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Thursday, March 11, 2010

burp cloths

How about these burp cloths I made for a dear friend who just adopted a sweet baby boy...
Sadly, the pictures don't do them justice.

I was so happy with how they turned out, and they were so quick & easy to make.

I used a slightly modified version of the pattern & directions found here.

Monday, March 8, 2010

hard to believe.

It's hard to believe that it's been a year today since Peppes passed away.
Sometimes it feels like just yesterday and other times it feels forever since she was here with us.

Adjusting to life without her has been difficult.
I miss her immensely, to say the least.

In her honor, last night after dinner I made a "Peppes banana pudding".
Although I had watched and helped her make many, this was the first one I made on my own.
A few tears probably dropped into the homemade pudding while I was stirring it for 15 minutes until it thickened.
Stirring the pudding was always "my job" ("the most important job") when we made it together.

It turned out pretty well considering mine will never measure up to hers.
It was a great way to remember the wonderful memories I have of her.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

random, but fun

The many uses for coffee filters .... Who knew!

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.
2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome... Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.
3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.
4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.
7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.
9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.
10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.
11.. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.
12. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. It soaks out all the grease.
13. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.
14. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.
15. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.
16. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.
17. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.
18. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies.. decreases the # of bowls to wash.
19. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.
20. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.
21. Use them to sprout seeds.. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.
22. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in phone book..
23. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.
Thanks to my mother-in-law for the tips!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

quote

Ran across this quote again today...I'd read it before & liked it, but in reading it over again tonight, it really struck a new chord with me.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain-

I definitely feel as if I'm sailing away from the "safe harbor"...it's time to explore!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

lookers, but no takers

Our house has been on the market for 8 days now...

We've had 3 showings & 39 online hits.

Seems like lots of lookers, but no takers just yet!

a taste of spring...

The weather this weekend was gorgeous...
low 60s & sunny both yesterday & today

I heard the birds out singing,
noticed my crocus blooming,
my tulips, hyacinths, & daffodils peeking out of the ground,
it's staying light out past 5:30 p.m.


Spring is indeed coming...hooray!

picture perfect...

that just about sums up our weekend.

I was off and we were in town both Saturday & Sunday for the first time in 5 weeks.
It's amazing how I have been missing the little things I love about the weekend.
It was good to get to enjoy those things this weekend, especially since the weather was awesome (finally!)...

sleeping in even if it was only 'til 8:00,
cooking breakfast for Chris & I,
walks with Sadie in the Duke Forest,
catching up on laundry,
going to church today,
enjoying lunch with friends after church,
finishing John Grisham's latest, Ford County,
reading more of C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves,
sewing,
time for blogging,
watching a movie with Chris,
going for an afternoon jog,
just relaxing in general...

feeling rested & ready for the week ahead!

Monday, February 15, 2010

official

It's official...
our house is for sale.
The sign went up Friday night.
We just got a call that we have a showing tomorrow at 1 pm.


As excited as we are for this new stage in our lives,
I am not looking forward to giving up our home.
We love our home!
It's unique & fun.
We have made so many memories here...
It will always be our 1st real home.

It's a bittersweet thing...
not looking forward to packing up the house,
moving things to a new place,
getting re-organized all over again,
being renters again...


Oh well, a home is what you make it...
I'll be blessed to have a roof over my head and my family at my side.
That's what will make our new abode our home!


will it ever stop?


These have come in handy for the last month...

It's been raining AGAIN today...
if it's not rain, it's SNOW!

I'm ready for the sunny days of spring!

skiing

We've been back from skiing in CO for over a week now & I still can't get over how fun it was.
Copper Mountain is absolutely beautiful.
The Rockies are absolutely breathtaking...
It snowed 5 out of the 6 days we were there...the biggest, most beautiful snowflakes I've ever seen!

We had such a blast!

It was my 1st time ever skiing, even though it has always been on my "bucket list"...

i was scared & intimitated at 1st,
never got used to just how heavy the ski boots are,
finally got the hang of it all about day 3,
was cruising the green slopes on day 4,
came home sore and with a few bruises, but no broken bones!

We spent 2 evenings tubing down the Coca Cola tubing hill...what fun.
I laughed the whole time like a small child!

So glad I at least tried it.
Even more glad that I loved it!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

snow, snow, snow

Over the weekend we got 7 inches of snow!

I have never had to deal with this much snow on the ground.
I've seen this much snow on the ground from a distance, but that's about it.

Normally, I wouldn't have minded a weekend full of snow, but I had to work.

So, I spent Friday & Saturday nights in a hotel across the street from Duke with my co-workers so we could all safely get to work Saturday & Sunday mornings.

Being snowed-in at a hotel with your co-workers isn't the same as being snowed-in with your husband and sweet dog by the fire at home (not saying it's not fun, just not the same!).

Luckily, the roads from our house to Duke were plowed on Sunday so Chris was able to retrieve me from work Sunday night so I could come back home.

The snow was/is beautiful...we still have probably 5 inches on the ground in our yard.

It made for some pretty pictures...





This morning we're off to Colorado where we hear there is over 2 feet of snow!

Perfect for our mission...skiing!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

deals

I love a good deal!

Check out my new fun shoes...
$8.48 on clearance at Target!

I made a Kroger run today & also found some great deals.
When you buy 10 participating items you get $5 off your total purchase.
I ended up buying 20 participating items to get $10 off...
On top of that, I had coupons for some stuff, so for instance...

Hunts canned diced tomatoes were $.49 if you bought them as part of the participating item sale.
I LOVE Hunts canned tomatoes. I use them a LOT!
I had 2 coupons for them...$.45 off of 3 & $1 off of 4.
With Kroger doubling the $.45 coupon, I got 7 cans of Hunts tomatoes for $1.53!!!
Can't beat that...

I LOVE SAVING $$$!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Queen Fest 2010

(At last I return from my blog hiatus!)
Mom, Cheri, Sissy, Jennifer & I enjoyed the long weekend at Hilton Head, S.C.
For many years my mom, Sissy, and Peppes had a tradition of going for a girls weekend.
This year, Sissy & mom invited all of us "other girls" to come along.
We missed having Abbey along but she was with us in spirit!

We had a great time eating out, shopping (lots & lots!), indulging in chocolate fondue, laughing, playing games, and recalling memories of Peppes.

Here are a couple of pictures from our "Queen Fest"...

Sunday, January 10, 2010

don't forget...

Don't forget that you can recycle the front of your Christmas cards by sending them to:

St. Jude's Ranch for Children
Recycled Card Program
100 St. Jude's Street
Boulder City, NV 89005

They allow the children to reconstruct them into new cards for various ocassions...what a good idea!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Christmas recap

Sadly, Christmas is over ...
Overall, we had a great Christmas.

It was so wonderful to visit with our families and friends for an entire week.

We were blessed with such lovely gifts from friends and family.
I can't name everything, but here's a quick run down of some new fun things I have...
*an FM transmitter so I can play my iPod in the car :-)
*the newest John Grisham & Dan Brown books
*adorable shirts and sweaters with ruffles & fun embelishments
*polka dot rain boots
*a beautiful cake plate
*The Pioneer Woman cookbook (love all the pictures!)
*a memory foam pillow (it's awesome!)
*a super adorable personalized picnic basket
*a mini-felt owl handmade by Lyndsey (I'm using as a keychain :-))
*a subscription to Food Network magazine
*ski gloves and ear muffs for my upcoming 1st ski vacation!!!
*a ski jacket
*AND...last, but definitely not least...
a pair of diamond solitaire earrings from my sweet husband
(he's such a dear)

We got back Thursday afternoon and I went back to work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so I have yet to upload any Christmas photos but plan to do so soon.

Now, it's back to "reality" again...