Bags for sale...

Well, I've finally decided to start trying to sell the bags that I've made. I want you to see some of the other ones that I've made that I haven't posted before. Honestly, this is a fun thing for me and I've enjoyed doing them for friends and family. I haven't priced how much shipping is, so that isn't included in the prices I'm listing. If you're really interested, please let me know your email address so we can communicate about it! :-) This is all new to me, so I am still learning!

Price list:

Painted and/or fabric scene on bag with name or phrase: $15

The above with ribbon along the top added: $17

The above with beaded ribbon added: $18

I'm estimating that shipping will be $2-3.

Here are a few more bags for you to look at! Thanks so much for your support and encouragement!

"baby girl"

Pennies for Posho

Tonight at church we had a group called Ugandan Thunder come perform at our church. These precious boys came to sing songs to the Lord and play the drums for us. They did a great job! They are here to promote the ministry, Pennies for Posho, that provides food for starving children in Africa. I don't know if you've ever heard the song Orphans of God, but it had a special meaning tonight as these boys were singing it and images of young African children who were orphans came up on the screen. My heart went out to them. From what I understand, Pennies for Posho supports 6 different schools and orphanages. In one town there were 300 orphans. To support a child for a month, it only costs $9. This will go directly to buying food for these children. It was explained to us that posho is a staple food that is similar to thick grits. Most children have this once a day. It really makes you think about how much we eat and how much food we throw away! We are so blessed in America! Here is the link to the Pennies for Posho website.
http://www.gokittle.com/PenniesMain

God bless!

Look what we've been up to!

We had a great weekend at Mimi and D's house. The hubby was gone to Ridgecrest in North Carolina, so we had fun getting to hang out with family. I was especially motivated to be crafty this weekend. Check out what I've done. I'd love to get your feedback! I made two baby body bibs...they'll cover the top part of the body and the legs, too! I also made a baby sling...the baby doll is sitting in the sling. I also got up the motivation to make Sophie some hair bows. I'm not sure if they're too big or not. But I feel like it's a good first try. I think doing these little projects helps me to have some stress release. It's fun doing them and I hope I can keep it up. I'm still interested in possibly selling some things. I've made a few more bags and I'm still trying to decide on a reasonable price. My hesitation is that I know that I'm not a perfectionist. While I think that what I make has turned out well, I know it's not always perfect....sometimes there's a little blotch here or a letter that's not perfectly symmetrical, etc. So I guess I would have to take that into account when selling them to others. Again, your feedback is greatly appreciated!

So other than being crafty, we got to hang out at Mom and Dad's new hottub. Isaac got to get his toes wet and after the kids were asleep, I got to get in and relax. It was great! I also helped make dinner Saturday night....salsa rice and chicken. Ya'll....this is soooo good! It's a little spicy, so if you have any acid reflux issues, this might not be for you. Here's the recipe:

Salsa Rice and Chicken (another recipe from Catherine....that girl is a great cook!)

• 1 1/3 cups uncooked rice (I used Minute Rice)
• 1 jar mild salsa (24 oz)...or you can use the heat amount of your choice
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 1 8 oz container of sour cream
• 1/3 cup of water
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 (3 lb) chicken, cut up, skinned (I used 5 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts...or you could use 4 larger ones)
• 2 tsp. paprika
• lime

Preheat oven to 350. I like to put my chicken in some lime juice and water (about 1 1/2 limes and the rest water to cover the chicken) just to give it some extra zing. You don't have to do it if you don't like lime. While that's sitting, mix together first 6 ingredients. Grease bottom of 13 x 9 dish. Spoon the mixture into the dish. Take chicken out of lime juice, pat dry just a little bit, and spray with cooking spray. Lay the chicken on top of the rice mixture. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake, covered, for 45 min. Uncover and bake for 30 more minutes. Enjoy! Let me know how you like it!

I LOVE comments, so don't be shy! If you don't have a google account, you can comment as an annonymous person...I don't mind! :-)

God bless!

Catching up

It's been one of those weeks that has flown by! After my little girlie was sick two nights ago and had to go to the doctor the next morning (thanks to my hubby for doing that after I was up most of the night!), I've just been trying to catch up with things this week. I've been trying to think of something fun to blog about....a neat recipe or picture, etc. There just hasn't been a lot going on...just hanging here at the house, trying to catch up on laundry, dishes, and all the other things I have to do each week. We're going to be visiting with Mom and Dad this weekend and I am planning to cook a salsa chicken recipe that is so good...I'll be posting that recipe when we get back. But....as I write, I wanted to mention my new fun toy I got for my birthday. Let's begin by saying that my parents, brother, sister and their families got me/my family a Wii for my birthday!! I mentioned it before, but I honestly am loving this thing! We consider it a blessing to even be able to have one. What I haven't mentioned is that with the birthday money I received, I bought the Wii Fit. This has been great! It will measure your Body Mass Index, keep you accountable with your weight loss goals, and it has all kinds of aerobics, strength training, yoga and balance exercises. Joe and I have had so much fun getting on it every night. So far I have lost 2.6 lbs! Woohoo! I can feel it in my legs, too. This has been very encouraging to me as I've really wanted to lose weight and get in shape. I was trying to walk outside with the kids, but it's been hard with the heat. I can do the Wii any time of the day (I usually wait until Sophie's asleep) and I feel like I've seen some good results already! Praise the Lord. You know, it's so sweet that God gives us good things like this. I thank Him for providing this for us! I hope you are experiencing His sweet blessings today!

Filling the heart and the tummy :-D

My mom picked up a great little book for me and gave it to me the other day. If you're like me and one of those moms who struggles with keeping up with everything...a home, laundry, kids, etc. then you'll like this book! I get overwhelmed with all the responsibilities of cleaning, organizing, feeding, diaper changing, losing weight, cooking meals, and the list goes on. This book makes me feel like I'm not the only one out there that struggles with all this! Plus she adds some great recipes, craft ideas, travel ideas, things to do with kids, and it's basically like a weekly devotion, so it has a Bible verse for the week and a prayer. It even has two vocabulary words to learn :-). So here it is...it's called Queen of the Castle.

I couldn't just read one entry...I read several. And I'll probably read it more and actually do it as a weekly devotion. Thanks, Mom!

One more fun thing. I love our family's homemade chocolate ice cream. It's the best. Really. It tastes like a Wendy's frosty. If you have a regular sized ice cream churn (that you add the ice and rock salt to as it spins), add these ingredients to the container...

• 12 oz container of whipped cream (I used the generic...just as good!)
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 half gallon of chocolate milk

I whisked the ingredients before closing it up and turning on the churn. You'll love it! I made it twice this past weekend and it's almost all gone!

God bless!

Blessed

(above: my mom made my birthday cake and it was so delicious...just yellow cake with chocolate icing!)

I'm feeling very blessed right now. It's the word that immediately came to mind when I was thinking of how my birthday was this year. Yes, another birthday has come around and I'm now 32 years old. I don't feel like I'm actually that old...but I'm noticing a few wrinkles around my eyes that weren't there before and my gray hair has really started showing! But don't get me wrong...I LOVE my birthday! I was born on the fourth of July, so I've always had lots of activity and fun going on. Fireworks...I love them! I think this year was one of my favorite birthdays.

We started the celebrating on Thursday night when we drove to my parent's house to spend the night. The next morning my wonderful husband, knowing that I was dreaming of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, went out early and bought some for me. He picked all kinds of fun ones...and my favorite...chocolate iced! Then he brought it up to me while I was just waking up...breakfast in bed. What a great guy! After doughnuts we get ready and headed off to Twila Faye's Tea Room in Bolingbroke and had an awesome lunch! I had a Trio plate of chicken salad, potato salad, and a tossed salad along with some nutbread with cream cheese and some cheese wafers. Yum! It was a lot of fun. After the meal, Joe, the kids, and I went to the mall and I got some new shoes as my birthday gift. They are some sandals that I can wear to church or casual and they are VERY comfortable. I also got some cute Yellowbox red and white polka dot flip flops. I've been admiring those for about a year now! We also went and visited my grandfather (Papa) and that was a lot of fun. We grabbed a bite and relaxed at my parent's house the rest of the night. My parents surprised me with an awesome gift (my sister and brother went in on it, too)--a Wii!! I had a lot of fun playing at my sister's house one day when I was visiting and they really wanted to get it for me. I never dreamed I would get one of those! Their generosity was such a blessing to me and I have already enjoyed playing some! Here is Papa and the kids:
My actual birthday morning, Mom got up and fixed a wonderful brunch of pancakes, sausage, and we had some doughnuts again! We headed back to Eastman that afternoon and had a cookout with some friends of ours from church. It was fun, too. We had some great food and fellowship. That night we also went to see the fireworks. They have a big fireworks display at the Dodge Co. stadium. We parked in a nearby lot and enjoyed watching while the kids were sound asleep. They had a busy couple of days! As I told a friend today...my tank has been filled! I have been blessed with gifts, but the greatest gift was the love that I was shown by my sweet husband, parents, family members, and friends!

Birthday brunch (Joe and Sophie), the kids at the cookout

I hope you all had a great July 4th! God bless!

One tired Momma

It's late at night again but I'm enjoying a few moments of quiet time. It's the only time of day...or night I guess I should say...that I can wind down from a long day. Now I know why my mom was always up late. It's just so much easier to sweep and mop the kitchen, clean up, do dishes, etc. when the kids are in the bed. I'm just glad that my hubby is off tomorrow and maybe I can catch a few extra minutes of sleep. As you can see, my peas are nestled away in 6 quart bags that are now in the freezer. Yay! It only took us about 2 1/2 days to shell those things. Every spare moment I've had I've been shelling. I was determined to get it done tonight. Well, at about 1:30 am, I finished. I hope they're good!

Rest well and God bless...