Saturday, January 30, 2010

New Spec's

Part of my Christmas present from Aaron were two new pairs of glasses. Well, I finally got my butt off the couch and picked some out. These are my favorites, but Brent likes the other pair better. I'll show them off later. What do ya think?

Birthday Bash

Last night the Ladies Ministry at my church (Vineland First Church of the Nazarene) hosted a Birthday Bash. The concept is that everyone comes with a $15.00 gift. They have dancing, games and light refreshments. As the night progresses, your aloud to go up to the gift table and pick a gift - not yours. I had such a good time! I went with some great friends. The only downer was that we all couldn't sit together. I vote for bigger tables next year.








Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A New Look

I like how my style is slowly changing, but not too much. I guess you could say that it has a little bit more flair! I like it!


This look consists of:

t-shirt - Target $9.99

necklace - Wal-Mart $3.99

boots - JC Penney $30.00

skirt - had for years and just shortened

Total cost is under $45.00 and the best part is the mix and match options.

Monday, January 25, 2010

What'cha Reading?

I love to read and have just recently started to read with a furry. Every night I get a bath and then snuggle into bed with a good book. These two books were pretty easy reads, but were also very informative.

The first book is called "Handmade Home" by Amanda Blake Soule. It is an instruction book on how to use old fabrics and some other materials to create new family treasures. There are mostly sewing projects in the book, but there are also some non-sewing projects. Now since I have also started to sew again, I was excited to see that the projects are relatively simple.



The other book that I read was "Kirtsy Takes a Bow" edited by Laura Mayes. This book is like the woman's dictionary of blog sites. Kirtsy is actually a blog site that has likes to the most amazing blogs created by women. If you love blogging or surfing the web for great articles and information, check out this book and the website www.kirtsy.com . The blog covers a ranges of topics like entertainment, design, home, food, travel and so many more. I promise you won't be disappointed.


So now that I've stepped off my soap box, I have only one question for all of you? What'cha reading?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Sewing 101

I've been using my sewing machine a lot lately and Brent wanted to give it a try. I had let him try it out over the summer on some scrap fabric and he had fun trying all the different stitches, so when he asked to use it again after seeing me alter a black skirt, I figured why not!

So tonight while Aaron was at a meeting we went to Jo Ann Fabrics and purchased some fleece to make frilly scarves. Brent picked out different combinations of fabric colors like - light and dark pink, orange and brown, and a fuchsia pink and yellow! I know, I can't wait to see what that one will looks like. He asked if we could make some tonight when we got home and I of course said yes!

When we got home I cut and pinned the fabric pieces together. We used three pieces of fabric with two of them being the same color.

Once I finished pinning, I gave Brent a quick lesson on sewing and off he went. He was very careful to sew slowly and to keep his fabric in line with the guide I tapes down for him. He sewed two scarves tonight and plans to sew the other four tomorrow night. I'm such a proud momma!

Once he finished sewing I cut the fabric to make the frills. Here's Brent sporting his completed creation. I think they turned out real cute.

You have to love a man who can wear PINK!

Monday, January 18, 2010

A New Favorite

I can honestly say that I am a Caffeine Free Diet Coke girl. Ask anyone who knows me and they would agree. I'm rarely seen with out one in my hands, so I can truly say that I was pleasantly surprised when I tried this.


How yummy. Now I never really cared for the regular Diet Dr. Pepper, but when I saw the Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry on sale last week I thought I'd give it a try and I'm glad I did.

Caffeine Free Diet Coke is always going to be my favorite, but it's nice to know that there's at least one other great tasting diet soda out there.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Best Ever Banana Bread

I've tasted a lot of Banana Bread recipes in my 42 years and most of them were pretty good. You may even think you've had the best banana bread, but I can assure you you haven't until you try this recipe out.

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed bananas
1 & 1/2 cups white sugar
1 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Spray one 9x5" loaf pan with cooking spray.
Blend together the eggs, buttermilk, oil and bananas.
Sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt.
Add banana mixture with dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
If more time is needed cook longer in 5 minute increments until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack .


Now I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think that this is the Best Ever Banana Bread recipe!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Random Thoughts That Can Provoke Truth

A friend of mine e-mailed me this list of random thoughts and I had to share them. So, sit back and enjoy some good laughs.

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this --ever.
15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What did you do after I didn't answer, drop the phone and run away?
16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well..

So what did you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Misty Morning

This picture was taken last Friday morning after we received about 2-3 inches of snow the night before. I was on a 2 hour delay from school, don't ask, and had already taken Brent to school when I looked out the window and saw the morning mist in my backyard. The sun had been shining just a few minutes earlier so I was taken aback with the sudden change. It just looks so peaceful.


Cousin's at Work!


I just love this picture of Brent and his cousin Cory. It was taken last weekend when we went to visit my brother's family. Brent's little cousins got scooters for Christmas that were still un-assembled. Brent decided to put the scooters together (my brother isn't the most handy when it comes to tools) and Cory was right there with him helping. They got most of both scooters put together, but they did need Bobby's brawn to finish the job. Good teamwork!


Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Here a Crack, There a Crack ...

Have you ever had a doctor's appointment that you actually looked forward to? Yes, no, not sure? Well I have to say that I truly look forward to my chiropractic visits. I just recently started going and can't wait for each visit. It's probably because my back is in such disarray. My upper back and neck area are all tight and misaligned, which the doctor can crack. Don't you just love that sound? My lower back however has a degenerative disk that we are trying to save with stretching movements. All in all I feel pretty good when I leave, it's that next day that I don't look forward to. So needless to say, my new best friends are ICE and ADVIL! But seriously, if you ever need a good chiropractor check out Dr. Ron James ... he's amazing! Crack!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Manic Monday

Today was my first day back to work after an unscheduled two week vacation. What I mean by a two week vacation is that New Jersey had a blizzard the weekend of December 19th and we got 2' of snow. Since so many roads were impassable our school closed for the 3 days before Christmas break, thus the two week vacation.

Now don't get me wrong I really appreciated the time off, but I'm crying at the having to go back to work. I really wish I didn't have to work and could stay home and craft and take care of my family and home full time, but alas I can not! I have to say though that my students were very well behaved and nap time was a breeze - that isn't the usually. My class does not like to nap, even better they don't like to rest, so today was a sweet treat.

Once school was done, I had to go to the chiropractor, Wal-Mart, Wawa (for gas), Walgreen's, come home and make my Buffalo Chicken Dip and then go to my Financial Peace class at my church. Manic!

I do have to say that I have some great friends who helped me out with Brent after school. Thanks April and Tracy and I do have to say that I did look good through the whole afternoon! LOL!

I love this outfit. I have been trying new looks and will hopefully be sharing some of them with you. Brent loves to help me so he took the picture.



Today:
Jeans - American Eagle (sale)

Blue Cardigan - New York and Co (sale)

Black tank

Belt - Fossil outlet

Black boots - Target (sale)



Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Contract

Brent and I thought that we needed to make a contract about how we are going to treat each other at home. So the three of us wrote a list of things we think we could do to make this year better at home. This is what we came up with:





Look's simple enough, doesn't it? We'll with that all said and done, Aaron and I had a little argument yesterday and all Brent had to say was "Well you're already breaking the contract!" To funny! This may take a little work! We just need to make a conscious decision to try.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Home

Last year I chose a word that I wanted to focus on and chose the word "Me". It was something I needed to do. I worked on my inner self by becoming more aware of what I needed in my life and what was truly important to me. Due to the choices I made this year, I lost two good friends, but I also gained the knowledge of what true friendship is in the process.

This year my word is "HOME". I want to focus more on the inner workings of my home this year ... to make it a place of comfort, nourishment, love, peace and soul for my family and friends.

If you had to choose a word to focus on for this year what would it be? It's not an easy question to answer. It took me a few days to really come up with the right word for me. Let me know if you take the challenge and choose a word. I'd love to know what you choose.