Create in Me

Welcome to my (better late than never) Valentines

2012-02-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

After 20 and a half years Shania Twain

says it best:

You're still the one
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
You're still the one
You're still the one I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

My beloved Mike is still The one.

Welcome to my 1991 (part two) The big kitchen reveal

2012-02-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

So you are wondering what on earth does 1991 have to do with my kitchen...?

Well, if Mike and I had come to look at this house when we got back from our honeymoon with any hopes of buying it, (which we wouldn't have because it must be at least 5 times bigger than our first little 1 bedroom apartment, and probably that much more expensive too) we would have thought we had died and gone to heaven.

I know I'm making such a big deal out of this. And now that I have looked at the pictures, I'm thinking it really isn't THAT ugly. But since I have already begun this tale, I might as well follow it through.

Towards the end of July after looking at what seemed like hundreds of houses in dozens of cities and suburbs, I had at least began to narrow down what area we wanted to live in. I had gotten a little pickier at what I was willing to look at. I had chosen 3 or 4 more houses to check out in the area. My realtor, who knew me pretty well by now and had a good idea of what I was looking for, sent me a list of 3 more houses that he suggested that we check out. This house was one of them. I had overlooked it several times. You can guess why. It had many of my required features, but when I saw at the pictures on line, I just couldn't get passed how turned off I was by the looks of the kitchen. I decided to trust my realtor and give the house a chance.
I was totally smitten by the house the second I walked in. Not only was the house big and beautiful, it was impeccably clean and staged to a hilt. (If you ever put you house on the market don't for a second underestimate the importance of having a very clean house!!! You would not believe the kind of filth that I have walked into, and walked straight out of. Some of us do not thrive on vision and fixing up houses, so CLEAN them!!!) I often wonder if the folks that lived here, and their 3 children, actually lived in such preteen conditions all of the time.

But...how my heart sunk (and still does) when I reached the back of the house and looked left. Heeeellllloooo 1991! So folks here it is the kitchen that I ~~hate~~ greatly dislike.

Here is a picture of the bathroom towels we picked out 20 years ago (1991)
They look 20 years old. We use them to bathe the dog.

Here is a picture taken in 1999 (so it still counts as the 90s)

And here are some pictures of our kitchen. A perfect match!!!

The lighting is awful. It is so dark that I sometimes call it the dungeon. During the winter when it is dark already while I cook dinner, I can't see a thing! It drives ma crazy!

Well, there you have it folks. That is what all of the hoopla is about. I know some may be thinking it's not so bad, and I'm sorry if I have offended you. But for the rest of you, take heart. Change is on the way.

The destruction has begun. Give me a month (or two) and I will let you take a look at our new and improved kitchen. I am giddy with excitement! I'm not saying much. I want it to be a surprise, so for now I'm going to just tease you with a small clue and peak into the new look coming your way.

Ya'll, this shot is so hysterical! Does your husband ever wear stuff that you really hate? That shirt... I want to burn it!! The suspenders... Do I really have to say it? And here is the best part, those safety glasses he is wearing, we call them "the birth control glasses"! Need I say more?

The normal looking guy next to him is his wonderful brother Mark. He came over for a while to lend us a helping hand.

In the meantime I may delight you with a new recipe or two. How does Beef Stew sound?

But, don't hold your breath.

Welcome to my 1991 (part one)

2012-02-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

1991 was an amazing year. Three major events in my life happened that year.

One, I graduated from Collage. I finally ended my what seemed like forever collegiate career when I received my very impressive BA in Psychology. Yeah Baby!

(I'm lovin' the 90s big hair)

Two, I snagged the very desirable and coveted title of MRS. Mind you that this was no ordinary Mrs. This was the Mrs. HARMS title. The one that came with the prodigious Miguel Harms attached to it. Acquiring him was no small feat I might add. It took me a full year to convince him that he was indeed in love with me, and that just being friends would never make the cut, for either of us. 20 years later, it has totally payed off.

We were poor... One of the ways we cut corners, regrettably, was with the photographer. Unfortunately I don't really have a real good picture of Mike and me with our "wedding clothes". This will have to do. This picture was taken by somebody (probably my sister Linda, the "official" family photographer) right after we changed into our "going away" attire.

The next two pictures were taken by our wedding photographer, and I love them, they are my favorites, so I couldn't resist showing them off.

But.

A question:

Who gets married in July with a long sleeve wedding dress? In Texas? Yep, that would be me, clueless me!!!

Three. Along with the planning of a wedding is the ever so exciting task of choosing what you are going to ask everyone to give to you as a wedding gift, not realizing that you will be stuck with these choices for the rest of your life. The infamous registry. The dishes, the china, silverware, sheets, towels, you name it. A pretty fun occasion in the life of a woman. In hind sight, can I just say, if I had to do it all over again, I think I would just let my poor husband go shoot a rabbit or something instead of dragging him around trying to get him to "participate" and "be a part" in this whole decision making time. What do they know anyway? Seriously? What were we thinking? Now that I have been married 20 years, I would NEVER, in a million years, ask Mike to come to the store with me to choose anything for my our home. If I took him he would probably choose something from the 90s. Mark my word. The 90s stuff just hasn't come around yet. It's just not quite time for it to become retro.

Totally a side note here: If you are getting married, or you know someone who is, please tell her to not drag her man along to register (unless he begs you to, which he won't). Take your girlfriend instead, the one that you think has better taste than you. The husband (at least mine) doesn't really care. He just wants a towel that will dry him, a pot that will cook food, and a dish that will hold the food on it, and a fork that won't break when he tries to bring that food to his mouth. Sheets that will keep him warm at night and the wife that will be right next to him every night, for the rest of his life. Just pick what you like, he really doesn't care! Don't take him.

OK, so why on earth have I told you all of this? I totally got off on a tangent there. Stay tuned please. Because this isn't what I was really going to write about. And since it got to long you will have to wait till some time next week to feast on the 2012-1991.

The big (ugly) kitchen reveal!

I can't wait!

But, before I go, two more precious pictures. I can't help myself.

At the Hotel on our honeymoon

Our very first Christmas photo.

Oh! to be 21 and thin again!

Blessed 1991

Some Like it Hot: The Ultimate Grilled Pimento Cheese

2012-01-06T13:01:00.001-08:00

The week after Christmas the 5 of us Harms ladies decided to go out to lunch at one of those great "girly" places, you know the kind. It's the kind of place your husband (or mine) wouldn't be caught dead eating at. This particular cafe/tea room is called Chocolate Angel. A darling place that serves soups, salads and dainty little sandwiches. Well, almost dainty.

On this beautiful, sunny, warm TEXAS December day I wasn't much in the mood for a grilled pimento cheese sandwich (I got the spinach salad), but my sister-in-law was and she ordered this AMAZING sandwich called "Some Like it Hot". Now as weird as this may seem, I have actually had grilled pimento cheese sandwiches a couple of times in my life, and I actually like them. But let me tell you, THIS is not your run of the mill, ordinary grilled pimento cheese sandwich!

Bless her wonderful, generous heart, Christy (my sister-in-law) was nice enough to give me a taste of hers, and wow! WOW! Oh my word! It was so good! I decided then and there that for sure I was going to have to go back some day and order me one! A few moments later though, I thought to myself: "Hey I can make that!" Because, well, that is just what I do.

So I did, I looked on the description of the sandwich, remembered what was in it and made me one up just for myself. At the Chocolate Angel they may have some secret ingredient that I don't know about, but it doesn't mater, I had only one bite and I can't remember what it actually tasted like anyway. This sandwich is to die for!

The Ultimate Grilled Pimento Cheese

8 oz. grated sharp cheddar cheese

¼ cup mayonnaise

1 small jar diced pimentos (the smallest)

**1 Tbsp. candied jalapenos (chopped)

2-3 slices bacon

Throw it all in a bowl.

Mix well.

your favorite kind of bread
real butter

strawberry jam

I'm not going to insult your intelligence by telling you how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Just do it.
Serve it hot and spread the jam on top. I know this is silly, but I like to eat mine with a fork, it can be messy.

** If you are like me you probably didn't even know that there was such a thing as "candied jalapenos". It took me a while to find them. I finally located them at my local hooty tooty grocery store. You know, the kind that is ridiculously overpriced, but looks so pretty and clean and plays beautiful music while you shop. At these stores you get such wonderful customer service that they almost make it worth shopping there.
I'm sure you can find one near you.

Anyway, they were not in the Hispanic food section. They were on the bottom shelf of the pickled stuff, alongside other peculiar foodie like food such as pickled pimentos and pickled green beans, etc...

So, here are the rules:

(because my food comes with rules)

Rule #1

You MUST grate the cheese yourself. It's yummier, more healthy, and with all of that effort you will work off about ½ of a bite of sandwich. If you buy grated cheese, it's cheating, and just opening the bag will only work off about ½ of a sliver of pimento, so, as you can see, the grating is totally worth the work (even if you break a nail).

Rule #2

You MUST try at least one bite with the jam. When Christy gave me my bite at the Chocolate Angel she put jam on it for me. Had I caught her in time I would have stopped her. I'm so glad I didn't. There is just something about the added taste of the sweet jam combined with the spiciness of the jalapenos. I know it all sounds weird, but trust me on this one. TRY it! And if you really don't like it after giving it a fair try, that's OK, I'll just have to feel sorry for you.

Rule #3

Be hungry and SLOW down! When you are hungry everything tastes better. However, when I ate mine I was too ravenously hungry that when I was done I really wished I would have slowed down more to enjoy the ecstasy.

Go make it now and ask your girlfriends over. They will think you are a godess.
Enjoy!!

A Birthday Song for Jesus

2011-12-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

I love it when God sings to me. I even like it when I can sing to the enemy. But today I'd like to sing to God. When I was walking yesterday this song popped into my mind, just out of nowhere, I hadn't thought of it in years.. It was one of my favorites when I was a young romantic idealist. Today, I want to offer this song to Jesus, as a Christmas gift. This song that originally bore my name, today is called "Song for Jesus"

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Thank you Jesus for coming to me.

Aunt Doris' Famous Doughnuts

2011-12-23T10:55:00.000-08:00

When I was in high school my mom and dad wrote a wonderful family cookbook. I wrote about it here and here when I first began blogging if you want to take a peek.

Many of the recipes in this book are ones that my mom got from other missionaries in Chile. This recipe is from my aunt Doris Dyches. And if you ever try them you will know why they are so famous.

Aunt Doris' Famous Doughnuts

1 cup boiling water

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. shortening

4 cups flour

1 ¼ tsp. yeast

¼ cup water

1 tsp. sugar

1 egg

Glaze:

1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.)

½ Cup boiling water (I use milk, no need to boil)

1tsp. vanilla

Mix first 4 ingredients. Dissolve yeast in the ¼ Cup of water and tsp. of sugar, set aside.

You are supposed to let the water cool down to lukewarm. But what I do is I add 2 cups of flour, mix it in. In a small bowl beat the egg slightly and add it to the water/flour mix. By then the mix is cool enough to safely add the yeast. Stir it in and then add the other 2 cups of flour. Mix well and put it in a large bowl to raise overnight.

In the morning it should be about double. Take the dough and turn on slightly floured surface and knead till glossy (and stretchy). Roll to about ½ inch thickness. If you have a donut cutter great, if not,do what I do. Cut out a circle with a glass, then pinch a hole in the middle and stretch out to look like a donut. Make sure your hole is bigger than you think it should be because it will rise a little and then expand when you fry it.

As you can see here, I like to grease aluminum foil to lay mine on to rise. Let rise for 1 hour. Don't worry if they don't rise much, an hour is enough and a soon as they hit the oil they will expand.

I like using a fry daddy. They only take a couple of minutes on each side, so be attentive. have your glaze ready. And yes, they are frying, in oil. DO NOT JUDGE ME! They are donuts, you FRY them! OK?

As soon as you take them out of the oil, plop then straight into the glaze.

Swirl around, drip, drip.

And eat, eat.

When you make them make sure you eat the first one because the rest will disappear before you can ask if they were good!

There is only one rule. Don't eat these the same week you have The Best Fettuccine Alfredo Ever. OH CRAP! We are having Lobster and Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo on Christmas eve. Well, it's Christmas, I guess it will be ok. I mean, I only make these like 2-3 times a year....

Oh wait, there is another rule. Eat them while you still have your pj's on, you know... the "stretchy" ones!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

2011-12-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

These here folks are my personal favorite Christmas cookie ever. Maybe even my favorite cookie ever.

I got the recipe originally from Martha Stewart.

Here is the sad part of the story. For some strange reason, although I love peppermint, peppermint does not like me. I actually get the worst headache. I don't want to call it a migraine, because I have too much respect for those unfortunate that get those. But if you could take one step down, and imagine the worst headache, that is what peppermint does to me. So sad. Poor me. :(

But once a year I make these, and I usually will only have a couple before I go to bed in hopes that I can sleep straight through the pain. Or if I have them earlier, I wash them down with some ibuprofen. I know, life is sad, but I just can't imagine a December without them.

Well, here it goes.

Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies

1 & 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour

1/2 Cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp coarse salt

4 ounces milk chocolate, chopped (I use milk chocolate chips)

1 stick unsalted butter

1 & 1/2 Cups sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. pure peppermint extract

3 large eggs

45 peppermint candies, coarsely crushed

Begin unwrapping the candies and have one for yourself of course, since I can't.

In a bowl mix the flour, cocoa, soda and salt, set aside.

Melt butter and chocolate in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pan of simmering water.

After it's melted attach bowl to mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add sugar and extracts.

yummy I wish you could smell that right now.

Add eggs, one at a time as you mix at medium-low speed.

Slow down speed and add flour mixture.

Take 15 of the candies and crush them. I put them in a plastic bag and with the side of my mallet I hit each piece only once.

Take those and add to the mix.

Refrigerate dough in fridge at least 30 minutes. This is when I clean up my mess and preheat oven to
325 degrees.

Place cookies on your cookie sheet or stone lined with parchment paper (a girl's best friend!).

I use the small Pampered Chef scoop. It makes the shaping clean, easy and the perfect size cookie.

Flatten cookie a bit with your fingers and add coarsely crushed peppermints, remember, you have 30 more to play around with.

Here is the end result.

Here is the tricky thing about these cookies.

They take about 13 minutes to bake. I bake them 15 minutes, because they take longer on a stone. So if you have a stone, bake longer. BUT, for some reason they really like to stick to the parchment paper.

The best solution to this problem would be to overcook them, but you may not want to do that. Here is what I do. Once I take them out of the oven I leave them to rest on the stone 3-4 minutes. Then I remove the whole batch by grabbing two corners of the parchment paper and place it on a cooling rack. Wait long enough for them to cool before trying to remove from the parchment paper. Place the paper with cookies still on them on a flat surface and use the back side of the spatula to scrape off. That helps. Anything that sticks to the parchment paper is fair game, like licking the bowl!
I hope that made sence. It is worth the trouble. I think the reason that I like these cookies so much is well, first of all, chocolate and peppermint is like the perfect marriage. Also, the fact that they are made with candy makes them chewey. Oh my word, just too good!
I hope you make them and that you love them as much as I do. You probably won't have any left for Santa.

Welcome to my Christmas

2011-12-17T08:53:00.000-08:00

Come on in and have some Fudge.

Turn left:

Since I'll be hosting Christmas dinner this year, and I don't have any furniture for the formal living room, and I love to have people over anyway, I decided to turn the living room into a second temporary dinning room.

Come on into our family room and make yourself at home.

While you are here, you must check out my most special Christmas decore. This here is a chilean Christmas Manger Scene. I have had this for about 25 years. My mom and dad gave it to me when I left Chile. Through the years I have added pieces to the small collection I began with. My dad's favorite is the hanging angel. I love it too, but...

......

...if you take a peek behind Joseph you will see my special friend the black sheep. Isn't he precious? Say yes, because he is me, and perhaps he is you too. At times don't we all feel like the proverbial "black sheep", the one who feels like perhaps we just don't belong here, there, anywhere? ... yet here, at the feet of Jesus I do belong and I try to get, yes, as close as I can get to my Savior. He wants you there too, come join me as I worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Emanuel.

Do you see how wounded Joseph is? Poor fella'. He was on his way to Bethlehem and got a little distracted, took a tumble and fell off a cliff and landed on the ~~hardwood floor~~ rocks. Jesus wasn't born yet so he wasn't any help. All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put poor Joseph together again either. So my superhero, Mike, came to the rescue and got him all patched up. Good thing he survived and will now able to flee to Egypt when the time comes. Poor Mary, not sure she could make it without him. If nobody tells her, I think I'm going to have to sweet talk one of my friends in Chile into replacing my Joseph for me. That way, next year, maybe the journey won't be so hard.

My First Fudge

2011-12-15T12:16:00.000-08:00

Although I am 42 years old and I love to cook, believe it or not, I have never made fudge before! I'm asking myself right now how on earth have I made it without this fudge in my life? I think that one of the reasons is because I never thought of myself as a fudge lover, I like fudge, but I never choose fudge, if you know what I mean. But let me tell ya', this fudge is worth choosing. Also I always figured that it was just too much of a hassle. When I was a girl I remember watching my dad make candy, peanut brittle, and caramel popcorn, oh, they were to die for, but looked so hard to make that I never really thought of learning how to do them myself. But this recipe is actually real simple and seemingly fool proof.

So, I'm sort of on this quest to make 12 delicious masterpieces for the 12 days of Christmas. I was a little ahead of myself and have made several already and will will be posting some of them later on and out of order.

Here is what I have made so far:

Cran-Pistachio Cookies, very, very good!

Red Velvet Cake Balls, to die for!

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Sticks, just simple loveness. I make these every year and every holiday, just change the color of the sprinkles. These are Elijah's favorite to make and eat.

Here are some that we made a couple of years ago for Valentines Day.

But today's masterpiece:
Grannie's Fudge

TA-DA!

Now isn't that prertty! I fancied them up a little so Mike could take them to work and impress everyone at the office. A little dangerous first impresion to give though. Don't these scream fabulous, gorgeous, totally put together woman? Mercy, I'll never live up to my fudge. Good thing his office is an hour away.

Anyway...

No need for me to tell you how to make these. My Friend Edie from Life in Grace has a marvelous post that you can follow. She has a fabulous Blog. Go ahead and check her out. She is an amazing cook. You can try any of her recipes with total confidence. My personal favorites are Rocky Top Chili, which I'm making today, yay!, and Chipotle Pumpkin Barley Soup (only , I make mine with rice), a must for the first cold days in the fall.

For today go, go try Grannie's Fudge for yourself. You must take her advice and wear the stretchy pants, I'm so glad I wore mine today.

THE best Fettuccine Alfredo you have EVER had

2011-12-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

If you are on a diet, skip this post.

Warning: this dish is loaded with fat and carbs of the worst kind on both accounts.

But if you want to die of a heart attack and go to Italian heaven, please, follow me this way.

THE Best Fettuccine Alfredo You Have EVER Had

First you need to chop up 1/3 cup of green onions really fine. If you are a fan of the food chopper, I strongly advise against it, the thin membranes of the onion make it virtually impossible to chop the green onions nicely, like you want them. Also chop 1/3 cup of parsley.

In a pan put a stick of butter, REAL butter please, preferably unsalted, and melt. Add onions and parsley and cook on med. heat.

As soon as the butter is melted add 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (or less if you don't want too much spice), 1/4 tsp. white pepper and the same of black pepper. (I am not a fan of black pepper so I just add the token few twists of the mill). Add a good pinch of kosher salt. The Parmesan cheese will salt it lots, so you don't want it to be too salty. You can always add more later.

Let that all bubble up and cook for a good 5 minutes or so, it's OK if it begins to brown some, just be sure your heat isn't too high and you actually burn it.

Then poor in your cream.

Bring to a boil, turn down, and reduce just minute or two, add the Parmesan cheese. (the cheese will do most of the thickening for you).

OOOOPS!!! I just got totally distracted by what was going on right beside me as I was stirring.

Sorry, back to the pasta.

After you reduce you can add shrimp if you want it with shrimp (I usually fix it this way). Make sure your shrimp is ready, all shells removed, devained, clean and it's even better if you lay them on a paper towel to soak up moisture. NEVER add frozen shrimp or even almost defrosted shrimp, it will curdle your cream.

It will take the shrimp only a few minutes to cook, don't overcook, they will be tough.

If you are going to add chicken, then wait till you sauce is done, the longer you cook it the thicker it will get, so just cook it till it has the consistency you want. I cook my chicken on a skillet. I simply flatten them out, sprinkle with course salt and a twist or two of pepper. I have my skillet nice and hot with EVOO and begin with the salted side down. After it is seared I turn the temp down and cook another 5 minutes or so. Then turn over and cook till done. Cut slices of chicken and lay on the Fettuccine Alfredo.

I totally know what you are thinking. "That isn't Fettuccine!"

Well, this is actually what you do when you don't realize you are out of fettuccine until you water is boiling, you are hungry, and you don't want to run to the store AGAIN.

Take it from me though, go to the store and get the fettuccine, it's lots better.

THE Best Fettuccine Alfredo You Have EVER Had

1 stick unsalted butter

1/3 Cup Green Onion

1/3 Cup Fresh Parsley

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. white pepper

1/8 tsp. cayenne

salt and black pepper to taste

1 Pint Whipping Cream

1/3-1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Optional: add 1 Lb. fresh shrimp peeled and devained

or cooked chicken

Not optional: A resolve to enjoy and walk away with a clear conscious.

HA!

There it is again. Almost gone.

My Christmas Wreath

2011-12-01T14:11:00.001-08:00

I rarely feel pride in what I do. Somehow I seem to always find every fault imaginable even if I am just imagining it. I hate bragging and that may, to some extent, be one of the reasons that I find it so hard to stick to blogging. It seems to always come down to just one word, FEAR. I know, it is something I desperately need to work on, and some day I may come up with enough nerve to actually write about it, because I believe that at some level it can also be called PRIDE. Deep....

Well, today I will finally let you see a project that I made several weeks ago. I mentioned it to you when I made my Fall wreath, and I have been dieing to show it to you. It may not be perfect, it may have lots of flaws, but I am in LOVE with it. And yes, I am PROUD.

I originally saw this wreath on Pintrest, which took me to it's souse at ETSY. I searched and searched for a tutorial since I wasn't willing to pay that much for it, but all of the tutorials I found were lame and none directed me to the final product I was looking for. I had almost everything I needed for the project, so I bravely did something I never do: wing it.

I wish I could give you a tutorial, but honestly, I winged it, from beginning to end.

First I wrapped a foam wreath with some scrap burlap (hopefully you will see what I did with the rest of it soon). Then I cut long strips. My strips were 6 and 1/2 inches wide and I just twisted and turned each segment till I liked how it looked, then I grabbed my hot glue gun and quickly squirted a huge glob on to make it stay in place. I burned my fingers A LOT that day. But, it was so worth it.

And what do you know? Some how I ended up with this beauty!

GORGEOUS!!!!

Welcome To My Dining Room

2011-11-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

I must tell you that this is probably the last room you will see for a while. The rest of the house is not "put together" and it won't be till more funds come in. But I knew I owed you this one.

Let me remind you of what this room looked like when we moved in.

This is what it looks like today.

The formal Living Room is actually somewhat empty. I only have a bookshelf and, you may catch it on the right bottom corner of the photo, another table. This table is what I used to have in my craft room. But because I love having Mike's family over and we need the space when they do, and it is a very heavy table, and it's a pain to move it back and forth up and down the stairs, I decided to leave it there for now.

My dream for this room is to refinish all of the non matching chairs so that they are all the same color and have the same upholster fabric (there are 4 more chairs at the other table). The only problem with that is that then they won't look so good with the table and the china cabinet and buffet. A lot of work that to be honest just isn't my thing. (should of thought of that when I kept buying chairs here and there and everywhere!)

I also want to paint. The open parts of the downstairs are all the same color (it's a lot greener than what the pictures show). The kitchen, bathroom and office ar different. Of course I want to change it all. I like it OK to live with for now, but I am itching to give it a new look. The kitchen...I won't even go there, will be the first to get a facelift. The rest will follow...someday....

Things I love about TEXAS

2011-11-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

In no particular order:

1. Sidewalks

They are EVERYWHERE!!

2. Children can walk and ride bikes to school.
3. Crossing guards are actually super busy at work.

4. frontage roads

These are basically roads that run parallel to the interstate, but I will not bore you with the ins and outs of the faboulousness of these roads, just trust me. They rock!

5. Wine at the GROCERY store! Hellooo!!
I need milk, bread, cheese, chicken, and hmm, I think I will grab a bottle of wine while I am here. For a Tennessee girl, that is AWESOME!

6. The sunrise. It takes my breath away.

7. Storms. You have never been in a real storm until you have been in a TEXAS storm. It is wild, and like a light show, or a disco with a strobe light, and scary.

8. My husband's Family.

9. Sunday. Church together. Worship together.
10. Sunday. Lunch. Together.
11. Monday. Football. Together.
12. Mid Week. Dinner, or spontaneous ice cream. Together.
13. Saturday. Soccer. Together.

14. Weather is still in the 70s and 80s.

OH YEA!!!! TEXAS is awesome!

My Fall Wreath

2011-10-31T14:10:00.000-07:00

So here it is Halloween and I have just now finished my Fall Wreath. At least I will get 3 weeks or so to enjoy it. What happened was that originally I really wanted to make this loveliness that I saw HERE at one of my favorite blogs. Although I believe it was originally from Better Homes and Gardens, but I had trouble tracing it back. I put it on my Pintrest and had every intention of making something like it.

Well... Here is my version:

I made a larger companion but it turned out hideous! So I tore it apart and decided that my flowers could not go to waste so this is what I did today:

I started off with these materials. The only reason I have the stick wreath base is because that is what I had handy. I had bought it last year and never did anything with it. A perfectly round one may have looked better in the end, but this one was free for now.

So I just glued away till I ended up with this beautiful wreath that looks great on my black door.

S I was so inspired that I decided to go ahead and make my Christmas Wreath. I just can't tell you how giddy and excited I am about it. I actually giggled the entire time I made it! Silly, I know, but I am so thrilled with the end result. I can't wait to show it to you.

Sorry, you will have to wait.

Renaissance of Tuna

2011-10-26T06:01:00.000-07:00

Rachael Ray calls it a Casserole in her book "Book of 10"
It is not my definition of Casserole and I altered a smidgen, but she is where I began. If you love tuna fish, this is a delish meal. The fact that it has wine and sun dried tomatoes makes it a keeper for me. Plus it is super easy and quick.

First I started with about 1/2 a Cup of chopped onion and 4 cloves of garlic, sauteed in about 1-2 Tbsp. of EVOO (as she calls it)

Again, I feel like I need to give a disclaimer. I have a cheap camera, I'm not a photographer, I have a black stove, black skillet and a dark kitchen. But this is really good.

Next add:
-2 cans of good quality tuna. She calls for Italian Tuna, but I have no idea what that is and I still can't find it so I use Solid White Albacore Tuna (in water)
-about 1/4 -1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes. I use the kind that comes in oil, I have soaked the dried kind to hydrate them but I think they are too chewy. I love the added flavor that the oil gives them.

Brown that for just long enough to integrate it all. Then add:
- 1/2 Cup of White Wine
reduce just a minute and the add:
- 1/2 Cup Cream
Stir well and add
-1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese.
This will thicken it up more.

Wow, such deliciousness!

Cook some Fettuccine. Rachael says a pound, but I found that that was WAY too much. About 8-9 oz. is what I usually fix.

She adds peas to her recipe, but they annoy me in the dish, so I serve them on the side.

This is a very quick, easy meal, and best of all it uses stuff that I usually have on hand. The wine, cream and sun-dried tomatoes make me feel like I'm eating gourmet.

Recipe:

1/2 a Cup of chopped onion
4 cloves of chopped garlic
1-2 Tbsp. of EVOO
2 cans of good quality tuna
1/4 -1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes
You can use less if you don't like the strong flavor
1/2 Cup of White Wine
1/2 Cup Cream
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

8-9 oz. fettuccine or linguine

ENJOY!

My Fall mantel (and other cool Decor)

2011-10-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

Today I have joined a Linky Party. This is only the second or third time I have done this and I am very excited to show off my very simple Fall Mantel, and while I was at it, show you a few other decorations in my home. If you want to take a look at other Mantels and be inspired by beauty and variety go check it out over at Home Stories from A to Z.

Please enjoy the feast:

Just as a side note. I was wondering if anyone is having issues with photobucket. I spent literally hours trying to put this post together, and after wiping a few tears and trying to keep myself from destroying my computer, I gave up and used Picasa on the last 3 pictures (that is why they are so much smaller).

Let me know and feel free to give me any advice or, you can just feel sorry for me.

The Lamp Drape (for lazy crafters)

2011-10-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

For two years I have held on to this great king size duvet and shams that I bought from a friend at her garage sale. I LOVE the print on the fabric and I just haven't been able to bring myself to cutting it up. I just couldn't decide what to do with it. Upholster my chairs? make pillows? Flowers? all of the above, or keep it in hopes that SOME day we may get a king size bed. I THINK I'm ready to pull those scissors out and begin to snip snip away.

The ugly black lamp got a paint job, but it looks awful with the boring brown shade it had on it. So, as you can see in the following picture, the duvet pattern goes wonderfully with my new rug that I'm still dreamy about. But I'm just too darn lazy to cover up the shade properly (measure, cut sew or glue, blah, blah, blah...). It has a weird shape and I'm afraid I will mess it up. Although it's not like I don't have plenty of fabric to go around! But still... So couldn't I just start a new fad and have Lamp Drapes, instead of lamp shades?

I guess I need to add it to my To Someday get to Do list.

We've Moved! It's Finally out!

2011-10-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

The creative process is fun. I love creating and learning how to create. These past few years I have been learning to think outside the box and allowing God to show his creativity through me. Although when people tell me that I am creative I refuse to accept the compliment. I feel like I am a fraud, so my answer always is the same. I am not creative, just resourceful.

Trying to come up with something creative is fun. But the work that follows many times leaves me wishing that I had never begun. But most of the time the end result makes it all worth it.
In my creative efforts I decided to "save money" and make my own awesome change of address cards.
I must tell ya' though, the next time I move (hopefully NEVER) don't expect anything cutesy from me. I'll be sitting my tired tush down in front of the computer and picking out a very cool address change/moving announcement cards and letting someone else do the work. I'll even pay the extra money to have the addresses put on there, and pay a child to lick my envelopes!

There is just something about receiving a card or letter in the mail these days that isn't a bill or yet another credit card approval notice. So, I hope that if you got a card you enjoyed the effort I put into them. If you didn't get one, lucky you, today you get to see what I did.

These are not in good order

1. Did lost of research and looked at dozens of inspiration ideas.

2. Picked out what I liked best. I forgot where it is, so I can't give credit. It was some sort of paper company I think

3. Buy paper, lots of it. Copy paper, and green scrapbook parer to match the toll roads on the map (the regular roads are purple which is not my color) and envelopes too, because believe it or not, I was actually planning on making my own envelopes too!!! OH. MY. WORD. Thank you Lord for delivering me from that one.

4. I chose 2 maps. One for the envelope lining and one for the insert.
I used the Bing map and narrowed it down to the general area. I was very intentional in the fact that I wanted to include Dallas, Fort Worth and the airport as a point of reference to our location. (the airport btw, is straight north from the office building)

5. Pasted on a star for our address and an office building for the area where Mike works. By the way, he has a 45-50 minute commute.

6. Made another label with the "key" to the map. Our address and Mike's work info.

7. Bought some color ink so I could print all the info at my brother-in-law's house, he had the best pritnter.

7. Hopefully the card you got directed you to me!

8. Ordered the stickers and bought the cute boot stamp. (I wanted to give it a Texas flair)

9. Bought raffia, more green paper because I kept running out, and lots of glue sticks, because I kept running out of those too. (They are such a ripoff!!)

10. Gathered addresses, and narrowed it down to about 70 people.

11. Cut, wrote, pasted, tied, licked. Did lots of that. Repeat.

12. Some of your envelopes I even kissed because I love you so much.

This is what 70 people received, and today you do too:

Turn it around and see this:

open it up right and see this:

Pull out the map:

and see this:

flip it to next page and see this:

Creative?
Nah, just resourceful.

My gorgeous rug and groovy chairs. A match made in heaven.

2011-10-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

About 5 years ago my in-laws were living in Smyrna GA. The Church that my father-in-law was pastoring was emptying out their basement of the fellowship building because the building was going to be demolished. Mike went down to help them and guess what he came back with? The craziest, grooviest chairs you have ever seen!

However, they sat in out garage for years because they are bar stools and we had no place to put them. I kept wondering what to do with them. Should I paint them? Do something different to the seats? But I never found the inspiration to do anything. So they sat and served wonderfuly as housing to my vast collection of spiders.

When we moved to Texas and bought our house, I was thrilled that we had a bar in our kitchen and that I would get to put my stools there. They are so out of place because my house is quite Traditional. But that is not going to stop me. Oh no! I love these chairs and I will make them fit in.

I have been forever looking for rugs for my house. And I refuse to spend money on anything just to get by. I have promised myself that I will only buy what I LOVE even if I have to wait. Which I will be waiting quite a bit because I can's get it all at once anyway.

So, as it turns out the chairs and the gorgeous rug I recently found at Crate and Barrel are a match made in heaven. I am so happy. The rest of the house will just have to begin to flow from here.

You are envious! I can tell.
Here is a closer look at the delicious colors of my new area rug:

What I Left Behind (Part 2)

2011-10-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

On a lighter side. I thought it would be fun to do a few comparisons.

What I left behind

To this:

What I left behind

To two of these (But you only get to see one because the other one is empty)

I left this behind:

To this:

This is what makes Mike sad sometimes (and me too)

To this:

mercy, what were we thinking?

And here is the real tear jerker:

I left THIS

To this:

Someone hand me a hanckie!

What I Left Behind (Part 1)

2011-10-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

I know, it is embarrassing. You probably just received my new address announcement and these are some of the things you are asking yourself. Mike and Susan..who? or, didn't they move forever ago? or, what? they moved? from where?

Well, the truth is we left our small house, huge yard in Morristown, TN June 17. Loaded to the max, even having to leave a few things behind.

We left about 2 hours later than we had planned, not bad considering we weren't just leaving to go on some long vacation. We had packed everything we owned and with one last prayer of thanksgiving with tears flowing from our eyes, we drove away from the home we had lived in for 10 and 1/2 years.

Needless to point out the enthusiasm of my 12 year old (holding the ipod of course)

I never thought it would be as hard as it was to leave that place. I had wanted to move for years, but the Lord had me wait and off we were driving away with the flood of tears I could not stop from flowing. I realized then that there was so much more than 3 acres and a 1100 square foot house we were leaving.

We were leaving a home FULL of memories, a church with the only family we had had for 11 years, a School that we loved and friends that had become such a huge part of our life. Something else we had left behind was innocence. A time that has come and gone, a time I will never get back, a time that is treasured only in the recesses of my heart.

It was a time I nursed my babies, changed diapers and sang lullabies.
It was a time when we had themed birthday parties with pinatas.
It was a time when my kids went outside in their underwear and peed from the front porch.
It was a time when the boys played Indians and roamed around in the woods dressed with nothing but a loin cloth.
It was a time when Mike and the boys spent hours jumping on the trampoline and playing games like ball crusher (yep, it was exactly THAT).
It was a time when they often chased chickens and gathered up eggs or rode around the yard in the makeshift go-cart the boys and dad built together.
It was the time we racked leaves- there were more than we could handle-and jumped in them.

It was a time of bonfires, picnics and camping, football and family baseball games, all in our front yard.
It was a time before ipods, youtube, and facebook.
A time when it was fun to help mommy clean.
It was a time when mommy and daddy still knew everything.

It was a hard home to leave, it was a hard time to leave behind.
But, it was time to move on...
So as tears roll down my eyes I'm asking myself as I do from time to time, what you may be asking yourself just now, why DID you leave?
I have an answer for that. Stay tuned.

Welcome to My Bedroom

2011-10-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Walk up the stairs and make a sharp turn to the right. It still takes my breath away. First of all, again, I must apologize for the poor lighting in my pictures. The bedroom (like the Living Room) is in the South West corner of the house and gets lots of sun. Unfortunately, in TEXAS that is a bad thing. My bedroom is the hottest in the house. Even so, I still love it.
I also have big aspirations for this room that I will share with you. And if you want to share any input you are more than welcome to throw in your two cents.
Let me also clarify, that the yellow in the picture is a little brighter than it actually is. Although it is quite bright, and some day I will tone it down, I really like it the color it is.

Let me remind you of the empty room

BEFORE

AFTER

OH! and I found this cutie at T.J. Maxx Who could pass it up? Well, not me...

Now, let's take a closer look at what needs to be done here.

Hope you love it as much as I do. Perhaps some day I will have AFTER, AFTER pictures.

And also, Just in case you missed it. This is the subway art picture I made. I can't wait to get it put up.

Fall Mantel

2011-09-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

My ever evolving Fall Mantel.

Do you ever feel like you just can't ever get it right?

I am working on a little project - my moving announcement cards, never mind that I moved to this house a month ago. I think that I could have ordered the top of the line custom made cards, and would have spent WAY less time and money that I have by being "frugal" and making them myself. I have so reached that point of "I reeeeally am tired of this and I don't want to finish them", insert whine. But they are there, half finished spread out on my table in my crafting room that I can't organize because I am overwhelmed with all of the stuff on the table. So even if they don't get sent out till Christmas, they will get sent out. They must go, I must be set free. If you get one, please tell me you love them, and that I am a geniousously creative person although I really am not, I am really a resourceful copycat person. but still, they are cute and you will love them. So the real reason I'm posting today, is because I came downstairs to get my glue sticks that I bought yesterday because I ran out while working on the mentioned project (if you get one you will know why). Twenty minutes later, I have a re-arranged "Fall Mantel" and no glue stick when I walk up the stairs. When I got to the craft room, I didn't even know why I left... So here I came back downstairs to get them AGAIN, but here I am telling you about it. Giggle with me... Glue sticks in hand I am on my way back up the steps to get back to work. Sigh... I love procrastination.

Please, please, please ignore the ugly light thing at the top left corner.

Empty wall problem temporarily solved

2011-09-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

I have never been much on Halloween. I didn't grow up with it, and I never went out of my way to do anything special. Both my boys were born at the end of October, so most of my energy and money has gone toward that instead of making a big to do about Halloween.

It is a better solution to just do general FALL decor that will work as a good crossover to Thanksgiving, cause then you blink and it's time for the Christmas stuff. Gosh, I'm exhausted already!!!

But when I was going through some archives on Dana MADE, I just loved the simplicity of this super quick and easy Halloween decor. What I loved most about it was that it would be a perfect solution for my bare wall that is too big for the current table and mirror I have there.

For the super easy tutorial go visit MADE and check it out. Like her, I didn't have a printer that I could use so I just traced it right from my monitor. I couldn't find black cardstock, so I used poster board. Two pieces were plenty for the amount I made. I did two sizes, 100% and 75%. It was so easy!!! And I just love the fun results.

Welcome to my Family Room

2011-09-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Let's begin our journey in the almost center of the home. This room is the most used other than perhaps the kitchen. You may need a refresher of what it looked like empty, the day we moved in:

BEFORE

This is what it looks like today. (Sorry about the quality of picture and the glares, no fancy camera and no drapes)

AFTER

I have a very different vision for this room, but just like everything else, it may take years to change. Here are a few improvements that I should begin with. But you know that when you move in somewhere, you just have to make due with what you have.

It's quite overwhelming when you have so much that you want and feel like you need to get done with your home, it's just hard to know where to start. This room is actually very low on my priority list except for the need for drapes. The rest will probably stay put for now. My kitchen annoys me way more and I haven't even begun to organize my craft room. So, there you go.

What I love about this room is the fact that it is open to the kitchen. I took these pictures from the edge of the kitchen, it is separated by a "bar" but it is one big open room. I can cook and know exactly what is being watched and played on the TV. The breakfast room is on the other side of the kitchen and we actually have a desk and computer in there, so I also know what is going on there too!!

If you have any brilliant ideas or suggestions for this space I would love to hear from you. See you later in my bedroom!!!

WELCOME HOME

2011-09-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

I have most definitely gained a new respect for my parents, my parent's colleagues (or any other missionary in the world), military folks, and really most any person that has ever moved in their life.

The first few years of our married life Mike and I moved several times. But the last time we had moved was 10 and 1/2 years ago, we had a 2 year old and an infant and probably less than half of the "stuff" we have now. For those reasons and who knows what else, this was such a hard move for me. I think I was taken by surprise, which isn't really a surprise, because I always have way off expectations to most anything in life. Here are a few "hardships" I did NOT enjoy:

1. Being displaced for 10 weeks living in the house of my most gracious in-laws.

2. Having to cook and eat salted butter for 10 weeks.

3. Sleeping on a bed that was not mine.

4. Moving during the hottest summer in TEXAS history.

5. Having to walk my dog every night in 100 degree weather, after the sun went down, otherwise it would be too hot!

6. Sleeping in a single bed that squeaks, in a bedroom that had no lock. (you get the picture)

7. Did I mention the heat?

8. Looking for a house not even knowing for sure where we wanted to live.

9. Once we did find "The" house, having to wait an entire month to close.

10. Being in linbo.

Well, enough of that. In hindsight, really we had it good. No mortgage payment, nothing to do but shop and do fun projects, like THIS and the fun change of address cards I'm sending out some day...

After closing August 26th, we were not able to move in till the 28th. These pictures were taken that day, the 28th of August, 2011, the day we were welcomed home.

Here they are, Mike, Isaac and Elijah, about to enter our new home

Quite the change for us. We went from 3 acres to I think its like 0.12 lot. It is like a matchbox!!! However, we also went from a 1185 square foot home to a 2445 square foot home. WOW! That is HUGE, for us, it is. Once you enter the front door and turn right you see this, the formal lining room and formal dining room in the back. From there you would turn right into the breakfast eating area (informal dinning) and kitchen.

I am going to skip the kitchen for now. I really don't like the kitchen. As a matter of fact, I almost didn't even look at this house based on the pictures that were posted on realtor.com. You will see it soon, just not yet. I have a great size pantry under the stairs, lots of cabinet space, and best of all a GAS stove! But the colors are hideous, and for now I just have to live with it. I told Mike I would for a while. Next up is the family room, which is adjacent to the kitchen. (family room, kitchen, informal dinning, all one big room)

The next two pictures are the reason why I bought this house. This is my bedroom. My giant, ginormous bedroom. The one I still walk into and still think that I am living in some sort of twisted dream, the one I don't want to wake up from! My friends that came over last week, I kid you not, GASPED, I heard them, they gasped when they walked in. They also said that the pictures they had seen on fb (with the previous owners furniture) did not do it justice. It is a sanctuary, one that I can't wait to work on and perfect! AHHH, the things I will do to you oh, my bedroom. Come, gasp with me.

Next is the, don't blink while you pass, back yard. The previous owners didn't take the swing set. We will some day, but my boys actually like hanging out on it. So for now it stays. The other cool thing about the yard is the covered patio, with fans AND misters, which we haven't used yet, but they are still so cool. If you didn't see the reflection of the slide you would be looking at the fireplace-in TEXAS?- what a joke!

I didn't do so good with the empty house pictures, we were in a hurry that morning and Mike was rushing me. But pictures of the rest of the rooms would be even more boring than these. On the other side of the front of the house there is a study that my husband has claimed as his "man cave". Kids were not too happy about that because they had envisioned a game room, but, they really can't complain because they each got their own bedroom and I also have a craft room all to myself (4 bedrooms, 1 study), (2 living, 2 eating), not too shabby of a place. And I love it. Just to add icing to the cake, I have a fabulous neighbor that has been a great friend to me already! So, not to worry, these rooms have furniture in them now, so, stay tuned...

Subway Art. My first project

2011-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Since we arrived in Plano, TEXAS we have been living with my wonderful and gracious in-laws. I spent about a month house hunting, an adventure that I thought would be fun but ended up being a very frustrating and overwhelming task. Long story short, I finally found my house. I'm not going to post pictures yet, because the only ones I have are the pictures that I took when looking at it. I feel kind of weird posting pictures of someone else's house. So, just like me, you will have to stay at the edge of your seat waiting to move in with me.

In the mean time I am bored out of my mind, so what is a girl to do with all of this time and no house to indulge in? I go shopping of course!! The current home owners have this house decorated so nicely! They have lots of mirrors all over the house, which gave me my first inspiration. So, my very first purchase for my new home was this fabulous mirror I found at Garden Ridge.
It's just hangin' out in the garage, waiting. Like me, waiting...

I also decided, that I could probably work on some sort of project to keep me busy. Two actually, but the reveal of the second project won't be till after the move. I am so excited about this one!

It was quite a task, and I goofed up so much, that I couldn't even begin to tell you how I made it. I will say that I had a great starting point with this tutorial at lil blue boo . After about 4 days of trial and error I came up with this masterpiece:

I chose to make something for my room, it's more like a master suite, it is HUGE, I can't wait to show you. Anyway, these are part of the lyrics to the song that was sung at our wedding, every word in that song is just as true today as it was 20 years ago.

As I have been working on my projects I have realized one thing: I miss my stuff, I can't wait to get that craft room set up. I realized how alive I feel and how much joy I experience when I do this kind of creative stuff.

Be back soon!

On moving to TEXAS and having babies

2011-08-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

I had this vision of keeping a detailed chronicle of this whole moving thing. As you can tell it has been an epic fail. However I have not given up on myself, and I would appreciate it if you ~~followers~~ follower would not give up on me either.

We arrived here in Plano, TX on a sweltering hot day, June 18th, to be precise. We had left East TN on the 17th when it was about 70 degrees outside, and arrived to 100 degrees in North TEXAS. It has stayed that way since we arrived. Every day highs above 100 and lows no lower than 80. And just for the record, this summer has been a record setting summer. The hottest in recorded history for this area. And I arrived just in time to be a part of this grand event! Lucky me!!!1

I was just thinking when I ran errands today, as sweat gathered under my eyes where my sunglasses rest, of how similar this move has been to having my 2 babies. Well, let me be a little more specific: when you have babies the way I did, with absolutely no medications whatsoever.

If you have children, medicated or not, you know, just like the rest of us that there is absolutely nothing in this world that can prepare you for motherhood. From, giving birth "naturally"to staying up all night, to the pain of seeing your children suffer. All of it, to me at least, has been a total shock! No matter how many birthing classes I took, or how many breathing techniques I was taught to deal with the pain- NOTHING- could have prepared me for that kind of pain. And no matter how many parenting books you read or how many friends and grandparents you have to guide you, no one has your children but you, so nothing can truly prepare you for what rearing your child is really like.
"Oh TEXAS is so hot" they say. "I know, I know" I said.

No, you don't know. Nobody, has your body, your hormones, your heat tolerance. Nothing can prepare you for this kind of heat.

Also, when you have a child "al natural" something very interesting happens as time ticks on by. You actually experience this incredible phenomenon called amnesia. It is true, you completely forget the horror and pain that you go through when giving birth. I know this because it took me 4 hours of pushing to deliver Isaac. I'm told I was in a lot of pain, and I do remember screaming quite a bit, and not pushing hard enough because, well, I guess it hurt too much... And then, get this, I decided to do it again! "Can you believe it? I remember when it was time to have Elijah, being in the car on the way to the Birthing Center - which was an HOUR away. I was in the transition phase of birth, (which is supposedly the most painful phase, but that is a total LIE), sitting in my tiny Honda Civic with very little "wiggle room"- thinking to myself "Why are you doing this? You are so stupid! This is so painful and ridiculous! What were you thinking!!!!!"

Believe it or not, I have actually lived in TEXAS before. I lived here for my last two and a half years of College, and my first two years of marriage. Yes, this is a special place because it is here that I met the Love of my Life and it was here that we began our life together. But I must say, very naively, I just don't remember it being this HOT. Just like I "knew" that it was painful giving birth to my boys, I also "knew" it was HOT in TEXAS, but this amnesia thing must have totally kicked in. I definitely do not remember this kind of heat.

Even in my naivenes, lack of true preparation (which there really is none), and the amnesia of it all, I am, just as I was with my kids, totally looking forward to a new life in this great state of TEXAS. Living this close to family is priceless and we are so thrilled to give to our children what neither one of us had, which is the opportunity to live this close to grandparents and cousins.

Just as it is with our kids, there will be plenty of joy, fun, and celebration, as well as pain, sorrow and heartache. But in the end, we would not trade this experience for anything. From day one I have put my children in the hands of the Lord. And I do the same as we begin our new life in McKinney, Texas.

Our lives are in your hands dear Lord.

MORE CLEARENCE Fabric Checkbook Covers

2011-05-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some more great items I want to get rid of.

Plain checkbook covers are $5.00

Checkbook covers with ruffles $6.00
Add $1.50 for shipping.
First email me what # you want. I will send you a link to my etsy shop for easy payment and shipment.

susanharms69@gmail.com

$5.00 Checkbook Covers

$6.00 Checkbook Covers

GRAND CLEARENCE SALE

2011-05-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

OK. So I'm moving to TEXAS and I haven't had time to write about it.
Before I go, I want to get rid of all the stuff that I have made already. Everything else is packed,
so sorry, but no custom orders for now.

Everything is at least 1/2 off it's original price. Prices posted are the SALE price.

Please send me an email at susanharms69@gmail.com and let me know what number you want. I will list the item(s) on my etsy shop and email you link for easy payment and delivery. Please feel free to ask any questions. Including more pictures if you like.

Here goes:

Guys are so Simple

2011-02-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

My husband Mike and I are like night and day. I am a total idealist, pie in the sky type of gal. Most of my waking hours are spent day dreaming. Not healthy, I know, must be a defense mechanism. Mike on the other hand (although he doesn't use it much in his line of work) is an engineer. He thinks like one and functions like one. In other words he is a total geek. Everything must be thought out and logical. If it doesn't make complete sense to him, then of course, it is stupid. He is fashion impaired as well. He wears his work uniform all of the time, even on Saturdays, because "it's comfortable" and he doesn't have to wash them (or rather I don't have to wash them, like he's doing ME a favor!) If you know him and he ever looks halfway descent, it's because I bought whatever he's wearing of course. Otherwise, if he's not wearing his uniform, he has his $10 Walmart jeans on, because paying more than 10 dollars for a pair of jeans is preposterous! Isaac (my 12 year old) and I are the only cool people around here. Mike and "mini Mike" (my 10 year old) are total geeks, they talk about math, geometry, algebra and physics at the dinner table, just for the fun of it! I leave with my mind twirling trying to think of Katniss and Peeta (from the Hunger Games) or Harry Potter and Ginny. Or any of my dear fantasy friends that I may be reading about at the present. Or perhaps about the 5000 square foot home that I would love to live in, you know, the one that comes with the maid, and chef! Otherwise 2500 sq. ft. will do.

Anyway, I sometimes have felt kind of silly with this whole "blog" thing. It doesn't quite fit with his line of thinking and I fear that he may think it a waste of time. I don't actually believe this, he has never indicated that to me or criticized me doing this. It is just so not him.

WELL, let me tell you. Did you know that there is such a thing called a "pocket dump". Evidently it is a place (or places) where ~~geeks~~ guys take pictures of what they have in their pockets and post these pictures.
My Mike spends hours (not at one time) browsing these pictures, fascinated! I must tell you I find it a most curious phenomenon. While us women spend countless hours browsing around looking at each others houses and much of what our life is about, guys are out there too, in typical simplistic guy fashion, looking at each others pocket contents. It takes a whole house for a woman to call her castle, to express herself, and in some way or another it defines who we are,or at least reflects much about ourselves, our world. But guys are so simple, all they need is a pocket.

I love that I have boys. I just love my guys. For the most part my boys are very low maintenance. But I guess part of being cool, or at least trying to be so requires a little more that the geeks. (but please don't tell him that)
I don't know about you, but, I think that in general, men are so easy. Really all they need is a wife that takes good care of them. As long as I let Mike know that he is "THE MAN", stroke his ego, fix is ice tea, make diner once in a while and keep his clothes clean, and of course have sex to keep him from exploding, or because it is fun and wonderful, yes as long as I do those things, then he is pretty much content and in good spirits.
He is just simple. I think most guys are. All they need, as far as blogging goes, is a pocket full of cool stuff that they can show off. On the other hand all we need is a house full of stuff that we can show off.

Please come back tomorrow, I will have a second part to this post. I'm hoping it will be fun. Please indulge me.

P.S. Today Mike posted a picture of his "pocket dump". We went out to run some errands and when we got back he went to see that he had had more than 50 views. He was so happy!!! Made me smile real deep. inside.

Susan

Feast of Breads, part two

2011-01-10T13:55:00.000-08:00

Snow, snow and more snow! I hate snow. I want sun, HOT sun, and if sand is included, even better.

The town where I live stops when it snows, and on any other given time I may love having a day off of work, but, I'm OVER it. I'm almost finishing reading a book that I don't even like but I want to finish (a murder mystery). I will soon. Today, I'm sure. So, what do you do when you are depressed and you don't want to do anything else? And plus, the garage is too cold to clear all of that out so I can actually park in there... Well, I don't know what you do, but I make more bread.

Day before yesterday I made the pizza. It was to die for, but I forgot to take pictures. It had caramelized onions and manchego cheese. Sounds sophisticated! It was. Delicious sophistication.
Today I began by taking yesterday's leftover artisan bread and making french toast. HUGE success, of course!

Then I took the dough that was left from the pizza and made some focaccia. I can't even begin to describe to you how incredible this stuff is. Next time I have folks over, Italian is definitely on the menu!!!

Shape, cook onions in olive oil, place on dough, add salt, pepper, rosemary and more olive oil. Rest. Cook 25 min.

Last time I made cinnamon rolls I didn't put any nuts in it. I love nuts so I told my boys that this time they would simply have to pick them out!

Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls

HELP!! Get me out of here!!! I need to go to the GYM!!!!

Feast of Breads

2011-01-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

My poor husband is clueless. Bless his heart. We have been married almost 20 years, and yes, he does have a fault. He is a terrible gift giver. I am seriously considering getting a standing gift registry at several different stores in the area. So, once again, for the Christmas season he comes to me in desperation wanting ideas for gifts. No matter how hard I try, he just can't do it. So, I usually end up getting myself several "gifts" and let him know what he has gotten me.
When he told me about a week before Christmas, yet again, that he was clueless about what to get me I said "you know I have some things in my Amazon cart that I would love to have". Before I could finish my sentence he begged me to get them, you know, from him.
I had gotten this book from the library a few week ago and decided that I just had to have one myself.

Edie had introduced this book to me and her readers a while back but I had never taken the time to try it. Had I only known what I was missing out on!

I bought the book and the pizza peel that of course I could not live without, and why not get the container for the dough, because the huge bowl I was using was taking up way to much space in my fridge. Plus Amazon insists that you must have these products to compliment your book. Worth EVERY penny!

So with all of this free time I have had on my hands lately with snow days and Christmas break, I have gone nuts making bread.

I grew up eating bread as a staple in my diet. In Chile, where I grew up, they eat bread at EVERY meal. (kinda like in Mexico and other Central American countries they have tortillas at all times and at every meal)
"Pancito" (a diminutive for bread) for breakfast, a "pancito" with lunch, definitely a "pancito" for afternoon tea, this tea time is called "once" (which means eleven, so I have no idea why it is called that, "once" is usually at about 4:00 - 5:00 in the afternoon). And of course you would have some "pancito" with your evening meal. The bread in Chile is quite different to American bread. It is much like European bread, not so white, or soft. It is denser, chewy, and has a hard crust.
The bread is actually called "pan batido" (which literally means "beaten bread)or "marraqueta". This is what it looks like:

Yumm, just looking at it makes me home sick.
Usually you just eat it alone or with real butter. For "once" it is wonderful with fresh cheese, smashed avocado (no, not guacamole, just avocado smashed with olive oil and salt), or jelly. The most popular, at least with me, were peach or quince jelly. This is what quince jelly looks like:

This is what a quince actually looks like. It is very sour. The only way I would eat it is with salt like a granny smith apple, or am I the only weirdo that likes granny smiths with salt? A quince is even more bitter than that and it has a very weird consistancy, kind of like a pear(grainy), and an apple (hardish). They make this very interesting, grainy, yet yummy tasting jelly.

Anyway, enough of that rabbit. I will have to feature some of my favorite chilean foods on here some other time.

Back to the bread.

So here is what I have made so far.

It is TO DIE FOR!!!

All of those were made with the same "basic" dough recipe. They have others for pizza crust and sweet breads. Pizza crust and focaccia are my next project. I tried one of the sweet ones. This is called "brioche"

It's just a little sweet and buttery, kind of reminded me of Mexican sweet bread, only better and not so dry.

With that same dough I made these "beignets" (a french fritter or doughnut). They disapeared within 5 minutes!

Want to come on over? Any time. I love experimenting with bread.
Not quite my "pan batido", but it will do. I believe I will have to go find and order me some "dulce de membrillo" (the quince jelly), smear it on my fresh artisan bread, fix me up a cup of "te con leche" (hot hea with milk), close my eyes, say something in spnish, laugh, and imagine if only for a moment to be at my friend Marcela's house, enjoying her sweet company and talking about boys!

*Note: "once" is pronounced on-say, sort of, you know, the gringo way.

He has Called you by Name

2011-01-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

This post is for my friend Edie. Two weeks ago today she lost her house and EVERYTHING in it to a fire.
Today is Edie's Birthday.

After the initial shock and disbelief of the news that you had lost your home the only thing I felt like I could do is pray. And although I prayed for comfort and healing, there was a part of me that just groaned. I groaned as I hung on to the promise that the Holy Spirit would intercede for me because there is something you need and I don't know what it is, I can't give it to you. But HE does, and he can, so there I have laid it at his feet.

As the days went by there seemed to be a constant theme running through my mind. I couldn't help but wonder. How was it that God had prepared you for this? I knew that somewhere, somehow you would be able to look back and see the gentile loving hand of God preparing your heart and soul for something to come. Along with this constant thought came a verse that I just couldn't get out of my mind. I had read it somewhere a long time ago and had no idea where it was.

¹⁸ “Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

²⁰ The wild animals honor me,

the jackals and the owls,

because I provide water in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland,

to give drink to my people, my chosen,

²¹ the people I formed for myself

that they may proclaim my praise.

When I read your post I couldn't help but rejoice. He was there, he was, I knew it! He always is.

I went to my handy dandy Bible gateway to find my verse (the bold part was all I could remember).

I decided of course to read a little more in context, to see what the whole chapter was about. I encourage you and anyone reading this post to go read:

Isaiah 43

My heart leped when I began to read the first verse:

But now, this is what the LORD says—

he who created you, Jacob,

he who formed you, Israel:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

Who knew when we made these necklaces and we searched for the right words to write on them, that yours, the one I would see around your neck for the following weeks, would be the blessing and an encouragement to me in this great time of your loss. He is always there! I hope it blesses you and encourages you as it has me.

I haven't had a chance to see you yet. But I have always wondered if you slept with all of those necklaces on. I have NEVER, ever seen you without them on. If your necklace is gone, rest assured that it will be replaced!

The chapter reads on:

² When you pass through the waters,
   I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
   they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
   you will not be burned;
   the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the LORD your God,
   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

I give thanks today for the one who knit you in your mothers womb, and created you so fearfully and wonderfully. I thank the one who has chosen you and called you by name.

Thank you Edie for being a friend, for inspiring us all to seek and show God's beauty and creativity. Thank you for inspiring us to know him and love him better.

Thank you for smiling at me every time I walk in the door. Thank you for talking to me like I am the most important person to you at that moment. Thank you for sharing your precious daughters with me. Thank you for believing in me.

Happy Birthday!

Chasing Rabbits

2010-12-13T06:38:00.000-08:00

I am a rabbit chaser. I'm thinking that this is one of the main reasons that I am so bad about posting. I actually love to write, well, actually I love to vent and writing is a great way to vent. When I speak with people I actually try real hard to not chase rabbits because I know it can be annoying. Men aren't rabbit chasers, I'm married to a rabbit hunter. I always have this little Mike in the back of my head that says "get to the point!" I hate it because it is in our nature to do so. Just listen and pay attention the next time you talk to a woman.

I once went to this unbelievably GREAT marriage seminar called "Love and Respect". It is a MUST for any marriage, or better yet, any human being that relates in any way for any amount of time with anyone of the opposite sex. And for men (although I'm pretty sure that no man will ever read this post) it actually is a great seminar too. Have you ever noticed how men in general HATE going to marriage seminars? I have been married 19 years and have NEVER been to one. The only reason Mike and I got to see this one (we didn't even get to "go" to the seminar, we just saw them on DVD) is because he is an elder at our church and the church was buying the DVD set. We were the guinea pigs. He loved it! It is the kind of seminar that doesn't require you to become a woman to be a good husband. Men receive a lot of confirmation in what and who they are and does a wonderful job at pointing out our differences and that it is totally OK to be that way. Oh, I can't chase that rabbit because I can't do the guy justice. You must either buy his book or go running to the pastor of your church and beg him to get this DVD set for your church. He is really funny and is so much more effective in communicating this stuff than just through a book.

It looks like I chased a rabbit, but really I didn't. Mr. Eggerichs talks about the phenomenon that women have of talking in a circle. We begin a conversation and one thing we say reminds us of something else and we talk about it until it reminds us of something else, and on and on we go until we get back to the place where we began, we always do. We talk in a circle and the conversation will end as we close our circle. Or else we are bothered by it. It happened to me the other day. Someone was telling me about something in their life and it reminded me of something else, which in turn took us somewhere else. We were far, far away from where we began. Normally we would go back, we always do. But time ran out and we both forgot. Until, about an hour later I was thinking about this person and I felt so bad because I realized that she never finished her story! On the same token, it bugs me when I'm talking about something and get off track and I never have a chance to go back and finish my train of thought, or story. I feel cheated. It was incomplete. We love to be complete. We love it when we go full circle, we must. It even happens in reconciliation. Did you know that men and women have totally different styles of reconciliation? I won't get into it, buy the book and learn about it, it's such important information.

Anyway, because I am not a "writer" and because I can't spent hours and hours writing drafts and correcting and editing I will have to be true to who I am from now on. I will have to feel the freedom to chase the rabbits, you will have to indulge me and enjoy it as you would in a conversation and that way I may be able to actually post a little more often.

I actually think about stuff all of the time and I lay in bed wanting to write it all out, but I chicken out. Maybe when my boys are grown and I don't have to work, or feel the need to overachieve in other areas of my life, then I could learn how to write well and let everybody know what I really think in a grown up and orderly manner.

Come along for the ride and see how many rabbits I can find in one swoop.
Or maybe not. Maybe it's just another excuse because the truth is, I am just too scared

My Sweater Purse

2010-12-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to make myself a purse for months! I either chicken out because I can't make up my mind on what fabric to use or what size and pattern to use. It drives me crazy! So, I one day was looking through my blog subscriptions and stumbled upon this simple beauty! I needed a simple start so I took off with it. Finally!

Hobby lobby was closed today, and Walmart didn't have the magnetic thingies, so I modified the closure. It works, and I like it, but I didn't get to use the cute flower I made for it because I don't like how it looks with the button.

I began making the purse several days ago but since the lining fabric hadn't arrived at the time I had no idea when I'd get to finish it. Even when the fabric arrived life had taken over and my cut up sweater got shoved to the corner. Today, however, it has began to snow. When it snows life just slows down, and since I'm fairly confident that there will be no school tomorrow there is no since of urgency, laundry can wait, kitchen can wait, I suddenly have all of the time in the world. So here you go. My lovely wintery RED purse. Does it look familiar Mrs. Bray!?

Wheat Grass Tutorial

2010-11-22T04:42:00.000-08:00

This is so easy!

I bought this glass container at Hobby Lobby in the candle making section, but obviously you can use any container you like.

On day one I took a handfull of wheat berries and just to see how much I would need I spread them in a single layer in the container I was using.

You can purchace wheat berries at any health food store. Any kind will be fine (hard, soft, spring...). If you live in my area just beg me for some and I will just give some to you. I make my own bread from freshly ground whole wheat and I buy the stuff in bulk, so I have plenty to go around.

Then take the berries and soak them in water. I soaked mine for 48 hours. I think they do better when left that long.

After 48 hours they will look nice and plump, and your water will be cloudy.

Now drain the water out, put dirt in your container and lay the berries right on top of the dirt.

Loosely cover with plastic wrap, this gives it a "green house" effect.

About 3 days later you will need to take the plastic off and let the green grow.

I can't remember when I took this picture, but it was one or two days after I took the plastic wrap off.

This is day 11!

Isn't it great? I love my wheat grass. It does have a short life, but it is so worth it because it is so simple.

I hear also that wheat grass is super good for you! A friend of mine wants to grow it so she can juice it!!

HAPPY PLANTING!

To be thankful

2010-11-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

It is so hard to be thankful when you live in a society that is bent on wanting you to believe that you aren't happy and therefore have nothing to be thankful about. We live in a place and time where so much information as at our fingertips and there is no way to access that information without being bombarded with this idea of "everybody else is happy, this is how... and the only way that you will be happy is if you have what they have".

To be honest with you I am amazed that there are not even more bankruptcies and divorces than there are. We are never content with what we have, who we have and who we are. We just keep buying into the "celebration" of Thanksgiving, but we have trouble buying into being thankful. Think about it. When was the last time you said "WOW!" in awe, and when was the last time you said "I wish".

I don't know, maybe I am the only one here that feels like this and I am the only one that has to work on it as well. Really? Am I that selfish and alone in this?

I really find the need, propelled by the season of course, to really work on an attitude of thanksgiving. When I am thankful I am way more happy than when I am not. I want to be thankful for every perfect gift from above. But even when we are thankful, do you see that we tend to compare ourselves with others? When I feel discontent with my house, for example, I can't seem to just be thankful for the gift that the Lord has lavished me with in my house and home, I seem to need to compare it to say, people in India that live in those dirt floor rooms, you know, we have all seen them on TV. Why can't I just close my eyes, take in what I have, not what anyone else has and just give THANKS? We are always looking to the left and to the right.

Just so you know, I ponder, I don't come to many conclusions in my life, I just do what I can. So know that I am thinking "out loud" and who knows, maybe some day I will read this and say "what was I thinking?" So perhaps it is just fine for me to be thankful that I have a roof over my head, my own bedroom and a down comforter that I LOVE specially since there are cold children all over the world as I write this. And even though my house isn't 2500 square feet I can still be thankful for what I have. And well, I may not have lots of space but my husband adores me and we are really super happy while there are millions of hurting marriages that are suffering and are tearing apart, women hurting, men hurting and children caught in the middle... See, that is easy to do.

I challenge you, and myself of course, this week to be thinking about what we are truly thankful for. Think outside the box. I think there might a difference between being thankful for what we have compared to others and having an attitude of thanksgiving. I know we don't live in a vacuum, but humor me and ponder with me. What are you thankful for? I could so chase a rabbit right now, because that is what I do. But I will refrain, or else I will be tempted to write a book. (I know, because that is what I want to do with every post). Anyway, here is my first thought. Random, but here goes.

When I'm feeling ugly, lonely, rejected, lost, unwanted, or just in a blah kind of mood, I lay in bed with my Mike, and he wraps his arms around me, squeezes me tight and I suddenly am beautiful, I am safe. I am in the presence of someone who loves me and wants me, I am no longer lost, but in the place I belong. THAT, is what I am thankful for.

12 days of Christmas

2010-11-13T04:41:00.000-08:00

Please go visit my friend Edie and check out what we made!

You will want to make one too.

AND

Wheat Grass Tutorial Coming to a Blog near you!!

2010-11-11T05:13:00.000-08:00

Can't wait to share how to make this beauty.

(Please ignore the double paned 70s windows that, no matter how much I clean will NEVER look clean)

I will be a guest at Edie's!

2010-11-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited about being asked to be a part of Edie's 12 Days of Christmas this year.

Make sure you pay her a visit and soon enjoy what we have had up our sleves.

A Craft Show and what I learned about myself

2010-11-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

This past weekend a friend and I set up shop at a small, out in the boonies craft show to see how our stuff would do. I asked Diane, my very talented and artistic friend, to come and join me because I knew she would be of much help as far as set up was concerned and because it would also give her the impetus to get her business on a roll because she is such a talented artist and she needed a little push. Her jewelry is very different from mine and we figured our stuff would work well together.

After going over the mountain and through the hills, feeling nauseous and loosing all contact with civilization (no cell phone reception) we arrived at the Kyles Ford Auction House. A small warehouse/garage type building with concrete floors and no heat! Thinking immediately that this had been a huge mistake, I decide to just smile and set forth with the task at hand.

So here is our little set up.

Well, I will just get to the point. I learned this weekend two things about myself. Two things that I really already knew, but somehow when we are put in certain situations throughout our lives, these situations tend to shine a brighter light onto these truths about who we are and how we are.

First, unfortunately I realized that my insecurities run VERY deep. I know that we all have insecurities, we fight these all of the time, yet, at least with me, when I can stay in my little world I tend to know how to overcome or at least deal with these insecurities. Boy, the moment I stepped into this situation which way out of my world and my comfort zone I felt like I was wearing a huge sign on my forehead. "I am a total looser". I found myself feeling what I feel often, ehem... I don't belong here, do I? The comparison game begins and never wants to end. I begin to believe the lie. The same lie that Eve believed, It's that lie that says: "I am being cheated!" Eve believed that God was withholding from her, and so do we. This person and such have this that or the other, and I don't. Yep, That is what we believe. I will speak of the lie often, because it tends to pop up everywhere, and in every situation possible, it's constant, unrelenting...
So now I find myself fighting the lie. The best way to fight a lie of course is with truth. So what IS true is that he did give them something that I don't have, however, I also know that he gave me something that they don't have. And for the past couple of days, since I have been back home, I have been able to be so joyful in those things, and along with it Thankful, VERY thankful. I saw also a lot of pain, loneliness and selfishness.
You know, I learned that I am not an artist, I'm just a wanna be, but I enjoy what I do and I love who God has created me to be. I love that I am able to have the time and resources to "have my fun" and enjoy in the adventure of learning and exploring God's Creativity.

I also learned that I may actually be more of an introvert that I thought. I am not a shy person at all. I have no problem standing in front of a crowd and doing whatever I need to do. But oh my word, put me in a place with lots of people and tell me to get to know people and mingle. Please no, please no!
You see, an extrovert is energized by people, the more the merrier, and they love it, they thrive. Us introverts although not necessarily shy would much rather be home bodies doing our thing without being bothered. Being with lots of people for too long is so draining! Now don't get me wrong, I love my friends and I do love people, I'm not exactly a hermit, and don't shy away from me out of fear of overstepping my comfort zone. It's just that opposite of an extrovert, us introverts get energized by being alone. I don't even like to listen to music much (I know, I am the oddity, don't shute me!) Solitude is healing and joyful.
So as you can imagine, by the time it was time to go home, I was over it. Please let me just lie in my bed, get my feet warm and have my hubby come and love on me. I even told him "I really don't want to go to church tomorrow honey, I'm so sick of people!" I know, I'm so bad. I did go, but left early. I was able to enjoy some wonderful (productive) solitude the rest of the day. And come Monday morning I was ready to go to work. Had a great day!

So there you go, two things that I learned about myself, and perhaps two things that you learned about me that you didn't know.

By the way, my husband and my youngest child are introverts as well. My poor 12 year old is an extrovert to perfection. Poor guy! I do try, honestly.

Hearty Potato Soup

2010-11-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

At my house we love Potato Soup. A few months ago I gave you a sneak peek at it in my post What's for Dinner

As I atempt to get this blog on the road my hope is to have a regular segment called WHAT'S FOR DINNER. Today I am going to share with you my sectert to the best Hearty Potato Soup. I know lots of people put sour cream in theirs, but that is not my magical trick.

Here we go.

Cut up your potatoes. However much you need for your family. I'm going to guess 2-3 lbs. But sorry, I didn't really measure anything. But I guess it is time to give you the secret (at least I hope it is a secret, that would be cool if you never knew this and I'm enriching your life by telling you!!)
Cut up your potatoes into medium size pieces and cook them in WHOLE MILK. Put enough milk in your pot to cover the potatoes. Add about 1 tsp of salt. (little flecks are because I use sea salt, I don't like pepper, so add pepper if you like)

As soon as you get those going get you a cookie sheet, the kind with a lip. I use my Pampered Chef Large Bar Pan. Just as a side not here, this is probably my favorite Pampered Chef product. I had one for 12-15 years and broke it a few weeks ago. I was in morning for several days, I couldn't bring myself to throwing it away for way to long. When my hubby said something to me about it I decided it was time.
So this picture is the very first time I have used my new one, I figured it was the perfect way to begin seasoning it. (my other one was black)

I probably could have squeezed a few more in there, but that was enough for me. Stick that in a 450 degree oven and forget about it! (at least for a while).

Then chop up a medium onion and 2-3 garlic cloves and saute in butter.

till it looks like this:

Now make sure that you keep a close eye on the potatoes and stir regularly because they can boil over some or worse, the milk sticks to the bottom and yuck, you have to transfer everything to another pot careful to not scrape the nasty bottom, and that means more dishes to wash... Not that I would know this from experience.

Soon your potatoes will be soft and your bacon will look like this:

Now, take a few potatoes, not many if you don't want your soup too thick and mash them with your potato masher.
Return to the soup and mix well. Add onions.
Grate sharp cheddar cheese, cut up bacon and serve on a cold winter day!

Enjoy!

Pick Me! Pick ME!

2010-10-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

I feel so many times like a little girl. The little girl lined up on the playground wanting so bad to be picked by my favorite girls, so bad to be cool, and wanted, to be on their team. "Pick me, Pick Me, don't you like me?"; I'm the little student with my had way up in the air that wants to stand out and be admired by the teacher because I know the answer. "Pick Me, Pick Me, I'm smart". I am like the little girl that tries out for the cheer leading squad, "Pick Me, Pick Me, I can do it, I can look good, pretty and jump high". As we get older the feeling doesn't go away. "Pick Me, Pick Me", for the scholarship; "Pick Me, Pick Me" for the job; "Pick Me, Pick Me" for the promotion. "Pick Me, Pick Me, I am a good friend".

A few Sundays ago at our church we had a little baby shower for a gal at our church that had just had her 4th baby. We had a very simple pot luck after church. I was part of the group of gals that planned this shower and since it was simple we didn't do a whole lot for it. On Saturday I decided to take it a step further and make it a little more special by being crafty and creative. I made a super cute banner with the baby's name on it. I was bummed though because I forgot my camara. Trust me, it was adorable.

I made a cute diaper cake where I was able to display some of my lovely fabric flowers,

and I made these SUPER CUTE booties cup cakes.

Needless to say, I got lots of oooohs and ahhhhs. Honestly it was a LOT of work. It took my entire Saturday to get all of these things prepared to make this shower special for my friend. I had a blast doing it though. I felt so creative and lovely and special myself.

When I got back home Sunday afternoon, my husband asked me how it went, and then asked me something very curious. He said: "Did you win?" I said: "Win what? What are you talking about?" Then it hit me.

Is that what we are all about? Are we just in this big competition of life? Is it truly the game of life in which we continually are begging: "Pick Me, Pick Me"

Can you picture Moses going about his business praying to God, "Pick me, pick me"? Gideon never begged God to pick him, as a matter of fact, he was one excuse after the other. And who can forget poor Jonah who ran in the opposite direction when God picked him. He ended up in the belly of a giant fish!

These men were picked for a grand job, one that I would have hesitated about as well. These were jobs that were hard, risky and dangerous, to say the least.

So fast forward thousands of years and I find myself sitting at the table with my girlfriends and Jesus. In our hearts we feel the same words that James and John were saying in Mark 10: "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." Do you hear that? "Pick me, pick me". We run ourselves silly trying to obtain a "place" with our friends, and even with God, but heaven forbid us to be asked to do the "hard thing", THEN we choose to answer, oh, I can't because I studder (as Moses did) or we say we are the least of our family (as Gideon did) or we simply run to the nearest port (really, the farthest).

Oh, we are so silly!! But honestly I really don't know where I'm going with this post. But I'm going to post it anyway.

For one, my insecurities have kept me from posting it for weeks, and I just know that I will not be picked. This is something that each of us has to face. Why is it that we do the things we do? And if we don't get "picked", would we have done them anyway?
The other reason is because what my husband asked me hit a nerve. I didn't like that he aked me this because it was a truth that we just don't want to face. I ask myself all of the time. What are my motives anyway? Lets just face it!

So there you go.
A few weeks ago made some fabric leaves that are just so adorable! I'm dying to take a picture and post them. Yet, I'm going to refrain. I will just continue to smile and find great satisfaction each time I pass by them. Even though no one will get to "pick" them. I will enjoy the thought of having to figure out how to make them and having to pick out matching fabrics to make them SOOOO look good. I will love the thought that I was creative and I made something beautiful. Just because.

"Pick me, pick me" we still yell.

Perhaps I should start yelling "I pick you, I pick you".

A Bouquet of Fabric Flowers

2010-08-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

Just because I can't stay away from flowers!

As I was surfing along blog land I stumbled upon this beautiful project that I just couldn't pass up. I had seen a bouquet of flowers before but nothing like this! I looseley followed her tutorial, and as you can see I still have the leaves to make. But I was so excited about them that I just had to share them with the small world that may show the least bit of interest in what I do :)

My version of a bouquet of Fabric Flowers:

couldn't resist playing with the pictures a tad bit

OK, I'm going to say it.

2010-06-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here it goes. I'm reading Harry Potter, my 11 year old is reading Harry Potter and we both LOVE it. I finally decided to "cave" in. My husband very reluctantly gave us the green flag ( long story, not the point today) and I began to read the first book aloud to him. After about 3 days he gave up on me (well you know, I do have other things in life I have to take care of, I can't spend every waking moment reading to him) and decided to move it along faster. By the time he got to book 3 I was still on 1! Now that I have finished book 4 he is mid way through book 7! He gets antsy because we don't get to watch the movies till I have finished the book. Anyway, I was going to wait, but now that I am more than half way through the series I feel like I can give a pretty accurate opinion on where I stand on the matter.

Harry Potter has grown up under miserable circumstances. As far as he is concerned he is a NOBODY! And then one day he is told what his TRUE heritage is, who he really is and who's he really is.

A friend of mine insists that the book is filled with biblical themes and that Harry Potter is a Christ like figure. I think this has something to do with the end of the series, which I'm bummed that I found out about. I know to some it may be a stretch and a little far fetched, but truth be told, we find biblical themes in all kinds of literature throughout history, not just in literature but we see it in the movies all of the time. The fantasy world has a way of presenting reality and truth in a creative and engaging way. The way I see it, you can choose to read or watch anything for pure entertainment or you can take it a step further and see if there is any hidden truth or lesson to be found in the subject matter. I think it is human nature for all to be in search of truth, and since truth is truth, weather you are a believer in Christ or not, the search is on. I find it facinating that those who do not find truth in THE TRUTH (Christ) are sometimes so close to the truth because God has put eternity in our hearts and that is where we all want to be headed. Anyway, back to the Christ figure. I have not finished the series yet, therefore my perception of Harry is a little different than that of my friend. First of all, as I mentioned before, the fact that Harry at the beginning of the series comes to find out who he is, who he really is. Harry also discovers that he has unbelievable gift that he could have never even dreamed of having. I think we are the same in so many ways. We tend to think that we have gotten cheated in life and that we are a NOBODY, yet hopefully like Harry we have the privilege of finding out who we really are, but most importantly who's we are and with that, the realization that we have an unbelievable power that has been given to us, a gift, a powerful gift. And like Harry we spend our lives trying to figure out how it all works, what our roll is in this grand battle. Our eyes are opened to the truth that there is this raging war going on, one that to so many is not evident, yet without necessarily wanting to , we are caught in the middle of it and it is up to us to continue to wage war against evil, not just for our own sake, but for those around us as well.

So tell me something. What difference is there say between The Sith and lord Voldemort? Or for that matter between The White Which and lord Voldemort? Aren't they all representing the same thing? And doesn't Harry have a similar task that Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy had? Just as Luke Skywalker in fighting against the "dark side" or, dare I say Frodo and Sam in the fight against the Dark Lord Sauron.
What difference is there between going to Hogwarts and learning how to be a which and being an apprentice of Jedi master so they could be a Jedi themselves? What difference is there in the magic in Harry Potter and "the force" in Star Wars? Call me naive, but I see no difference. I see the age old fight of good vs. evil and I see those who are strong and valiant enough to not bow down, but fight the good fight. Those that think they are a nobody and find that they are someone after all, someone that will fight against what is wrong and evil no matter what the cost.

Let me change course here for a moment because I just can't talk about Harry Potter without thinking of the most wonderful display of friendship that we see in the relationship between Harry, Ron and Hermione. We should all be so fortunate to have friends like those two! We all need a Hermione in our life that has all the answers even if she can sometimes be a little obsessive, obnoxious and a "know it all". We all need a cheerleader like Ron, who even if he does struggle with playing second fiddle will never leave or betray his best friend. I love Ron.
Let me also mention the fact that I also am a huge fan of Dumbledore. As with most books that are turned into movies, one who has read the book can only be disappointed in the interpretation given by Hollywood.
Although I'm sure that the movies are really good, I of course have been one that has been so disappointed. Besides the fact that they have to cut major parts of the book and change others to make it all fit, what upsets me the most is the interpretation of Dumbledor. My feeling of the kind of man he is, is nothing like the Dumbledore I see in the movie. He seems so stern and serious, almost mean. But he is the kindest most loving of them all. If I had to give him a label at all, he is somewhat of a God figure. The guy loves his students and spends his time looking out for them. He is wise, kind, gracious and takes such pleasure in seeing his students succeed. I love it when the author mentions the "twinkle in his eyes", it just says so much. He is trustworthy, trusting, always willing to give a second chance or the benefit of the doubt. A great man he is indeed Hagrid.

Honestly, I just don't see what the big deal is. I think that too many people have had such a knee jerk reaction to a piece of very well written literature that they haven't even read. (that is what I did). If nothing else it is a very entertaining, fabulous story that will have you awake late at night because you can't put the book down. Harry Potter isn't about witchcraft, Harry Potter is about the very basic age old subject of good vs. evil. And what are you (the chosen one, Peter, Frodo, Luke Skywalker, Harry) going to do about it taking into consideration the tools that you have, (a light saber and the force, magic and a sword, or a wand). It ain't easy, people are going to be mean and trip you at every corner (Rabadash, the White Which, Sauron and the orks, General Grievous, and Darth Mal, Malfoy, Voldemort) but you will also always have those who will stick by you no matter what (Aravis, Edward and Lucy, Sam, R2-D2, C3PO, Ron and Hermione). In the end, truth and good will prevail, because in the REAL battle we know that is what we are promised. THAT is what we know to be TRUTH.

I say, if you have watched Star Wars, read the Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings, you most certainly can read the Harry Potter series. I just finished reading my favorite book of all times The Horse and His Boy to my son Elijah, and I was reminded at the end of the fact that Aslan himself put a SPELL on Rabadash and turned him into an ASS. (yep, that is what the book says)!

What's for dinner?

2010-06-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

We all wonder what the gal next door is cooking tonight. If not out of plain curiosity, it's because we are dieing for some good ideas. I used to LOVE to cook. Cooking was my "thing". My mom was a fantastic cook and she passed that love on to us kids. All four of us like to cook and we do it well. However, I must tell you that as the years in the kitchen have worn down on me, my love for cooking has greatly decreased. For one, I have a very picky child that has managed to ZAP every ounce of joy out of it every single night for the past 4 or so years. I tire of the complaining and the stress of feeding my family every night. Also, I have managed to get a job since then and I have many other hobbies that are begging for my attention, energy and time. Cereal anyone?
Every once and a while I do enjoy blocking my son's comments and try to make a real special meal for dinner, one that my husband and my other son will marvel at and sing praises to me about.
At our household we cover the whole gamete, from, yumm I will have a glass of Chardonnay with that:

all the way to, "who is picking up the pizza?" "Any Miller Light left in the fridge?"

There are some meals that I will only fix in the winter. Such as the fanciest of potato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.

There are other dishes that look disgusting, but actually taste good. Like this "Hot Chicken Salad"

One of my two other favorites are HAMBURGERS!! These have carmalized onions, bacon and swiss cheese.
I know, these just look so greasy and therefore sinful, to just add a little insult to injury, fry some sweet potatoes to go with it.

Our other favorite are QUESADILLAS. Even the "picky one" loves these two last diches, well, minus the onions and other "yucky" stuff.

Well, I guess that is enough for now. Since I haven't written in months and I really didn't want to get away from blogging I finished up this draft to get my momentum going. Be back soon with more food and hopefully more to craft and chat about.

This time I laughed

2010-05-21T05:34:00.000-07:00

Mike and I were laying in bed last night, me complaining about how fat I am and he trying his best to tell me how lovely and beautiful I am, and how much he loves me! I said: "Mike, I'm stuffed, and I just looked in the mirror and I look like I'm 8 or 9 months pregnant!"
Mike answers: "Nah, I'd say no more than 5"

Flowers and Swords

2010-05-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

A while back I posted an entry: Why I'm not the Stereotype. My intention was to post another entry explaining why I actually am. Today I will not go into such detail, because, as evidenced by my prolonged absence, I have been incredibly busy. Part time job, family, part time job, groceries to buy, clothes to wash, meals to fix, cereal to pull out of the cupboard...

But this morning I am giggling so much because you almost can't get more sterotypical than this.

Let me just back up a tad bit and let you know that my son Isaac a couple of weeks ago went to Williamsburg and Jamestown on a school trip. Being the typical male he is, when asked about his trip all I could get out of him was: "It was fun". I also found out that he had spilled coffee on his shorts, ripped a pair of other shorts, lost his wallet (only $10 plus his Starbucks gift card with probaby $10 worth left on it), and was chaffed most of the time because it was so HOT.
Other than that, I guess he did NOTHING. But slowly little at a time he has seeped some information, one thing I learned is that he saw a, well I'm not sure what he saw, all I know is that he decided he wanted to forge a real sword. He is determined to have a sword. As my male companions due most of the time, they plan and conspire and get to work as soon as Mike has time. So I go outside to check on them and this is what I find:

In the meantime, do you know what I've been working on? Flowers, yes of course. I have made quite a few in the past weeks and have a small order to fill today. So here is what I do on a Saturday morning:

Flowers and swords. Yep, that is what I call a typical day at my house...
Stereotype.

Crafter's ADD

2010-04-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm wondering if you ever feel like you are a hopeless case. Do you wonder why on earth your husband still loves you, and why your friends haven't commited you yet? I am now convinced that I'm going through some sort of mid life crisis. Let's call it pre-menopausal crazy(maybe). Or, perhaps I'm just a very obsessive person that must always have something to obsess about; kind of like the "stages" I spoke of before in THIS post.

Well, last week I went nuts with the fabric flowers. I think I made dinner once, and my poor husband has to walk around all of my "stuff" in this already crowded house. However, I find myself getting so excited about every new fun crafy thing I run across as I blog surf that I just want to try it all!!!

So, I hope you have seen all the flowers I have posted before. Here is a new one:

I'm so mad, because I made some more super cute ones that I sold and didn't take pictures of. :(

Then I went back to Hobby Lobby to get more fabric, but I just can't get it all done. Here comes the ADD.

Cut out shapes with new fabric

Cut out more with more fabric

Go to Hobby Lobby and cut out more

As you can see, still getting nowhere, well, maybe a little somewhere.

Find old clothes you never wear, pick some out for your thin friend and then dream about turning the rest into FLOWERS!

Take a break and go to TJ MAXX buy a skirt! (must have flowers)

Oh! Didn't that girl at Ruffles and Stuff have a super cute shirt she made? It was so simple, I bet I could make it! (even though I don't sew, but she makes me want to quit my job, move next door to her and sew ruffles all day!)
Let's try:

Not great pictures, and it isn't finished yet, but I knew it was my first try with a shirt I was willing to "play" with.

OH! But let's not forget the super adorable wreath I began to work on before Easter:

and please note that right in front of it there is wrap bracelet that I began before the wreath! And no, it isn't finished.

This is my work area:

The sewing machine has to go on the kitchen table, so when it is time to eat it all get's shoved somewhere or lands in ... where can I put all this??

Please remember I have at least 6 picture frames that need atention and the letters "CREATE" that I painted but have no where to go.

Mercy me, What IS wrong with me? Do I seriously need intervention? I want to send my boys camping for a week and get it all done. HA! Who am I kidding? Then I would have twice as many unfinished projects that I have found serfing in my "free time."

Need more retail therapy. Must but new $9.99 skirt at Ross which is right next to Hobby Lobby anyway.

What else can I say?
Finished flower pictures coming soon.. But don't hold your breath!

POTTERY BARN

2010-04-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm about to do something I have never done before. I'm going to link this post to a blog. I feel like such a big girl now. I hope it works!

OK,so here is the Pottery Barn Inspiration. Although, if you check out my earlier post when I made the oval plate, you will see that I made it first (inspired by other blog surfing) and then found the PB one. When I found it I decided to complete the look. I went searching for a rectangle plate, and found a $9 one at Wal-Mart.

Here is my cheapper version:

If I had a great camara it would look just as good!

At PB they are sold out. But I think they were about $50.
Mine were $16 (with the plate holders) plus the chalkboard paint which I have used for other stuff and will use again for other fun projects in the future.

Not Happy till May 1st

2010-04-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

Anybody that knows me knows how much I HATE winter and cold weather. I probably am running a great risk in saying this but.. I even hate SNOw. Even though I have always loved Fall, I can hardly enjoy it anymore because it can only mean one thing: Winter is coming. This winter in particular just seemed colder, darker and longer. I have been "over it" since January. So, you can only imagine my joy and delight at the arrival of Spring weather. Oh, just the feeling of painting my toenails and wearing flip flops. A short sleeve shirt and, opening the windows!!!

Yesterday my son had his first soccer game of the season and I got burnt to a crisp (of course it was only one arm, or part of it rather, and half of my neck). Thank goodness that my friend Shay had sunblock and I put some on my flip flopped feet! Why didn't I put any anywhere else? Umm...
Yesterday afternoon I was actually giddy! So much so that I was up till 12:30 a.m. working on lunch for today and some pretty things in between as well of course.

These are my pretty flowers I wore this morning to church with my spring HOT pink short sleeve cardigan.

Here is my pretty banner that I made yesterday. Oh my goodness! Lessons of a newbie crafter: This is time consuming business! And these were just made with scrapbooking paper!

And another. Can't see much of it, but trust me, it is adorable!

Anyway... Even though I consider myself a very positive person, and most people would say I am, I just won't find myself settled in the joys of warm weather till May 1st. many people have heard me say it lately. "I will not be happy till May 1st." The reason why is because April seems to always be such an unpredictable month! I call it the teaser month. We have even had the "S" word in April which in this part of the country should just be against the law. The law should be that, after the high temperature during the day reaches 80, (which it did this weekend) it should NEVER be colder than 50 during the night or day again.

So, even though I am basking in the warmth of this beautiful spring weather, I will have to brace myself now for what we in East Tennessee call "blackberry winter". Sigh...

But something seems to happen on May 1st. The cold switch just gets turned off, and on we go to the better things in life. Warmth, strawberries, watermelon, peaches, tomatoes, vitamin D and lots of sweat! If only I lived on the coast I could add sand between the toes on my list.

Welcome to SPRING and enjoy the NEW LIFE that God has offered us not just every Spring, not just every May 1st, but every day of our life.
Have a blessed day and a Great Resurrection Sunday!!!!

Potty Talk

2010-03-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

Ladies, I'm sorry but this is just one of those things that I just HAVE to say. Please, this is really not vulgar, it is educational and it is a plea from me (and hopefully many other women) to you.

Let me set the record straight. You will not, and CAN NOT get a disease from sitting on a public toilet seat! I have heard this from a Doctor and confirmed it researching the Internet. What in the world is so disgusting about sharing a little thigh space with other women? Trust me, we do way more disgusting things throughout our day, unknowingly and knowingly perhaps.

There is a way you could get infected, I guess. (and I promise that this is as crude as I'm going to get). A nasty woman could come into the bathroom and rub "herself" all over the toilet seat, and then you could come in and rub "yourself" all over the toilet seat. That would be a problem, so, lets avoid that.

I'll tell you what is disgusting. Walking into a restroom and seeing your pee all over the toilet seat. Then, if I have a wipe I will go on to wiping off YOUR pee so that I can comfortably go to the bathroom. I am NOT interested at all in squatting. For three reasons.

For one, we all know that our stream can be somewhat unpredictable, and no telling what direction it will be going in! I have actually peed on my pants and/or undies thanks to you, my dear squatter.

Reason number two, I have read that if you squat you are not able to empty your bladder completely which, can cause a UTI! Please consider THAT...

And third reason, I'm just lazy. I work out and run to get in shape, squatting anywhere other than at the gym or to pick up a heavy object is just not fair. I'm sorry!

Speaking of disgusting. If you have ever swam in a pool, taken a dip into the Ocean or, eeeeww, a LAKE? then you can share a little thigh space with the rest of us.

Finally, what I think is gross: is to squat, to come into the bathroom after you have squatted and have to wipe your pee off the toilet! So here is my plea! You know, you really don't have to agree with me. That is OK, even though I think I'm right. But do me a favor: If you still insist on squatting, since you aren't enjoying the modern luxury of a toilet seat anyway, please just grab a piece of toilet paper and RAISE the toilet seat UP. That way you can pee on the rim, floor, yourself, wherever and leave the seat clean for me!

Spring break creations

2010-03-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

I began my week trying to redo this cabinet that I had painted back in August. I never did like the white, so decided to do something drastic. I asked my friend Edie to give me some advice. She said to paint it blue. Blue? Are you sure? So very reluctantly I decided to step out of my monochromatic comfort zone and go wild. When I got to Home Depot I fell in love with this color, it is called "Caribe". How can you not love a color with that name. Now I wanlk into my kitchen and smile at my CARIBE.
However, I must confess, I'm still not thrilled with it. I distressed it a little (you can't tell in the picture) but I still feel like it is missing something (that is why I bought those vinal thingis when I painted it white). Please feel free to give me some advice. And feel free to tell me that you hate my CARIBE.

OK. So here are a few other things that kept me intertained:

Much better with the button if you ask me!

This one will go on my pretty new pink spring swetter:

And this random one... who knows?

The week before Spring Break I worked on these that were from a Tutorial I found over at Crafty Sisters.

I'm working on something else real pretty, but it's not finished yet. And since it wasn't finished during Spring Break you will have to wait to see it.

Calling all Creative minds

2010-03-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you are like me, but I go through stages. I sometimes think that I am crazy, or going crazy, or just way to insecure to settle on being myself. I do remember my mom going through stages like this, so I don't feel so bad, and I will assume that all (or at least most of) you have done the same. My mom went through the crosstitching stage, and the dog breeding and training to compete stage. Those just stick out in my mind, because they were when I was a teen, I'm sure there are many more, she had friends, there HAD to be more. I wish she were alive to tell them all. I may have to go ask her friends...

We like to be on top of it all, to be "in" with whatever your "in" crowd is doing. Really it all goes back to Keeping up with the Joneses. What happens to me though, is I just want to jump in, and I do, head first! Let me tell you about some of my stages. One was bread making. I was determined to make my own bread from scratch, with freshly ground whole wheat. I bought the mill, the mixer, the whole nine yards. My bread is delicious. I came up with my own recipe and I make, apple-cinnamon, and orange cranberry at Christmas time. Yummy. Isaac who is now 11, never had white bread till he was 3 or 4. The first time he tried it, he didn't like it and said with great surprise "MOM! This bread is WHITE!"

I tried the scrapbooking, but because I am just too much of a perfectionist and "non-creative" it was just too frustrating to me! I hated it and why was I spending so much time and money on something I hated so much?

I sold bread, I sold Pampered Chef and now I sell jewelry. So add on to that the new love of trying to be creative. I have decided that I am not as creative as most bloggers, but I am resourceful. I like the JUNKIN'. My husband makes fun of me. "I can't believe you WANT to go to the Flea Market. Two years ago you would have turned your nose up at all this stuff." Now, I try to look at everything with new eyes.

Yet, I am still a newbie!

So here is what I got Saturday:

the lovely tea pot is missing it's top. So it will have to be used as a vase. All three were $3

Mike sowed me these, thought they were so cool. He says they are insulators for electrical wires. However, what the heck am I going to do with those? $1 a piece

And what do you think of this crazy thing? I can't even decide if I like it. It was $1 so I figured I had nothing to loose (other than a dollar (it was a lamp as far as I can tell)

Today I went to Central Services and got these cuties:

What oh, what to do with these?!!

I also bought several picture frames. I'm lovin' the picture frames!

Any affirmation and advice will be much appreciated. Because right now I'm feeling like I just have a bunch of junk! $21 dollars worth of junk.

I hate getting old!

2010-03-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday in my attempt to keep up with my New Years Resolutions, I have started running again and have been working on losing weight. Of course when I was young I could lose 5 pounds the first week and 2 every week there after. But now days (sigh) it takes so much more than that! I have lost 6 ponds, but oh! my word. Good thing my motto this year is "Don't ever give up." Next year I will weigh something. It can be the same as now or it can be 30 pounds less. The year will still go on. I ran 3.25 miles in like 36 minutes (that, in case you don't know is very pathetic), but I gave it my all and increased my speed throughout the interval session, and payed for it dearly. My hip was hurting so bad after that I could hardly walk! And today I gave in and took some Advil to be able to walk like a dignified 40 year old woman.

Anyway, another thing that has me worried with age is my skin. I grew up on the coast of Chile (a country that sad enough is now on the map) and living among perpetual dark people makes you take drastic measures. So, I became a sun worshipper. My mom tried to warn me, but when you are a teenager, who listens to their mom anyway? I would lay out in the sun with the rest of my friends and while they tanned I burnt to a crisp, so bad indeed that my eyes would swell and I would look like an alligator for days, waking up in the morning with my bed full of dead skin. (If I had a scanner I would share a picture of my swollen eyes, too bad I don't have one "wink"). I have been wanting to go to the dermatologist for a long time now. And yesterday morning I said to myself "That's it" as I looked in the mirror and in horror saw something I had never seen before.

Do you see that?

I told my husband today my plight. "Mike I really think it's time for me to go get this checked out. What do you think? He smiled and said. "What I think is that you burnt yourself with the curling iron!" As I gasped and laughed at the same time I remembered "Oh yea, (inset blond moment here, or better yet, senile moment) it's all coming back to me now."

Getting old stinks!

The dermatologist will have to wait because a few months ago I lost my glasses and I can't pay for new ones because I'm a shopaholic.

Getting old (and fat) stinks!

Confessions of a Shopaholic

2010-02-21T07:42:00.000-08:00

Some things are just worth it.

Although I would never pay $120 dollars for a green scarf, there are plenty of things I have payed way more money for than your common bargain shopper would be willing to pay. And as I sat and watched the movie "Confessions of a Shopaholic" last night I found myself identifying with Rebecca way more than I should, I suppose.
I love to shop, I love clothes, I love being able to speak of who I am by the way I dress and "adorn" myself. I love getting a great deal, just like the rest of you. The whole shopping experience is therapeutic, exhilarating and rewarding (if you have the money, of course, but as clearly stated in the movie, it can become more of a burden that the rush is worth). A few weeks ago I took an afternoon to hit the outlets in Pigeon Forge that I am fortunate enough to live close to (one hour away).
I went to my three favorite places. Gap, Old Navy and Eddie Bauer. I desperately needed some pants, therefore that was my mission. Pants, I love! At The Gap I found a pair on Clarence for $5.00! Yes friends As in FIVE. Payed cash (it cost me less than my lunch) and ran over to Old Navy. Old Navy makes pants for me. I would have to say that about 90% of all pairs of pants I have ever owned come from there, they just fit me better that anything. At Old Navy I found 2 pairs not on sale ($30) and a skirt that was $5.00. So I feel I can justify buying the ones not on sale when I got the others so cheep. That would be $70.00 for three pant and a skirt. Not too bad. At Eddie Bauer I found a shirt, amount will not be disclosed. I am top heavy and finding tops is very hard and stressful. When I find one I love I will pay. Yep That is worth the money.

Yesterday I was feeling T.J.Maxx withdrawals, so I decided to run over there even though I had just worked out and was sweaty and smelly, but it was my only chance before I picked the boys up from school. I found the most awesome deal. There was a banged up (pre-distressed is what I like to call it) 3x3 (FEET, that is) mirror for $11. Yes ladies! As in ELEVEN dollars!! Who can pass that up? Even if it is sitting in my garage and will have to wait to be worked on, and I have no idea where it will go. However, while I was there I also found an adorable shirt. I love butterflies and it just called my name. So the shirt was $24.99. Gulp, at T.J.Maxx? Well, lets just pretend that I got the mirror for $20 dollars, still an amazing deal, so the shirt was only $14.99. I can do that! Deal!

Even though I try to justify some of my purchaces I insist that there are some things just worth it. I tend to shop for what I like, and if I love it I will get it (within reason, at least for me).
Here are a few of my, "it's just worth the extra money" list.

1. Running shoes. I love to run and when you run 10-25 miles a week you need a GOOD pair for shoes. If not I would be paying for it in shin slints, aquiles tendonitis, knee issues and hip issues. So I go to the running store and hand out the big bucks.

2. Running pants. I won't go into the details, but for good reason I am very picky about my pants. Land End can't beat anybody as far as quality and comfort for my needs. $45 well spent, woth every penny.

3. Underware. This has been a more recent discovery. You may have you favorite, but even at $10.00 a pair Victoria's Secret can't be beat. I have tried and tried, but it has cost me more to buy and replace crappy underware than to buy my faveorite VS pair. These last me YEARS. I have just vowed to never buy panties other than the most comfortable and quality Victoria's Secret. LOVE them.

4. Dish detergent. I'm just saying, Cascade is worth the extra few pennies (or dollars).

5. GAP pants. Yes, I must confess I have bought full price pants from The Gap. They, like Old Navy pants are made to fit me. And the few that I have splurged on, I must say, again, worth every penny.

Please feel free to add to my list. It may be enlightening.
You may even dissagree with me, and that is OK. I understand that to some people other things are worth their time and money. And well, I guess that is a whole other subject I could address in the future. For now, if you are like me, you can find a friend that will help you in your justifications and would be happy to go shopping with you some day.

Her children arise and call her blessed

2010-02-10T06:12:00.000-08:00

I have a really bad long term memory. So, when this photo was sent to me a few months ago I was thrilled, thrilled to have one more reminder of what a peaceful and happy childhood I had.

1975.
My parents had been appointed missionaries in 1967ish to go serve the Lord in Chile. I was born there in Concepcion. Two years after I was born the people of Chile elected a Socialist President. The political situation was very difficult and began to get quite dangerous, therefore my parents, along with many other missionaries, left the country believing they would never return again. By the time they left I was 3 (or close to it) and spoke mostly Spanish. We moved to Memphis, TN. my mother's home town. I attended Kindergarten there and all I remember is dressing up as an Indian and my milk spilling all over the floor because my Thermos lid was not on correctly. Oh yea, and getting stung by a bee.

As the Lord would have it, things changed drastically in Chile (military Coup, bla, bla, bla) and my parents were then re-appointed to Chile, only this time we would be living in the fabulous city of Vina del Mar (Vineyard of the Sea) You can check it out HERE. It would have had to have been late 1974 or early 1975. At any rate, I was 5, and in March of 1975 I would be starting 1st Grade. Because missionaries leave the country of service every 3-4 years to come to the States on furlough for 7-12 months (we always came every 3 years for 6-7 months) they thought that somewhere along the way I may have to be held back, so they put me in 1st Grade as a 5 year old.

So here I am, a "Chilena" that doesn't remember a lick of Spanish after being in the States for a year and a half and headed to a brand new school, hasn't met a soul and doesn't know what she is getting into. This photo was taken, however, that first day of school.
Tell me, what foreign little 5 year old looks like THAT on the first day of school? The lady holding my hand is Ms. Margaret, the Headmaster of Saint Paul's School. The beautiful lady on the right of the photo is my mother. I give all the credit to her. This is a woman full of confidence, joy and reassurance that her precious daughter is in the hands of God and in the hands of these loving committed teachers. As I look onto this picture I just can't help but smile and rejoice at the wonderful life and the wonderful parents that he gave me.
If you never had a chance to, I wish you could have met my mother. Anyone who has met her can tell you that she was the most beautiful, person, inside and out. Here are a few quotes from friends and coligues:

"I'm not the only one who loved her cooking and remembered her beautiful kindness" (S.D.A)

"She was such a strong core of that loving family." (B.P.M)

"Every time I would see you mom she reminded me of Grace Kelly. She was so pretty, her voice was so soft, and she always smelt like roses." (G.B)

"I remember spending the night at your house and waking up early so she could take us somewhere special and she would turn on the bathroom heater for us so we wouldn't get cold." (K.R.T)

"It's impossible to forget her beautiful and permanent smile, her kindness, her calmness and her soft voice. (P.P)

"In her eyes all you could see was love and tenderness." (A.H)

As you can tell, not only her children, but ALL arise and call her blessed.

Pottery Barn just made my day!

2010-02-02T17:51:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite past times lately is to surf blogs to get ideas on decorating, painting and the such. As I stated in my previous blog, I am so hooked on this crazy stuff. It takes me several days of pondering and convincing to try something. Several weeks ago on a whim I purchaced this at Central Services:

A few days later I saw on a blog that someone had painted a silver tray with chalk paint (which I'm all about!)> I thought, that would be the perfect thing to do to my plate! So off I go to Lowe's to get the chalk paint (not cheep, but I WILL be using again so it is a well spent investment, trust me).
This is how it turned out, and it looks way better than the garlic swag.

Well, today I was motivated to surf and ended up at one of my favorite places. Pottery Barn. I love to see what they do to rooms and what could I do like that too. And WOW, CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!

Who knew I had it in me!

I am a convert

2010-01-18T09:18:00.000-08:00

A newbie, but a convert. As of right now this is costing me more than it is saving me money. Paint is expensive, so once I have my stash I think it will become more of a good deal. But, I must say, this is fun. But ADICTIVE! As with most things we get excited about, we must keep it in perspective because it can so easily take hold of our lives, our time and our money!

Last week I went to Doodwill and got a hidious lamp fpr $4.00. But since I'm new at this, I forgot to take a before picture :( But here is what I did with it:

Spray painted it black. (it had a golden base and the rest had been painted white. Whoever tried that did a very poor job, hince it was at Goodwill!)
I need to find a shade now. Got one today, but it was the wrong kind. Bummer! I'm sure it isn't the first mistake I make!

This weekend we went to Knoxville for my son's indoor soccer game and we stoped at the Exit 407 Flea Market and was thrilled to death! Here is what I bought:

$8 for both frames

We just got 3 chairs @ $10 a piece, the forth one was broken, so it wasn't worth getting, no biggy since I plan on having a mix match of chairs anyway.

A couple of weeks ago I was on my way from work and saw this:

on the side of the road. So I did something I've never DREAMED I would do. I took it. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but some day I will do something and I will be sure to post it.

The chairs I'm going to paint black and I have already picked some awesome material to re- cover them that will go perfect with my kitchen.
I'm so excited!!! Can't wait for the day I post all this stuff looking very diferent than what they look like today!

Singing to the enemy

2010-01-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

We tend to drift in and out of frienships. Our marriages have their ups and downs, and with the Lord we tend to do the same (drift in and out, have ups and downs). I have been on a "down", "do myself" attitude lately. But as I begin approaching the bottom of the pit, I tend to turn my eyes back on him, and realize how good I had it when I let him take care of me. So as I prayed yesterday one request I had was that he would show himself to me again somehow. He always does, and as I have mentioned before, when I ask and look for him he appears! Well, in true God faithfulness he showed up in a realy weird way again. Although not so weird to me since he has spoken to me on the radio before.

Isaac, my 11 year old teenager, and I were having our typical morning radio wars. Somethimes I'm in a very bad mood and music is the last thing I want. I must admit that I'm not very musical,I have very little music appreciation, and most of the time it is just noise to me. I love quiet. Silence is peace to me. Isaac, on the other hand, is the type that always want's and "needs" noise. He does his homework with music on, he watches TV with music on, he works on the computer with music on. AHHHH! It drives me crazy!!! But I try so hard to not be a fuddy duddy and give him some reasonable freedom. So, if there is actual singing going on (not talking to the beat of some horrible rythm) and I can take it, then I will listen and even try to enjoy. So, me in my very good mood this morning, I had had plenty of sleep, 3 cups of green tea, and ready for a normal day at work, decided that music was OK, even my least favorite radio station.

And there she was. Some unknown chick singing some song I had never heard before, but the lyrics caught my attention. God said, listen and sing!!!

(yea, soory it get's chopped off. I dont't know how to fix that. If you want to see it on youtube go HERE.

By the way, the part that says "he can't get me out of his head", I heard: "he can't get me out of his hand", so it ment more to me that way.

You, sing along with me to the ENEMY! and speak truth!

SNOW Days?

2010-01-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

We are now on day three of being out because of the snow. With just way to much time on my hands and going a little stir crazy I decided to do a little something each day, you know, productive.

Thursday we got out early, I think I slept some. Friday I made a "matress" made with towels for my dog's kennel:

Monday, made some bling, here is a small sample:

Today, I turned my kitchen door into a chalkboard! I have been wanting to do some chalkboard thing for a while, and just never knew where to do it. My walls were taken and my house is small. Then it hit me!!!
Before:

First I picked my color, took the necesary trips to Lowes, sanded the door.
Then began mixing: Paint and unsanded grout (whatever that is):

Then we all got to work:

This was the first step, and it looked like this:

But then you sand, and rub chalk all over, and then you are free to write!

The $200 breakfast

2010-01-11T06:09:00.000-08:00

Today, we have yet another snow day. No school. Doesn't seem quite right. Although we can get out fine even though our driveway looks like this:

I feel like we are being naughty or something. I an not liking it much. The only part I enjoy is sleeping in, the rest of the day always seemes to drag on and my boys get restless and bored, and fight too much.
But as I said, the whole sleeping thing is great, I love to sleep. Isaac, my 11 year old, decides to fix breakfast, which I love, but today things went a little south. I woke up hearing and smelling him cook. Fried turkey slices, scrambled eggs and their favorite, fried cheese. Basically, they just put the sliced cheese on the non-stick pan and cook it till it gets crispy, not burnt. Evedently, Isaac decided that the non-stick skillet "smelled bad" and decided to use my super special birthday gift, my All-Clad $200 skillet. Mike and I call it The Golden Pan. We are still debating if it was really worth the money, but in the meantime, it's mine, it's valuable, it works well, so I treat it nicely! Elijah comes running to my room and sais: "Will you fix me breakfast, Isaac ruined your nice pan." Well, as you can imagine, my precious sleep was over and I darted to the kitchen to find this:

OH! Lordy!

I'm really hoping that by the end of the day I will have a new post with a picture of a clean sparkling pan.
I may be cooking some tomato sauce in it. Last time I made spaghetti sauce in it, I left it sitting for a while (to lazy to clean up right away) and when I did get to cleaning it, it was cleaner than ever. It must be the acidity. Lets hope so!

THE NEW YEAR!

2010-01-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

I have been pondering about the past year and looking forward to the new. Counting my losses and delighted where I have found freedom, and like all, pondered: What can I do different in the coming year? What can I do to make a difference? What can I do to improve my life and the life of those around me?

2008, yes, I know, I'm cheating, 2008 as far as I can remember was a great year for me. I managed to loose 35 lbs. train for several races, run a 1/2 Marathon, I looked and felt better than I had in years. My husband got a new job mid year, one that we had been searching and praying for for 2-3 years (me, more like 4-6 years).
In the summer
We went on Vacation to Destin with my family. I LOVE the beach!!!

And then, we ended the year and began the new on a fabulous cruise with the entire Harms
family.

Here I am with Isaac in Cozumel.

and with my honey on the ship.

Well, as soon as 2009 hit, I was hit in the head or something. For some reason I felt like my world was falling apart. Really, nothing happened, I just went crazy, and stopped running. (That is, after my attempt to train for a second Marathon and burnt out.) Gained 30 lbs. back, and almost had a nervous breakdown by the end of the school year. I quit my job, started taking anti depressants, began counseling,sent the boys to public school and wept OUT LOUD the entire way home with this cloud of guilt hanging over me even though I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this is what I and my family needed at the time. The Lord's blessing was still upon me and I moved forward.

But here are some highlights. (note that they only begin after school was out, the previous months are a blurr)
I climed Mt. LeConte in May with my friend Keith, who wanted to check it off of her bucket list.

Went to Texas for 10 days on Vacation to be with the Harms clan.

Managed to go to a Rangers Baseball Game.

A FC Dallas Soccer game.

The stockyards.

And eat all kinds of wonderful yummies at real restaurants!

I turned 40!

I thought 40 was the new 30, but I feel like I was falling apart ever since. I have gotten sick time after time. I had not been sick in years!

Got a new puppy.

(I need to take a picture of her. She has grown so much!)

And spent the day after Christmas with my Clan. The Geigers.

Not having a job was a HUGE load off of me, a tremendous blessing and a special gift from God himself. My house was clean, counseling was going great and God was beginning to heal me. Then out of the blue, like God just decided to wave his magic wand at me and said, OK, I think you are ready. Here is the job I have for you. By the way, I had other job opportunities come, jobs that would pay well, and well enough to send my boys back to Cornerstone Academy (the school I had worked at), but the peace had not been there. He just said, wait, sit, be with me. As "fate" would have it, a position miraculously became available at the Cornerstone Academy, a part time teacher's aide position. My ears perked up so high. What? A Part time position? One where I can just show up, work, and go home, no burden, no grading, no planning, I'm done when I'm done? PICK ME, PICK ME!!! Of course they picked me, God had reserved that place for me!

First day back at Cornerstone Academy

So as I close off this seemingly bad year, I have a GREAT job that I love, my boys are back at Cornerstone, and I have been rescued from the PIT I was in. Antidepressants are almost gone and I can now look ahead and decide. THIS will be a GREAT year!

MY list, you ask? Oh yes. I'm inspired to move on and bring the world along with me to Celebrate.

1. Build an altar.
As I crossed the desert, and arrived on the other side of the Jordan, I feel this need to build a mound of stones. One that will always remind me of how sucky 2009 was and how slowly but surely in His so predictable faithfulness has helped me reach his love, his beauty, his creativity, his promises. I don't have any idea what this will look like, but it needs to happen, I need my children to see it and ask, I need to tell my story, never forget it.

2. Blog at least once a week.

3. Learn to be a better writer.

4. Continue to tap into God's creative being, and be a reflection of him.

5. Continue to tap into God's beauty and be a reflection of him.

6. Learn how to paint furniture, cabinets and the such and begin by painting the boy's furniture.

7. Loose those 30 lbs!

8. Begin to run again, and run at least one race this year.

9. Learn to minister and serve my husband better.

10. Learn to minister, serve and teach my children better. Pray for them more often.

11. I will be a more giving person.

Love The New Hair!

2009-12-22T14:04:00.000-08:00

Where in the world have I been!

2009-12-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

It was never my intention to begin a blog and then abandon it. I have been so busy like the rest of you and blogging has just not been a priority for me. I miss it.
The lord has blessed me greatly so far with lots of work and jewelry sales. These custom made stamped jewelry has been a hot item lately and I love it! I also made one small one for each of my nieces and a very cute felted wool stocking to put them in.
Although this isn't a full blown tutorial here is some of what I did.

First I went crazy buying wool sweaters at goodwill, KARM, and ebay.

Here are some of them. This is Lizzy my accomplice. She loves the wool sweaters!

Then I washed them in HOT water to shrink and felt them. Cut, sewed, glued, made flowers, and painted initials.

Voila!

Batch number one

This is the final batch. The yellow one on the far left had the holly taken out of it and replaced with the letter "A". (forgot to take a picture of ot before I sent it)

Here is a small sample of the necklaces I made for the girls in my life. (nieces)

The rest have been shipped. But you get the picture!

Later (well at the same time) I decided to make these clever cute Christmas trees that I saw on martha Stewart. They took way more time than I thought they would (mostly the prep time) so I only made these three.

ONE

TWO

THREE

ONE, TWO, and THREE

ONE and TWO!!
I love these. I saved my stuff. Maybe I will make more next year.

The real deal

2009-11-29T16:52:00.000-08:00

I am the poster child for yo yo dieting. Last year I managed to lose 35 lbs. At the age of 39 a much longer feat than it was in my 20s. Because of that I thought for sure I would keep it off this time. I had become an avid (obsessive) runner. As a matter of fact, a year ago next week I ran my first 1/2 Marathon. I wasn't a great runner, but for me it was a major accomplishment to put under my belt. To make a very long story short, I did, as usual, gain almost all my weight back.

Remember the picture I posted a few posts ago and said I would get back to it? Well, today is the day I must fess up. That picture of me in the green shirt is one of my favorite pictures of myself. I took it myself in the kitchen to use for my FB profile. Now my FB and Blog profile are the same; 30 lbs. ago after getting home from the hair dresser and getting pretty highlights.

After writing about beauty and vanity a few weeks ago, I was so convicted that I must share the real deal with you. Another self portrait, taken today, a regular day, not so good hair day, 30 lbs. later.

The real deal.

But in true tradition, as the new year approaches, I will hopefully be posting a new updated picture of myself who knows, maybe in my sweats again crossing some finish line.

Why I'm not the Stereotype

2009-11-28T10:32:00.000-08:00

Granted. Probably none of us are the stereotype. However I will share a few things about myself that may (or may not) surprise you.

1. I am NOT a Martha.

Most wonderful women of this world are so busy and so running around in circles and.... so tired. Busy everywhere they go, and probably feel very guilty if they sit down and are not "productive". This is why there are shows that are constantly rewarding these tired women with a well deserved makeover of some kind, a trip, or a maid for the day. Me, I would never make it on any of those shows. I am not a "Martha" I have always considered myself a "Mary", not because I always make the "better" choice, but because I'm lazy (when I set my mind to it). Don't get me wrong, I really don't consider myself a lazy person, I think I have a pretty good work ethic and all, I just really don't enjoy running myself ragged. I must admit, I do really feel ashamed at times for being like this, because MOST women are doing the opposite. Overachieving, making everything perfect, making themselves available where needed (or not), doing whatever it takes to be smarter, prettier, more helpful, or whatever. Me, in some areas, I just get by. In others I do work hard, and I believe that if you are going to do something, just do one thing well (more on that later). Let me give you an example. If I am a guest at your house, you will rarely, if ever find me in your kitchen helping or asking if you need any help. I am a guest, I am going to sit down, relax and let someone else do all the work. Specially if there are other women that are already helping you (which there will be). Just know dear friend, if you ever come to my home I would expect the same from you. You are MY guest. I think, I prepare, I clean up! It is my home, my kitchen, the only slaves I have are my husband and my children, YOU, my love, sit, relax and laugh!

2. I am NOT a multitasker.

I have never been good at doing two things at once. It drives me crazy!!! When I'm on the phone if my child approaches me, my head starts to spin, I put my hand up and walk away, I can't even look at them, it will break my concentration! I never have managed to hear two conversations at the same time, and when I try, I miss both of them. Like I mentioned earlier. Do one thing and do it well. I get so easily overwhelmed when too much is demanded of me. If I have something big to do one day, that is about all I can handle. if I do have lots to do it all must be written down, a master list and a logical order in which I must do it. I really try to be flexible, but I'm not good at it.

3. I am not the boo boo kisser.

My husband and I have reversed roles in this area. Don't get me wrong I AM like I hope all women are, a mama bear, but I just don't get all worked up about stuff. When my kids get hurt, I say "just spit on it, you'll be fine", or "get over it, you'll live".
When my kids get sick, Mike is the comforter. He is the one that stays up all night, checks on them, takes temps. and worries. But if there is vomit to clean up... that job is reserved for me, otherwise I would be cleaning his up as well. Any sheets to wash, me. Any clothes to treat, me. Any toilet to wipe down, me.
When my children get hurt, they go to Mike. They know they will get no sympathy from me. If there is "surgery" to be performed, Mike does it. I can't do that! he is the master splinter remover, tooth puller and boo boo cleaner.

Wow, this all makes me sound like a terrible, lazy, self centered person. I hope not. You will have to read my next post to find out how much of a stereotype I really am.

Where was I?

2009-11-22T13:55:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in my profile that I grew up in South America. In a lovely City called Vineyard of the Sea. Well, recently my sisters and brother went back to visit and took quite a few pictures. I selected a few to share with you.

This first one is the Home I grew up in 1974-1987

That is my sister Linda standing in front.

This is my dad's sketch of our home that is in the cookbook.
As you can see, that great big building next to our neighbors house wasn't there when we were there.

There are hills and hills everywhere as you will see.

This picture was taken from the school that we attended. You can see a little of it there to the bottom right. And in front is one of the many Catholic churches in the city.

This is a typical panoramic view of the city.

And another...

And when we wanted to get away, we would grab some friends, a picnic and drive to this lovely place about an hour and a half away. Zapallar.
I loved this place, it smelled so good, it had eucalyptus trees all over the place!!!

This is me (on the left) in 5th grade with my buddy Karina. We are right next to her house. Yes her house was built into the dunes. Whenever I spent the night with her I could hear the waves crashing at night and instead of enjoying them, I was always so afraid. I would imagine that I was going to be swallowed up in a tidal wave!

So, as you can see, this is where I was. Please no need to feel sorry for me living on the mission field all of my life.
I had a great life, with loving, God fearing parents. Great friends, a great school and a great semi sheltered life. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Maybe some day, if I ever get a scanner, I would be happy to share a tour down memory lane.

The Love of my Life

2009-11-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

I think Mike and I are going through some 18 year later honeymoon now. Seems like we are in the groove and outdoing each other in the love giving and serving areas. Wow wouldn’t it be nice if life were always like this!
I got to thinking sweet thoughts about him and began thinking about my childhood. Because I have always wondered: If we had met when we were kids, would we have liked each other? So today I thought, you know I think I did!
I am quite the romantic, always have been. So just sit back and indulge me.

It so happens that I went to the same school pretty much all my life, Saint Paul’s School, a private English, and Anglican run school in Vina del Mar, Chile. I started in 1st Grade and graduated with most of the same kids 12 years later in 1986. There was one boy in my class. He was a dream. I liked and loved him off and on all of my childhood. He was beautiful, funny, popular, athletic, a good friend, and… out of my league. He was my friend, yet nothing ever came of the two of us, a very hard lesson in life, but one worth going through. I always felt like there was something wrong with me, something I must change, I must not be lovable or worth loving.

At the same time, there was a part of me that had formed an image of some sort of the boy that I liked and that liked me too. He eluded me, but I would catch a glimpse of him, it would be in the face of the boy that I saw on the bus, the boy walking down the street, at the beach three towels down, or it would be one boy on the opposing boys hockey team. He was not that good looking, just a common guy, living a common life, no girls falling all over him, that had a twinkle in his eye and maybe looked my way even for just a second. This was “a boy” that I was comfortable with, a boy that liked me the way I was, and loved being with me. This boy didn’t need me to change; he didn’t want me to change. He just made me laugh and I would feel safe and well with him. He would feel safe and appreciated by me.

Boys came in and out of my life for years, loves and heartbreaks, till the day I met Mike. I think that is why I loved him so easy, so soon. Somewhere in my heart I must have been screaming “is it you? Is it really you? Have you come to know me and take me away?” I was convinced that Mike was the boy that I saw in all of those faces. It had to be him, because I never felt like I was less than I was, never felt like I had to be someone else. We were good friends for a good while. (Really, I was smitten) and it took me a year to convince him that he was in love with me. So stubborn, his baggage was heavy and he needed help letting go of it. But when it was all said and done…. A match made in heaven.

Just because we are getting along so well lately, and I am inspired and filled with love, and in the spirit of the season I just want to say how thankful I am for a dedicated mother that prayed for Mike every day of my life and for a dedicated mother-in-law that prayed for me every day of Mike’s life. Without them we would be a failure.

I used to think that this other classmate of mine was the love of my life, but it just wasn’t meant to be and that Mike had come to fill a big hole, which he was very capable of filling because until him, I really didn’t know what love was, he taught me what love was in so many ways. But I have now come to see it clearly. That little romantic girl deep in her heart had loved Mike the whole time. HE was the true love of my life and still is. When I look at pictures of him in his childhood, those years when my heart first started to seek him, I think, YES, that is who it was, that is him! The LOVE OF MY LIFE.

A family treasure

2009-11-18T12:56:00.001-08:00

I did it!!! I did it!!!

This is my original copy of the Geiger Family Cookbook!

My dad hides a bible verse in every one of his paintings.

These are the first pages with the hand written note from my mom.

OK, so this is unbelievably fun. More on this to come. MUST NOT NEGLECT FAMILY!

OK so this is my first try. Not too bad.

2009-11-18T12:36:00.001-08:00

I really wanted to post this picture with a story. Keep it in mind and check later
on what I have to say about it.

I want to be like Mark

2009-11-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

I have the most wonderful brother-in-law. His name is Mark. He has many great qualities that I greatly admire, but today I want to touch on one of them. One that inspires me to be a better, inviting person.

Don't you find yourself feeling differently in the presence of some people than you do in the presence of others? Us women are especially in tune to this, I think because we are so insecure and we tend to compare ourselves to each other and it can become a very intimidating game. So stupid, I know, but I do it all the time, so I'm going to assume that you do it too. I find however that there are some people that are more "safe" than others. When I am in the presence of some people I am automatically intimidated, I feel little, young, insecure, and inferior. I just feel like asking this person "What is wrong with me?" "why don't you like me (when they may actually like me) who knows, because they just don't seem to project it.

Now there are other people like Mark. I pick on him because one, I love him dearly, also because to me he is the epitome of what I'm talking about and what I aspire to be. When you are in the presence of a Mark you are safe. This kind of person makes you feel like you are very important to them and that everything you have to say is very important too. (for real, not salesperson kind of "I'm interested in you") When I am in the presence of this person I feel relaxed, like I can be myself, I'm beautiful, I'm worthy and mostly I'm safe. It's OK to be myself and I will be heard and understood. The great thing is, that this person makes everybody feel this way. Everybody is important, everybody has something to say, everybody is beautiful, everybody can be safe.

Don't you want to be that kind of a person? The kind that people like to be around,the kind that is pleasant, funny, and inviting. I want to put people at ease with themselves, with who they are, with who God has created them to be. I want people to be relaxed and safe around me.

In that way, I want to be like Mark.

Worship, an act of trust

2009-11-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

Take a deep breath here and stay with me.

I read a long time ago in a Beth Moore study where she likened our prayer life to marital intimacy with our husbands. Although I agree with her because there is a great bit of intimacy in prayer , I tend to agree more with John Eldredge.
In his book "The Journey of Desire" he wrote a chapter titled: "The grand affair".
Such a great book (I need to re-read it) and this chapter was so intriguing to me. I have pondered on it so much. He writes:

"For us creatures of the flesh, sexual intimacy is the closest parallel we have to real worship"

Stop here and let me say this. I hope you are married so you can better understand this. I also hope that you are as blessed as I am with a very healthy marriage. I am married to the most wonderful man on earth for me. My husband, although he is not perfect and he doesn't always "get me", he loves me very well. He is my best friend, my companion, he is good at lifting me up, taking care of me, and he is a wonderful giving lover.

Although Eldridge does a way better job at going deep into this, he really helped me understand the discipline of worship so much better, I see it now in such a new light. I got to thinking about sexual intimacy and what it requires of us. Lets face it, if you are truly going to experience great sexual intimacy with your husband there are a few things that are kind of required, or else it may not be all that healthy of a relationship.

First of all I need to feel very secure in the love and loyalty that my husband toward me. That is something that he has proven over and over in the 18 years of marriage. My husband is faithful.
Are you secure in the fact that God loves you, that he is loyal to you, he wishes no harm to you and can you see how he has shown himself faithful to you all these years?

Second, it's kinda hard to have sex with your clothes on! You have to take it off. I will pause here. So, how do you feel about that? For some crazy reason my husband thinks that I am the sexiest, most desirable person on the face of this earth. I know that, and I BELIEVE it! I know that I am not perfect, he knows that I am not perfect, yet he STILL wants me. He still treasures me, and when I understand that, then it is way easier for me to take it off and still have the light on. I have nothing to hide.
Do you think that God loves you and treasures you? Do you know that you can "take it all off" and he will still love you where you are, with the "extra pounds" the not so perfect "figure", with the "cellulite" or "varicose veins". If you don't feel like he will take you, then you will have a hard time taking it off. You will go through the motions and never know what it feels like to be "neked" in his perfect presence yet still be treasured in your imperfect being. Don't be ashamed in the presence of God, delight in him and let him delight in you!

Lastly, to have great sex you must give it your all. You could call it complete abandon.

All of this requires TRUST. I believe that that is the bottom line in this. It is why I think that worship is an act not only of adoration , but also one of trust, an expression of trust. "I not only love you and adore you Lord, you are the creator of the Universe and of me, you are powerful and mighty, but also I trust you and I GIVE myself fully and with total abandon." How can you believe, take it all off and be neked in the presence of God if you don't trust him? Don't worry about what it looks like on the outside, or what others seem to be doing, ask yourself: Do I trust you, God, with myself?

HELP

2009-11-08T16:30:00.001-08:00

I can't figure this out.
I have pictures and links to post, but can't figure out how. I need a tutor!

Anyway, go see my jewery at my ETSY shop.

www.susanellencollection.etsy.com

On the Lighter side. My Wal Mart pet peeves

2009-11-08T16:09:00.001-08:00

Just to wrap up my day I decided to take it light. Wal Mart. I spend way too much time and money in that place, I know it by heart, but it drives me crazy when they move things. For some strange reason my Wal Mart people like to mess with me and re- arrange the bread isle all the time. What is up with that? I always know where my usual stuff is, except for my bagels. I buy Thomas plain and blueberry bagels. The blueberry must go fast, so when they have them I buy two or three to freeze. They used to have them at the back of the store, then they moved them up with the bread, then they had them in both places, so I had to check both. Now they are just with the bread, but you still never know where. People quit messing with me!!!

My real pet peeves however are these. First of all, why do people walk in the middle of the car isles? Seriously, I just want to yell out my window. "You don't have a licence plate on you behind! so MOVE OVER!!!" Be nice to me and walk as close to the parked cars as possible, otherwise you are being rude.
Second, I do believe that this is an East Tennessee thing, but for crying out loud folks, take off your jammies and slippers and put on some clothes when you go shopping! I'll be the first to admit that I go to the store not having taken a shower all the time. But at least I throw on a pair of jeans (or whatever I was wearing the day before) a cap and even some jewelry and a little lipstick. I feel necked without my lipstick, so even right out of bed and with a cap on I will have my lipstick on! I will understand if you don't want to do the lipstick thing, but PLEASE take off the PJ's!! (and slippers)

On the Radio

2009-11-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

I just need to make a small clarification.
Please by no means did I mean that any time we turn on the radio we hear God's voice. I got very tickled this morning when I left to go to Wal Mart right after writing my last post.
Mike had left the radio on from yesterday and as soon as I turned it on I heard. "Bad to the bone. Bbbbb bad, bad to the bone".

Are you really looking for God?

2009-11-07T06:47:00.000-08:00

Some time ago I read in some Bible study how we tend to ask God for something and then we never look for the answer. I guess we expect it to fall in our laps and be real heavy so we can feel it. we also want it to be a certain color and shape. We would like to know what it looks like, and when we don't see that, then we think God isn't listening. So I was struck by that and challenged. When I pray, I need to actually look for the answers, look for God and actually listen to him. You just never know where you are going to find him. Elijah found him in a whisper, he came to Gideon when he was hiding in the wine press and appeared to Moses in a burning bush! Look people, look for him. I have been trying to train to do such a thing lately and when I think I may see him I sometimes don't, and then suddenly WOW! THAT was you, wasn't it Lord? I love that about him.

So this is what happen to me yesterday. It has happened to me many times lately, and I do believe that it is because I have been looking. I want to find him, I don't want him to be in my blind spot. it's like a fun game. Where could he be now, and what is he saying to me?

I rarely listen to the radio. I am not much of a multitasker, and I can't listen to two things at the same time, then it just becomes noise. My children speak to me in the car and the radio is just noise. And when they aren't talking to me I am talking to myself in my head and music is just noise. But for some strange reason I turned the radio on to the christian radio station in the morning on my way to taking the boys to school. No one was talking and I heard this:

So what are you waiting for?
What do you have to lose?
Your insecurities try to alter you

You know you're made for more
So don't be afraid to move
Your faith is all
It takes in you
You can walk on the water too

Lord is that you?
"Kids no one speak!"

Here is the entire song I heard that morning:

You look around
It's staring back at you
Another wave of doubt
Will it pull you under
You wonder

What if i'm overtaken
What if i never make it
What if no one's there?
Will you hear my prayer?

When you take that first step
Into the unknown
You know that he won't let you go

Chorus:

So what are you waiting for?
What do you have to lose?
Your insecurities try to alter you

You know you're made for more
So don't be afraid to move
Your faith is all
It takes in you
You can walk on the water too

Verse 2:
So get out
And let your fear fall to the ground
No time to waste
Don't wait
Don't you turn around and miss out
Everything you were made for
I know you're not sure
So you play it safe
Try to run away

If you take that first step
Into the unknown
He won't let you go

(chorus)

Bridge:
(step out)
Even when a storm hits
(step out)
Even when you're broken
(step out)
Even when your heart is telling you telling you to give up
(step out)
When your hope is stolen
(step out)
You can't see where you're going
You don't have to be afraid

So what are you waiting for?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdTvOGIKRuk

Never heard that song before, never heard of the singer before. When I got to work I jotted down the name of the gal and the song, because I also have a horrid memory.

On my way home from work I couldn't wait to look her up and listen and search the lyrics.
But I turned the radio on again and there was this little snippet thing where they tell you a story about someone and some lesson attached to it. I don't remember the lesson but, I do remember the story. It was about a school teacher that was frustrated with the books she was reading to her 4th graders. She then decided that she was going to write a book herself, one that suited what she thought her audience would enjoy. She had always had these characters and stories in her head but had never really thought of writing them down. Well, she did and has published a 3 book series that her audience (her 4th graders) love.

Seriously Lord?

Britt Nicole is the gal. I like her!! never heard of her. Thanks Lord for using sisters that we don't know, and friends and family to speak to us. Please use me the same way to make a difference in the life of someone!

My secret wish

2009-11-06T12:28:00.000-08:00

I'm already afraid to post this.
You are just not going to believe what happened to me today.
Well, first I must tell you then what my secret wish is. The funny thing is, I really haven't wanted this for too long, maybe 3, or even 5 years. It's not the sort of thing I dreamed of as a child, it's just been as I have gotten older and perhaps wiser (I hope). And sitting here at my computer typing and doing this has made me realize how I love it, how fulfilled I feel and time just flies! And there you have it. I want to be a writer.

Now I know, my friend Denise and Kim and Jill are probably rolling in laughter, not because they don't think I can, but because they know the truth. I am a horrid, I mean horrid speller. And my writing skills could use some work too. You probably saw on my profile that a grew up in a foreign country, so I sort of have an excuse. I have never had formal training in writing or spelling. It's a wonder I can spell at all. (what little I can spell). Thank goodness for spell check!!!!!!!!

This actually began, I don't know, 5 years ago lets say. My friend Kim actually told me one day that I should write a cookbook. I must admit I am a pretty decent cook, my mother was a great cook and I learned from her. But still I feel that it would still be like a 1st grader wanting to write like Shakespeare. I thought, even if I did write a cookbook, it would be more than just a cookbook. Let me explain.

My mom and dad actually wrote and published a cookbook and it was called "Recipes for a happy life". Originally this book was written for only the four of us kids and the 4 first grandchildren in the family. My mom typed out the entire thing, (on a typewriter). My dad is an artist and he drew a bunch of cool drawings including a drawing of each home that we had lived in at the beginning of each chapter. The forward was handwritten by my mom (she passed away in 2000, you will hear about her someday). Also for each recipe there is a verse and in some have a personal note about where it came from, or, who liked that dish the most, etc. All in all a true treasure. My dad took it to the local copy place and we assembled it on our kitchen table. At the time I was the last child at home, and was able to help out. I was so honored, because it was a top secret effort that was to be a great surprise for my siblings. The front cover had a painting that my dad painted that was the pattern from the dishes that we had used to eat out of when growing up. The book's original title was "Memories are made of This". And they sure were. Because we actually sat down as a family pretty much every day to eat our from scratch, fresh, home made meals. LOTS of memories there!

Anyway, I thought then that my recipe book would be more than just recipes, it would include stories and thoughts, because contrary to my parents other cookbook title the recipe for a happy life is not on a plate in front of you. I think indeed that there is no "recipe" for a happy life. And there my mind began to form this book. One that I have not taken a single note on since I never thought that anything like that could be done by me, for the reasons mentioned. By the way, so many people loved my parents cookbook, and they were so disappointed that the book had just been reserved for our family, and they all wanted my mom's recipes that my parents got talked into publishing it. At this point the publisher, or editor, or somebody decided to change the title. My original cookbook (the one that we assembled on our table) is falling apart, so I use the new published copy instead.

Now I'm thinking just forget the recipes and put down the other stuff.

This is so great, I can't believe I have just discovered this blogging thing. When I walk away from here every day I think "there, I said it" and on comes the next thought to blog and the next and the next.....
I hate writing long blogs. I want you to stay with me. So I will have to tell you what happened to me today, tomorrow.

What is your secret wish?

2009-11-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

Really, it's not so secret. But, isn't there something, that if you had it your way and all of your insecurities and inhibitions were taken away, you would want to do with your life? Something that seems so out there, so hard and challenging that you just think to yourself "that could never happen". We are such insecure people and we give ourselves so little credit. But don't you sometimes think. Hmmm, maybe I COULD do that. Now please, I'm not talking about going on a Mediterranean Cruise. Oh I want one of those so bad, and IT could never happen, unless... my "secret" wish comes true, then I would be able to afford it. I'm talking about for example, my friend R, she is a great singer, but she really wishes that she would be a GREAT and famous performer, a famous world traveling, sold out concerts kind of performer. My husband I think has two. Probably like many other men, he wishes he could be a guitar player in a Rock band (he's good, he probably could have gotten to that point where he could have). He also would have liked being a secret agent for the CIA.
What is it that suppresses us in life? I don't know, I'm just doing what I do when I blog, think "out loud".
So think about it, if you had all of your insecurities and inhibitions taken away. What would you do? Stay tuned and I'll let you know what mine is tomorrow.

Crazy

2009-11-05T03:38:00.000-08:00

Oh my word! Since I started blogging I have been having this ongoing dialog in my mind about all the wonderful things I'm going to write about. Can't wait to have time. I start my new part time job today, but I will make it a point to chat some this evening.
I am going kinda crazy... with excitement.
I MAY actually have some pretty pictures to share some day.

Just an extra thought

2009-11-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder,
but in the hand of the creator.

Create in Me

2009-11-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

As I briefly mentioned earlier, one of my "deals" now is this deep desire to become a better creative person. I have known people that really wish they could sing better, but just can't. And others that want to be gifted at playing an instrument, but can't. I am bilingual, and I have taught Spanish and Latin, and I have observed that some people have the gift of languages (perhaps the modern day gift of tongues) and others just don't. The former never really had to study and just "got it", it all makes perfect sense to them. The later, bless their hearts, I really felt for them and tried so hard to meet them where they were, those just DON'T "get it" and they studied and studied and still if they were having a good day and crossed their fingers would manage to make a high B. And then there are those who don't get it and don't care, period.
When it comes to creativity, I am one of those that THINKS I just don't have that gift. However...
Again, we are created in the image of God, and you would have to be crazy to not see that he is unbelievably creative, imaginative and perfect (I can't wait to get to heaven, our HOME will always be clean!!!). So in each of us there has to be some great creativity that God has naturally imprinted in us, just by the simple fact that we were created in his image. Just like beauty as I wrote in a former post. We are all beautiful (in his image), we are all creative (in his image).
So we all get perhaps a pimple every once in a moon, a gray hair or two, or million, muffin tops at our pants waist line, and those adorable dimples on our BUTT! But we are still beautiful! We just fix that when put on our makeup, dye our hair, eat right and exersise, and....
wear pants.
But when it comes to creativity, I most of the time live in great frustration. "Lord, why didn't you make me creative, like so and so?" But enough of that Susan. You are creative. There is nothing new under the sun. What I do is maybe not being creative but resourceful. I look, research, and yes, copy. Come on, don't we all? Even our personalities, partly are formed by the influence of those around us to some extent, we take what we like and "tweak" it to be us. So, that is what I do, look research, study and learn. Then I tweak and voila! There is my creativity!
But again ultimately God is the ultimate creator, not just of the entire world but of ME. I so love that and my deepest desire is not to be creative but to be created, every day. This is why I chose the title of my blog to be "CREATE IN ME". That is what I want, a pure heart, one focused on him in reflecting his beauty and his creativity. that my beauty and my creativity would be an instrument to project to the world a beautiful and creative God.

Till next time.

Beauty

2009-11-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

I guess that this is the real question I keep searching. Where does beauty end and vanity begin? One of my quests is to always be confident that I am beautiful because God made me that way, because I was created in his image. I wish to stop receiving my beauty from others affirmation, get it from my creator and then take it and offer it to the world (mostly my husband).
So, lets share God's beauty with each other! Let's celebrate his creation . Let's give instead of being disappointed when we don't receive. We HAVE already received!
I don't know if my initial question has anything to do with what I just said. I just chase rabbits. Hopefully blogging will help me to become a better writer as well.

Keeping up with the Joneses

2009-11-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

Seriously?
I'm trying to be creative here, not perfect. I have been looking at all of these blogs and I am amazed! Do people's houses really look like that? Mine doesn't!
So, I have decided that keeping up with the Joneses will be impossible. They are too perfect and crafty and their children are too beautiful. Their cameras are too good and expensive and make everything probably look better that they really are. No way, I just can't do it!! WOW ! That was so liberating!
Well, I'll just be myself, take it or leave it.
You know? We do like to show off the better part of ourselves to the world, don't we? It somehow makes us feel better about ourselves. I'm not really implying that it is a bad thing. I just find it very interesting, and nothing to be ashamed of. After all, we are created in God's image and he is beautiful, We as women carry with us that part of the image of God and we do our best to do it well. That is why I think there is nothing to be ashamed of. Don't we want to make him look good? Don't we want to represent him well? But is that our motivation? Shouldn't it be?
On the one hand there is a natural God given inclination in women to look beautiful, to strive for beauty and make everything around us as beautiful as we canmake it (including ourselves). But on the flip side, just like with all wonderful gifts of God we just seem to have a hard time carrying it to an extreme. Beauty and appearances become our God and all praise it sought for our own glory instead of being a pure reflection of the gift he has given and we need to be thankful for.
I am not saying that I think that of any of these women and their blogs, on the contrary, I don't know their hearts, but I do know that it makes me thankful that God created us beautiful and it isn't up to the men to do all this work! Well, if it was to my husband... no comment...
So I guess I want to thank all of you women that want this world to be a better looking place and all of you creative women that reflect the great creativity of our maker. Let me join you and I can only hope that everything that I do would be a reflection of what good God has created in me.

In the begening.

2009-10-31T19:50:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce myself. My name is Susan and I am 40 years old, yes I'm feeling old. I really didn't think I would, but here I am fatter, less active and sicker that I have been for the past 4 years. Hmmm, I do think there is more to that than just turning 40, but maybe that will come up later.

I never saw myself as a blogger, but come on, I have to keep up with the Joneses don't I? I was feeling left behind. I think it is such a curious phenomenon that we are so interested in others getting to know us. I'm not a shy person, but I am an introvert and not very outgoing. So here I am, like so many others bearing my life to the public hoping like so many that others would find me entertaining, interesting and that I really do have something worth saying every once in a while. I like to write, although I'm not that good at it, I do love it.

I also am not that great at being creative, but I love to try. I have friends that can be given a bunch of "stuff" and come up with the most wonderful creative thing you have ever seen. me, I have to see it, research it, copy it and try to do it better. I think that creativity like so many other things in life just take practice, and it is a learning process. So, that is one of the many journeys I'm on right now. This blogging business should keep me accountable and inspired to take more pictures.

For example, my passion now is creating jewelry. I had not done much of it in the past two years for several reasons, but one of them is having the space to do it. You know, not having to clear the table every time it was time to eat. So one of my recent projects was to create a workspace in my tiny house. I'm so excited and I will be sharing pictures but, I didn't take any before pictures. Grrr.

More later.