Cheeks

I can hardly stand missing out on one minute of the goings on at our house. I miss my babies!

Two more days and Mama will be home!

My goodness, I am missing my little pumpkin pies so much this week! Mr. Incredible is holding down the fort with our little ones and our new kitty while I am in San Francisco for work.

Summer Reading Club

I ran across a cool dude blog today called This Guy Falls Down. I don't read many dude blogs; I much prefer hearing from a woman's heart when I venture into blogland.

However, I was checking out BooMama and I ran across Mark Lee from Third Day (I feel like such a name dropper loser so cool linking to him) and he is hosting a Summer Reading Club link up.

I told you guys last month about Kelly Minters book No Other Gods in this post. I am reading this ever so slowly since it is my before bed book and I am usually too tired to read more than a page or two. I am also reviewing my notes from Kelly's No Other Gods bible study I did last fall and getting another healthy dose of "wake up and smell your idols you ding dong."

Ain't God good? He knows I can be a slow learner, yet He never fails me and His mercies on me are new every morning.

My Favorite Restaurant

Is the Cracker Barrel (or the Crackle Barrel as my cousin Kim calls it.) Just look at my sweet family enjoying the down home goodness.

We were on our way home from Indiana and after passing 68 Cracker Barrels over the course of 7 days, and being completely tortured each time we didn't stop for fried catfish, or blueberry pancakes, we finally stopped for dinner on our last night away. I got catfish and my boys got blueberry pancakes. Mmmm, butter.

More Posts Please

Mr. Incredible told me about this Firefox add on to make posting a breeze.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1730

You will know if I like it because I will start posting more often. Do you all already use this?

Thanks Nester!

My good blogging bud The Nester had a crazy fun carnival yesterday. She asked to see all our imperfections. This was just the motivation I needed to start, finish and post a project I have been considering doing but was afraid to start. Perfectionism keeps me from starting so many things.

When we moved our little one from his crib to a twin bed we put the comforter from our old guest room on his bed. It was a queen and I just folded it in half and threw it on the bed. I have been meaning to cut it down to fit his bed ever since (that was 6 months ago!)

The freedom to do something imperfectly allowed me to cut this perfectly good comforter.

What else is going on in this room? Well, Monday and Friday are my laundry days so I was folding laundry throughout the morning. Our baby girl was taking a snooze in her swing. There was also some bible reading going on because I was listening to Charles Stanley while I cut the comforter. He said go to Colossians 1 and since he was talking about prayer I did, because I love prayer.

This is what was going on in the next room. Have you ever watched Jack's Big Music Show? I love the Schwartzman Quartet.

After the quilt was cut I had to Make Room For....my sewing machine on my craft table. Yes, I know, this looks like it should be a dining room table. We're not dining room people right now, so I claimed this area for all my crafts and I have never regretted it (except when it gets messy.)

There, see, plenty of room for the sewing machine. Now let us not forget I had a baby about 12 weeks ago and this, I am certain, is the reason my right knee looks so HUGE. Just keepin' it real people, I could have cropped that out.

Actually, not a bad idea to crop that whole mess out along with my giant knee.

Even though this was the quickest project on record, it still wasn't done before this guy was ready for his nap.

It was finished by the time he woke up though!

I used the leftovers to make this itty bitty sleeping bag. Not bad for one straight seam.

What is perfectionism keeping you from starting?

No Other Gods

"You shall have no
other gods before me” Exodus 20:2-3

Hey, have you all heard that Beth Moore is doing an online version of Kelly Minter's No Other Gods: Confronting Our Modern Day Idols bible study this summer?



I did this study last fall and it is probably the best study I have done to date. If you are interested in following Beth's version this summer, check out her blog post.

The trade book just came out if you don't have time for a bible study but want to read the book.

Don't Forget!

The Season Premiere of Ice Road Truckers is tonight on The History Channel! Sweet, I love man TV.

A Dessert A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

This might not be a gourmet cherry pie, but I made the crust from scratch (last Thanksgiving. I made two pie crusts, used one and just found this one in the freezer!)

Baking is one of my favorite things when I have a newborn. Probably because I have such a sweet tooth when I am nursing. Who am I kidding? I always have a sweet tooth, I just like to pretend it's because I am feeding a hungry, hungry hippo.

Go Forth And Stimulate The Economy

It's our job as Americans to spend our Economic Stimulus checks.

So, we did our part by promptly buying a new computer monitor. And something else for our computer that Mr. Incredible wanted, which means nothing to me. I turn it on, I check email, I download pictures. All else is of no concern to me.

I spent a bit over at McMaster & Storm. I ordered the very cool European stapler. It spits out these adorable little copper staples and never ever jams. I also got Noah a pair of Saltwater Surfer sandals. I remember every other kid wearing them when I was little. I'm pretty sure I didn't have a pair, which is probably why I bought them for my baby. They are cute, leather and you can hose 'em down when they get dirty. When the package arrived I couldn't believe all the details that went into the packaging. It was so fun to open and they put a bunch of little extra treats in the box. One being a package of peppermint ice cream candies which I am totally hooked on and wish I had a 5 lb. bag.

How are you stimulating the economy with your stimulus check???

Whatcha been doin?

I have been hanging out with this little lady:

And I've been entertained daily by this guy:

Saturday we enjoyed our neighborhood yard sale. I considered the sale a total success because I got to read all the catalogs and magazines I had been wanting to for the last month, I got to chat with Mr. Incredible as he painted the last of our kitchen cabinets, Noah got to play outside for 4 hours straight and we talked to a few nice couples as they bought our junk. Oh, and it kept me from going out and buying our neighbors junk.

Don't Wear Earrings to a NASCAR Race

You might think wearing earrings to a NASCAR race is a fine idea...until you put on your radio headset and they push into the side of your neck for 4 hours. Ouchie.

Last week some great friends from our church gave us tickets to last nights race in Richmond. We immediately scheduled my mom for babysitting, filled the fridge with breastmilk and headed to the race. Here is the view from our awesome seats, right across from the exit of Pit Row in turn 1 and right in front of the pole sitters pit box (Denny Hamlin, in case you were dying to know who was on the pole.)

During the national anthem the Blue Angels did an amazing fly over. This part always takes my breath away and makes me so proud to be an American.

Not everyone gets as excited about racing as I do. This little one was fast asleep before the first 100 laps were complete.

And this lady (click on photo to enlarge image) was so beside herself with excitement she started knitting...she was a pro too, one of those that can knit without ever looking at her needles. Unlike the guy on the left, who smoked 1,050 cigarettes during the race. At one point he was half on my seat cushion and ashing on my leg too, but it was worth it.This is us walking out of the track listening to the final laps on the radio. We are smiling so big because we weren't getting pelted with beer cans the fans were throwing after Dale Jr. got wrecked, just as he was about to win the race. And because we were going home to our nice cozy bed.

Square or Round? Part Due

A few weeks ago I tried to drum up a discussion on preferences for square or round. When it comes to storage, I'm a square girl. They just stack and organize and play together so nicely.
However, we are considering a new kitchen table and I think I want round. Something along these lines:









I don't recall having a round table for any period of time, so I may be mistaken. There is no head of the table at a round table. There are no table legs if it's a pedestal table, thusly allowing more people to be stuffed at said table when we have guests. (Did I use thusly correctly? This is one of my current favorite words, along with whilst. Oh, and I am practicing my Italian via a Chic-Fil-A kids meal CD, hence the part Due.)

What kind of table do you have? What are the benefits? I need to know these things.