Valentine's Wreath

I got this inspiration from Jen over at Tatertots and Jello!  I thought it was adorable so I decided to make one of my own.  I wanted to use a heart but I couldn't find a foam one so I ended up with a traditional circle.  I covered it in ribbon like Jen suggests and went to town folding and gluing cupcake liners.  It took a while since I used about 250 cupcake liners but it was super simple!!

I love everything about Valentine's Day especially since I adore the color RED!!  What Valentine's decor are you working on??

Are You B - U - S - Y?

This is long but definitely worth watching...

A Gentle Reminder

My Work

I have the greatest work in the world;

The job of rocking a baby to sleep,

That of guiding his tottering feet,

A baby's clothes to launder and fold,

A precious life to shape and mold,

A drink to give from a little cup,

At night his toys to gather up,

Hurts to heal and fears to quell,

A baby to keep clean and well,

A stack of diapers to put,

Oh, what a happy worthwhile day!

I am a "Mother."

I have the greatest work in to world;

A husband to encourage when things go wrong,

When he comes from work to greet with a song,

Denims and shirts to wash and mend,

A helping hand, when needed, to lend,

Three times a day is meals to cook,

To strive to be my best to look,

His back to rub at the close of the day,

For his faithfulness to God I pray,

When hubby's in the field I take lemonade,

for all these tasks his love has Paid.

I am a " Wife."

I have the greatest work in the world;

A home to keep happy, clean and bright,

Make things go smooth and strive for the right,

Jams to cook and jellies to make,

Cookies and pies and bread to bake,

Washing, ironing, and sewing to do,

So many tasks, will I ever get though?

Lettuce to wash and peas to pick,

floors to scrub, lost items to seek,

Dishes to wash and windows to shine,

These and many more tasks are mine.

I am a "Homemaker."

Help me, Father, to faithfully work,

Forgive if I unconsciously shirk,

give me the patience and love I pray,

To keep myself in duties way;

With all the hustle that each day brings

May I not neglect the needing things;

Each day to spend time alone with Thee

That Jesus Christ be seen in me.

Thank you for husband, our home, our girls and boys;

Thank you for love which brings me much joy.

Thank you , Lord.

----Mary Lou Burkholder

Well Spent Money - Gone!!

I completed the daunting task of going through my entire cupboard and throwing everything out that was expired.  I was completely amazed at the amount of food that was out of date!  WOW...

It may not look like a lot but let me tell you if I had done this when my hubby was home he would not have been happy with the money that just went in the trash!!

Post-It Holders

I finally got around to making the post-it holders that I talked about the other day and I think they turned out pretty cute for just stuff I had hanging around the house.  James wants to take two of them to give to his teachers for Valentine's Day and I thought about making them a little Valentiney but I opted not to simply because I wanted them versatile year round.

The best part was they they were super easy to make!  What do you think??

Sinful Cinnamon Rolls

I got the best cinnamon roll recipe from my friend, Shannon.  This is the first cinnamon roll recipe that I have ever tried from scratch and admit that there isn't a need to try anmore.  These are the best!!

If only you could smell the yumminess...you would be in Heaven!

My New Obsessions

I went on my normal Wal-Mart run this week and got all of the necessitities that were needed (along with some guilty pleasures).  One thing on my list was dish soap.  Now normally I have a brand that I tend to steer towards simply because I have used it for so long but I will use other brands if I have a coupon.  When it comes to dish soap I tend to buy Dawn for the most part.  Palmolive has entered our house on a few occassions but for whatever reason I usually buy Dawn.  Something new caught my eye this time and since it was "green" I decided buy.  It is absolutely AHHH-MAZING....

I bought the Water Lily scent and it "took me away".  I could have done dishes all day because the heavenly scent lasted forever!  I need those little get aways as much as I can and so I plan to purchase this FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!  Try it, see for yourself just how wonderful it is.

I feel so ecstatic because I found two AWESOME products this week.  I normally don't get on such a pedestal for anything but I just can't contain myself this week.  I have NEVER been able to clean my mirrors the way I wanted.  There is always a film that is left behind no matter what I have used from commercial to homemade products.  Nothing worked...until now!!

I found this Casabella Microfiber Glass Cleaner at Nebraska Furniture Mart and it was only $3 and it claims that you don't ever have to use any chemicals!  Hmmmm.....I figured it was worth a shot since I had tried almost everything else known to man.  IT WORKED BEAUTIFULLY!!  You can use it wet or dry and I choose wet simply because I thought it worked better.  I cleaned the one mirror in my home that REALLY needed attention (mostly due to the men in my house) and I skipped out of the bedroom and cleaned every other mirror I owned.  I will NEVER use anything else!

As James' preschooler taught him - Try it...You'll like it!  That's a promise I can keep.

Blogoshpere Finds

Through my surfing through the Blogosphere I am inspired by many crafts out there.  I have listed below some things that I think are just too cute and will attempt to make whenever I can find the time.  I have listed the links also so that you can browse and try a few.

The first is a post it note holder that I thought would be really neat to give teachers, etc for Valentines Day.  It is from Kerry's Paper Crafts and I promise you will find some other uber cool ideas if you search her site.

She also has a tutorial that shows how to make matching pens.  She has sold these at craft fairs for $4 and she always sells out!

The next is by Somewhat Simple and her Glitter Silhouttes are absolutely stunning in my opinion.  I just think these would be really neat in my entry way.

The last one I will post today, but by far the last thing I found is from Tricia at Oh So Crafty.  She created this adorable bracelet and I'm thinking you can make a matching necklace or even use beads other than pearls. 

I hope I have encouraged you to do a little crafting along with me.  Let me know what you think or feel free to pass on any cool finds that you come across while surfing the Blogosphere!

Trying My Creativity Out

Okay, I am by far a creative person.  I love crafts but I almost always have to have a pattern or recipe or something.  I have the hardest time looking at something and seeing it put to another, maybe more practical use.  I browse other blogs all of the time and just drool over all of the creations that are out there.  There are some that are just amazing to see!!  The eye that some of these women have is AMAZING to say the least.

Back to me - I had this little white basket that came in a set of two and this one wasn't being used.  I desperately wanted to "create" something with it in the hopes that my creative juices would get flowing.  I decided that the only thing around my house that "migh" work would be a place for all of my nail polish, clippers, files, etc.  I wanted a cute thing to store it all in.

This is what I came up with.  I might have picked other colors but this was what I could come up with that matched with scraps around my house.  I have to say "I like it!"  I do want to put a liner in it though to finish it off but I wanted to show you now since I was excited about it.  Maybe in the next day or two I will go through my stash of fabric and come up with a liner.

What do you think?  It's still far from the AWESOME creations I see on line, but it's a start.

Country Life is for the Dud's!

You know you live in the country when you get mail from Progressive Farmer addressed to Milk Dud.  LOL

Transcription Companies Currently Hiring

Hey Ladies!  Here are three companies that are currently hiring contractors for at home transcriptionists.  I'm sending my resumes as we speak even though I already work quite a bit for one company.  You never know what others will offer you.  Check them out if you have been considering this business venture.  My family has benefited from it for sure and if you enjoy computer work like I do, then what's to lose.

Let me know if you need help with anything.  I have been doing this for about three years now so although I'm far from being a pro at it, I can maybe help you out some!

http://www.wescribeit.com/employment/

http://www.tsitranscripts.com/careers.html

http://www.verbalink.com/transcription-jobs/

Good Luck!

50/30/20

Do you know what this is??  This is how your money SHOULD be budgeted.  I know ours isn't that way and so I am going to rework our budget and try to get it to this formula this year and I encourage you to do the same.  This is researched to be a healthy mix of where your monthly income should be going.  50% to needs, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings.  If you're spending more than 50% on your needs then maybe you're trying to keep up with the Jones' too much and need to cut back a little.  If you are spending more than 30% on wants then maybe you and your family need to indulge a "little" more.  If you are saving LESS than 20% then unfortunatel you are like many other American's and need to bump that up a bit.  Start with a little at a time and don't change everything all at once.  That's a sure fire way to fail at the new budget.

Personally, we were WAY low on the wants and we had money left over according to the nifty calculator that I found online.  Maybe I wasn't as truthful as I thought I was.  It's easy to forget the little things that you spend money on that you don't even realize.  The cappucino I used to get every morning, the tobacco that my hubby chews, the packs of gum that my daughter wants every time we go to the store.  I am sure that you can name a few of those too.

Personally I need to REALLY see where our money is going in order to make this work right.  If you don't know where it's going how can you put it in the right catergory.  A little work here will make  ahuge difference in what your budget "should" look like and what it "actually" looks like. 

I encourage you to spend the next month and track where your expenses are going and see if you are in the 50/30/20 ratio.  Take small steps and maybe make it a goal to be at the 50/30/20 budget by the end of the year.  That's what I am going to do.  Don't seta deadline that you can't meet.  It's better to set one that is reachable than one that is completely out of reach.  It's better to see yourself losing 10 pounds rather than 100.  Our budget should be looked at the same way.

Where does your money go?  Will you take the journey with me this year?  I look forward to hearing what you think :)

The Best Biscuits EVER!!

I have been in search of a biscuit recipe for several months now.  I personally know that Pillsbury Grands fits all my criteria but m y dear hubby was wanting me to make some homemade ones.  His dream is to one day open a cafe so he wanted a biscuit recipe that was the most delicious ever.

I tried about six different recipes and they never turned out quite the way I wanted.  They were either too hard, tasted like flour too much, or simply wasn't the consistency I was going for.  Every recipe spins off of a pretty basic recipe but some call for buttermilk, some do not, some call for self rising flour, some do not.  I wanted something that was SIMPLE. 

I got this recipe from my mother in laws sister and I have to say that these "Ange Biscuits" are simply divine.  They are fluffy and YUMMY!!!  The recipe does call for buttermilk which I didn't have.  If you don't have buttermilk you can take 2 cups of whole milk and add 2 T of vinegar.  Make sure this is at room temperature.  This makes it work best for some reason.  I put the milk in the microwave for about 40 seconds and then added the vinegar.  This will take the chill out of it in order to be close to room temperature.

ANGEL BISCUITS

1 envelope yeast
2 T. lukewarm water
5 c. flour
1 t. soda
3 t. baking powder
3 T. honey
1 t. salt
1 cup shortening
2 cups buttermilk

Dissolve yeast in water. Sift dry ingredients. Cut shortening into dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and honey, then yeast. Stir until flour is dampened. Knead on floured board 1/2 minute. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes. No rising is necessary. Dough can be refrigerated and used as needed for a week.
 
Good Luck!!  I hope you enjoy!!

Lego Creations

James' creation from his Christmas gifts. This is one boy toy that I can get into. I love helping him build these things. He is far better at playing with them though; I don't have near the imagination that he does.

Music Calms the Savage Beast

My Parker cries everytime we go anywhere in the car.  Wait, let me rephrase that, he SCREAMS.  Why have both of my boys done this?  We have found a solution for Parker though.  Brian downloaded a song that he found and we played it in the car one day and it calmed Parker.  TADA!!!  Everytime we drive somewhere and he starts crying we play this song and it truly calms the savage beast.  It's amazing and I don't know what it is about this song, but IT WORKS!!!  Now I just have the glory of listening to this ALL of the time!!  Whatever it takes, as long as it works, I say!

Snow Beauty!

The snow here in the Midwest seems to keep coming.  People from all over the country are facing frigid temperatures that are at record lows.  Please stay warm!  I have the priviledge of staying home to raise my wonderful children and so I can look at it from my window and take in all it's glory and not have to venture out into the crazyness.

It is so neat to me to be able to look out and see peace.  Waking up after a night's snowfall and seeing the roads and walkways untouched reminds me that God can erase all the ugliness and sin from our world.  We have the opportunity to start our day and make a new path in that snow. 

Along with the snow brings us back to being able to be a child again, or at least for a couple hours.  As I was making dinner tonight I glanced out my kitchen window and saw a young man with a dog on a leash.  The crazy part about this is that they just weren't on your typical owner/dog walk.  The young man was on skis and he flew by my window!!  He was skiing down the middle of my street.  Now while that might be a little extreme for you, and for me, he was able to make the best out of the situation.  I can guarantee you that his dog enjoyed that "walk" better than any he had gotten before and I bet I can venture to say that the young man probably enjoyed it just as much.  Just seeing him ski, in the middle of my neighborhood made me laugh and brought joy to my heart.  It was definitely funny but it also brought me a sense of peace.

Our area is expected to get ANOTHER 4-8" tomorrow.  While I could agree with most that we probably have had enough snow for the year, I will also take joy in the beauty that it brings and I hope that you do too.  What do you see when you wake up to freshly fallen snow that hasn't been touched by man?