Just Rockin'

I have tried to convince my husband for years that I rock! Now I can stop trying to convince him because Jill has made it official! She has given me the Rockin' Girl Blogger award and all I can say is, shucks, thanks Jill! Just for the record, I think Jill rocks too! I appreciate the fact that anyone reads what I write. There are so many wonderful blogs out there and alot of the ones I read have already been nomianted. I want to try and recognize a few that I've recently come upon and love.

1. Monica over at The Homespun Heart. She has been an inspiration to me in the way that she finds pleasure in the simple things in life. I love her practical tips for making homemade things. She's creative and I know I'd love to hang out with her!

2. Jenny at Up the Hill Gang. Jenny is one of my bestest RL friends. I love this girl! She is funny as all get out, she's creative, strong, and just a fun person to be around. She homeschools and is Presbyterian, just like me! I have learned so much from this gal and can't say enough about what a special person she is. I wish you could all know her in real life. You would love her. She's just that kind of person.

3. Shawna at Scamp's Place. Shawna is such a sweet spirit and recently we have become email prayer accountability partners. I feel like I've known her for years and she looks alot like one of my best friends from high school! She's a TN girl (just like me!) and has a wonderful writing style. She can tell a story and make you feel like you're part of it.

4. Holly at Puddin' and Princess Stories. Holly is a very sweet, down to earth person. I feel very comfortable talking to her and she's given me some great tips on bug control and dieting. She introduced me to the South Beach Diet and even though I'm failing miserably at it, she's been a great source of encouragement! Thanks Holly!

5. Kelli at There's No Place Like Home. Kelli is very creative with simple things. She is a fellow homeschooler. She has opened her home and ideas so that we can all see and it always feels warm and inviting. I can see myself sitting at her table, fresh flowers from her garden adorning the table, having a nice cup of caramel vanilla tea!

There are so many other gals out there that bless me on a daily basis. They've all been nominated but I wanted to mention them so that they know they are special to me. Some of my favorite daily reads are:

Annie from My Life as Annie.

Carrie from My Lil' Corner of the World.

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane.

Stacy over at Vader's Mom.

Lauren at Baseballs & Bows.

Amberly at Moments Amid Messes.

Have a great Thursday!

Weekend Reflection # 20

It's been a little rough around our house the past two weeks but things have improved so much since the stomach bug came to visit everyone!

Around the House: Things are finally back to normal since hubs and both girls are feeling better. They have all fully recovered from the nasty stomach bug that they passed around. Thankfully, I did not get sick! Caroline had ballet and piano this week and was well enough to go! I finally got the lightening strike mess cleaned up in the backyard. We can walk out there now and Jeff was even able to mow! It took several hours of raking and picking up to get the debris cleared. Next week I'll be preparing to send Jeff off for five days to bagpipe school. He goes to Valley Crucis, NC every year for this. He loves it and learns alot! Valley Crucis is such a beautiful place and would be a great place to relax, if only he could. Instead, he'll spend a week in classes from early morning to evening, learning new bagpipe tunes and honing his skills. It is very challenging for him and he comes home pretty tired at the end of the week. It's all worth it though because it brings him so much enjoyment. Our neighbors enjoy his playing too!

In the Kitchen: I made Chocolate Lover's Cake again this weekend because we were supposed to have some out of town company. They ended up not coming so now I'm stuck with a large, double layer of chocolate goodness with raspberry preserves in the middle! Yum-O! There's no way I'm going to lose weight! Tonight we'll be trying Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwich. Amberly tried it this week so I'm trusting her recommendation (no pressure Amberly!). I have my Whisper mill pulled out and my wheat berries ready so I hope to make several loaves of bread over the next two weeks. I'll freeze some and I'm also thinking of following Monica's lead and dropping off bread baskets to our neighbors. The girls and I did make up a little basket for our new neighbor that moved in next door. Her name is Sunday and she is a very cheerful lady with a kind heart. She has been here about a month and has already invited the girls over to swim in her pool a few times. We had fun with it and put in small pizza crusts, pizza sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, M&Ms, Hershey bars, and three boxes of muffin mix. We also baked a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread and wrapped it separately. The girls delivered the basket and Sunday was delighted to receive it! She had a houseguest and we put enough in the basket to make lunch for them both. I love doing things like this! It was so much fun!

My version of Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwich: (I used steak seasoning and put them on some tasty flavored rolls that I picked up in the Walmart bakery section).

The basket for my neighbor, Sunday. I've never met anyone with her name!

Hobbies: I finished reading Redeeming Love that Shawna so graciously sent me and now hubs is having me read Animal Farm. I'm looking forward to finishing it tonight so that I can start reading the purchase I made on Saturday! Hubs was sweet enough to take me to BAM and purchased Widow of the South for me! What's even better is that it was on sale and I got the hardback for $6.50! How cool is that! I bought some material to make some tote bags too! I haven't started on them yet and I may wait until Jeff is out of town to start those. I love tote bags and they seem simple enough to make. I may use them as Christmas presents or may give them away. I'm not sure yet. I bought two different patterns that kind of capture my eclectic taste. They are so different and I had to chuckle when I looked at them! One is warm and conservative. The other is wild and wacky. I love them though and I know they'll make cute bags.

The girls continue to do well with their instruments. Caroline is learning alot in her piano class. I think she will do well if she will be patient (hard for her!) and apply herself. She tends to have a short attention span unless it comes to the computer. Logan is doing well with the guitar lessons hubs is giving her. She is currently learning Amazing Grace and seems very excited.

Other Stuff: I finally finished up our church directory on Saturday night. I guess I should say Sunday morning at 2am! It was alot of work but I am thankful for the opportunity to serve in this capacity. Shawna and I have decided to become accountability partners and that has been very helpful this past week. We will email each other once a week with specific prayer requests and then the following week we email to update each other on the progress we made. She emails me her list and I pray for her all week and vice versa. I love doing this. I also love knowing that someone is out there praying for me concerning specific things also. Shawna and I don't know each other IRL and that may be the best part! We have become friends via blogging. The blogging community in general has surprised me. It's amazing how many wonderful, sweet souls I have met. I am also continuing to do my study of The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. Jenny and Kasi (my non-blogging friend) were supposed to come to the house to do this with me but they both made up excuses, I mean, couldn't work it out to come. I've decided to forgive them for being too busy for me but they don't know what they're missing with all the good desserts I'm cookin' up over here!

I had a great week! I hope you did too! A big THANK YOU to Judi for hosting WR!

Our Square Foot Garden

I've been meaning to post about our garden for awhile now. This past week, everyone has been sick and that left me little time to post anything. However, everyone is fully recovered and I'm ready to sit down and tell you about our little endeavor.

We first heard about Square Foot Gardening from some friends at church. We had toyed with the idea of having a garden for years but didn't feel confident enough to take on a traditional garden. Jeff stays pretty busy and I was not ready to take on the task of weeding and watering all on my own. Upon recommendation, we purchased Mel Bartholomew's book and took to reading it. I jotted down some notes and a list of things we thought would be useful to our family. We then sat down and drew out a garden diagram to help us visualize what it would look like and how we would go about things. We bought some lumber and Jeff went about the business of tilling our 10x10 space.

Next, he built the frame for the garden.

I told him all of the things he was doing wrong. (LOL, just kidding but that's what it looks like I'm doing!)

We then divided the inside into 4x4 squares (roughly) and got the manure and top soil ready to put in.

Snapped a photo of my favorite man-kitty, Tumnus (I'm easily distracted when it comes to work! LOL!)

Mixed manure and top soil with the tilled up soil.

Sectioned each 4x4 square into 16-1x1 squares.

Planted the seeds and let Caroline go behind us and water.

Labeled everything and put out some moth balls to keep our cats out (They thought we had spent all day building them a giant litter box!)

The only thing we did differently is that we used existing soil mixed with manure and top soil. . We wanted to keep it simple and as cheap as possible so we didn't invest in the products the book recommended for a real, raised square foot garden. It seems to have worked well since we have cucumbers, okra, mesclun, and broccoli coming up. Most of the plants are still very immature and haven't produced veggies yet. As soon as they do, I'll post some pictures. In my opinion, the idea of square foot gardening is wonderful! You can create a weed free, easily maintainable garden with minimal labor. You can also use this method to make raised flower beds for your deck or porch. You can read more about it at the square foot gardening website. Mel has some lovely pictures of his raised flower beds that I would love to have around our house! That'll be a project for next year!

Have a great Friday!

Blessings Galore

I think if I win one more thing, I'll explode! I'm quite beside myself right now because of all the generous people I've met in blogland! I never knew blogging would be so much or that I'd forge so many friendships. I've met people from all walks of life and I feel like I know several of you really well. I have felt so blessed and on top of that, several of you have blessed me with goodies through contests you've had. I wanted to take a minute to point out all the people who've blessed me with goodies lately! I really appreciate each of you and each of these things will provide special memories for me!

First, there is Jenn from Knee Deep In Munchkinland. She had a contest that will provide me with a new blog design from Bluebird Blogs! I'm very excited and thankful that Jenn held the contest and pulled my name out of the hat! Thanks Jenn!

Next, there is Jill from Who Could Ask For Anything More. She had a book contest that will provide me with some reading material and a cute little book bag. I'm psyched about it! If you haven't visited Jill's blog, please do. She and her hubby are soooo funny! They'll keep you in stitches! Thanks Jill!

This morning it was Katrina from Callapidder Days. She also had a book contest and I'm the lucky winner of Finding Ruth. I can't wait to get it and get started. Thanks Katrina!

I also can't forget Shawna over at Scamp's Place. She was kind enough to loan me her copy of Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I loved it! I can't wait to read more things by this author. I am so thankful that Shawna was gracious enough to loan this one to me and also offer to loan me another one later on. Thanks Shawna!

After two weeks of this nasty stomach virus attacking everyone in the house, except me, and the lightening strike mess, I am thankful to have friends like you who "pick me up" just when I need it!

Have a wonderful Thursday!!

 

All Dry Now

 

Another One Bites the Dust

And another one gone, and another one gone....

Can you believe it? Things were just starting to look up around here. After a week of hubs and Caroline having a horrible stomach virus, I thought we were through. But oh no! Here it comes again. Like a bad dream. It's back in full swing and this time Logan is the lucky recipient! Now she's the one laying in the bathroom floor and look what I found a few minutes ago....

How sweet! I'm gonna roll up my sleeves and prepare myself for at least three more days of this stuff. It will be a miracle if it bypasses me, and I hope it does! I hope all of you avoid this nasty bug!

Weekend Reflection # 19

Oh the things that I have seen this week! Whew! I'm glad to see this week come to a close and a new one begin. It's been a rough one around our house this week and while I am thankful for each and every day, I'm anxious to get started on this new week!

The week began last Sunday with a wonderful worship service with our church family. The Lord's Day is my favorite day and I love that it is a day devoted entirely to worship, rest, and reflection. We did just that on Sunday and enjoyed every minute of the day. Monday and Tuesday were relatively normal days. Jeff's cousin passed away on Tuesday night. He had been sick since February with lung cancer. Docs told he and his wife on Tuesday that he had no more than two weeks to live. An hour later, he fell asleep and his heart stopped. He has a wife and three grown sons and they are all doing well. They miss him but are glad that he is no longer suffering here on earth.

Caroline had ballet on Tuesday and Jeff had bagpipe practice. Tuesday night he started to feel bad but wasn't quite sure what the problem was. By lunch time on Wednesday, the real fun began! Jeff was so sick that he could only work about half the day. The rest of the day, he was in bed feeling pretty nauseous. I don't think he ate a bite that day. Thursday was pretty much the same. He ate a bowl of soup the entire day and the rest of the time he went from his computer (trying to work) to bed.

Fast forward to 6am on Friday morning. We were awakened by a sound that would make small children run and hide! I sprang out of bed to find Caroline hugging the toilet seat giving it all she had. Thanks to her daddy, she now had the same symptoms that he had. Mind you, he was still sick as a dog. She didn't move from the bathroom all day and even slept there Friday night. Saturday morning was much the same. I was tired from being up and down with Caroline and from sleeping in the hallway floor just outside the bathroom. She spent the entire day in the bathroom floor again. She did manage to get her big sis to read to her because she was so bored from just laying in the floor. She didn't have the energy to get up and do anything! Thanks to her big sis for being a good sport and spending some quality time with her little sis! I think the dog enjoyed the Cat in the Hat books! LOL!

Before the sickness hit our family, we did manage to get out and get the furniture for our covered porch. We searched and searched and ended up getting a set from Walmart. We are happy with it. It does just what we need it to do!

We also had a pretty scary lightening storm this week. Logan happened to be outside when it started and she made a run for the house. Just as she reached the deck stairs, lightening struck a big oak tree in our back yard not far from where she was. She managed to make it up the stairs before a pretty good size limb fell down onto the stairs. We are thankful that she was unharmed and our deck was not destroyed. It was pretty scary and one of the worst lightening storms I have witnessed. I was even more afraid because not too long ago, Shawna's FIL was struck (indirectly) by lightening while standing in his kitchen!

Here's the branch that almost got Logan:

Here's a picture of the tree. Lightening hit the top of the tree and then it went all the way down the tree and blew bark off of it everywhere. Notice the big strips of bark that are missing. There are plenty of big limbs in the top of the tree that are broken and threaten to fall on our deck. We'll have to call someone to remedy that within the next few days!

It left a real mess in the yard. You can also see our new addition! We added the screened porch (where the siding is) and also the uncovered deck to the left of that.

I'm thankful for:

• God's grace and strength in my life.
• That Jeff is feeling better.
• That Caroline ate 5 chicken nuggets for supper tonight! This is the most she has eaten in three days!
• That Logan was unharmed in the lightening storm.
• That our home was unharmed in the lightening storm.
• The peaceful passing of Jeff's cousin, Mickey. His suffering is over and his body is healed. He is spending eternity with our Father in Heaven.
• That while I deserve the wrath and curse of God for my sin, He has chosen to be my Father and love me, in spite of myself.

I hope your week went well. Through all the sickness that is going on around here, I can't help but be thankful for the position God has given me. As a wife and mother, it is wonderful to be able to serve my family when they are too sick to care for themselves. I love every minute of it and wouldn't trade it for the world!

To read more WR's, visit Judi!

A Red-Hot Smokin' Event

Jill over at Who Could Ask For Anything More is hosting a red-hot smokin' monthly event called Jill's Book Bag. Each month, one lucky participant will receive Jill's pick-of-the-month book along with some other goodies, tucked into a red-hot smokin' bag! To get in on the fun, drop what you're doing and get over to her place to read the rules!