The Beaz Hive

Tuesday's True Confession: Feeling Inadequate

2012-01-10T18:04:00.000-06:00

I heart looking at other blogs, but sometimes I'm left feeling somewhat inadequate. Okay, a LOT inadequate. For instance, one blog writer did a recap of everything she accomplished last year. It involved a television appearance, a magazine spread, and being able to quit her full-time day job because of the success of her blog. Umm, okay. How am I supposed to compete with that?

I love my little blog. I really do. But I start reading other people's blogs and thinking, "Ooh, I want to do that" or "I can blog about 401k's and hedge funds even though I've never dealt with either!" You get the point. I'm all over the map because I don't have a clear goal for MY blog. In the beginning, the goal was very clear: A place to put all of the kids pictures and updates so the grandparents & other relatives will stop bugging me to mail them photos even though I take digital pictures & rarely print them. Then I realized that none of the relatives actually reads my blog, and I discovered that I enjoyed writing about other things than just the kids. (Sorry kiddos). However, like everything else in my life, I tend to be a scattered, unfocused, and unable to complete tasks I begin. So it's really a miracle that this blog still exists.

Lately, the posts have been (obviously) random & sporadic. I feel like I'm just throwing stuff on here for the sake of posting. I need to find a focus and a purpose for my blog.

Has anybody else ever struggled with this? How do you overcome it? How did YOU decide what to blog about? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T10:39:00.001-06:00

Happy 2012!

I know I haven't been very faithful in keeping up with my blog this last year. I can't promise that this year will be any better, unfortunately. I still enjoy blogging very much, but find it hard to maintain. Many things have changed this past year & I'm finding it difficult to find a good balance as many things are still up in the air. Hopefully, things will begin to fall into place and I can return to the things I take pleasure in. Please keep checking back often as you never know when I might surprise you with a post!

May this new year bring joy, happiness & peace!

Fiction Addiction Fix

2011-12-14T14:54:00.000-06:00

I recently found out that a co-worker of mine writes historical Christian romance novels in her spare time! Kathy is unpublished as of yet, but while she's waiting, she and a friend have a blog dedicated to book reviews and giveaways. Sometimes I don't know what to read so I'm sure this will be a great source of inspiration. If you too could use a little inspiration (or just want to win a FREE book), hop on over to

Make your own banner at MyBannerMaker.com!

Their banner is so sparkly! :)

Happy Reading!

Book Review: The Girl in the Gatehouse

2011-11-15T10:29:00.000-06:00

Photo Source: Amazon

I never used to read romance novels because I thought they were all trashy. Lately however, I seem to be reading a ton of them, and not one is trashy. Quite the opposite, in fact. Guess you just have to know where to look, right?

The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen is a lovely Jane Austen-esque novel written in easy to understand English about a young woman who has many secrets, and a man trying to prove he has increased his social standing. Brought together by happenstance, they are intrigued with one another, and find that nothing is as it seems. Lessons in loyalty and not judging without all the facts abound in this charming story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Romance & all. :)

I received this book in exchange for my review from Bethany House. All opinions are 100% mine!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T15:52:00.000-05:00

I would love to tell you that I have a a dozen beautiful pics of all my kiddos & their costumes, but there's only 3. Yup, just 3. It was freezing outside, the kids were so excited & just wanted to go trick or treating. As you can see, they barely held still for the ones I did get!

Here is Pinky Lee as "Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's" & Lil' C as the Queen of Hearts

Believe it or not, I did not decide on or make these costumes early. On Thursday, I had convinced Lil' Coconut to reuse her pirate costume from last year, and Pinky Lee was going to wear an old cheerleading uniform. But I went to Hobby Lobby to get the stuff to make Bug & Boo Boo Bear's costumes & found myself staring at tulle, dreaming about the inspiration costumes I'd found on Pinterest. Suddenly not caring that I had less than 24 hours to complete all the costumes for Friday's Halloween parties/parade, I bought supplies & rushed home to get started. I had to make 2 additional trips to the store, but managed to bring them to the school just in time!

Personally, I think they turned out great, and my girls look fabulous in them (as always!). Not quite the same as the inspiration photos, but certainly cheaper and made with love from momma! :)

Suprisingly, I actually had to explain what boys were dressed as to many people! On the other hand, these costumes got more compliments than the girls' did!

Bug as the Red Angry Bird & Boo Boo as an Evil Piggy.

Thanks to Pinterest (again) for the inspiration for my boys' costumes. Not quite as good as the originals, but I've never claimed to be good at drawing! Boo kept taking the darn thing off randomly & we'd tell him nobody would give him any candy if he wasn't wearing his costume. Occasionally he would put it back on and join the other trick or treaters. Bug on the other hand, thought it was the coolest costume ever & said all his classmates thought so too. Yea!

1st "Green" Smoothie

2011-10-26T16:35:00.001-05:00

Not only did I have my first "green" smoothie yesterday, but I actually made it myself. I really liked it. My kids really liked it. And they asked for it again today!

What is a green smoothie, you ask? It's where you put leafy green veggies in with a fruit smoothie. In our case, it was spinach. It's a yummy way to add a little extra veggie serving to your day. There's enough natural sweetness to the fruit and juice to mask any spinach taste. Ours didn't turn out green though because I used a purple juice, so it was a nice purpley-pink color. None of the kids even knew there was spinach (or carrots) in it until they saw me making it today. They actually thought it was funny that there was "salad" in it! Yea!

So if you or your kids need a boost of fruits & veggies here is my recipe. And by recipe I mean an approximation of what I tossed into the blender without really measuring.

Green SmoothieMakes approx. 6 - 6oz. servings

2 handfuls fresh spinach

6-8 baby carrots

12-16 oz. plain non-fat yogurt
1 banana

1 lb. frozen fruit

(I used a tropical blend that contained mango, pineapple, strawberries & others

because that's what was the cheapest at my store this week.)

1/2 c. juice (I used the knock-off version of V-8 Fusion pomegranate & blueberry)

Water - enough to thin to desired consistency

Blend it all up! You'll probably need to stop & push everything down several times to get it well mixed. If your blender won't break up the carrots or frozen fruit, try putting those through a food processor first. If you try this, let me know how you like it. Or if you have your own green or power smoothies that your family enjoys let me know!

I have a new love...

2011-10-24T16:20:00.000-05:00

It's name is Pinterest. Have you discovered it? Oh my. I have avoided it for quite some time, but finally gave in when I kept forgetting where I found all these really great tutorials. I wanted to be able to easily locate what I needed when the time came. So I caved. I have over 1,000 pins in just a few weeks! Even my husband looks at it & and we have Pinteresting conversations. LOL It's my new favorite friend. Do you Pinterest?

The Bridges of Madison County are in Iowa???

2011-08-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

Really? Back in June we met Granny and Papa in Iowa so the kids could spend a month with them. (How awesome is that???) Anyway, as we were driving through Iowa I saw a sign that said Entering Madison County. Okay. Then a sign that said Covered Bridges Next Exit. WHAT? Really? Iowa? Now, I've never read the book or seen the movie, so that probably puts me at a disadvantage, but I really thought they were somewhere in New England. You know, someplace where you'd expect covered bridges.
So after we parted ways with our children, my husband bravely set out on Iowa's back dirt roads to find covered bridges for his wife to see. Oh, so sweet! Our first stop, though was to see a Danish windmill in Elk Horn, Iowa. It's adorable. There was even a miniature-sized one too. I just found out that Elk Horn also has a "tiny church" that used to be in the running for the smallest church, and I'm bummed that we didn't get to see that! Oh well, they did have this railroad car and station in town that apparently used to be a flower shop. Cute.
The windmill was easy to get to. The bridges not so much. We had a map, but you have to follow all these unmarked roads to get there. There was an occasional sign, but not at every turn, so we eventually got lost. That's always fun! Finally we arrived at the first bridge. It was not exactly what I was expecting. It was a big red box and you couldn't drive on it. It was cool though. I've never seen a covered bridge before except in pictures. Why do you think they covered them anyway??
Although there are like 6 or 7 bridges there, we only saw 3. We were way behind on time. One of the bridges is located in the town of Winterset, which we discovered was the birthplace of John Wayne. The hubs was excited about that! His house had something like 4 rooms; it was tiny. The park where the second bridge was located was very pretty. It had this amazing stone bridge and an English hedge maze which was fun. The last bridge was on our way out and I about jumped out my seat when I saw that we could drive over it! That makes it way cooler! So we ended on high note and only about 3 or 4 hours behind schedule. :)

Where we've been

2011-05-27T18:55:00.000-05:00

We have not disappeared, I didn't decide to quit blogging, and nothing (too) terribly bad has happened to any of us. Everyone in our family DID get sick, some of us more than once, one person for a whole month, and at one point all four children plus mommy were sick at the same time. Fun. I'm sure you've guessed that since nobody would let their child be sick for a whole month the long-term sickie was me. You know how it is: "Everybody else got better, I'll be better in a few days." or "I don't have time to go to the doctor." Yeah, I see your heads nodding! :) At any rate, I put those "can't get off the couch" days to good use by reading a ton of books, so I will be doing some more reviews shortly.
Sadly, when I finally did go to the doctor, she discovered that I have diabetes. What a bummer! I knew it was coming eventually due to family history and gestational diabetes w/ all my babies, but I still wasn't prepared. The medication she gave me has brought my blood sugars down to a safer (but still too high) number. I go back in next week, so hopefully it comes down even more.
Well, there is another huge thunderstorm rolling through & the lights have flickered a few times, so I better get off here. Bye! :)

Book Review: Promises to Keep

2011-04-13T13:55:00.000-05:00

I used to read a lot. Sometimes several books a week. Now I have four children and that has dwindled to several books a year, and most of them are non-fiction. Since I don't read a whole lot anymore, my children don't read a whole lot either and that is just sad. I really miss reading! I recently found a publisher that gives you copies of books in exchange for your review, so I jumped on it in an attempt to force myself into more reading! I'm not sure I've ever written a review before (just book reports way back in school), so I hope this goes well. Without further ado:

Promises to Keep

by Ann Tatlock

Promises to Keep is the story about an 11-year-old girl named Roz in 1967-68 whose mother has taken her and her siblings away from their abusive father to a small town in another state to start a new life. Within a week of living in their new home, an old woman (Tillie) shows up on their porch claiming that it's her house and she intends to die there. Her older brother is turning into a person that Roz no longer recognizes as he obsesses about turning 18 and joining the war in Vietnam. Roz begins thinking she's seeing her daddy around town. During a time of racial unrest, Roz befriends a young black girl whose family life is just as interesting as hers, and together they make a pact that could change their lives forever.

This was a very enjoyable book. It challenges you to think about what (and who) a family really is. I could relate to Tillie because I've met a few women like her! Ann Tatlock's descriptive writing makes it easy to picture scenes and to feel familiar with each character. Looking at the events through Roz's eyes gives you an innocent hopefulness that everything will turn out right.

This was the first book I read by Ann Tatlock, but I will definitely read more. Her writing style is very personable and easy to read. I highly recommend this book!

I received a copy of this book from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% mine!

Blog Redesign & March Financial Contribution

2011-04-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

I was so busy working on my blog's redesign, that I forgot about posting! Oops! :) First of all, what do you think of the new look? I'm not totally in love with it and would love some opinions about it. Please be honest! Thanks!

I also wanted to tell you about how I contributed to the family financially last month. Saidah at A Proverbs Wife is SOO inspirational, and I got the idea of tracking my contributions from her. You can check out her financial contributions here. Way more than mine! :)

Savings

Groceries = $285.42

Online deals (Groupon, Mamapedia, etc.) = $286.05

Earnings

Surveys, Ebay, Swagbucks, Affiliates, etc. = $107.33

Total Impact to My Family

$678.80

This does not include some really awesome deals we got on brand new clothes at K-Mart's clearance sale. We picked up a bunch of winter clothes (because we didn't really have many) for $2.99-$3.99 each! I just forgot to write down the original prices before the tags got thrown away. Oh, well. I know it was a good deal, even if I have no written proof! LOL It makes me feel good to know that I'm helping a little to drag us out of debt.

New Recipe Challenge Week 8

2011-04-01T15:12:00.000-05:00

Well, I managed to make it in on time for the final week of the New Recipe Challenge hosted by Feminine Farmgirl. Yay me! :)

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches & KFC Knock-off Coleslaw

It was a down home dinner and we went all out with the "fine" china! LOL

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast per 2 people (I used 4 for the 6 of us & there was plenty of leftovers)1/4 to 1/3 bottle of your fave bbq sauce

Use enough bbq sauce to coat your chicken breasts well and toss them in the slow cooker for about 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. Unless of course you have a crockpot like mine where the low is more like keep warm and the high is boiling. If so, adjust accordingly. When the chicken is cooked through, remove and place on cutting board. Mine had quite a bit of cooking juice and some fat. I skimmed off as much fat as possible, then drained all but about 1-2 cups of liquid. Using two forks, shred the chicken, then add it back into the liquid in the crockpot. Add more bbq sauce to taste, and stir 'er up. Serve right away or leave on the warm setting until you're ready to eat, on your choice of bread. We used some kaiser rolls that were on sale this week.

Verdict: Oh, I hate to say it, but the trend continues. I really liked it. The hubs thought it was dry. Remember, he doesn't like chicken much, although it was a tad bit dry, I guess. The kids were either lukewarm about it or refused to eat. Again. Oh, well.

KFC Knock-off Coleslaw

There's really only one coleslaw that I really love, and that's KFC's. I don't eat it very often because I don't really like fried chicken, so.... Anyway, I bought this set of fun cookbooks a long time ago called Top Secret Recipes. I hardly ever use them, just like all the other cookbooks that I collect. Don't really know why. At any rate, here is the top secret recipe for KFC Coleslaw:

8 cups very finely chopped cabbage (1 head) (I used a bag of coleslaw mix, next time I will use 2 to accomodate the sauce)

1/4 cup shredded carrot ( 1 medium carrot) (mine was in the coleslaw mix)

2 tbsp. minced onion

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/4 c. milk

1/2 c. mayonnaise

1/4 c. buttermilk (I substituted 1/4 tbsp. lemon juice mixed with enough milk to make 1/4 c. then let it sit 5 min. before using)

1 1/2 tbsp. white vinegar

2 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1. Be sure that the cabbage, carrots, and onion are chopped up into very fine pieces (about the size of rice kernels).

2. Combine the sugar, salt, pepper, milk, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, and lemon juice, and beat until smooth.

3. Add the cabbage, carrots, and onion. Mix well.

4. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Verdict: Absolutely tastes like KFC coleslaw, and I didn't really care if the fam liked it or not because then there was more for me! :)

Thanks again to Jenna from Feminine Farmgirl for hosting the New Recipe Challenge. I've enjoyed seeing what other people have made and plan on trying out a few in the future!

Homemaking Binder

2011-03-30T14:52:00.000-05:00

Organization is a word that I love and loathe all at the same time. I love organized spaces and things. It makes my heart happy! I even really enjoy organizing things. Other people's things mostly. That's where the loathing comes in. It's really hard to organize things that I have a personal attatchment to. Therefore, I always have too many things and nowhere to put them, thus always disorganized. *sigh*

Now, on to the good stuff! In addition to ordering my meal plans, I've been working on getting my homemaking binder back in working order.

photo courtesy of I heart Organizing

What's a homemaking binder, you may ask? Well, simply put, it's a place to keep your whole little world organized. At least that's the goal. I've had a homemaking binder, or a "flight plan" as we call it in our house thanks to daddy's aviation job, for at least 7 years back when I discovered FlyLady. I tried following her plan, but it didn't really work for me because it was HER plan, not mine. That and I really don't like housework! :) However, she has some really great info for homemaking binders, or control journals as she calls them. Whatever name works for you, I guess.

If I haven't already professed my love for A Proverbs Wife, let me do so now. This site is AWESOME for helping you to be a better Christian wife. Saidah lives her life by following the guidelines in Proverbs 31 and encourages others to do the same. She has a wealth of links and ideas for your binder, including this video tour of her binder.

This month over on I heart Organizing, Jen is focusing on homemaking binders. This woman is super organized, hence the blog title, and loves making super cute charts and lists. Be sure to go snag all the ones that you need while they're still free. I don't know if she will transfer these to her etsy shop or keep them free, so go now just in case. You can find them all on the sidebar.

Do you use a homemaking binder? What does yours look like? If not, what do you do to keep track of everything? Let me know what you do to make your life a bit more organized! As I get parts of mine done, I will post pictures. Happy Binder Making & Organizing!

New Recipe Challenge Weeks 5, 6 & 7

2011-03-28T15:23:00.001-05:00

Week 5 - Ummm, I totally forgot about making a new recipe. Just totally forgot.

Week 6 - Thought about a new recipe. I really did. But it never made it past my thoughts. I probably forgot about it again after my stove caught on fire. Yup. Fire. Flames. Smoke. It was a good home economics lesson though, because my kids wanted to know why I used salt on our grease fire instead of water. Gotta love those spontaneous teaching moments....and the adorable little guy who decided to climb up and play in the leftover bacon grease!

Week 7 - Da-da-da-dum!!! I made a new recipe! Hooray! :) This is really only due to trying to get back on track with meal planning. Well, planning and organizing in general. I'm an organizational mess right now. I'll talk about what I'm doing to fix that in another post. Here's the quick version: I ended up on Make 5 Dinners in One Hour because she is sponsoring I heart Organizing this month & giving a discount for her meal planning service. Yay! Now, I've looked at many meal planning services. Even tried their free trials, but always ended up thinking I could just do better for cheaper. I don't think I'm going to do any better or cheaper than Make 5 dinners in One Hour. You get 5 meal plans each week with a complete grocery list & instructions for prepping ahead, so you only have to spend 1 hour each week preparing meals, and a few minutes each day finishing them up. It sounds fun, so I've joined! I haven't started it yet, but plan to after my next shopping trip. This week's recipe though, comes straight from her blog, where I spent a good deal of time just browsing around. (BTW, her ideas for prepping lunches is fantastic!) So, without further ado, I bring you:

Easy Spinach Quiche

Photo & Recipe Courtesy of Make 5 Dinners in One Hour

My notes are in (purple)

This is the "make ahead" version. Makes 2.

Get out your blender for this one...(seriously, get your blender out)

1/2 C. frozen chopped onion

6 eggs

1 C. milk

1/2 C. biscuit/pancake mix

salt & pepper

Blend first 4 ingredients in blender until well blended and add salt & pepper to taste.

1 C. frozen chopped spinach, squeezed dry (add more if you like)

1 package real bacon bits (I used real bacon that we had leftover, about 8 slices)

1 C. shredded Swiss cheese

2 frozen pie crusts (regular not deep dish)

Add spinach and pulse to mix. Place blender pitcher in refrigerator until ready to use. Use within 2 days.

Pour equal amounts (eye ball it) of bacon bits and cheese into pie crusts. I would normally have alot more bacon bits but I forgot them at the store and I had a small package leftover from another recipe. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator.

Place crusts on large cookie sheet to make transporting easier. Pour egg mixture equally into pie crusts over bacon and cheese. Yes, that is cheddar cheese you see there. I forgot the Swiss cheese too.

Most of these recipes are easily adaptable to what you have on hand. Just think of the possibilities. Bacon/cheddar, ham/cheese, broccoli/feta, mushroom/bacon/blue cheese.....

Bake in 375 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until eggs are set.

The Verdict: I love quiche. I love spinach. I love bacon. There was really no way I wasn't going to like this. It was delicious. Plus it made Sunday morning breakfast so easy. I served it with cinnamon raisin bread, so all I really had to do was butter the toast. I had time to get ready! :) My family on the other hand, wasn't as thrilled. (this seems to be a theme, doesn't it?) One child liked it, two thought it was okay, and one totally refused to eat. Kingbeaz liked it, but he's not crazy about spinach (unless it's my spinach dip). If your family likes spinach, go for it. Otherwise save it for a potluck or shower or something, because it is really good.

This post is linked to Feminine Farmgirl for the New Recipe Challenge. Come join us!

Spelling City

2011-03-15T15:55:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of Spelling City? Do you use it? We've been using Spelling City for a few years now. It's totally free and a great way for the kids to practice their spelling words. They can play all sorts of fun spelling and vocabulary words, then take a test. When my kids were in public school I just entered the lists that they brought home. Now I use the lists from our current curriculums. When they can pass all the words on Spelling City, then they can go take their curriculum test. My kids LOVE it!

You can use other people's lists as well. So if you use Switched-On Schoolhouse Language Arts 300 or 400, I have most of lists that we've already accomplished. If you use Heart of Dakota's Bigger Hearts for His Glory, I have Units 1-7. If you want to use my lists, just search under "parent" for Jenny Beasley.

Please note that not all words and phrases are currently recognized by Spelling City. This hasn't been much of a problem for us though. Go check it out! If this has been useful to you, stop back by and let me know! :)

Spring is Coming!

2011-03-12T09:01:00.001-06:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pier 1 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Did you know that the first day of Spring is March 20th??? It's hard to imagine with snow piled up everywhere! Nonetheless, spring is coming so I might as well look forward to it. When we moved we didn't have room for our outdoor things, so they all got left behind. :(

Here we have a bunch of trees so look what I found at Pier 1 to hang off them!

DjjDid ,,

Outdoor Swingasan Chair

Holy cow, doesn't that look fun?? I'd be fighting the kids for it all the time, and I'd have to let the hubs sit in it occasionally, but it would be worth it. Just swinging in the shade watchin' the kiddos play. *sigh*

How about this? It certainly says "welcome". And it's only $16.95! Wow!

Damask Print Doormat

And are these not the most adorable chip and dip platters ever?? Great for indoor or outdoor entertaining!

Chip and Dip Platters

They have a ton of really cute indoor/outdoor stuff, but I had to stop myself from getting carried away! What are you spring must-haves from Pier 1?

While you are there, sign up for their Pier 1 Outdoor newsletter to get a special offer. Oh, and they have something called Pier 1 Tweetups for those of you located in certain areas (Dallas March 22, Atlanta April 5, NYC April 20) to get together.

Leave a comment to let me know what you found to get your house and yard ready for spring!

Kellog's Coupons

2011-03-11T15:25:00.000-06:00

Do you go through cereal like we do? 3-4 boxes a week? Please tell me you do! Okay, well even if you don't here are some Kellog's coupons for that occasional cereal fix. LOL

Easter Sewing Craft!

2011-03-11T08:18:00.000-06:00

Ooooh! Look at these adorable bunny bean bags!

These are from a guest post on 2 little hooligans from Me Sew Crazy. I forsee these being in my kid's Easter baskets. I'm sure I've got some scraps that will work great for this. Now I just need to force myself to go into the dungeon (because I still haven't figured out to make it any better) and work!

Have seen any other great crafts lately?

Granny & Papa Visit: San Antonio Riverwalk

2011-03-10T14:37:00.000-06:00

Granny & Papa came to visit us in September! Yay! They flew into San Antonio early in the day, so we had all day to check out sites around the city. They were both stationed at Ft. Sam Houston back in the day, so we drove by to check it out. Of course, none of us can get on base anymore, so we just drove around looking through the fence. We probably looked suspicious! LOL

Then we went down to the Riverwalk. Now, we lived in Texas for four years. We had been to the Riverwalk Mall twice, and explored the Riverwalk itself exactly ZERO times! Oh my. That was remedied by a delightful boat trip tour. It was really fascinating and I'm sad we didn't do it earlier! :( Oh well, we had a great day!

Thankful Thursday: The Little Things

2011-03-10T14:25:00.000-06:00

It's been a trying week and hard to find things to be thankful for. Everything I come up with is small and seems so inconsequential, but it's better than nothing. Here's the best: I spent about $60 at the grocery store last night & earned $1.40 per gallon off our next fill-up! Yay!

The Mini Social Referral Program

2011-03-08T10:34:00.000-06:00

I just found out about another deal site The Mini Social (like Groupon) & right now if you refer 5 friends you get a $20 credit! We don't even need to buy anything! Yay! You also get a $10 credit when they make their first purchase! Here's my link so I can get my 5 referrals then you can get your 5! Thanks! :)

New Recipe Challenge Week 4

2011-03-04T13:35:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Week 4 of the New Recipe Challenge hosted by Feminine Farmgirl! This week I went out on a limb by coming up with my own restaurant knock-off. In my hometown there was this place that offered an "Orient Express Burger" that I absolutely loved. Which is kind of a misnomer because it's not really a burger. It's chicken. Anyway, I haven't had it in years and years, but I had a coupon for some marinades last week and they had a teriyaki marinade which made me think of this sandwich. So here's my attempt at the

"Orient Express Burger"

Ingredients

Chicken Breasts (one per person)

Pineapple Rings (one per person)

Swiss Cheese (one slice per person)

Hamburger buns (one per person)

Teriyaki sauce or marinade

Directions

(What I recommend, not necessarily what I did!)

If chicken breasts are too thick, split them or pound them out to make them thinner. Marinate chicken in teriyaki sauce for 30 minutes or longer if desired. Use whatever method of cooking chicken you prefer (baking, browning, grilling). Top each chicken breast with one pineapple ring & one slice of swiss cheese. Cover with lid or foil to allow cheese to melt. Serve on hamburger buns with extra sauce for dipping.

How I actually did it: I wasn't thinking & fogot to marinate the chicken. I put them all on a baking sheet covered in foil & baked until they were done. Maybe a little too done. They were kind of dry. Next I browned them in a frying pan, then dumped the marinade on them and let them simmer. I also didn't think about thinning them out until I had them covered in marinade, so when I tried to slice them, they started falling apart. *eyes rolling* I served it with salad & sweet potato fries.

Verdict: I thought they were yummy! Not the same as the restaurant ones, but still tasty. Kingbeaz is not a fan of chicken (he claims to have been served it morning, noon and night while deployed). He said it was dry and only ate half. Bug ate some of his...he's a big pineapple fan, so that helped. Lil' C picked the cheese off but ate everything else! :) Pinky Lee caught whiff of a burned fry that had fallen on the bottom of the stove & declared it was "stinky" and she wasn't going to eat it. I don't think Boo Boo Bear was even hungry. He ate his tomatoes (he's a tomato THIEF!) then played with everything else. Lil' C and I ate leftovers for lunch today. Still yummy, despite what those picky people think! :)

Now, how to disguise the leftover chicken so EVERYONE will eat it!? Hmmm.... any suggestions??

Making Money: Synovate and other methods

2011-03-02T09:52:00.000-06:00

You may already know this, but our cross country move has really dealt a blow to our finances. My husband took a better job with equal pay to his last one, with one giant exception. He's now salaried and sometimes works 12 hour days for 8 hour pay. No overtime $ here. :( This in itself would not be a problem, but we are in a major hole with our housing situation. We don't get enough rent money to cover our mortgage (and related expenses), plus we pay a ridiculous amount of money for our rental here because the housing market is all kinds of crazy. Long story short, we're losing about $1000 every month just in real estate! YIKES! Now our renters have decided not to send their payments because we didn't meet their ridiculous demands. Such a dilemma!

In addition, we left our 2nd van behind because we had a buyer going to make payments on it, then decided they couldn't afford it. What? So it's just sitting in Texas collecting dust. Let's hope those people aren't driving it! All the offers we've had on it are about 1/3 of our asking price (which is KBB value). I'd negotiate if anybody brought a reasonable offer. Pff.

I didn't tell you our sad money tale for sympathy, but to tell you how we're trying to fix it. We've lowered our expenses as much as we can for now. For example, we used to have a budget of $475 for groceries and household items. Not that we stuck to it very often, but that was the number on paper. That number has been reduced to $400. Feeding 6 people and keeping the toilet paper and pull-ups stocked for $100 a week is a challenge. I've found that using only cash to pay for these items helps. I don't have that visual, tactile reminder with a debit card.

I've also been trying to make extra money. You know my obsession with Swagbucks, so I won't go into details again, but know that there will be more Swag love to come! This is a referral, so when you earn so do I!

I have listed & am going to list some items on ebay. My seller name is thebeazhive.

I have always had advertisements on my blog, but they were just random and not always relevent. Now I am trying to bring more relevant ads to you. Things I think are interesting & I hope you do too. When you click on them and/or complete their requirements (like joining a group or signing up for a newsletter) I get paid a few cents to a few dollars depending on the ad. Sometimes there are referrals. If you sign up for a program I earn a percentage of what you make. Please don't feel like you have to click on or sign up for anything. In the future, I may be writing articles for certain companies or products. I will be compensated for my opinions & I will state that at the bottom of the post. I'm only going to write about stuff that I feel is appropriate for this blog. Sometimes these things lead to giveaways for readers! Yay for giveaways!

There is a super secret big project that I've been working on fo-evah, that I hope will be a money maker as well. I just need to get past a few more hurdles (mainly myself), and then the secret can be revealed!

I've joined several survey panels that pay in cash or rewards. I only started about 2 weeks ago, so I haven't cashed out on anything yet. I plan to cash out at the end of each month & I will give you totals then. There are a few I have done very well with already. I will be telling you about them in different posts along the way. If you want to get started right away here is one that I have signed up for & is currently open to new members:

http://lm.logicalmedia.com/z/22299/CD9000/

I don't think there is a referral for this company, but if you do sign up through the above link, I will get compensated.

I know that this is a change for what once was only a family blog but our family has changed, I've changed, and this is reflective of our family now. More reflective of me personally. There's no obligation for you to spend your money to help out our family. I just want to help out my own family, while still bringing you content that is important to you. I'm sure most people are interested in saving money and/or making extra money, so I bet you understand where I'm coming from. As always, feel free to just ignore whatever doesn't pertain to you & enjoy what does. :)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to leave them! I love my readers!

Math-U-See Giveaway from TheHomeSchoolMom

2011-03-01T08:12:00.001-06:00

The Home School Mom is a newsletter I subscribe to because they have good information for homeschoolers and mommies in general. They are giving away the Math-U-See DVD, teacher's manual, and student worktext GAMMA level. They are used, but not written in (except for a name). I've looked in Math-U-See several times, but end up going with something else for various reasons. Lil' C might be in the Gamma level next year, but I'd need to have her take the placement test to know for sure.

If this is something you'd be interested in, go enter the giveaway right away. I'm not sure when it ends, so better hurry just in case! :)
While you're there, check out their sister site Menus4Moms. They have free & paid weekly dinner menus as well as ton of information on menu planning. The Busy Cooks Pyramid is very helpful. It tells you how to cook ahead and fill up your freezer without doing once a month cooking.

Tuesday's True Confession: Inconsistency is My Middle Name!

2011-03-01T07:50:00.001-06:00

Okay, so Inconsistency isn't really my middle name. But it might as well be! I have a terrible time following through on anything. I'm really really good at planning, making lists & charts, and exploring all possible possibilities. Sometimes I embark with a full head of steam, with a bit of enthusiasm, or I don't embark at all. It just depends on the project. I'm an overly emotional person & I let my emotions determine my days most of the time. If I don't feel like washing dishes, I don't. This is a problem, obviously.

There are some projects with a lifespan of over a decade. No, not the dishes! I started my first afghan in college. Some friends taught me how to crochet & since they were all making afghans, I thought I would too. Not a good idea for a first project. A pot holder would probably have been more appropriate! LOL Anyway, that project had so many starts, stops, & do-overs that it took approximately 12 years to complete. What? 12 years? Why didn't I just give up completely? I'm not sure, but I'm glad I didn't because now that it's finished I'm rather proud of what it has become. (Pictures to come later).

So, any suggestions for someone whose thoughts and emotions can't focus on one thing long enough to see it through to completion most times??? Can you relate?

New Recipe Challenge Week 3

2011-02-25T14:21:00.001-06:00

You may have noticed that there was no "New Recipe Challenge Week 2" post. Last week was rather chaotic and I neglected getting my coupons cut, shopping list and menus made, and even going to the grocery store. It's only because of my very small stockpile that we made it through the week. In contrast, I have already done 2 shopping trips this week. I still need to go to Rite-Aid for pull-ups and FREE Johnson & Johnson bath products (yes, I said FREE), and the grocery store again on Saturday to get "fresh" cottage cheese for my husband before the sale runs out. At any rate, here is my new recipe for this week:

Buffalo Chicken Dip

courtesy of Allrecipes.com (recipe by NUNPUNCH)

Ingredients

2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken, drained 2

(8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup Ranch dressing

3/4 cup pepper sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot®)

1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with celery sticks and crackers.

Alterations I made:

I used leftover rotisserie chicken as well as a buffalo wing sauce instead of the Frank's because I didn't want it to be too hot for the kiddos. I ended up adding the Frank's to my portion. I served it with tortilla chips and several cracker varieties. I didn't use the crockpot because I was in a hurry and just cooked it on the stove then served it in bowls, but I recommended that you do because it begins to "tighten up" and separate as it cools down.

Verdict:
Yummy! This really isn't a main course, although it's the only thing I served for lunch today. *gasp* I would recommend it as a side or appetizer or a "game day" snack. Very tasty. :)

You can follow along with the New Recipe Challenge @ Feminine Farmgirl

UPDATE * I just went to post my new recipe over at the Feminine Farmgirl, when I read her latest heartbreaking post about a goat birth doesn't go right. It's very sad, but Jenna is such a faithful young woman who remembers to keep her eyes on God even in trials. Please read her story & pray for her and her family. Thank you.*

Out Growing In

2011-02-22T08:46:00.000-06:00

Have you heard of OutGrowingIn? It's a kids and maternity clothing swap. Apparently they will even send you boxes to ship your used clothing in. I haven't used it yet, but it seems like a good deal and I can't seem to find a Goodwill around here. Have you used it yet? If you have, please let us know. I'm at least going to go sign up, and if I end up using it I will let you know!

Mega Swagbuck Friday!

2011-02-18T10:42:00.000-06:00

Mega Swagbuck Friday!

Have you started earning FREE stuff yet?? If not, click on the link above to get signed up!

P.S. By clicking on my link, you help me earn free stuff too! Thank You! :)

Recipe Request!

2011-02-17T13:23:00.000-06:00

Remember the New Recipe Challenge I'm participating in? Yes, well, I haven't even been grocery shopping for the week. It's been a crazy week and I'm very behind. I haven't even cut coupons in 2 weeks! :0

So, I'm asking for your help! I am specifically asking for recipes that utilize my slow cooker or my Vita-Mix, or frugal recipes. If you have some great recipes that fall into any of these categories, please share them!

Until then, I will be seeking out something for this week on my own. Perhaps I should look in one of my 50 or so cookbooks? Wish me luck!

Thank you for sharing your recipes! :)

Thankful Thursday: My Husband

2011-02-17T13:11:00.000-06:00

I really am thankful for my husband! He works very hard to provide for our family, then comes home & helps wherever he's needed here at home. I could list all the reasons why I'm thankful for him, but then you'd all just be jealous!! LOL

To My KingBeaz: You are the cheese to my macaroni! I fluv you!

New Recipe Challenge

2011-02-08T20:16:00.000-06:00

An adorably charming blog I follow Feminine Farmgirl is hosting a meal challenge to try one new main dish recipe every week for 8 weeks. This challenge came at a very convenient time as I had just purchased 4 1/2 lbs. of pork spare ribs because the were on sale. I've never cooked pork spare ribs before, so I obviously need to find one. I've been visiting a Year of Slow Cooking occasionally ever since I saw her on Rachael Ray a few years ago, but never used one of her recipes. Recently, I've been looking even more because I would really like to use the slow cooker more often. Anyway, this is the recipe I found for my spare ribs:

Greek Spiced Spareribs

The Ingredients.

serves 4-6 or 2 hungry moms

4 pounds pork spareribs (you can use beef, too)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon anise
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns (leave intact)
4 whole cloves (leave intact)
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup orange juice

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Place ribs into cooker. In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar with all of the ground spices. Rub this mixture the best you can on all sides of the ribs. Throw in the whole peppercorns and cloves. Drizzle on the honey, and add orange juice.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until meat is super tender and separates from the bone.

*Please go read her post for all the extras!

I had to make some substitutions though because we didn't have some ingredients on hand. I used regular old table salt, omitted fennel seeds, ground mustard and anise, substituted ground pepper for peppercorns and ground cloves for whole cloves. I also didn't have any honey, so that was sadly left out. I may have thrown in a shake or two of Montreal steak seasoning. Just for yummies I sliced up a white onion and layered that on the bottom of the slow cooker first, which made for a tasty little topping when all was said and done. The house smelled SO good all day! These were fabulous ribs and so tender that they were literally falling off the bone as I tried to take them out of the cooker. There was a delicious sweetness to them that Kingbeaz & I both found very good. The kids might have enjoyed them more if they hadn't been so worried about the bones and fat. (I DID take all the bones out, but missed some of the fat...sheesh!)

Also, there are plenty of leftovers so tomorrow I plan on shredding them up, adding BBQ sauce & throwing them on some biscuits. From Greek to Southern. LOL

This was also a frugal meal. I added (frozen)curly fries & canned corn. Extremely healthy, I know. :)

Ribs = $8.64

Spices & OJ = $1.00 (I had them all on hand, but I'll just guestimate based on how much I used)

Onion = $0.30 (again, just guessing. It was part of 5lb. bag & I don't remember how much I paid)

Curly Fries = $1.69

2 cans corn = $.94

Total = $12.57

Tomorrow's BBQ sands will cost:

1/2 bottle BBQ sauce = $0.50

1 can Pillsbury biscuits = $0.67

Total = $1.17

Total for 2 meals = $13.74

Yummy & Frugal!

What new recipes have you tried lately??

Tuesday's True Confession: The Truth about Parenting

2011-02-08T13:37:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I feel like I am the only parent on the planet who has to deal with certain issues. (Well, Kingbeaz too). Then I come across something like the blog post I read last night on The Crafty Classroom, and realize that some things are just universal parenting problems. Of course, they're MUCH funnier when they are happening to someone else. I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face & I could barely breathe. My poor husband came in from taking the trash out and thought something had happened to me. I had a hard time just telling him to read it for himself. By the time he got to Lesson 7 (my personal favorite), he too was laughing uncontrollably. I'm still giggling a bit as I sit here typing this. So if you're having one of those days, go read this post, laugh yourself silly & feel a little bit better knowing you aren't the only one!

SuperBowl XLV Bingo

2011-02-05T07:59:00.000-06:00

On Thanksgiving our family used these football bingo cards & had a great time. So when a friend asked for ideas for SuperBowl, I went looking for them. I also found these. However, I thought they needed more variety & wanted to make them game specific, so I created a new set. I tried coverting to pdf but they lost their formatting. Even when I uploaded to Scribd & Google Docs I lost formatting. If anyone out there can tell me how to do upload documents in their original format so you can download them from your computer, I would be willing to share more stuff in the future. Until then, if you are interested in the SuperBowl XLV Bingo cards just let me know & I will e-mail them to you. Enjoy!

Football & Cheerleading 2010 Part 9 - Cheer Competition

2011-02-04T13:03:00.000-06:00

Hooray! We've finally reached the end of the 2010 Football & Cheerleading season with Lil' C's Cheerleading Competition! Our girlies worked all season on their routine & they really did know it. However, on the day of competition it didn't turn out so well. I think they were just nervous and for some reason the crowd was really loud during their performance even though they weren't during the other groups. It made it hard to hear the music. :(

The girls love competition, though. They always think they've won because they get a participation medal. (They're really just practicing at this point; no real competition until the next age level.) Plus, the mommies go all crazy like we did for homecoming and get them swag bags, flowers, etc. This year we also went to CiCi's Pizza for an end-of-season/birthday-party-for-the-coach celebration. It was fun and I'm glad we got to celebrate with our friends before we moved.

Here is my layout of the best pictures I have. I honestly don't know why they are so grainy and/or pixelated. It's really quite frustrating, but here ya go:

I also have this video taken on the same camera as I took the pictures with so, same effect. Again, sorry. This is the first time I have uploaded a video so I hope it works.

Thanks for following along through our 2010 football & cheerleading adventures! :)

Swagbucks

2011-02-04T09:21:00.001-06:00

Do you use Swagbucks?? If not, you should! And here's why:

You can earn FREE stuff just for searching the internet!

It's true! I've been using Swagbucks for quite awhile now, but have never redeemed any points...until today. I bought two $10 Amazon.com gift cards. I had been working towards the Target gift card, then realized it was probably only an on-line gift card, which it is (should have looked sooner...duh!). That's really not helpful. I was hoping to roll the gift card for more gift cards in store. That's okay though, because I found this great new site A Proverbs Wife who uses Amazon.com gift cards from Swagbucks to fund her entire Christmas!! How smart is that? She also gives you some advice for finding more swagcodes, such as reading the daily discussions on Facebook. You can also find more codes by clicking on the SC button of my Swagbucks widget at the bottom of this blog. Now that I know how to actually earn more I wanted to tell you about it. Today is MegaSwagBucks Friday which means you have the opportunity to earn bigger denominations! If you're ready to start earning FREE stuff (you'll get 30 swagbucks just for signing up!):

P.S. If you sign up by clicking my link, I earn swagbucks when you do, so THANKS!

Thankful Thursday: Snow

2011-01-28T13:15:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know it's Friday. Yesterday was spent on the sofa with frequent trips to the restroom. YUCK! My stomach hated me all day yesterday. So today I am thankful for a happy(er) stomach! Yay!

What I was originally going to post about was SNOW! I'm sure that seems a little silly, but after living in warm climates where it never snows for 8 years, I am thrilled with the snow!

Photo courtesy of redriverocks on Webshots

(I would be sharing my own photos but the camera is also dead & I haven't yet figured out how to get the pix off my phone and onto the computer)

The wonder and excitement on my children's faces when they saw snow for the first time this year was priceless. We had just pulled into a rest area in Ohio on our trip up here. That huge storm that hit the middle of the country, the one that caved in the Vikings roof, was just getting started. There were big, fluffy, perfect snowflakes. The kids tried catching them with their hands and tongues. It was a beautiful sight.

Super Savings

2011-01-28T12:35:00.000-06:00

I am LOVIN' my new stores here in NY! (If I knew how to make those little heart icons, I would make one now.) I've shopped with coupons for quite some time now, but because of the limited number of grocery stores in south Texas (thanks alot, HEB!) I wasn't seeing very good savings from all my hard couponing. Walgreens was much better, but the cashiers were cranky upon seeing my coupons. From what I read, this is due to cashiers being uneducated on their own store's coupon policy.

Anyhooo, I now have multiple stores, some double coupons, some give gas rewards and they all have loyalty cards. I still didn't think I was going to do any better because most of the groceries are priced much higher here. However, just from the beginning of January until now, I have bought $237.31 worth of groceries & household items (including pull-ups) for only $104.94. That's a savings of 55.78%! This is better than I could ever get in Texas.

This is mostly thanks to Rite-Aid. I heart Rite-Aid. (Darn it! Must learn how to make adorable little hearts!)Remember those pull-ups? Amazingly enough, that was my best shopping trip so far!

I got $35.94 worth of products for $1.28, for a savings of 96.44%!!!

And, I have $13 in UP+ Rewards (Rite-Aid money) for my next shopping trip!

Did I mention I heart Rite-Aid? Um, yeah. We're like best friends now.

Please don't think I do all this by myself. No, no...there are many much more smarterer people out there in blog land that do all the heavy lifting. I simply have to visit their sites, decide which deals are best for me, locate all my coupons & go shopping! Here are some of my favorite sites:

Cents Saved

Deal Seeking Mom

A Full Cup
Be Centsable - The Grocery Gathering

There are about a bazillion more & I hope you find them helpful too! If you have a favorite money saving website, store, or idea, please share it. :) Thanks!

Happy Saving!!!

Tuesday's True Confession: Google Reader

2011-01-25T13:12:00.000-06:00

Okay, I admit it. I just don't get how to use Google Reader. I have it and I have many blogs that I subscribe to, but don't understand it. I still have to jump to the blog or website to read the entire post. The same summary is available on my blog dashboard. It just makes more sense to me to visit the actual blog/website. Of course, I didn't get the whole idea of Facebook when one of my BFF's convinced me to sign up about 5 or 6 years ago. Now you can't keep me off of it!

Can somebody please tell me how to use Google Reader effectively???

Thank you!

Football & Cheerleading 2010 Part 8 - Homecoming

2011-01-20T15:01:00.000-06:00

Homecoming is fun & funny all at the same time. We make & buy & do all this stuff to make our little kids look and feel like high school homecoming kings and queens. It epitomizes Texas football. Of course, the girls love it. The boys pretend not to. :)

Please excuse all the overexposed pictures. The sun was ridiculously bright that day. And hot. I believe most of our games took place on days where the temp was well above 95 degrees & felt much hotter because of the humidity.

Well, that just about wraps up the 2010 football/cheer season. The only thing I have left to post is the cheerleading competition. I know I'm way behind so that's why I posted a bunch today to catch up...please keep reading so you don't miss any!

Football & Cheerleading 2010 Part 7 - Western Week Parade

2011-01-20T14:46:00.000-06:00

Sometimes the Western Week Parade falls on the same Saturday as the Pop Warner homecoming and some years it does not. This year, obviously, it did not so the kids got to participate.

Here are my little cutie pies riding on their float!

Can you spot the BeazHive ~~babies~~ big kids?

Football & Cheerleading 2010 Part 6 - Lil' Trojans Night

2011-01-20T14:06:00.000-06:00

Every year the high school football team has a Lil' Trojans Night when they invite all the young football players and cheerleaders to attend the game for free & get recognition at halftime.

Bug waiting to run through the tunnel!

This picture of Lil' C didn't turn out so well because they performed their cheer in a different place and time than we thought they were going to, so I had to hurry to get over there & this was the best shot I got. For some reason they didn't let the girls run through the tunnel this year, even though they had every other year, so this was disappointing. Nevertheless, they had a good time.

Football & Cheerleading 2010 Part 5 - Regular Season Games

2011-01-20T12:47:00.000-06:00

Here are some of the fabulous things that we take pictures of at football games. Like Bug getting to be one of the captains for the coin toss, or Lil' C turned around or with pom-poms in her face, or Pinky Lee screaming at Lil' C because she didn't share the ring pop, or Boo trying to eat discarded peanut shells from the bleachers! I've spared you the pictures of clouds and people's feet. You're welcome!

Shiny New Pretties

2011-01-20T11:11:00.000-06:00

I have finally arrived to the party. I'm a little late. Okay, a lot late. What party you ask? Why, the smartphone party of course! Check out this cute little phone I got last night:

The Motorola Citrus (it's powered by Android)

I've sort of resisted the whole smartphone thing because I really just wanted a phone that made phone calls and maybe a few texts to the hubs. Last time I got a phone I got the Samsung Alias (now called the Zeal, for whatever reason) which had this ultra cool keypad that rotated...but not on a touchscreen. I really liked it. Then the day after we arrived here in New York it fell out of my pocket & I ran it over with the car. Suprisingly, that caused little damage. A few days after that Boo put it in a glass of water. That caused quite a bit of damage. My really cool keypad no longer had images and the phone turned itself on and off randomly. I had to try to dial from memory, and we all know how great my memory is! Then, sadly, the battery died in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago & I never could get it to turn back on. :(

So I've been cell phoneless for awhile. It hasn't been all that bad. I was holding out until my upgrade came available which luckily was just a few days ago, so we went phone shopping last night. I was also really considering waiting for the iPhone. Guess what the best part of this new phone is? Guess, guess! I bet you'll never guess!

It cost $0.00 for 2 phones!!!

I know, right? Oh, so exciting! That totally beats the $299 iPhone! (I had no idea the iPhone was going to cost that much until I got there last night). Only problem is they just added the new plan to my old plan instead of replacing it, so we need to get that fixed.

So for all you smartypants smartphone users out there: How do you access your applications (i.e. games) on Facebook??? :)

Other People's Craftiness - Valentines

2011-01-19T09:33:00.000-06:00

In lieu of my own craftiness :( I would like to share a fabulous blog that I just found that is a plethora of awesomeness all in one place! Today's Top 20 shares all the cool stuff from blog land in one place. I am particularly smitten with these adorable valentines from Style Crush. "You are the cheese to my macaroni" had me laughing hysterically for several minutes. I just found out that's a quote from the movie Juno, but since I've never seen that movie, I didn't know. I find it terribly funny, though.

Speaking of Valentines, I'm a sucker for cute and original. No more store bought cartoon characters for us. Not that we give out a whole lot of Valentines anymore, but hey. Check out these awesome iPhone Valentines from Living Locurto:

They are actually covers for candy heart boxes! So clever! She has lots of cool designs on her site.

Hopefully soon, I will have my own craftiness to share. Until then, enjoy these other talented people!

Tuesday's True Confession: I Forget...

2011-01-18T10:15:00.000-06:00

Thanks to shrinkingjeans.net for the graphic.

I confess, sometimes I forget...my kids names!!! What? It's true. More often than not, it's not the actual name I can't remember, it's who the name belongs to. It's really not uncommon for me to go through all four names at least once before I either get it right or just point and say "you!" This usually happens when I'm stressed, looking at one child but speaking to another, or they are all running around and making noise...in other words, pretty much every day!

This really shouldn't happen though, because we went to great lengths to ensure that each of our children had special and unique names that were perfect for them. I'm not talking about the special and unique names you find in professional sports, like the NFL, either. Alge? D'Brickashaw? Plaxico? Although, maybe I could remember better then?

No, with my kids, each of their names has a special story. Wanna hear? Of course you do! With Bug we probably started searching for names from the time we learned I was pregnant. I wore that baby name book out. I knew that if he was a boy his middle name had to be my grandfather's name, so we had to find a first name that went well with the middle name. A little backwards, but hey. In the end, DH was ready to give in to just about anything, but then we found the perfect name. We'd never really heard of it, but knew it was perfect. Then the night before Bug was born we went to the movies and ran into a friend who told us that some guy we had gone to school with had just named their baby that! Oh my! Now, it is a very popular name, although nobody else spells theirs the same. I don't think.

Oh, Lil' Coconut. What can I say about this one? Well, the name she has now is not the name she was given upon her birth. We were having debates about what to name her right up until she was born. When she announced her arrival at the top of her lungs, DH and I agreed that she looked like a "Lola Grace", and that was the name we gave her. Apparently, I was the only one smitten with this name. The hubs was a big fan, but had some ideas about it conflicting with future baby names(imagine my rolling me eyes here). However, it was the screaming voice through the phone that I could hear from several feet away, indicating that Lola sounded like a hooker's name, that really hurt. Everyone else was more gentle, but obviously weren't fans. I was heartbroken. The hospital wouldn't let me leave until I filled out all the paperwork including her name. It took two tear filled hours to finally write down the name she has now. I still called her Lola for days. DH felt really bad & said we could change it. After only 3 days, they said it would have to go to court!?! So, I was stuck. It annoyed me to no end that I hadn't followed my heart, but over the years its grown on me. Lil' C has named her pillow pet Lola Grace and that helps. LOL

Pinky Lee was born in Hawai'i, so her name is Hawai'ian. I thought maybe we should name her Liliokalani after the queen, but got out voted there too. Actually for her, we made a (short) list of all the names we liked and then let everyone vote. We even had a poll online. I don't remember what the online poll said, but we went with the one that Bug & Lil' C liked the most. It fits her perfectly. It's beautiful and feminine & totally complements her boyish middle name. :)

Boo Boo Bear's name has the shortest & funniest story. We were a lot less serious & just kicked around a few names here and there. There was one name I really loved, but DH didn't want it as the first name, so we were back to having a middle name and needing a first name to go with it. Sound familiar? A few days before he was born we were watching a movie and one of the characters had this cute name, so we added it to the list. On the way to the hospital we decided that should be his name, and that's how our youngest son was named after a fictional character!

Good stories, no? So how could I possibly not call them the right names? I don't know. I do come by it honestly, though. I was an only child, yet people were forever calling me by someone else's name. Go figure. Thankfully, my children are not usually upset by this. They even try to help me out sometimes. Isn't that sweet? :)

Football & Cheerleading 2010 Part 4 - Hurricane Game

2011-01-13T15:42:00.001-06:00

Have you ever watched a sporting event that took place in horrible weather conditions? Ever had to play in one?

Bug had to play during a hurricane! Technically, it wasn't really a hurricane. It was just the bands of the hurricane as it unwrapped itself down in Mexico. Still, there was torential downpour for days on end, yet they did not cancel Pop Warner football. We were even late because we had to navigate flooded roads. Luckily, they didn't make the cheerleaders stand in 6 inches of water and cheer so Lil' C was spared. The rest of us found a good parking spot & kept our bee-hinds warm and dry in the car! :)

However, this is what the boys endured:

Apparently there were ants and/or other bugs floating in the water & biting the boys as they drifted by.

Every time they ran on the field, the water just shot in the air. Tackles were like water cannons. It was rather entertaining.

My tough guy after the game. :) He totally enjoyed it!

Umm, yeah...I made him strip down completely in the back end of the van & change before I let him in the car. We had to wring out his clothes! What? I wasn't the only one!
The best part? The next time we played at those fields I noticed a sign (that had been there the whole time) that read

"Do not use fields when wet"

Thankful Thursday: Unconditional Love

2011-01-13T14:26:00.001-06:00

*special THANKS to Elle's Studio for the graphic!*

On Tuesday I let out all of my pent up emotions about not being able to live up to other people's expectations of me & how that prevented me from doing certain things like posting every day & showing true emotions. Today, I want to share what I'm thankful for (and what keeps me from throwing in the towel altogether): Unconditional Love.

That love only comes from one place. My heavenly Savior, God! The rest of us just aren't capable of it, although we should never stop striving for it.

I'm thankful that God loves me just the way I am, flaws and all. I'm also thankful that he loves me too much to leave me that way. There's this nifty little guide book called the Bible that God gave to us to show us how we should live. It also tells us just how much God loves us. Yeah, I said us, because he loves YOU too! Sometimes its hard to imagine that anyone who knows everything we've done (and I do mean everything), could possibly still feel any love for us. But He does, and it's not just a smidgen of love, He's CRAZY about us! Check this out:

Beloved, let us love one another,

for love is of God;

and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

In this the love of God was manifested toward us,

that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world,

that we might live through Him.

In this is love,

not that we loved God,

but the He loved us and sent His Son to the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God loved us so,

we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:7-11

Isn't that awesome? Who of us would ever send our only son to die in order to save all of mankind? I'm guessin' nobody. God did that for you and for me and for everybody in the world. It's His special gift to us. He won't force us to take it, but all the angels will stand up and sing if you do! If you haven't already received God's special gift, please take it. You won't be sorry. You'll never ~~have~~ want to stand in a return line! If you have any questions about it, my customer service line is always open. :)

In the past, I never would have written this post because I would be too afraid of what other people thought, but because God is constantly nudging me to be better I am embracing this verse:

O my God, I trust in You;

Let me not be ashamed;

Let not my enemies triumph over me.

Psalm 25:2

Sometimes those enemies are inside of us and trusting God is the only way to triumph over them.

I realize that this post has probably been offensive to some, but I make no apologies for it. I only seek to offer what I believe is the best. thing. EVER.

And just because, I'd like to leave you with this quote that I find fascinating, although I have no idea who said it:

I'd rather live my life as though there were a God and die to find out there wasn't,

than to live my life as though there weren't a God and die to find out there was.

Tuesday's True Confession: The Trouble with Posting

2011-01-11T10:33:00.002-06:00

If you haven't read Twelve Crafts Till Christmas, you really should. The idea is simple: craft one Christmas gift each month so you're already done by the time Christmas rolls around. I love it! Also, she does this thing called Tuesday's True Confessions. I don't know if it's a thing that lots of bloggers do or just her, but I find it refreshing to know something real and true about someone on the internet. It's easy to pretend like you live in perfection when hiding behind a computer screen. Being real is really nice. Really.

So here is my first ever Tuesday True Confession:

You see, I WANT to post nearly every single day. I do, really. I have a million things I want to blog about. (okay, maybe a million is stretching it a bit, but it's a LOT). The problem comes when I start thinking I shouldn't. I shouldn't be blogging because I should be doing something more important like teaching or playing with my kids, or cleaning, or cooking, or couponing, or sewing, or crafting...and the list goes on. I mean, that's what I'm supposed to do, right? And I definitely shouldn't be blogging if its not about my kids. That would just be totally wrong.

That's probably not true at all, but that's how I feel most times. The real problem is that I'm too concerned with what other people think about me. I have spent my whole life trying to win approval from the people in my life. Usually from people who are incapable of it. Do you feel like that? Like no matter what you say or do, nothing will ever be good enough? You can never measure up to this person or that person?

I find myself feeling that way in blog land too. Although it has much more to do with the my real life people than my fellow bloggers. I'm always amazed and inspired by the bloggers who aren't afraid to tell it how it really is. I was reading this post from A Year of Slow Cooking where she confesses that she storms from the table saying she will never cook again & might have also stuck her tongue out at her family in the process. This is real life and how some of us feel sometimes. However, if I were to ever admit that I had done that, I would probably be fielding a dozen calls admonishing my parenting skills (or lack thereof) and quite possibly a visit from social services.

For those of you who have been faithful readers (thank you, thank you, thank you) you might remember this post about the Wright Brothers Museum. You'll notice that it's the "revised edition". I don't really remember what I wrote on the first edition, but i do know I express disappointment and annoyance at not being able to spend more time at the museum because the kids were ready to go. Apparently this was rude and upsetting to certain people who wasted no time in telling me so. In an effort to please I revised it. It's all very polite and smiley now.

Now let's talk about how I really feel: That day totally sucked! We only got to see about 1/4 of what was at the museum because everybody else just zoomed right on through & then wanted to leave. Some of the things in my pictures I didn't even get to see! When we visit places (especially places we're not likely to ever get back to) we like to take our time and explore everything they have to offer. If we had told our kids that the ocean would still be there later and we were going to have fun at the museum for awhile, they would have agreed and enjoyed themselves. But we weren't given that option. Then we went to the lighthouse where none of my pictures turned out which totally bummed me out. I would have loved just one semi-good picture of my kiddos in front of that lighthouse!

That's how I feel. It's over and done with & can't be changed. Please don't call or e-mail with nasty comments. Let's just be willing to accept that sometimes it's okay to be all polite and smiley. Sometimes it's okay to be really honest. Really.

Happy 1-1-11!

2011-01-01T21:19:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2011 is finding you well. As you know 2010 was an eventful year, but then again, aren't they all? :) We managed to trek our way from south Texas to south New York, survive weeks in a motel, find a rental house (which seem to be in VERY short supply here) & get a Christmas tree up just in time for Christmas Eve. Christmas was small and simple but centered on family and the all important gift of Jesus' birth. A few days ago we finally got our TV, internet & phone all hooked up. About 1/2 of all the boxes are unpacked and we're starting to get settled in. I'm thankful that my children are able to deal well with change. They've dealt with all of the ups and downs of this move really well.

New Year's is typically a time for making resolutions. I can't remember ever really following through on any resolution I've ever made, so I quit making them a few years back. I have ideas about what I'd like to accomplish in the year ahead and may set some goals for those that are really worth pursuing. Last year I had a goal of reaching 100 blog posts. I fell a bit short (although I might have made it if I hadn't taken a sabbatical...lol), so I'm going to set that goal again this year. To reach 100 post in a year, I only have to blog an average of twice a week. That seems doable. And I certainly have a lot of catching up from last year that should definitely help the count!

I want to say thank you to everyone who has stopped by my blog in the last two years! I really appreciate and enjoy knowing that you find (at least part of) my blog interesting. Please feel free to leave comments & suggestions because they totally make my day! I want this blog to be interesting to YOU, not just me. :)

THANK YOU!

MAY GOD BLESS YOU IN 2011 & ALWAYS!

We're Moving!

2010-11-29T11:58:00.001-06:00

Did you see that? We're moving(again)! This time we're headed back to New York. No, not the city. Which is good, cuz we're not really big city folk. We are planning on making many trips there, though. And no, not Fort Drum. We've been to Fort Drum. Except for the lovely friends, once is enough. And we aren't in the ARMY anymore. This time we're headed to the southwest part of the state.

Oh, and we're leaving in a week and a half. 11 days. It's all been a bit rushed. We only found out for sure about 2 weeks ago. Did you know that moving yourself really sucks? We're used to the ARMY movers coming in and packing everything in 2 days & all we have to do is clean. This is way more time consuming when it's just 1-2 people (plus 4 little non-helpers who like to take stuff back out of boxes when you're not looking). It does have advantages though. I'm not going to pack pictures with silverware or a trashcan full of trash. Plus, you get to see everything you own & realize you have way to much junk and can get rid of tons of stuff. I have way too much junk. The people at Goodwill know us by sight now. When we only bring a few bags they've actually asked "Is that all today?". Yup. For today. LOL

I've been trying to load pictures onto photobucket for my slideshows, but they aren't all loading for some reason. That's why I haven't posted anything lately. I'm trying to pare down to just a few instead of a slideshow, but that's really hard for me. I like displaying ALL of my good pictures. But I will try. Once we leave I don't know how long it will be before we have internet access again, so I want to get as much posted as I can before we go. Here's hoping!

Football & Cheerleading 2010 Part 3 - Pep Rally

2010-11-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

Every year we have to buy "Pep Rally" outfits that the cheerleading coordinator swears we'll wear every week. Every year, it never fails, we have ONE pep rally and never wear the outfits again. This is something I totally do not understand. Anywaaaayyyy........

Each cheer group gets up in front of the football players and parents & performs a couple cheers. The president of our Pop Warner group gets up and says a few words. The coaches say a few words. Then they drag out the high school football players to say a few words. The high school cheerleaders used to show up, but apparently they were busy this year.

The board members grill hot dogs. Everybody hopes there will be enough after the the high schoolers go through the line. Then all the kiddos get out there and do this (line) dance to some song whose lyrics are solely dedicated to telling you how to do the dance. I don't know the name of it. Maybe it's called "To the left, to the left, to the left, to the left, to the right, to the right, to the right, to the right." Although that may be too long for a song title. It is funny to watch all those kids trying to do dance in sync. Especially the football players. :)

2010-11-05T15:41:00.001-05:00

Cowboys Training Camp 2010

2010-11-05T13:15:00.000-05:00

On August 1st we attended the Dallas Cowboys Training Camp in San Antonio. This was a day filled with many, many, MANY ups and downs. It was certainly a once in a lifetime event...not because we couldn't go again, but probably because we won't go again. Seeing all the players up close and personal was super exciting. Getting autographs was cool. Standing in 100+ degree heat for hours on end & fighting the psychotic fans who are willing to knock down women holding small children to get an autograph is not cool.

At any rate, we did get a bunch of photos, a couple autographs & some interesting memories. It's probably best to go with the mindset that you're just going to watch them practice and have no desire to get autographs.
Please excuse the terrible picture quality. I left our camera at home and when we went to Wal-Mart to pick up something else, found the photo section to be closed after 9 o'clock at night. At a 24 hour Wal-Mart. This made absolutely no sense to me & upset me greatly. We had to settle for the little $3 disposable 35mm cameras and the dark, grainy pictures as a result. So sorry. :(

2010-11-05T12:51:00.001-05:00

Football & Cheerleading 2010 Part 2 - Scrimmage Trip

2010-11-02T16:52:00.001-05:00

Last year when Bug's football team played their "Superbowl", they played a team from Mission, Texas who isn't in our division. This year, they invited a bunch of teams from other divisions to participate in a pre-season scrimmage in their town. The teams played about 30 minutes against each other then switched teams. It was good practice for them.

Mission is several hours away & we weren't playing until the afternoon, so everybody just stayed the night down there. The hotel we stayed at had tiny rooms with only 2 double beds, so the 6 of us were very squished that night. They also had a very small pool, but we managed to get in right before check-out when there wasn't anybody in there, so the kids got to have fun. Boo Boo Bear just kept jumping right in when no one was near him and nearly drowned twice, but it didn't slow him down at all! Apparently he's a fish like Bug & Lil' Coconut. Pinks is a bit more cautious.

There was this awesome police car in a parking lot that half was painted as a cop car & half as a taxi cab. We circled back around to get a closer look because it was a little confusing at first, but upon closer inspection found that it was a reminder not to drive drunk! Very cool.

2010-11-02T15:56:00.001-05:00

Flower Shirt for Mama!

2010-10-13T11:12:00.001-05:00

It's not often that I make something for myself. It's even more rare that I take pictures of myself (or even allow myself to be in them!), but here ya go!

I made this shirt months ago and it was the first shirt I ever made. That collar was somethin' else to make. I'm really not very good at gathering. I would much rather pleat. This is from the McCall's M5640 pattern. Looks cute enough on the cover model, but it turned out like a big tent! I wore it that way for quite awhile until I realized that the back really did look like a big flowery circus tent. Then I saw on someone's blog how they fitted a shirt on themselves, so I tried it out.
Turn the shirt inside out, put it on & go stand in front of the mirror. Carefully pin the shirt until it fits the way you want it to. Then very, VERY carefully take it back off, sew and/or cut as needed. I tapered 3 inches in the middle on each side so that it went from looking like this / \ to looking more like this ) ( This has now caused some funny little extra folds on the sides at the bottom, but is now much more flattering.

I bought a bunch of patterns for myself when they were .99 cents a piece, but haven't made anything else yet. (I did re-fashion a t-shirt for myself, which I may show later.)

I have a bunch of this fabric leftover so I am thinking about making the girls some matching peasant dresses. What do you think? Do you know of a really cute pattern that would work for this material?

I was featured!

2010-10-13T10:31:00.000-05:00

The Train To Crazy featured my pleated t-shirt dress on Make It Wear It! I am so excited! I may have to link up more often.

Thank you Andrea from Train to Crazy!

4th of July outfits

2010-10-13T10:08:00.000-05:00

The 4th of July oufits!

Finally!

I {heart} red, white & blue!

The boys shorts were SO super easy! They were made from CarlaC's Easy Fit Pants pattern. It took me about an hour to make both pairs of shorts. Don't let that beautiful patchwork fool you, I didn't do all that! I bought the fabric already all patchworked up. Do you think patchworked is a word? I'm gonna say yes.

I did find that the waist on these pants is a little too long for my taste, so I shortened Boo Boo Bear's. Bug, however liked it just fine, so I left it. Apparently, it's a matter of personal opinion & can easily be tailored to fit the wearer. I'm thinking about buying this pattern for adults, too. It's nice that it can be used for both genders!

Oh, these dresses were so frustrating! Unlike the one hour shorts, these things took days to make. This is probably due to the fact that I sort of made it up as I went along. I had a vision in mind, but no pattern that matched. I made the halter top from McCall's M5419 pattern, then extended it to ankle length & added a 4 inch ruffle. It turned out nothing like I imagined, but still cute.

4th of July

2010-10-07T12:14:00.000-05:00

Luckily, during my blogging strike I was still making digital layouts, so I can remember what we did over 3 months ago! We took the kids down to Corpus Christi because they always have fun stuff for the kids to do. The kids activities this year were good (check out my girlies climbing rocks in dresses!), but the parade was less than mediocre. There was literally like 10 entries. Last year there was closer to 100! I'm not sure what the problem was, but I was very disappointed. It was so super hot & we had been sitting out there waiting after doing all the activities just to watch a 15 minute parade. Frustrating. The kids enjoyed what there was though, so all good, I guess.

The kids loved the pony rides!

(good thing too, because we waited for over 30 minutes!)

Later, we went over to the USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier turned museum, to watch the fireworks. They launch them from the end of the ship, so you can sit on the beach & watch them right overhead. This was our first year to watch them from this vantage point and it was AWESOME! Other than the noise, the kids loved the fireworks, so it was a great day!

*Coming up next, the kids 4th of July outfits!*

Football & Cheerleading 2010 Part 1 - Watermelon Social

2010-09-30T13:35:00.003-05:00

We started out our football and cheerleading season back in the summer with a car wash & bake sale fundraiser. A lot of girls showed up, but Bug was the ONLY football player there. Go figure. I'm betting that the $$ got split between the two groups even though only one group participated. Maybe I'm just too cynical. I snapped one whole picture of my kids working, because I knew I'd probably never catch them washing MY car with that much enthusiasm!

They must first complete two weeks of conditioning before they are allowed to have normal practices. At the end of these two weeks, the high school football players and cheerleaders invite the little people to join them for a watermelon social. It's a tradition. They are all supposed to meet and mingle while eating watermelon. I'm not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but the high schoolers don't really interact with the kids. There's watermelon, but no social. A bummer really, because those big kids could pass on all the infinite knowledge they think they have to fresh, young minds eager for...anything. Hmmm. At any rate, my kids had fun devouring enormous slice after enormous slice of watermelon, getting ridiculously sticky & running around the adults and high schoolers like we were some kind of human maze. Good times. :)

2010-09-30T13:28:00.001-05:00

Confessions of a Lazy Crafter & A Project!

2010-09-29T14:01:00.006-05:00

I really must stop lying. I promised you way back on the 16th that I would be back later that day with something. Anything! What day is it now? LOL

I also must confess that I have not sewn, crafted, blogged, or even looked at all my favorite crafty blogs in weeks. Instead I have been spending insane, ridiculous & shameful amounts of time playing games on the computer. My stress is at an all time high right now & instead of being creative as a means of coping, I'm escaping. Does that sound healthy? Yeah, I didn't think so. Anyway, I decided to do something different (for at least part of the day, LOL) by uploading all my pictures, looking at a few crafty blogs & actually blogging. Shocking, I know.

The first blog I looked at today was Brown Paper Packages. I love this blog because there are so many useful projects on here. And since today is Wednesday, Leisel is hosting Wardrobe Wednesday. It's a time for crafty people to show off the things they've made to be worn. I've been wanting to join in since I first saw it, but since I never get around to posting the things I've made, I never entered. TODAY IS THE DAY!

NOTE: I am also linking up to Make It, Wear It at The Train to Crazy! (Also, a fabulous blog!)

I saw this awesome Pleated T-Shirt Tutorial from Create & Delegate and knew I wanted to make Pinky Lee a special outfit for football & cheerleading. Last year she just wore Lil' Coconut's old cheer uniform, but I wanted her to have something unique this year.

TA-DA!Isn't she just adorable???
Quite the model.

In action!

I love it, she loves it, and we got a lot of compliments on it. This won't be the last time you see this pattern because I am in love with it! Ooooh, that sounded like a promise on my part. Let me rephrase: You may or may not see more dresses of the pleated t-shirt variety. This will depend on my making more (which I have), taking pictures (which I have not), uploading pictures, editing pictures, and finally blogging about said dress and pictures.

For now, please enjoy this one & don't forget to enjoy everyone else's project entries here:

The Ike Special - Varsity Edition

2010-09-28T11:44:00.001-05:00

Okay, who saw this awesomeness on the Yahoo homepage? If not you must watch! I cried through my laughter. It's so super sweet. These boys rock!

There is good in the world after all.

Just checking in!

2010-09-16T11:30:00.002-05:00

We've been super busy again! Granny & Papa visited us for 8 days. We had a great time with them & as always, I have pictures of that to share. We're also back in the full swing of football and cheerleading again and I am so excited to tell you about what happened at Saturday's game. As soon as I load the pictures. We have lots of things to catch up on, but I will try to be back later today to post something!

Oh, yeah. I have a big announcement coming soon. I have a few more kinks to work out. Please check back often to see what it is! Thanks!

Goodbye Stella

2010-09-01T11:32:00.004-05:00

Our beloved Stella went to puppy heaven this weekend. We are very sad & will miss her very much. She was a great dog and the only pet our kids have ever had.
We got Stella about 6 years ago when DH was deployed to Afghanistan. Bug kept asking for either a dog or a little brother, so I went with the dog. Our daycare provider knew of some people who needed to find a good home for a nice doggy because their new foster child was allergic to furry animals. I fell in love with Stella immediately & brought her home. Bug & Lil' C were ecstatic.

About a year ago, Stella went blind. We don't really know why, but she never did regain her sight. These pictures were taken with her back in April when she got really sick and the vet thought maybe it was something neurological and uncurable, but she recovered after treatment for an infection. She endured a lot, but was always affectionate, loving & loyal.

If you've ever lost a pet, you know how hard it can be. We've been uncertain of how to handle it with all the kiddos, but are figuring it out as we go. Bug and Lil' C are super sad, Boo is too young to understand, and Pinky Lee keeps asking when Stella can come back. That makes me super sad.

Goodbye Stella. We miss you & will never forget you.

2010-08-24T16:53:00.001-05:00

Baseball 2010

2010-08-24T11:05:00.005-05:00

Bug played baseball again this year. Lil' Coconut did not. This makes me doubly (is this a word?) sad that we lost all of the pictures from last year. We did get pictures from this year though & you can see them in the slideshow ~~below~~ .above. (Because every time I try to label my slideshows it makes them not show up...this makes me insane!) This year, Daddy was Bug's coach. This was both good and bad. Good because Daddy is a great coach. Bad because we don't think Bug played to his full potential because Daddy was his coach. Plus, Dad had to umpire either the game before or after each of our games. For some reason they couldn't get official umpires this year, so the coaches were supposed to fill in & they would get paid. Well, they didn't get paid, most of the coaches didn't bother to umpire which left Dad all by himself on the field sometimes, & holy heck batman can some adults spoil a good time! Daddy's not sure he wants to put up with all the negatives of coaching again next year, but he has a few months to think on it.

This year was also totally different because Bug went from coach pitch to the minors. It went from being really fun & learning how to play the game, to MLB intensity with the addition of score keeping. We were shocked at our first game when the other team spent the entire game stealing bases. Some kid tried to steal home on a walk. Yeah. Wasn't just that team either, it was every team but ours. Oddly enough, we hadn't taught our team to steal bases. We thought 8-11 year-olds should still be learning the fundamentals of baseball instead of just learning how to win. Who knew?

At any rate, Bug seemed to have fun, and THAT is the whole point!!

I Will Survive- Homeschool Version

2010-08-23T13:54:00.001-05:00

I received the link to this video from our home school group leader, and as today is our first day of school (plus one of my favorite songs EVAH...did I mention I saw Gloria Gaynor perform this live once?) I thought it would be appropriate.

1st Day of School!

2010-08-23T13:46:00.003-05:00

We started the main part of our curriculum today! Last year's curriculum was great, but not for us. It involved way too much time on my part & lots of reading aloud, which sounds really nice, but didn't work so well with two little people running around and screaming. Very hard to concentrate on history, science and whatnot with all that commotion.

Now we are using Switched On Schoolhouse (SOS) by Alpha Omega. Bug and Lil'C are most excited about having their own computers & doing school on them. I am most excited about the absence of papers and paperwork. We STILL have paperwork from last year all over my desk & the family room.

We have other "electives" like handwriting, art & life skills that we will be starting later. I will try to take pix of everything and post them. Pinky Lee will also be starting some preschool things, but for now she is learning her colors and counting by playing Candy Land, the Winnie the Pooh edition! Here are Lil'C and Bug hard at work.

(Please excuse the messy craft room...the new arrangement is NOT working out)

Coupon Sorter

2010-08-19T11:04:00.005-05:00

If you're a coupon user, you've probably seen those advertisements for coupon sorting mats. They look really cool, but they want like $20 or more for them. I think this is silly. So being the frugal crafter I am, I decided to make my own and it was super simple!I used the Printable Journaling Cards from Jessica Sprague, adding the titles that I use to divide my coupons. Using packing tape, I put 4 open file folders together (you may need more or less depending on how many categories you have), then covered those with 8 sheets of coordinating chocolate brown scrapbook paper. Evenly space the titles & give everything a good cover of tape to hold it in place. Then try to figure out how to fold it all back up & VOILA! A coupon sorter on the cheap!
Happy couponing & crafting!

5:56 AM

2010-08-18T05:56:00.002-05:00

I'm awake! I'm awake! I just wanted to have at least one post in my life that showed that sometimes I get up before 9 am!

The Big 1-0!

2010-08-16T09:21:00.003-05:00

A Decade! Double Digits!

Bug turned 10 last month! It was fairly traumatic for me, but he thought it was the coolest thing ever. I can still remember the day he was born. Like it was yesterday. Wanna hear it???

We celebrated with pizza & cupcakes after baseball practice one night, but I forgot the camera.

On his actual birthday, Bug helped make this Marshmallow Cake from MADE. The first night we made it, it was only so-so, but after sitting in the fridge all night? SOOOO good. My pictures do this cake no justice. You MUST go see hers. I'm sure this isn't the only yummy thing you'll find there. Daddy & Bug lighting 10 candles!!

My handsome young man!

Make a wish birthday boy!

My cutie-patootie crew sharing in Bug's birthday joy!

BTW, why is that when little boys turn not so little, all we can think of to get them is money? Hmm, there must be a solution somewhere! Gotta figure out something before Christmas. Any ideas?

Gifts for twin baby girls

2010-08-11T15:59:00.005-05:00

A friend of mine recently gave birth to two adorable baby girls (Okay, I haven't seen them yet, but I'm SURE they're adorable!) bringing their family size to a grand total of 6! Yea for families with four kids! LOL! Anywho, I wasn't really sure what they needed, so I decided flex my creative muscle & borrow ideas from all the talented crafters in blog land.

I have been wanting to use these gorgeous fabrics ever since I saw them, but didn't have any need to. Now I do! My first project: Burp Cloths! These burp cloths were made from a free pattern at You Can Make This. My kids think they look like dog bones, but they are the perfect fit over your shoulder. I used the fringe idea from Homemade by Jill to make them even more cute and for ease in sewing.
It's like a burp cloth sandwich. Tee hee.

One side has the beautiful girly girl cotton fabric, while the other side has soft flannel.

And now for something completely different...an idea of my own! Bath mitts! This was super easy & they are super cute. I may just give you a little tutorial (although I'm sure you could figure it out on your own) mostly so I can help you avoid the mistakes I made (although I'm sure you wouldn't make a mistake in the first place, right?)

Then there's the showstoppers!

Okay, that may be a bit over dramatic, but these were a real labor of love. I learned to use my embroidery machine with these. I ruined one & had to start over. I broke two machine needles. That was just for the monograms.

Then there were the ruffles.

Check out those frou frou ruffly butts! Oh my! I used this tutorial from UCreate. This was WAY harder than it should have been. I'm hoping that's just because I used satin ribbon & not because I'm a poor seamstress! :O

It's supposed to have 3 rows of ruffles each, but I stopped after just 2.
Oh, well. They are adorable now & I'm sure she'll appreciate them!

Memorial Day 2010

2010-08-11T15:06:00.004-05:00

Yes, Memorial Day was a looong time ago, but I made this really cute layout that I wanted to share with you!

*If you see a template, digi design, or font you like anywhere on my blog, just ask & I'll tell you where you can find it too!

A New Addition

2010-08-09T17:08:00.007-05:00

To my craft room, that is. Look at this little beauty! It's the Singer Future SES2000. It's my birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, birthday & Christmas present all in one. Yes, it was still that expensive even though we got a great deal on it. (My husband loves me!)

This thing does it all. Sewing, serging & embroidery! I'll be honest. I haven't quite figured out yet how it does the serging, but I'll get around to it eventually. It took me two solid days to figure out the embroidery feature, but I did & I can't wait to show you what I made! I just need to take some pictures. Oh yeah, it sews too, so I've been doing a little of that.

I always thought my inability to sew a straight line was related to the fact that I can neither draw nor cut a straight line. Ha! Incredibly enough, I can sew a straight line on this machine. Maybe it's because I don't have to tug and pull my material through when there are multiple layers. And by multiple layers, I mean more than one. Who sews through just one layer of fabric all the time? Oh well, no worries now! If you have any questions about my fancy schmancy new machine, just let me know. I'll do my best to answer!

That sweet DH of mine came home from work last week to find the craft room (which is like a sitting room of sorts to our bedroom) completely torn apart, with only a small pathway to the bathroom and the bedroom. Sometime around lunch I had decided I needed to make room for my new machine & the laptop (because you have to be connected to the computer while doing embroidery), which meant I needed to bring in more work space in the form of two desks. While this is a large room, there are multiple windows and doorways to contend with, as well as keeping the outlets accessible. I had already moved every piece of furniture at least once, if not 2 or 3 times. Nothing was working. Finally we settled on something that at least seemed functional, put everything away, and called it a day.

Now I've had a chance to test that arrangement out. Yeah, um...not so much. I'm open to ideas. If you have a really cool crafting room, or you know where I can go to look, PLEASE tell me!

Words to live by

2010-08-07T18:04:00.003-05:00

Break time's over!

2010-08-07T17:20:00.003-05:00

I'm back! I've really missed blogging, but it took me a while to just figure it all out. I needed to decide what was really important to me (and why), and let everything else go. I'm still working on that! As it turns out, blogging is important to me, but I was doing it for other people. Now, I'm going to do it for me. Sounds a little selfish, huh? Hmm...well, I'm hoping that blogging about what I like just might be interesting to you, too. That is, if anyone is still out there. Are you out there???

*crickets chirping*

For those of you still here, there have been so many things going on here at the Beaz Hive that I will tell you all about. We have been very busy beaz these past few months! We've celebrated holidays, a milestone birthday, played and watched baseball, and we've spent oodles of hours at the library. These updates are going to come quite randomly rather than chronologically just because some things are ready to post & some aren't.

Now for the change. This blog will no longer (solely) be about my sweet, adorable and incredibly smart children. It will now be (mostly) about my love of crafting. I love to craft. All kinds of crafting. And I've discovered a whole community of crafty blogs that I can't wait to share with you. I'll be sharing whatever happens to be interesting, and for those of you who are here just to see the baby beaz...I find them interesting too! ;)

It's not really goodbye...

2010-05-12T07:32:00.002-05:00

It really annoys me when I go to people's blogs and they've just disappeared without any explanation. That's what I've done here, and I apologize. It seems as though (although I'm sure it isn't) that the world is conspiring against my blogging right now. I really enjoy blogging & I plan on posting again in the future, but I don't really know when that might be. So, farewell for now.

A Funny Story

2010-03-30T14:36:00.002-05:00

The other night I made cookies on a piece of aluminum foil rather than a cookie sheet (I hate doing dishes) and when I pulled them out, a corner ripped dropping several cookies down inside the oven. Today, I turned on the oven to make lunch & could smell smoke after a few minutes. That's when I remembered that I forgot to clean up the cookie mess. But when I opened the oven door, there were flames!!! The leftover cookies were on fire! I dumped baking soda on them, turned on all the fans & waved the door opened and closed to get all the smoke out. Luckily, Boo Boo Bear had dumped out half a bottle of carpet deodorizer earlier in the day, so the two smells sort of mellowed each other out.

It's A Wild Rumpus!

2010-02-25T09:22:00.012-06:00

To celebrate Pinky Lee's 4th birthday and Boo Boo Bear's 2nd birthday we decided to throw a Wild Rumpus based on Maurice Sendak's classic children's book "Where The Wild Things Are". Pinky Lee loves this book, especially when we do the wild rumpus!
I spent three weeks planning and crafting for the event, but somehow managed to not get everything done come party day. That is what comes from wanting to do to much. However, all of the kiddos had a great time & most of what I tried to accomplish turned out. Here are some really great websites that I got most of my ideas from. I think I remembered all of them. Thank you to everyone who had great ideas for me to borrow!

My Rumpus - masks, boat & clipart

Metro Baby - magnets (I made these, but didn't get any pictures!)

Toy A Day - again, no pictures. Look for all 3 (Max, Moishe & Sipi) on his site

Caitlin Creer - bubble wrappers (nope, no pictures...but mine were orange with polka dots that resembled bubbles & had the same words as hers)

All of the following websites have great inspiration as well: Hostess with the Mostess, Simply Creative Insanity, Gauhaus, Creative Party Place , Mommy Star, Party Perfect, Skip to My Lou, Se7en, Fantasy Jr., and Story Connection Blog

I'm sure there are plenty of others out there, but these are the ones I found. Please check them out & explore their sites because they've got good stuff!

Here are the things I did:

The King of All Wild Things Tent

Here is my interpretation of the King of All Wild Things tent. I was drawing on the colors from the book & found these gorgeous fabrics. The top is supposed to come up higher, but I was working without a pattern & was off in my measurements. Oh well, still cute, the kids think it's fun & it's about to be a nice addition to the family room.

The Boat
In the story, Max reaches the island of wild things by sailing in his little red sailboat. Without it, this party would have been incomplete. Each of the guests got their picture taken in it. The credit for this project goes to my DH, and he did a great job!

Cupcakes

I was so behind on party day, that I had to frost these as the guests were arriving :0! My plastic bags that I was using to frost both ripped, which has never happened before, so they just got smeared with icing using my giant spatula. Not ideal. However, they were still quite yummy. Knowing I needed to use three cake mixes, I made layered vanilla, strawberry and chocolate cupcakes. The wrappers and the toppers are so cute though. I wish I had better pictures of them. The toppers are various monster faces or "Where the Wild Things Are". The wrappers say "I'll Eat You Up!"

Wild Rumpus Banner

The Thank You Cards

I made these thank you cards THEN realized that I didn't have envelopes that would hold them. So I had to make them by hand. It was more involved than I imagined since I had to make my own template. After completing all the envelopes I felt they were still lacking, so i made a collage of party pictures in black and white to line the inside of the envelope. The thank you cards have two pictures of the party guest, the group photo & one each of Boo Boo and Pinks.

The Invitations

For the invitations, I just used some clip art from the book (courtesy of Nat from My Rumpus), then added my own text, using lines from the story.

Other projects not pictured: magnets, bubble wrappers, personalized treat bag labels, food label cards with cutesy names like Monster Mac n' Cheese, decorate your own crowns & paper toys.

My Wild Things

The first slideshow is of each partygoers pictures in the boat (plus some others). The second slideshow is everything else at the party. There are lots of pictures so be prepared for it to take a while to load. Oh, and look for the cute little "Wild Thing" t-shirts I made for Pinks & Boo!

I hope you enjoyed seeing our Wild Rumpus!

2010-02-25T09:19:00.001-06:00

2010-02-25T09:18:00.001-06:00

Superbowl XLIV Party

2010-02-19T12:33:00.008-06:00

What would the Superbowl be without a party? Just another football game. And that is why we had a party! Woohoo!

Party Animals:

Supercool Homemade Decorations:

Yummy Foods:

Football shaped brownies, 7 layer dip (7 layers of deliciousness, my friends), chicken wings, veggies, and more!

My Favorite Superbowl Commercial

2010-02-10T09:33:00.002-06:00

I love the Superbowl and I (mostly) love the commercials. My favorite one came from HEB this year. Since HEB is a grocery store located mainly in south Texas, not everyone got to enjoy this. I took me a while to find it, but here it is: Status Meeting

Now everything makes sense!

Let me know what you think about my favorite Superbowl ad, and tell me what YOUR favorite commercial was this year.

Focus on the Family

2010-02-09T16:50:00.003-06:00

These are the last of our vacation photos. On our way home, we stopped in Colorado Springs to visit Focus on the Family. I always just thought it was a Christian publishing company, but they have a college, huge bookstore, and a very, very cool play place. We spent hours there! The big kids got to ride on a two story slide that goes OUTSIDE the building, while the little kids had their own little camp themed room to play in. There were themed areas for different scenes from "Adventures in Odyssey", and a special room for "The Chronicles of Narnia" where you actually got to walk through the wardrobe and into Narnia. How cool! They also had several different scavenger hunts and we decided to do all four of them. We walked around in circles looking for stuff forever, but finally found everything. I think. It was so fun though, and the kids had a great time. If you ever end up in Colorado Springs, go check it out. Did I mention it was free?

2010-02-09T16:49:00.001-06:00

Snow Day

2010-02-09T16:26:00.002-06:00

Other than Christmas Day, the only day it snowed was the day we were leaving. Can you believe that? The kids were so excited that they just ran right out without being properly dressed for the weather. Of course, they don’t really know that without hats and gloves they’ll freeze to death. Pinky Lee was happy to put hers on, but Boo Boo Bear had been opposed to his from the first time we tried to put them on. So he had a great time right up until he tried touching the snow with his bare hands. Lucky for him, Papa was right there to make everything all better!

Our Hometown

2010-02-09T15:47:00.002-06:00

The hubs and I spent a good deal of our childhood growing up in the quaint little town of Anaconda, Montana. Although you've probably never heard of it, it is home to the world's largest smoke stack. It was once used in the copper smelting business. Fun fact: It is so large that the Washington Monument would fit inside. Here is some more interesting info on Wikipedia. You can't see it in this picture, but there remains large amounts of black slag (leftovers from the smelting process that resembles sand) forming the small hills below the stack. Jack Nicklaus used it for the sand traps in the "Old Works" golf course he designed there. Here is the football stadium for the high school. Trust me, this is a huge, awesome football field for our little town. I froze my patuschka many times on those bleachers while in the band.
This is the high school. The founder of our town, Marcus Daly, wanted to name it Copperopolis. Sadly, this name was already taken. (?) So he named it Anaconda. Later on, someone in their infinite (and humorous) wisdom decided to name our mascot the Copperheads. Go ahead. Think about it for a minute. The Anaconda Copperheads.
On a side note, this is where DH and I met. 9th grade algebra class. He annoyed me every single day, and every single day I told him how much I disliked him in a variety of ways. Good thing he never stopped trying!

I was planning on taking all kinds of pictures that day, we didn't get many opportunities during daylight, and just because I know you're dying to find out more about our hometown, here is some more info.
What's cool about your hometown?

Visiting Grandma W.

2010-02-09T15:25:00.002-06:00

We drove over to Anaconda to visit Grandma W. one day while we were in Montana. Not realizing that we were coming that day, she was at doctor appointments in Butte! So we visited some other friends, at lunch at Taco Time, and then visited Grandma later in the afternoon. She was feeling pretty good, but tired from her busy day. She was very glad to see us though. At one point, Boo Boo Bear went to the living room & crawled up in the chair Grandpa Wilson used to sit in all the time & made himself right at home. It was so cute! DH called up all the aunts and uncles he could find to come over and say hi, so we got to see nearly everyone. It was a great time catching up with the family!

This Old House

2010-02-08T18:15:00.004-06:00

While driving through the mountains one day, we came across several very old cabins. This one appeared to be in the best condition. It was probably one of the first settlements in Montana, as this was a popular area for prospectors in those days. This house even came complete with its own cellar built right into the mountain.

Now if it only had a bathroom.

My Alma Mater

2010-02-08T17:29:00.002-06:00

The day after Christmas we went to Bozeman to go shopping. I didn't do much more than help my kids spend their money, but we did go to my alma mater Montana State University. There are pictures of the stadium which has been renovated since I was there, the fieldhouse, the duck pond, and the two dorms that I lived in. I spent 5 fabulously fun years there. After changing my degree from architecture (I'm not good at straight lines) to Elementary Education (with an emphasis in Library) I finally got my degree. Good times, my friend, good times.

Christmas Day/4 Wheelin'

2010-02-08T16:40:00.003-06:00

I'd like to set the record straigt here. I am not afraid of 4 wheelers or riding on them. I AM afraid of my very-small-compared-to-the-4-wheeler children riding on them. Of course, that was the activity of choice for Christmas day. Nearly everyone went. My lack of wanting to go was taken as a fear. It was merely sensibility. The temperature was hovering somewhere below freezing, there was a light snowfall, and inside was a nice warm fire and an afghan to finish crocheting. What would your choice have been? Anyway, every one had a good time even though in between rides they had to sit in the heated car to keep from freezing to death. Isn't Pinky Lee adorable with that huge helmet? Oh, too cute! And though there are no pictures to prove it, I did ride with DH on a warmer day.

2010-02-05T09:49:00.001-06:00

Christmas 2009 Slideshow Repost

2010-02-04T16:40:00.002-06:00

There have been problems with the slideshow every time I have loaded it and/or tried to title it. So here it is, untitled until further notice. Hopefully it will let me take care of it later. There are about 50 pictures, so it may take a while to load. Please be patient, and if it doesn't load just let me know. Thank you!

2010-02-04T16:35:00.003-06:00

Christmas 2009

2010-02-04T15:04:00.002-06:00

Yes, it's February. Yes, these are our Christmas pictures. Honestly, do you really expect something different? Didn't think so. These are all pictures from Christmas Eve. We had our big fancy Christmas dinner at the daycare house because there was more room for all the tables we needed. It was very yummy. I think we managed to take one whole picture. Apparently we were too mesmerized by the food to be bothered with cameras. Then we went to church where Papa played the drums and Drummer Boy played the guitar. We sang my most favoritest Christmas song "O, Holy Night". Several church members shared how they found Jesus in the darkest times of their lives. I was moved to tears on several occasions.
After church we went back to Granny & Papa's house where we found that Santa had come early! The kids had a great time opening their gifts and the adults had a great time watching. G.I. Joe invited one of his buddies, Little Rock from Detroit (seriously dude, you should have just let me nickname you what I wanted so that DH didn't come up with this one!) to come spend Christmas with us and got him the ultimate gift of a gift card inside ninety boxes. Ok, so it wasn't really 90, but I'm sure it felt like it. My children especially, were fascinated by the unwrapping process. Then Papa read a great story about a little boy who learns about Saint Nicholas and how we can be more giving like he was. Oh, and I remembered to take lots of pictures.

Daycare Christmas Party

2010-02-01T11:29:00.004-06:00

Granny runs a daycare, so naturally, she had a Christmas party on the last day she was open before Christmas. The little people made crafts and put together gingerbread houses. Some stayed up beautifully, others fell down. Like the one I helped Boo Boo Bear build. Too many roof decorations. Then we ate yummy pizza and cookies. Two of the adults played like big kids, and then one needed a nap. Fun day!

Daycare Christmas Party Slideshow

2010-02-01T07:24:00.002-06:00

The Grandkids

2010-02-01T06:59:00.003-06:00

This is the first time all 9 grandkids have been together. Granny and Papa were in heaven! The kids thought it was awesome to have somebody to play with all the time. In the layout above I put them in chronological order. They range in age from 10 down to 6 months, and aren't they just adorable?