Almost 2010...........

I can't believe it is almost New Years Eve, and then we will be in 2010! It seems like just yesterday we were all freaking out about Y2K and thinking the whole world would crash at midnight. This year my DH is working, so it will just be my daughter and me to celebrate. We are planning a real high class affair....some pigs  in the blanket and a bottle of sparkling grape juice while we watch the ball drop at midnight on TV. On New Years Day, DH will be home so we are planning a small get together with some friends.

For the past 39 years I have had black eyed peas, ham, rice and collard greens on New Years Day. (Typical Southern tradition supposed to bring good luck, money and fertility) This year I want to do something different! To celebrate 2010, we are having chili and cornbread. A little unusual and I am sure rather strange in my Mother's eyes, but it will be fun.

So what about you? What are your plans for this New Year's Eve? What are your traditions? Are you doing anything different this year?

artwork courtesy of hubimages.com

A Yummy Breakfast Treat

A few months ago my bloggy friend Kate over at Cooking During Stolen Moments posted a recipe for yeast pull apart rolls. I have a family who LOVES bread in all shapes, sizes and forms, so I thought this recipe was perfect for us since it makes several batches of rolls at one time. I printed out the instructions and tried the recipe right away, with delicious results. The instructions state that this recipe makes 3 batches, but I usually get 4. I also looked at Kate's variations on the rolls and made a batch of the garlic rolls to go with spaghetti one night.

For Christmas Eve dinner, I made a batch of the rolls and made one big pan for dinner, one small pan for the freezer, and tried her variation of cinnamon breakfast bread. The bread was delicious, as expected, and we munched a slice for breakfast but it was quickly overshadowed by all of the other desserts that I made for dinner. (Red velvet cake, lemon cheese cake, pound cake, chocolate cake, ambrosia, and 2 kinds of cookies)

I found the bread two mornings later, in it's Ziploc bag, shoved behind the recipe box on my kitchen shelf. Being rather unorganized and scatter-brained (hey, it's a gift......) I was out of milk, eggs, bread, and poptarts. The aforementioned shortage made for one very UNHAPPY 12 year old girl. Luckily hubby is at work for the week on the river so he knew nothing of the food shortage. I rummaged around and decided I would try to do something with the leftover bread to tide us over until I dragged myself out of my pajamas and schleped to the store.

I came up with the following results, which I have to say were melt in your mouth GOOD!  With Kate's permission, I am sharing her recipe with my take on the leftovers. (View the original recipe here)

I mixed together 4 egg whites (left over from the lemon cheese cake which calles for only yolks)
                        3/4 cup evaporated milk (pantry item that I bought for pumpkin pie)
                        1 teaspoon vanilla
                        1 teaspoon cinnamon

I whipped these ingredients together, then dipped  the slices of the by-then rather stale breakfast bread in the mixture and fried them in butter spread substitute until golden. I served them with maple syrup and they were DEEEEELICIOUS! My daughter said she was glad we were out of everything and that I got creative!  Of course, on a good day I would have used 2 whole eggs and regular2% milk, but being a slacker this worked out pretty well anyway.

Try it and see what you think! I am sure this recipe will be a keeper for me!

Christmas Eve Communion

Since our church had Communion last Sunday instead of Christmas Eve, we had our family communion last evening. Jamie researched and found a great communion meditation on Christmas-past, present and future and how Christ is involved in all of those, from the stable to the table. He did such a great job! He is really a MIGHTY MAN OF GOD and I am so proud to have him as my husband.

We had my Mom and PaPa, Jamie's Dad and Kathy, Joe and Brenda and me, Marissa and Jamie present at our Communion Table. It was a very meaningful time. I hope that you and your family can and will take the time to do your own communion at home if your church does not host one during this time. It is a wonderful time to sit back and pause and reflect on what the season is really about.

For more of my thoughts on communion at Christmas, please read my guest blog post on Wanting What You Have.

Merry Christmas! I am so grateful to be able to celebrate Christ's birth and praise Him for what He has done, from the Stable to the Table.

What An Honor!

I have followed the blog Wanting What You Have for quite some time. Over the passage of time I have grown to love the author (Heather) and her family and feel as though I know them personally! Heather is in the last few weeks of her pregnancy with miracle child number 3, conceived through IVF, and is needing some time off from blogging so she can rest.  Imagine my delight when she asked me to guest blog for her today! I was so thrilled, and nervous too! I wondered how I could possibly live up to her standards, since she is one of the best bloggers I follow. I wondered what her readers would think. I prayed over it, and the Lord gave me specific direction for the post. Heather emailed to say she really liked it, and I hope you will too. Please leave your comments here and also on her blog here.

Friends?

HP was not my friend last night. Nor is HP my friend today. I am trying to simply print some pictures on my HP Photosmart 8150 printer to put in my Christmas cards. Easy, right?

Nope.

Pages print at a elderly disabled snail's pace.....and then only print halfway before jutting out of the printer as if they are done.

I have done all of the suggestion on the HP page, and finally broke down and called Tech Support. The kind gentleman who answered politely informed me that my warranty expired 1,437 days ago and the only way he could help me is if I pay $64.99 for  a year's worth of technical support. HUH?????

So I decide to see if my HP ink carts will fit in my daughters HP printer, and voila, they do.  But guess what? I get an error message that something is wrong with the black cart no matter what I do. It pops up an online message suggesting I call Tech Support.

I want to boot both printers out into the street and mow over them repeatedly in my car.

Wow how time flies. It seems only yesterday I had a newborn baby girl, all wrapped up in a white receiving blanket with blue and pink stripes stamped with "Balboa Naval Medical Center". It hardly seems like nearly 13 years have passed in the blink of an eye. My newborn baby girl has grown into a young lady, excited about the things life has in store while dealing with preteen drama and the heartache that friendships can cause. Just this past weekend we had an issue with a girl who called herself my daughter's friend.....and then coldly told her they were no longer friends because my daughter isn't "cool enough" to hang out with the "pops". (Lest this girl forget that just last week she was deemed "uncool" by the "pops")

I lie awake at night wondering what the future holds. Many of my readers do not know my daughter personally, so you have no idea of her accomplishments, dreams, goals, gifting and abilities. Let me say that my daughter is the greatest gift I ever received from God, a true delight, special in so many ways. A good friend once described her as a beautiful butterfly with large wings, that never quite fit in 100% with any group on this earth because of her special gifts and talents. We have to remember that Christ was never accepted, even by his own people, and that we are  set apart and destined for greatness by Him. We are warned not to be conformed to this world (and trust me, 7th grade "pops" girls are truly WORLDLY) so this should come as no surprise. But when you are 12, it hurts deeply.

All I can say is that those we reject my daughter and abuse her trust and friendship will be sorry one day. She is destined for greatness. Her day to shine is coming......

ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

While we were in Gulf Shores, my sister and I had the unusual opportunity to act like nuts  fools  idiots kids! Since we live 12 hours apart, it is unusual that we have much time together at all, especially time to goof off and act like complete crazy women! But something strange happens when two sisters meet up in Gulf Shores Alabama for a family vacation!

You won't believe what we did......

Yup. You got it. Not only did we ride this crazy wooden go cart track named Woody, but we rode it TWICE! The first time we rode was on Wednesday, and then we rode again when my brother in law got there on Saturday because it was so much fun.

Now please note that I am in the lead. I would like to say that I stayed in the lead, but actually, my sister's cart was faster than mine and she is probably about to pass me, about a lap ahead. She kept whizing by me at the speed of light it seemed.  (Yeah, that's it...her cart was faster. It has nothing to do with the fact that I am a big CHICKEN and kept slowing down before we came down the big spiral hill. Her cart was faster...that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!)

Band Christmas Concert

Tonight was Marissa's band concert. She plays clarinet. They played a song called "Twenty Carols in Two Minutes and her band leader (a real character!!!!) made the comment that anyone in the audience who could name all 20 carols after the song was played would win a prize. He went on to say that they had no prize planned, so the winner would get......um....the flute section! Yeah that's it!

Well, they did a great job, and after the concert I told Marissa that we were hoping to name all 20 because then we would get to bring home one of her best pals ( who plays the flute). I told her that seriously, they did a great job and I was very proud of her.

So without skipping a beat, Baby Girl says......

"Yeah, we should rent ourselves out for Bar Mitzvahs and stuff."

You gotta love it!

The Cost of Christmas????

The Savannah Morning News had an interesting article in the Exchange section today. It seems that someone with more time than the average person calculates the cost of buying the items named off in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" every year. The cost for this year is up less than one percent from last year, once you balance in the rapid rise of the cost of 5 gold rings and the falling prices of partridges, pear trees, geese-a-laying and swans-a -swimming. The costs are, as follows for 2009:

• one partridge $10.00
• one pear tree $149.00 (don't these people know you can get them for about $20 at WalMart or Home Depot???)
  
• Two turtle doves $55.98
• Three French Hens $45.00
• Four Calling Birds $599.96 (must be loud!)
• Five Gold Rings $499.95
• Six Geese-a-laying $150.00 (that is $25 each, cheaper than turkey this time of year. Christmas goose anyone?)
• Seven swans-a-swimming  $5, 250.00 (I SHOULDA JACKED SOME FROM THAT PARK IN SOUTH CAROLINA ON MEMORIAL DAY! I COULDA BEEN RICH!!!!!!!!!! WHO KNEW??????????)
• Eight maids-a-milking $58.00 (hmmmm.....cheap labor.....)
• Nine ladies dancing $5,473.07 ( WOW the milk maids should take dance lessons for more career opportunities!) *this price rose 15% from last year
  
• Ten lords-a-leaping $4,413.61 ( ok, so you get an extra guy jumping around for over a thousand bucks less than the girls dancing, and this price did not increase or fall from last year. Must not be much use for dudes leaping)
• Eleven pipers piping $2,284.80  *see below
  
• Twelve drummers drumming $2,475.20  (the cost per piper/drummer is just over $200 each, a value that may have many parents rethinking band instrument lessons next year)

The total cost of these items is $87,403.00
Seems a lot for some birds and people jumping around singing and dancing to me.

So what is the real cost of Christmas?
Is there a way to put a value on the real Christmas?
How much would it cost for a baby to be born that would one day save the entire world from it's sin and shame?
According to www.costhelper.com, in 2009 the birth of a child costs anywhere from $9,000-$25,000. This figure would vary depending on insurance,  whether it is a vaginal or cesarean birth, complications, and geographic location.

Over 2,000 years ago God paid for Christmas with the birth of His only Son Jesus, knowing full well that His Son would die for us on the cross at Calvary.

That is the ultimate cost of Christmas.
How will you thank Him this year?
Kind of makes 5 gold rings, Wii systems , and Plasma TVs look kinda silly huh?

The Future of This Blog

After much soul searching I have decided to sort of re-invent my blog. It began as a blog solely about scrapbooking, but evolved over time into much more. I thought about just deleting this blog and starting a new one, but decided I like some of my older posts too much to do that. I thought of keeping it private, but almost no one reads my blog now so that seems pointless. I have decided to do the following:

• I will keep this existing blog
• I will make it public once again
• I will enable comment moderation
• I will not allow anonymous comments
• I will make an earnest effort to regain blog interest from my readers
• I will make every effort to post more often, and to make the posts interesting and relevant to what is happening in my life

I hope that I will gain readers and that blogging will be fun again. I have missed it, and I am angry that I let one bad apple almost spoil the whole bunch with blogging. Funny how taking the high road isn't always much fun. However, my decision is that if I allow the person who hurt me by slandering me and making false and hurtful accusations to continue to have influence over the choices I make, then she has power over my life and I will not allow that.

I am making an earnest effort to allow only people who have positive influence over my life to speak into my life and not allow any negativity. It's time to wake up people, and realize that when God's Word in Proverbs 18:21 tells us that "life and death is in the power of our tongue" He ain't just whistling dixie. The tongue is a very powerful thing, and Paul tells us in James that is the one thing that cannot be tamed.

I may not be able to tame my tongue, as I am human, but I try to speak life over everyone I know and not speak harmful or hurtful things. If I have ever done so to any of you I sincerely apologize for that. I am human...I make mistakes, but I am trying to live a life pleasing to God and in doing so I must surround myself with positive people who speak life over me and I will make every effort to do the same for them, thereby avoiding drama and chaos and negativity in general. This applies to my life in all areas...both physically and in cyberspace.

Thanks to those of you who have continued to read, even through my dry spell, and I promise you I will do better. I am learning.....seeking....and trying.....

Blogging

SO.....I heard from a friend today that she totally hates having to sign into my blog now. I had to make my blog private because someone with no life, morals or home training decided to attack me on my blog and say some pretty nasty and untrue things about me and my family. When I made my blog private, I did it solely to prevent this person from spying into my life and taking pot shots at me and my family out of her selfish need for fulfillment.

Now though, hardly anyone comments on my blog and readers have dropped off so I am in a quandary...should I stop blogging all together? Start a brand new blog? Make my blog public again and hope for the best?

What is your opinion on this, and has this ever happened to you in the past? How did you handle it?

Happy Veteran's Day!

So what is Veterans Day exactly? A day for sales at the mall? A day for government offices to close so the people who work there get a holiday? A day for military people to get free meals at area restaurants?

No, it is much deeper than that....and I decided to do a little research. As the wife of a veteran, I feel strongly that our military men and women do not get the respect or honor they deserve. These brave men and women put their lives on the line every day, whether at home or abroad. With the recent attack at Fort Hood, we see that these soldiers, airmen and seamen are not safe here at home than they are in the great sandbox in the Middle East. They are targeted for their devotion and service to their country.

I found a website that explains the history and significance of Veteran's Day. You can click here to view it. The page sums most everything up in a few paragraphs, one of which I have copied and pasted here.

An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

I would like to thank all of the brave men and women who serve in our military and those who have served in the past! We owe every right and freedom we have to you and we cannot thank you enough!

HONOR ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marissa got her first report card for 7th grade, and I am very happy to report that she made honor roll with a 93 average! We are very happy with that, especially given the degree of difficulty and challenging assignments that this type of school poses. She is doing so well, and we are very proud of her!

Halloween

This year instead of parading the streets in the neighborhood we went to our church's Trunk or Treat. This is the first year we have participated in something like this and it was a lot of fun!
Here are some pictures from the evening...please observe that while I was a black kitty cat Marissa was a scary TIGER...NOT a cat!

It has been such a busy time!

Oh my goodness, what is it about fall that makes us so busy? I think living in the deep south it is mainly because this is the time of year that it is finally cool enough to do something--anything--without sweating your pants off! With summertime temps over 100 degrees, and a heat index that often nears 120 degrees, it can be quite miserable! You get up, and thanks to the wonderful AC your home is cool, or at least trying to be cool, the AC is running anyway. You shower, dress, have breakfast, and head outside to start your day. You open your front door and WHAM! The hot, sticky humid air hits you like a big rig trucking down I-95. Your hair falls flat, your makeup runs off, you sweat like a man and you race for your car. You yank open the door after burning your fingers on the hot car body and and slide inside the virtual oven, all the while trying to breathe and jab your keys into the ignition to start the engine and get the blessed AC started. About the time you reach your destination, the car has reached a tolerable temperature. You pull into a parking space, climb out of the car, and the cycle begins again.

But oh, fall......

The air cools down.
The humidity leaves.
The plants look fresh and green again.
You can breathe.....

Slowly you begin to see your neighbors venturing outside. Everyone creeps out cautiously almost, as if to test the air and see if the weather channel really had it right. Ah yes...there is a crispness in the air. It is tolerable. Suddenly a bevy of excitement stirs as the rest of the community discovers this as well, as it is festival time, fair time, parties and hayrides and outdoor events. The Children's Book Fair, Halloween and the many activities it brings, Oktoberfest on the River, Jewish Food Festival, Picnic in The Park downtown, Cane Grinding and Sheep to Shawl at Oatland Island, many walks and marathons for charities, church festivals, yard sales, football practice, football games, cheerleading competitions, homecoming, and so much more make our schedule full of exciting dates scribbled on the calendar. (Let's not forget, after all, this is South Georgia, where football is more than a game, it is a religion)

So now, we have purchased our pumpkins and are planning for Trunk or Treat at church. The house is smelling like coffee and baked goodies and candles burning....and outside you can smell leaves burning and the occasional fireplace smoking at night.

I love fall, it is truly my favorite time of year.....

13 and counting

It's our anniversary!!!! I have been blessed to marry my best friend. Although the road has not always been easy, it is getting better and better every day. I praise God for healing our marriage from the troubles we were having 4 years ago. I am so thankful for the life we lead now and I look forward to many more years to come!
In honor of this special day, I thought maybe we could take a look back at the way we were.....this day.....1996.

Christians and Halloween

I have always been kind of up in the air about the whole Halloween thing, and apparently I am not alone. While I don't think a cute costume and some candy are in anyway contradictory to the Christian life, I have always wondered (read: worried) about the association with witches, goblins, zombies etc. I know that The Word tells us specifically to avoid witchcraft, sorcery, fortune telling and the like, so how does it all fit together?

I was really glad when bloggy buddy Heather over at Wanting What You Have did a ton of research and cleared it all up for me. PLEASE READ this blog post as well as the referenced article and decide for yourself. Read Heather's blog post here

(clipart courtesy of Christart.com)

Where have I been?

Well basically, I have been here. Just not up to much blogging lately, as we have been very busy doing tons of other things! We have painted the kitchen and put up a backsplash, done some work for my sister on her rental property, and tried to get into the new routine of after school activities which go something like this:

Monday: school, then interpretive dance practice for Riss
Tuesday: Bible study for me, school for Riss
Wednesday: school for Riss, church for us both at night
Thursday: school for Riss
Friday: school for Riss, then clarinet practice
Saturday: general laziness
Sunday church!

In between I have to squeeze in my mental health breakfasts with BFF Brenda and get the shopping and house cleaning and laundry done. This week I am packing to go to Jamie's aunt's house for the weekend to celebrate his grandma's 85th birthday. It will be a nice trip!

In between all of this, I have managed to get a few layouts done.....





I am still trying to figure out this scan and stitch thing in photoshop, and it is not working well for me at all. For now I am still taking photos of my layouts and posting them here. Sorry that the colors are not correct, they look dingy on here but look much better in person I promise! LOL! The "stumpjumper" one has a big blank space for Jamie to do the journaling, because this is his favorite truck and it has been retired, so I want him to record memories of going on fire calls in that truck, especially since he was one of the few that knew how to drive that particular model!

Need help!

Ok, this is my first attempt at scanning and stitching. I used Adobe Photoshop 7. How do I get rid of the gray line where the photos merged???? Any and all advice will be appreciated!

I am so proud of my baby girl for facilitating See You At The Pole this year! It had not been done in her middle school in recent years and she happily volunteered to lead the prayer.

Her friends Matthew and Dasnee helped out and we carpooled together this morning.

Even Gram and PaPa got up at the crack of dawn to be there for her.


I don't know who these girls were but they really touched my heart.

Marissa began by prying for our President and Vice President, and then moved on to the school board and teachers and staff, then closed by praying for her friends and all the students at her school. She had a strong unwavering voice and did a great job! We are so proud of her!
If you are not familiar with See You At The Pole, you can read more about it here!

New Hairdo!

Whatcha think?

New Layouts

This first layout is not all that spectacular but I had such a great time that night and I loved the family pictures so I just had to do it!

In all fairness this next layout is almost an exact copy of the one on the front cover of September 23009 Creating Keepsakes magazine. I even copied her idea to make it a pocket page! I think this idea will be used again and again.

This one I like...it is my first successful use of the Heidi Swapp ghost letters. I like how it emphasizes the feeling of glass on this layout.

These next 2 pics are documenting the change in Marissa's playroom...from little girl to preteen. I did a close up on the journaling.


This last layout is of Jamie and the swords PaPa got him. IT was a very special gift for him and PaPa pulled many strings to get the swords!

Hopefully I can get scrapping done this weekend. I have some great pics that I got printed at Snapfish that I want to use plus some I printed at home, thanks to my good buddy bringing me a whole box of ink carts!!!!! YAAAAY! I love me some free stuff......

OUCH!

This morning my husband woke me up at 4:30 in horrible pain. He was trying to stand up to get up and go potty, but his foot was hurting. When he put his foot on the floor and tried to stand, he nearly collapsed on the floor as severe pain shot up through his ankle and into his leg. After Marissa got onto the bus, I took him to our doctor. The doctor poked, prodded, drew blood, asked questions,and promptly diagnosed him with GOUT! I was shocked. I thought that was something only elderly people got!

Treatment is pretty vague at this point. It is wrapped in an ace bandage, and he is supposed to be drinking tons of water to flush the uric acid from his body. He has to keep it elevated, and take a non-steroid anti-inflammatory every few hours.

POOR GUY! He is in a lot of pain! I feel so bad...there really isn't anything I can do!
(You know how that is, the mama in you really wants to fix it whenever someone is sick!)

Anyway....blood results should be in tomorrow to show the exact level of the uric acid in his body and the doctor will determine then if additional medication is necessary. Until then, it is pretty much grin and bear it.

So please say a prayer for Jamie, for speedy healing and that he can return to work on Saturday as anticipated.

9-11

I cannot believe it has been 8 years. This year 9-11 is on a Friday again, just like the actual day of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

I saw the headlines today announcing that various sports teams and civil organizations and other groups will be doing things to commemorate the anniversary and it brought back memories of that day. I remember how scared I was after the attacks, and how I wondered if our world would ever feel safe again. I thought of the pride I felt in our firefighters and police as they worked so hard to save people trapped in the building, and how we all rejoiced as many walked out alive. I recalled the sadness at how many lost their lives, and the stories of their loved ones left behind. We all sat glued to our TV in those days after the attacks, searching for answers or maybe just "rubbernecking" at the devastation because we were so numb. And I remember sitting on the couch with tears streaming down my face as we saw footage of the "Shock and Awe" campaign. (Not that I do not or did not support our country and military in it's endeavors, I was just so sad that it had come to this) I really can't put a name on the emotions I felt that night, it was a combination of sadness for our world and fear for our children and pride in our country and many other emotions all rolled into one.

I have heard many relate that day as a day they will never forget, and I think it is a day that will be like the day that President Kennedy was shot for my generation. Everyone remembers where they were when they heard that the towers had been hit and were falling. I had dropped Marissa off at preschool and I was taking my grandmother to look for new eyeglasses. Our first stop was the WalMart vision center to see what they had. For whatever reason they had a big screen TV int eh front of the store that day, and I saw the news broadcast that the first tower had been hit. AT that time we all thought it was a tragic accident. We left Walmart and headed into Savannah to America's Best Eyeglasses to see what they had and heard on the radio in the car that the second tower had been hit and that it was believed to be a terrorist attack on our country. I didn't know what to think. We left the eyeglass shop and headed home and as I drove down Abercorn Street I saw the police and SWAT team in their black protective gear surrounding the FBI building and it wasn't until then that I realized that life would never be the same.

Part of me wanted to go get Marissa out of preschool early and take her home, but I wondered if she was safer there or with me or if she would ever be safe again. I decided to pick her up at regular time, and when I did, I noticed that although the kids did not know anything there was a definite somber mood in the air and sober expressions on the teachers and staffs face.

That night as I lay in bed, I wondered what would happen. Would we recover from this and go on as before, or would there be more attacks? What was was coming next??? For the first time in my life I have to say I briefly considered moving to Canada. I am ashamed to say that because I love my country and don't think I could ever leave but that is just how afraid and confused I was.

So what about you? Where were you when the towers fell? Leave a comment please and share your story. And tomorrow, say a prayer for our country, it's leaders, our military and every American everywhere.

Middle School

Wow....baby girl had a hard day today. She got off the bus and burst into tears as soon as she walked in the door. Being in a homeroom class without any of her old friends is hard. She has not made any new friends yet. She feels left out. I feel so badly for her, and part of me wants to storm the school and beg them to move her to another homeroom, but I just don't know if this is right. She was very upset, and cried for quite a while. She is sad that her old friends on the bus are talking all about their new friends. She feels left out. It was a bad day in 7th grade......

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Swine Flu Paranoia is Getting Out of Hand

My friend Debbie sent this to me and I had to share it! This is too funny!Poor Piglet!!!!

Welcome to 7th grade!

Marissa is officially a 7th grader! We had a good morning. She got up and got moving without much complaining, and we were at the bus stop at 5:50. She hopped on the bus and began chatting with her pals. Jamie and I rode down to the school to walk in with her and give Jamie a chance to meet her teachers since he was working at Open House. We were both amazed at how orderly the students were and how well organized EVERYONE was. WE LOVE COASTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marissa was fine riding the bus because she knew her bus driver from last year. We are so blessed to have Mr. Knight as her driver. He loves these kids like they are his own! Because Marissa sits right behind him, he says he is "drivin' Miss Daisy". She loves her bus! She did want us to meet her at the school however to walk in with her. We went in for breakfast with her and after she ate (cheese toast, cereal, mixed fruit and milk), walked her to class. She trotted right on into her homeroom....no tears, no anxiety, PRAISE GOD!!!!!

Church this morning

OH MY GOODNESS! Worship this morning was unbelievable! From the moment we went in, I knew big things would happen The enemy tried to stir up trouble in our family several times with frequent bathroom interruptions, a dad/daughter misunderstanding, and excessive heat in the room making Riss nearly gave a panic attack because she felt overwhelmed and like she was suffocating. However, he did not prevail!

The music was OFF THE CHAIN this morning, with real, honest and raw emotion coming through. The selected songs were perfect to precede Pastor's message. When he began to preach, it was like it was just for our family, specifically for our daughter and her anxiety about middle school. My favorite thing was when he said that you have to make your mind up each morning by saying "God made me, God made this day, and any junk that will be in my way just has to MOVE because He said so!"

It is amazing how much power is in just saying those words aloud. Start by setting your day up right, and see what GOOD THINGS God has in store for you today!

Cheesy Chili Soup

I got my new copy of the Kraft Foods magazine, Food and Family, yesterday. This is a free publication and if you do not already get it in the mail, you can get a FREE subscription or view a digital version of the magazine online on the Kraft website

This issue is full of wonderful fall recipes. I really liked the sound and look of the salad they made with cinnamon pecans, sliced pears and dried cranberries. How beautiful would the colors in that dish be?

I am always attracted to soups and stews when the weather cools down, and today is rainy and cooler but not quite soup weather. As soon as it is cool enough though, I have found my first recipe to try!

It is called Cheesy Chili Soup, and it sounds wonderful!
I must add that this photo is from a previous issue of their magazine because this new digital magazine format would not let me import a picture of the current version. Although the ingredients are the same, the vegetables are sliced instead of chopped as shown above, which I think makes a prettier presentation although the taste wouldn't change.

Here is the recipe:

1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (15 oz.) kidney beans, rinsed
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) chicken broth
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp. chili powder
1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style 2% Milk Finely Shredded Four Cheese, divided

BRING all ingredients except cheese to boil in medium saucepan.
SIMMER on low heat 25 min. or until vegetables are tender. Stir in 1/3 cup cheese.
LADLE into bowls. Top with remaining cheese.

Special Extra
Garnish each serving with a dollop of BREAKSTONE'S Reduced Fat or KNUDSEN Light Sour Cream and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro just before serving.
Substitute
Use any variety of beans you prefer, such as black beans, cannellini beans or chickpeas (garbanzo beans).


I think this sounds wonderful just as it is, but I think it would appeal more to the guys if we added some ground beef or tukey (fully cooked before adding) and maybe a little chopped potato for some more stick to the ribs power.

I can't wait to try this! If you beat me to it, let me know how it turns out!

A New Blog

My husband, Jamie, has started a new blog. It will be a place for him to share what is on his mind. The website is called Da Butcher's Point of View and you can access it here. Although he has just set it up, I encourage you to check it out in a day or two. It is also a private blog, so please send him your email address or a message to sign up.

I am excited to see what he is going to post!

WOW!

WOW! My first blog post on my new private blog! How exciting! :)

I was really hesitant to make this blog private at first because I didn't want to lose any readers, but now I feel a lot more confident and will probably post more pictures and private thoughts than ever before because I know who is reading it. This makes me happy!

If you have any comments or questions about this, please feel free to comment or email me!

Privacy settings

Because I have had some nasty comments lately by people who do not know what they are talking about, I have changed my blog privacy settings to "by invitation only". I hope this is not too inconvenient for you, but please understand that I will not tolerate false accusations and lies about me and my family. Thank you for understanding.

My Favorite Layout From Yesterday (part2)

This layout is my favorite one from yesterday I think, although the Beautiful Blue Eyes on comes pretty close. I like it partly because the photos are so clear and bright and happy, and because we were all having so much fun together! I also like it because I am actually in one of the photos, which is rare.
My favorite part however, is the title. Now maybe you will sit back and laugh because you did this technique 2 summers ago and I am slow to catch on, but I am pretty happy with it. Here is a close up of my title:

The title itself is pretty enough I guess but that part I like best is it's source:

Yes, that is a sheet of laser cut swirls paper from about 2 years ago ( called "Perm teal" by KI Memories) that I had been saving for a perfect use. After I cut out a block of it to put on the upper left corner of my page, I began wondering what title to use. Then something caught my eye in the paper....one of the swirls looked like an "s". I was inspired...what if I cut out the swirl and used it as the "s" to start my title? Then ~gasp~ I looked a little farther and saw the "A" in it. Now I was on a roll! I had 2 "s" shapes, one "a"...could I possibly find a shape to cut out for an "h" and an "l"????? Nah...couldn't be....
I searched, turning the paper carefully, looking at it from all angles until the letters popped out at me. I trimmed them, stuck them down, and decided they needed just a touch of glitter to give them some oomph.
THERE!
Whatcha think????
And oh yeah, that is Julio's head sniffing the swirl paper :)