Another Week Begins...

and I am grateful. Last week was hard. I am feeling much better. I still have a nagging cough. I can go for an hour and not cough and then I will have a coughing fit. I plan to go to bed early this week and get rid of this remaining yuck.

There was more take out consumed in the last week then I want to admit. Toward the end of week Megan helped me put together a pot of vegetable soup. This is the first time that she has been able to cut.


Oh my was she excited! I purchased this knife.


She keep saying "look at my big girl knife!" It is such a joy to have her help me in the kitchen.

Friday morning we woke up to more snow. The roads were bad and Megan's school had a two hour delay which means no school for her. This is the first snow this season that was wet enough for a snowman.


Now that Megan was finally able to make her snowman I hope that there is no more snow. It is beautiful, but I have had enough this year! The good thing about this time of year is that the snow doesn't stick around long. The only snow left in the yard last night was the bottom of the snowman. Crazy time of year... snow on Friday and thunderstorms last night!

While Megan and Daddy were out playing in the snow I pulled out my sewing machine.


I don't use it as often as I would like. It is a pain to pull it out and then have to put it away when it is time to eat. I told Chuck that for a week or so it is going to sit out on the kitchen counter. I am in the middle of a project and really want to get moving on it. I hope to be able to show you some of the progress later this week.

I also receive my copy of Ann's book this weekend.


I'll let you know more when I get further along. I have already marked a couple of pages. I usually pass my books on to my mother-in-law and then she passes them on, but I think I will be asking for this one back.

It is time to get the new week started. I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Where I've Been...

Oh, how I wish I was saying somewhere warm and tropical. Or in the middle of a big project, but that is not the case. Hack, hack, cough, cough and speaking in a squeaky voice is what I have been doing this week.

I started to feel bad last Friday. Since there have been sickies around here I knew what might be coming and immediately started taking medicine. I was fighting it off and feeling pretty good until Sunday. Then it hit me hard.

I started an antibiotic on Tuesday and this morning I actually felt like I was on the mend. That lasted until about lunch time. Then all of my energy was gone. I am feeling better and hope that after a restful weekend I will be ready to go next week.

I hope that the week has been treating you well!

On It's Way!

Spring that is. While eating the other evening I saw three robin out the back door. Oh, how happy that made me. The first sign of spring! In honor of the first sign we made bird feeders.

Toilet paper rolls covered in peanut butter and then rolled in bird seed.

Since then the snow and ice has been slowly melting as the temperature rises. The past two days it has been 60*!

The last bit of snow was played in and the kitchen window was even opened some!

I know that this is just a tease and soon Old Man Winter will return and let us know that it is still his time. I will be grateful for any teaser days that come my way.

Miss Megan has been a little under the weather. She has run a fever off and on and has now developed a wonderful cough. Pain reliever, popsicles and plenty of rest have been on the agenda.

Lots of TLC and creative time to pass the day. No school for her tomorrow. It is her reading group day and I am sorry that she will miss that. A slow, restful weekend and I hope we can start the new week out healthy.

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Valentine's Day

I hope that everyone had a great day with the ones they love. I admit that I didn't have my act all the way together but still managed to have a great day.

Since my planning was lacking I didn't have time to spend baking sheet after sheet of cookies so instead I made pan chocolate chip cookies. I then used heart shaped cookie cutters to make individual cookies.

A few large cookies...

one was bagged up for Chuck's lunch.

Many smaller cookies...


stacked and then placed inside of the cellophane bags.


Then packaged in these cute container from the Dollar Spot at T*arget. Ready to share with the ones we love.

The table was set using things I had on hand.


My favorite red plaid table cloth topped with some Valentine wrapping paper as place mats, some scattered conversation hearts. I had some red drink mix in the pantry. Megan loaned her balloons and drew and colored a heart.

I made every one's favorites for dinner and served the heart cookies for dessert. A little effort made this a special day. Megan told me thank you for valentine's day several times. It really is the small, simple things that matter the most.

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Weekend Around Home

What a wonderful weekend! The sun was shinning the snow is melting and it seems that spring in around the corner. (A girl can hope anyway!) I have experienced a little bit of the winter blues the last couple of weeks so this is making my heart sing!

A new home improvement project was started this weekend.


A new ceiling for the living room! Eventually all of our ceilings will be covered with tongue and groove car siding that is painted white. I love the way it makes the room have an old farmhouse feel. We only pay cash for our home improvements so it takes a while to get things done around here. It is a great lesson in patients!

Chuck had a cute little assistant!



She loves to pull out her "tools" and work beside Daddy. It warms my heart to see this.

While that was happening I worked in the kitchen. My kitchen sink always seems to look dull and dirty.



I tried Fly Lady's Shiny Sink 101 and this is the final result.


Not perfect, but I am okay with that. My sink has seen lots of use and as we all know when you use something often it shows the love!

I also went through all of my cabinets. I had been wanting to do this for a while now.


It felt so good to clear some clutter! Today I am off to spend the morning in Megan's classroom. Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

A Treasure or Two

I recently acquired a couple of new to me treasures. My father-in-law recently retired and he has been doing a huge declutter. He has been making a pile in his garage for Goodwill. Chuck was over there last week and spotted this in the pile.

I couldn't believe that he was giving this away and was very happy that Chuck rescued it for me. I haven't decided where I am going to to put it but am very happy to have it!

Mom recently gave me some cookie cutters.


They are cutters that she used as a child. Notice the heart with the .07 cent stamp? I am dating myself, but I remember going to the store as a young child and watching the stock guy stamp all of the cans before putting them on the shelf.

I love having things in my home with a story!

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

This and That

Happy Tuesday! The sun has been shining here and the snow and ice has been melting. Yes! I am starting to really feel cabin fever and the sunshine is helping with this.

I filled the cookie jar yesterday.



For something different I added an M&M before I baked them. I thought that they looked like flowers. Or maybe it is my cabin fever making everything look spring like!

Some time has been spent creating. Have you ever used this Model Magic?


It was Megan's valentine gift from her Aunt Lana in Texas. It has a marshmallow feel to it and when you let it dry it has a spongy feel to it. We have been having lots of fun with it.

Remember when I posted about working on a solution for the paper clutter Megan was creating? I happy to report that I am gaining some control of it!

A bulletin board was added to a door in the kitchen. The rule is that once the board is full that a paper has to come down before a new one goes up.



It is fun for Megan to pick and choose what goes on the board. She has even gotten creative with getting the push pins in all the way!


As for all of the other papers. Placing them in a folder is the current solution.

It is suppose to be that when the folder is full that some papers need to be gotten rid of. Something that currently needs to be done. I am not sold that the folder is the best solution but it beats finding paper everywhere!

I put many papers in the recycle, but there is a little girl that thinks everything is a keepsake. She has a great memory and will ask me about a specific paper weeks later. If you have any suggestions I am all ears!

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Playtime!

Friday afternoon/evening I keep my nieces. Megan is always delighted when they come to play. Several times my nieces asked me to turn on cartoons. I keep saying maybe in minute.

The girls played and played.


Storytime at the library.


A fun game of Trouble.


Legos are always fun!


Cooking and creating at their restaurant. (Sorry for the picture quality. The sun was very bright.)

I never did turn on the t.v. and it was wonderful! The whole time they played there was not fighting and no one got mad. There were giggles, squeals of delight and lots of imagine. I loved it!

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

He Provides!

I know that the Lord is always working in my life. So many times it is behind the scenes and we don't even realize it. It is wonderful when you are able to see His good in action!

Thursday I noticed that the furnace didn't sound right. It would run its cycle and then immediately try to cut on again. I mentioned something to Chuck and he finally heard it on Friday. Chuck looked up possible causes. Some things were simple like a dirty furnace filter or a bad thermostat. Then it started to get more serious like a blower motor and such.

The filter was fairly new, but a new one was put on. A new thermostat was bought and after it was put on the furnace would try to cut on but then would fail. The old thermostat was put back on and the same thing happened. Ugh!

We were officially without heat. The space heater from the garage was brought in.

There was plenty of warm blankets and hot chocolate.


We waited and waited to receive a call that the repair tech was on his way. While we waited we talked about how a major repair wasn't in the budget. Our cordless phone had been slowly dieing and we had just replaced them that morning. I prayed and prayed that it wouldn't be a costly fix.

We received a call from a repair tech. He had one call before us and then would be over. Shortly after that call we received a call from a different repair tech. After speaking with him for a few he told Chuck that it sounded like there was some oxidation on the flame sensor. He told Chuck what to try and that he should call him back if it didn't work. It worked and the fix cost us NOTHING!!!

God orchestrated a set of perfect events. A second repair tech called us, it was late (after 9:30) and I am sure he was ready to be home and my husband was here try the repair techs suggestions. (I guarantee that I wouldn't have taken it apart by myself!) We are so grateful!!

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Cooking from Scratch

As a treat Grammi (my mom) bought Megan some Valentine cookies to bake.

They are cute, but after tasting them all I can say is yuck! That made me start thinking about cooking from scratch. I know that for many a store bought item that they bake in the oven is as close to home cooking as they get.

Yesterday Megan and I made some noodles to complete our chicken and noodles dinner.


It didn't take long to make them and what fun it was from Megan to knead the dough.

I use to find cooking from scratch a little intimidating. Sometimes I still do. I was looking for perfection and that isn't necessarily what cooking from scratch is about. I have learned I am not nor will I ever be as perfect as Martha Stewart. That many magazine and cookbook pictures are doctored. Yes, it is real food, but many times they do unrealistic things like use eye droppers for the perfect look of sauce or butter. Sometimes cheese is put on one shred at a time for the perfect look. Talk about setting us homemakers up for failure!

What I have learned is that the more you do something the better you become at it. The more I make homemade pizza crust the better I get at making the crust look like it might have come from a pizza restaurant.

The more I make bread the better I get at forming the loafs.

Biscuits are still a hit and miss item, but I keep trying.

Sometimes an item is a complete miss! This tomato soup was okay before I canned it and not so great when it was all done.

Even Megan tells me how much better homemade is. It makes my heart sing when I hear her say "Mama you make the best pizza!" It makes me happy to know that I made the item, I know what is in it and I can see my family enjoy it. I encourage you to get in the kitchen and just do it! If I can I know that you can too.

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!

Warm & Cozy

As I sit typing this I can hear the ice and sleet hitting the windows. We are currently under an ice storm warning and I am grateful to be in my warm and cozy home!

Through out the day the ice has slowly been building. This is on my clematis.


This morning a few branches were lost from the pine trees. The neighbor across the street lost part of their tree. We are thankful that we only lost a few branches.


I don't think I will be hanging laundry out any time soon!


Chuck has been in and out through out the day and he called me out to hear the crack of the trees as they are trying to move. We anticipate that at some point we will lose power.

We have prepared as much as we can.


The lamps have been filled.


The generator is gassed and ready to go. Having your whole family home bound is not a bad thing. Chuck graciously cleaned the living room carpet.


There are plenty of things to keep us busy. So much that we could be busy for days and days. There are games to play, books to read and there is always cleaning! I know that this is a large storm and I hope that no matter where you are you are keeping warm and safe.

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the simple moments!